Education Commons^™

Balancing Free Play And Structured Learning Opportunities In Early Childhood Education Classrooms: Contrasting Perceptions Of Teachers And Researchers, Logan Mentzer

University Honors Theses

This study explored how early childhood education classrooms can provide a balance of learning opportunities that are both initiated by the child and facilitated by the teacher. Three transitional/preschool teachers were interviewed along with two researchers who study preschool/kindergarten classrooms. The results of this study found four strategies that are used in early childhood education classes that allow both child exploration and adult facilitation: 1) creating close teacher-child relationships; 2) creating close lead-assistant teacher relationships; 3) using both mental and physical planning; 4) using guided questions to teach. There were interesting differences in contrasting perspectives of early childhood education teachers …

Managing Student Misbehavior Through A Restorative Approach: A Phenomenological Study, Michael Preston Christie

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the perceptions of alternative education teachers in utilizing a restorative approach to managing student behaviors at a small, rural school district in north Florida. Gordon’s (1981) theory on Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET) steered this study in investigating the research questions central to this study: (1) What are the experiences of alternative education teachers in using a restorative approach for addressing student behaviors? (2) How have these experiences shaped the teacher-student relationship? (3) What are the professional development needs of alternative education teachers to improve the restorative practices experience? Through …

How Teachers Build Relationships With Students In A Bimodal Environment, Andrew Salazar

Dissertations

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers nationwide were encouraged or required to teach on a bimodal platform, forcing them to create lessons, deliver lessons, and build student relationships in a way they had not experienced before. The purpose of my study was to investigate the strategies teachers were using to build relationships with students in a bimodal environment and compile a comprehensive list of effective strategies that leaders could utilize in professional development for other teachers. The context of this inquiry was a sixth through eighth grade middle school in an urban school district. I used a mixed methodology using …

Teacher Judgment Accuracy Of Student Perceptions Of Closeness And Conflict In Teacher-Student Relationships, Collin Seastrand

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher decisions are largely influenced by the judgments that they make regarding their students' states of mind. Thus, it is important for teachers to be accurate in their judgments. The current study investigated the teacher judgment accuracy of student perceptions of the teacher-student relationship. In a Western state of the United States, 40 teachers used a prediction form to predict how their 4th "“ 6th grade students would rate the closeness and the conflict of their teacher-student relationship via the Student Perception of Affective Relationship with Teacher Scale (SPARTS, Koomen & Jellesma, 2015). Students then took the survey, and teacher …

How Teacher-Student Relationships Influence Student Attendance, Behavior, And Course Completion, Kristina Chowning

Dissertations

In many ways, students have become data points at the expense of their humanity, thus minimizing the benefit of healthy relationships between teachers and students. This study aims to determine the impact of positive teacher-student relationships on student attendance, behavior, and course completion. Given the nature of the topic, I cast a wide net to include teachers and parents across the United States as participants in my study. The methodology of this study was mixed methods, incorporating surveys with both Likert scale-type questions and open-ended questions and interviews from each of the participating groups. Outcomes showed that positive relationships between …

Creating Brave & Productive Learning Environments For Young Adolescents: Parents’ Perspectives Of Teacher-Parent And Teacher-Student Relationships, Leslie Rogers, Dan Hyson

Middle Grades Review

Teachers are masters of content and of creating connections (e.g., students-content, students-students, teacher-students, teacher-parents). Both impact one’s ability to create and sustain brave and productive learning environments. Teachers connect students to the content, and to each other. At the top of the list of important connections are teacher-student and teacher-parent relationships. In the current paper, we examine these relationships from the perspective of parents of middle school students with disabilities, an under-studied group. We describe theories of learning that support investigating these relationships from parents’ perspectives and outline why this could be an impactful lens for teachers to consider. We …

Relationships Of Teacher Perceptions And Racially Diverse Third Grade Student Achievement : An Analysis Of Ecls-K:2011 Data University At Albany, Lynnette Renee Williams

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACTIt has been over 50 years since desegregation efforts began and many public-school systems in the United States are still battling with performance gaps between White and historically underrepresented students. The term historically underrepresented refers to people from diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have been denied access or suffered institutional discrimination in the United States, and according to the U.S. Census includes Blacks/African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans (Artiles et al., 2010). Many historically underrepresented students are lagging behind their peers on academic performance measures, standardized achievement tests, high school graduation, and college-career readiness …

The Importance Of Trauma-Informed Approaches In Education – The Impact Of Implementing A Brain-Based Approach To Supporting Learners Across A Scottish Local Authority, Lesley Taylor, Whitney Barrett

International Journal of School Social Work

Throughout the history of education, a series of fashions, fads and trends has come and gone – some resulting in widespread changes in approach, some creating barely a ripple in the "pedagogical pool". Currently, a wave is being created by the desire to develop approaches that are trauma-informed – a move that is being driven by a number of factors including the introduction of funding streams such as the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) and the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), alongside growing public awareness of the impact childhood trauma and adversity has across many areas of a child’s development.

However, we …

The Healing Power Of Teacher-Student Relationships In Repairing Childhood Abuse: Commonalities And Differences With Clinical Social Work Practice, Mehak Jamil

International Journal of School Social Work

Research indicates survivors of childhood abuse are able to form the same quality relationships with teachers as non-abused children (Armstrong, Hasket & Hawkins, 2017). However, there is little research indicating what factors within the teacher-student relationship help build this resiliency. This study looks to clinical social work practice as a basis for understanding what qualities of the therapeutic relationship can extend to or overlap with non-clinical relationships with students who have a trauma history, within the teaching field. To better understand experiences within these relationships, semi-structured interviews were conducted with both a clinical social worker who has teaching experience at …

Teacher Perceptions Of Relationship Building With Students: A Case Study Of K-5 Schools In A Southern California School District, Anais Janoyan

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This mixed methods case study of K-5 schools in a medium sized Southern California school district, investigated teachers’ descriptions and perceptions of their teacher-student relationships and relationship building experiences with students. Teachers’ views were analyzed at district, school site, and individual levels to uncover both common and unique patterns across these various contexts. Surveys and interviews were used to gather data. Surveys were quantitatively analyzed, and interviews underwent a qualitative thematic analysis but were also supported by quantitative data (e.g., code recurrence frequencies and percentages). Data results of teachers’ descriptions and perceptions on teacher-student relationships provided teachers’ overall views, in …