Other Education Commons^™

Community Mapping 2.0: Using Technology To Raise Community Awareness, Chris Sclafani

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

Community mapping can be an important tool for educators who aim to freely allow students to share their own connections and experiences. During community mapping, students identify areas within their own localities that matter to them, and engage in various literacy events centered on those places. Often, classes will study foreign lands and cultures during the course of a school year. While this is a wonderful learning opportunity, do they take the time to look deeper into their own personal neighborhoods and surroundings? This study uncovers the nuances of community mapping, as a group of third grade students work through …

The Benefits Of Providing Choice In Pre Service Teacher Education, Tami B. Morton, Agnes Stryker

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

Traditionally, teacher educators provide structured lectures for their pre service teachers to impart knowledge of what will be encountered in the field once they begin teaching in schools. However, in this paper, two reading professors who are proponents of constructivist teaching, decide to provide choice in their seminars. Allowing choices provided an opportunity for students to encourage motivation, maximize performance, help increase independence and self-management skills and provide a feeling of control with their learning situation. Choices are evident in both informal and formal assignments throughout the semester. Pre service teachers who were able to share new knowledge in their …

Instructional Reading Practices For Third Grade African American Males, Kimberly Dawn Whaley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American males often struggle to read on grade level. However, 3 East Texas Title I schools demonstrated exceptionally high levels of reading proficiency with this population. This study addressed the knowledge gap of understanding the instructional practices linked to high reading achievement of third grade African American males in Title I schools in East Texas. Guided by Ladson-Billings's theory of culturally relevant pedagogy, which builds upon academic success, cultural competence, and development of critical consciousness, and supported by Vygotsky's theory of social and cognitive constructivism, the reading instructional practices of the 3 schools were investigated. Research questions focused on …

Seeing Reading In First-Year Composition, Matthew Felumlee

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on a study of reading-into-writing strategies employed by students in two sections of first-year-composition (FYC) that were paired with a support course as part of an accelerated learning program (ALP) at a community college. Each FYC course was comprised of 11 students whom the college had deemed college-ready without the ALP course, and 11 students who were deemed at remedial levels in reading and / or writing and who were subsequently required to enroll in the ALP course. The study employs grounded theory methodology to identify and consider the many factors that influenced how reading was portrayed, …

Developmental Readers, New Literacies, And The Impact Of Direct Instruction, Kristine Elizabeth Wilson,

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Many students enter college underprepared for the rigors of college-level reading, and these students are often placed in developmental courses. Furthermore, many students, with and without the developmental label, face challenges when reading online and in print, and research shows that these reading processes are not exactly the same. Research into new literacies finds that online reading comprehension gaps exist that are different from print reading. Varying reading strategies as well as metacognitive strategies can help assist students in successfully comprehending texts at the college level. This study investigated how explicit instruction in new literacy strategies impacts a reader’s ability …

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. …

Expert Elementary Readers: A Profile Of Reading Proficiency, Shelley Watson Burton

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined, through think-aloud protocols, the metacognitive processes that proficient fourth-grade readers use while they read to explore what types of thinking are present in successful elementary-school readers. Using an embedded mixed methods design, I studied the reported thinking processes of 12 proficient, fourth-grade readers to determine what these readers reported thinking as they read informational texts and what types of patterns were evident in their thinking. Several common themes emerged from the analysis of the students’ think-alouds and the findings indicated that the participants applied multiple, similar reading strategies while reading to aid their comprehension.

Employing Cueing Systems To Decode Text And Negotiate Text-Meaning In A Second Language, Timothy A. Rodriquez, Laureen Fregeau, Mary Kay Moskal, Robert Leier

Many educators state that teaching English-Language Learners (ELLs) is just a matter of good teaching. While effective teaching is something that all children deserve, there are some differences between the approach a teacher may have to take with ELLs and with other students. One aspect of this difference is the fact that, while children go through the same stages of language development, ELLs may be at stages typically not found in other students. Based on a case study of an EL and his teacher, this article explains cueing systems and their role in literacy for ELs.

Creating Spaces For Literacy, Creating Spaces For Learning, Christy M. Howard

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study represents the practices of a middle school social studies teacher as she focuses on integrating questioning, reading, and writing in her content area. This teacher uses literacy strategies to engage students in practices of reading multiple texts and writing to showcase learning. She creates opportunities for students to make connections to their learning, posing questions to enhance critical thinking and the use of multiple sources to support responses. Through these actions, she creates spaces for student reading, writing, and learning to occur.

Developing Differentiated Reading Instruction Online For Gifted Third Graders: A Design Experiment, Beth E. Jordan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The high stakes on standardized testing in the United States of America’s education system pressures teachers to ensure every child meets minimum standards. Teachers report this pressure motivates them to focus the majority of their time on struggling students. Combined with lack of training and resources, intellectually gifted students may remain under-challenged in a regular elementary classroom. To address the problem, the researcher continued the development of an online instructional environment, which teachers may use to extend and enrich the regular language arts curriculum for intellectually gifted students. The researcher conducted a formative design experiment “to create a viable theory-driven …

Fifth Graders Blog With Preservice Teachers To Discuss Literature, Lindsay Yearta, Katie Stover, Rachel Sease

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In this study, fifth grade students participated in a pen pal project with pre-service teachers where they blogged for eight weeks about the book, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. Partnerships were established to provide fifth grade students with an authentic audience in an effort to increase engagement in reading and writing. The authors posit that individualized instruction, access to an authentic audience, and the utilization of technology contributed to students' growth as readers, writers, and global citizens.

“Do You Have A Brother? I Have Two!”: The Nature Of Questions Asked And Answered In Text-Focused Pen Pal Exchanges, Elizabeth M. Hughes, Lea Evering, Jacquelynn A. Malloy, Linda B. Gambrell

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Authentic learning experiences are those in which students engage with texts as well as the behaviors of reading and writing within contexts of real-world use beyond traditional academic use. This study provides quantitative analysis of how students (n=200) engaged with an adult pen pal in a shared literacy experience. Findings indicate that students actively participated with their adult pen pals asking and answering more personal questions than literature-based questions. Data were disaggregated for reading ability and gender. Students who were considered above-grade level readers asked and answered significantly more questions than students considered below grade level in reading. Girls asked …

Teachers' Beliefs, Knowledge, And Implementation Of Disciplinary Literacy Pedagogy In Three Advanced Placement United States History Classrooms, Stephanie Bennett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this inquiry, I investigated three Advanced Placement United State History teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and implementation of disciplinary literacy pedagogy in their Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) classrooms. My interest in disciplinary literacy evolved from my own experiences as a high school social studies teacher and middle school intensive reading teacher. With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, whose emphasis is, in part, on discipline-specific literacy, across the United States in 2014-2015, I recognize the need for research relevant to discipline-specific practices in the classroom. I want to contribute further to the understandings of disciplinary literacy pedagogy. …

The Professional Development Practices Of Two Reading First Coaches, Charlotte A. Mundy, Dorene D. Ross, Melinda M. Leko

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

To establish job-embedded, ongoing professional development recent policies and initiatives required that districts appoint school-based coaches. The Reading First Initiative, for example, created an immediate need for coaches without a clear definition of coaches’ responsibilities. Therefore, the purpose of this case study was to investigate how two Reading First coaches interpreted and enacted their professional development responsibilities. Cross-case analyses identified similarities and differences in coaches’ enactments. Findings revealed that while each coach engaged in similar professional development responsibilities (e.g. modeling, observing, and classroom walkthroughs) their approach to these responsibilities differed — collaborative versus expert driven. These differences in approaches indicate …