Education Commons^™

Toybox: A New Approach For Auxiliary Percussion Instruments At The Beginning Level, Spencer Craig Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Currently, there exist little materials to introduce elementary students to auxiliary percussion instruments. There is a need for the creation of more instructional material for this age group that provides pedagogy descriptions for the instruments as well as playing examples. The purpose of this project is to create a method book that provides pedagogy examples for auxiliary percussion instruments while also providing playing examples to use.

Parents’ Perspectives Of Cultural Competence In Schools: The Initial Development Of The Culturally Competent School Community Scale, Aijah Kai Baruti Goodwin

LSU Master's Theses

Diversity in school settings is continuously changing with an increase of minority students in the United States school systems. The present study uses a phenomenological approach to gain parents’ experiences related to culturally responsive and competent practices in their child(ren)’s schools. Interviews were conducted with 10 culturally diverse parents with children in preschool and/or elementary school. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded for common themes and analyzed for the frequency and prevalence of the themes in preschool vs. elementary school settings. An analysis of the interviews revealed 6 themes related to culturally competent and responsive practices in school settings. The …

Foucauldian Dynamics In The Formation Of A Fifth Grade Writing Culture, Ashley Renee Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study looks at a student writing culture in a fifth grade English language arts classroom through the lens of Foucauldian power dynamics to examine the power relationships in the classroom and curriculum. The research questions were: 1) What is the nature of a writing culture in a fifth-grade writing classroom? 2) What are students’ perceptions of writing in a fifth grade ELA classroom? The methodology for the study was case study research.

The research took place during the 2017-2018 school year at Southeast Elementary School in Lancaster County in the southeastern part of the United States. Data was collected …

The Power Of Pictures: Drawing On Visual Sign-Systems To Teach Inference In Gerstein’S The Man Between Two Towers, Shannon Howrey

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

The ability to infer while reading is a critical part of meaning-making. Readers who infer go beyond the literal words on the page by adding information to the text and making implicit connections between the text and their prior knowledge (Barr, Blacowicz, Bates, Katz, & Kaufman, 2013). This skill allows them to establish causal relationships between story events, connect the events to their personal experiences, and determine relationships, motivations, and emotions within and between characters. Drawing on dual coding theory and visual literacy principles, the author demonstrates how the lines in the illustrations of The Man Between Two Towers assist …

Mathematics Course For Elementary Teachers In An Alternate Certification Pathway, Rachael Cramer Williams

LSU Master's Theses

In the current alternate certification program for elementary teachers at McNeese State University, students receive course work from only one of the elementary mathematics methods courses required in the traditional certification program. To assure that candidates in the alternate path learn all the math they need, I have created a course that combines the most important concepts from the two courses in one. In this thesis I will describe how the new course was designed, present an outline of the course, detail the content at the unit level and provide a template for the final exam.

Investigating Early-Career Teacher Propensity For Arts-Based Pedagogy, Jamie Allison Hipp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the factors which support the use of arts-based pedagogy in elementary settings. To address the lack of a current profile of an early-career teacher (ECT) with a propensity to use the arts – music, theatre, dance, and visual art – this study illuminates ECT attitudes and behaviors related to arts-based pedagogy. The researcher administered Oreck’s (2001) Teaching with the Arts Survey (TWAS) and employed a non-experimental survey design using purposive sampling. The ECT population studied included currently employed elementary (1-5) teachers who completed the compulsory arts-based pedagogy class at a large Louisiana university in the fall of …

An Exploration Of Strategy-Based Reading Instruction Using Expository Science Text In Grades 2-5, Carol Fetters

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored reading strategy-based reading instruction using science expository text between grades 2-5. The exploration revealed that elementary teachers used a variety of reading strategies using expository text for science instruction in grades 2-5, and that time barriers exist for strategy-based instruction using informational text. Spradley’s (1980) Developmental Reading Sequence, interviews, observations, and case studies of elementary science teachers in grades 2-5 were research techniques utilized for this study. This study centered on case studies of six elementary teachers and how they used reading strategies during science instruction. The findings of the study revealed that although the teachers’ use …

Characteristics Of An Effective Teacher Of Reading In An Elementary School Setting, Jennifer Aby Archer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Struggling readers have been the central focus of American politics for decades. Teachers of all ages and experiences across America deliver reading instruction in a variety of ways. The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of an effective teacher of reading in an elementary classroom setting. The study was conducted in a public and a private sector school in a capital city in the southern United States. Two principals, two second grade teachers, and two fourth grade teachers were participants in this study. A qualitative research focus provided the methodological basis for this study. The research design …