Education Commons^™

Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions Of Assessment Literacy In A High Performing School District In New Jersey, Marlena Celebre-Baird

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

As teachers gain experience, their assessment knowledge base, personal beliefs, and the educational context come together to shape their identity as an assessor. Therefore, assessment literacy is not simply a stagnant knowledge base of skills but rather that takes shape over time, through reflective teaching continues to develop. This study sought to add to the body of research that highlights and describes, through the lens of the teacher, how beliefs and contextual factors influence a teachers’ assessment literacy in practice.

A qualitative case study methodology was selected for this study to explore how elementary K–5 teachers’ personal beliefs play a …

Teachers' Critical Reflection In An Equity-Focused Professional Learning Community: A Case Study, Patrizia Lina Mastne

Dissertations and Theses

In a culturally diverse world, teachers adopt complex roles to educate a changing student body toward higher standards. They can respond to students' needs and design responsive curriculum by engaging in ongoing learning and improvement. When teachers have time and space for collaboration and reflection, they can learn and improve. Professional learning communities (PLCs) are forums for educators to think deeply about praxis. In this study, the problem of practice is that teachers have had few opportunities to reflect critically within PLCs. The purpose of my study was to describe and explain how critical reflection occurred in an equity-focused PLC …

Culturally Relevant Teachers : A Critical Beacon In The Educational Standards Movement., Angela Pleasant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe culturally relevant teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices as they implement the Reading CCSS. It was hypothesized that by exploring the beliefs and practices of teachers who practice a culturally relevant pedagogy, this research could provide evidence of the specific and identifiable practices that demonstrated high expectations, culturally competency, and critical consciousness. This research could provide evidence of effective strategies, which could be used to impact the literacy achievement of students of color while the teacher implements the Reading Common Core State Standards or any standards movement that follows. A qualitative case study …

A Phenomenological Study On Reflective Teaching Practice, Abimbola Disu

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of teachers who engage in reflective teaching practice. This study was conducted at two elementary urban charter schools in New York City (NYC). A phenomenological research design was used to investigate the perspectives of twenty-one elementary school teachers who use reflective practice to enhance teaching effectiveness and promote students’ learning. Purposeful sampling was used in the selection of the participants. Recommended participants were identified as reflective practitioners by their principal. Data was gathered using semistructured interviews, which were conducted in the fall of 2016. The data collection and analysis …

The Impact Of A Reflective Practice Series On The Awareness Level Of Six Teacher Candidates At A Public University In The Southeast, Lindsay M. Sturkie

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of a Reflective Practice Series (RPS) on the awareness level of preservice teachers enrolled in a field experience course in a teacher education program at a university in the southeast United States. This study took place during the Fall 2016 semester with six participants, two early childhood majors, two elementary majors, and two middle level majors. Data were collected through pre- and post-questionnaires, course assignments, and field observations. The results revealed that the teacher candidates were able to make connections between theory and reflective teaching, had varying viewpoints about the process of reflection, and most …

Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

Despite significant growth in research examining the effects of mindfulness interventions on teachers (Roeser, 2014), studies have mainly relied on self-reports of teacher mindfulness and have not examined observable behavioral manifestations of teacher mindfulness in the classroom. Due to possible biases in self-report measures (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011), as well as the need for a greater range of assessments of the effects of mindfulness trainings on teachers, the current study sought to create a new measure of teacher mindfulness in the classroom from three sources of information: teacher self-reports of their own behavior in the classroom, student perceptions of their …

Keeley Probes As A Tool For Uncovering Student Ideas: How Do Teachers Use Formative Assessment Probes To Plan And Adapt Instruction?, Kalin Tobler

Dissertations and Theses

Formative assessment probes, known as Keeley probes, are one tool teachers use to reveal students' scientific misconceptions, so that they can move them closer to conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research was to document how four elementary school teachers used formative assessment probes to plan and adapt instruction to improve student learning. Specifically:

• How did teachers choose appropriate probes? What learning goals did teachers hope to address by using the probe??
• What instructional sequences did teachers envision when planning to use a probe?
• What did teachers notice when analyzing student data from a probe?
• How did teachers use the …

The Power Of Reflective Professional Development In Changing Elementary School Teachers' Instructional Practices, Carolina Christmann Cavedon

Dissertations and Theses

With the new goal of K-12 education being to prepare students to be college and career ready at the end of high school, education needs to start changing at the elementary school level. The literature suggests that teachers need reflective professional development (PD) to effectively teach to the new standards and to demonstrate change to their current instructional practices. This mixed-method multiple-case study investigated the impacts of a reflective professional development (PD) in changing elementary school teachers' instructional practices.

Teachers Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) were scored with a TIP rubric based on best practices in teaching mathematics problem-solving and science inquiry. …

Exploring The Reflective Practice Among Saudi Female In-Service Teachers, Ghada Almazrawi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the reflective practice among Saudi female in-service teachers. The purpose of this research was to examine the reflective practice skills and attitudes that are used by Saudi teachers. It observed the voice of Saudi teachers during their reflection on their daily practice. Then, this study used the teachers’ narratives to understand how they actually use reflective teaching skills in their classrooms. This study followed convergent parallel mixed methods research design where quantitative and qualitative data were collected separately but concurrently. The study participants were chosen by following the process of stratified random sampling to provide proportional representation …

Video Analysis: An Efficient Tool For The Modern Collegiate Baseball Hitting Coach, Eduardo Cornejo

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to focus on how video analysis can be an essential teaching tool for today's hitting coaches, specifically for those who look to become more efficient with limited time for instruction. This project attempts to enhance the efforts of collegiate baseball coaches to effectively teach a complex activity so that they can fulfill the other demands of their job. It is commonly known that college coaches have a rigorous schedule of recruiting future student-athletes and administrative duties not related to on-field instruction. A literature review was conducted to show how video analysis could be a …

Effectiveness Of Teacher Professional Learning : Enhancing The Teaching Of Fractions In Primary Schools, Derek Hurrell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study was motivated by the need to develop professional learning for primary school teachers that would support them to more effectively teach the mathematics topic of fractions. What seemed evident, was that previous professional learning attended by teachers had not adequately met their needs.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether professional learning, with a focus on subject content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and reflective practice could enhance primary school teachers’ PCK for teaching fractions and make them more confident teachers of fractions. Demonstrating this to be the case would have wide implications for the development of professional …

The Dialectical-Level Reflective Habits Of Middle-Grade Teachers: A Phenomenological Study, Tina Humphrey Boogren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literature leads us to believe that an educator must be reflective in order to improve one's practice, and in terms of reflection, Van Manen's (1977) highest level of reflection, the dialectical-level, is presented as a worthy aim for all educators. But should this type of reflection truly be a goal for all educators? This study sought to uncover the phenomenon of dialectical-level reflection. Dialectical, or critical-level, reflection is the process of analyzing, reconsidering and questioning experiences in order to continually adjust one's practice with an eye towards improvement. This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of five middle school …

How Can I See That My Students Are Learning? Explorations And Observations In An Advanced-Level English Class, Wilma Lynn Luth

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this project was to explore ways to answer the question, “What did the students learned and how do I know?” in and advanced-level English class. Counseling-Learning/ Community Language Learning’s SARD paradigm (Security, Attention, Assertion, Retention, Reflection, and Discrimination) was used as the framework for lesson planning and reflection after each lesson.

Data was collected in a teaching journal using the standard action research methods of lesson planning, teaching the lesson, reflecting on it, and making a new plan based on the reflections.

It was found that using the SARD paradigm was and effective way to observe that …