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Full-Text Articles in Education

Early Childhood Leadership: A Photovoice Exploration, Kristi Cheyney-Collante, Melissa Cheyney Sep 2018

Early Childhood Leadership: A Photovoice Exploration, Kristi Cheyney-Collante, Melissa Cheyney

The Qualitative Report

The first five years of a child’s life represent critical windows in physiological, social-emotional, and cognitive development. Administrators of early childhood (EC) programs play a pivotal role in determining the quality of experiences that unfold for young children in center-based care. Using photovoice, semi-structured administrator interviews, and participant-observation, we aimed to identify the factors contributing to one center’s atypically excellent outcomes with diverse children and families. Our textual and photographic analyses revealed three findings. First, administrators saw themselves as embedded within a larger system of barriers characterized by low positionality within an educational caste system that is marked by pervasive …


Shuffle Lit!: Using Ipod Shuffles To Encourage Literacy Experiences At Home, Ashlee B. Hover Aug 2018

Shuffle Lit!: Using Ipod Shuffles To Encourage Literacy Experiences At Home, Ashlee B. Hover

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

A kindergarten teacher used action research to examine how literature, audio books, homework, and Apple iPod Shuffles can be combined to encourage and improve literacy at home. The research participants consisted of 16 kindergarten students in Middle Tennessee and their parents. The kindergarten students took home a tote bag with the following contents: an Apple iPod Shuffle loaded with many audio stories, six books, two types of headphones, and an iPod listening/reading log. The students took the project materials home for a week to enjoy with their parents and other family members. The parents or siblings recorded the students’ experiences …


Revisiting A Classic: A Book Review Of Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis Of Reading And Learning, Chris Sclafani Jan 2018

Revisiting A Classic: A Book Review Of Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis Of Reading And Learning, Chris Sclafani

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

Often, the teaching profession spends a great deal of time looking towards the future, or considering what might be the next big trend that will help students. However, it is sometimes important to reflect back upon the texts and ideas that set the tone for the profession. Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Reading and Learning by Frank Smith is a classic text that laid the foundation for teachers of literacy to move from an existence of teaching rules and exceptions to becoming an actively involved participant in the process of building and facilitating comprehension in students of all ages. …


European Alternative Preschool Philosophies, Styles, And Emergent Literacy Skill Development, Lynne M. Lawson Jan 2018

European Alternative Preschool Philosophies, Styles, And Emergent Literacy Skill Development, Lynne M. Lawson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many American preschool children enter kindergarten without the emergent literacy skills needed to learn to read. To address this problem, this multicase qualitative study investigated the emergent literacy practices at Steiner Waldorf-inspired and Reggio Emilia-inspired schools. The research questions focused on how alternative preschool philosophies help staff cultivate emergent literacy skills in young children. The conceptual framework came from Piaget's cognitive development theory, and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. The study included eight participants from two Reggio Emilia-inspired and two Steiner Waldorf-inspired preschools. Data were collected through open-ended interviews, observations, and analyses of de-identified student work, then subjected to thematic cross-case analysis. …