Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Integrating The Arts And Sciences In The Museum Setting, Emily Clare Riggins

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The division between the arts and sciences appears to be deepening in America. As political leaders emphasize STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education in schools, arts education is diminished to make room for STEM courses. Concerned about this phenomenon, many art educators are working to integrate the arts into STEM education through a variety of arts integration efforts. Arts integration not only helps to preserve a place for the arts in the curriculum, it also has been shown to enhance STEM learning.

Arts integration is of special interest to art museum educators who feel that they can provide resources …

Teaching Health Literacy In Conjunction With Esl, Dora Lee

Master's Projects and Capstones

In the United States, many English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers who have limited English proficiency also have low levels of health literacy. The purpose of this project is to create a curriculum that ESL teachers can implement to improve the English language proficiency and the health literacy skills of adult ESL speakers with limited English proficiency residing in the United States. The curriculum is designed for teachers who work with ESL speakers who may be having trouble obtaining, processing, communicating, or managing health information due to language barriers.

Technology Integration For Common Core State Standards Implementation: Developing Differentiated Professional Development Based On The Concerns-Based Adoption Model, Tami Boatright

Dissertations

Teachers must learn how to integrate technology for CCSS implementation in an educational environment tasked with preparing 21st century students to not only survive, but thrive in a knowledge-based global society. The changes required for 21st century learning to prepare 21st century students is transformational in nature and represents a paradigm shift for many teachers. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the differences in teachers’ Stages of Concern with integrating technology for implementation of CCSS according to age, gender, and years of teaching. In addition it was the purpose of this study to use information obtained from …

The Effects Of Creating Self-Assessed Work Portfolios On Student Learning Engagement In An Upper Elementary Montessori Classroom, Suzanne Clement Thorne

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Self-Assessed Portfolios for Student Engagement in Learning Abstract The purpose of the research was to find whether the creation of self-assessed student work portfolios would be effective in engaging students in learning opportunities and lead to self-regulated behaviors. The research project was conducted in an upper elementary classroom. The class consists of twenty-three grade four to grade six Montessori students in a private school. Ten students have had a Montessori education starting in preschool, eight students started in grade three, two were held back a year, two students started in grade four, and two students started in grade six. Fifty-two …

Perceptions, Beliefs And Practices About Technology Among Teachers In A Jamaican Infant School, Suzette Anissia Kelly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interview study was to describe and explain perceptions, beliefs, and practices about technology among four teachers at a Jamaican infant school, by answering: What are teachers' perceptions and beliefs about the role of technology in young children's learning? What are the practices regarding technology among Jamaican infant school teachers? I used criterion sampling to identify participants for my inquiry. For data collection, I used semi-structured interviews, teachers' lesson plans, and my reflective journal. I applied a socio-cultural approach (Rogoff, 1990) for the data analysis to make sense of the teachers' perceptions and articulated practices. The findings …

Experiences Of Hispanic Students Enrolled In Secondary Agricultural Education Programs, Karina Salomon, José Vargas

Agricultural Education and Communication

Nearly 52% of the 72,445 [state] students enrolled in agricultural education are Hispanic. However, when many of these programs participate in leadership development activities beyond the local level, the diversity of their participants fails to mirror that of their enrollment. Many teachers are at a loss as to what they can do to cultivate the talent of these students.

In this phenomenological study, a focus group interview was conducted at a [state] high school agriculture program with the reputation for strong Hispanic student engagement. Nine Hispanic agriculture students were invited to participate. The purpose of the study was to interpret …

Beyond The Skilled Application Of Know-How: Pedagogical Reasoning As Phronesis In Highly Competent Teachers, Kathryn Boney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Given the teacher-as-technician view and the instrumentalist values that pervade professional schools, practices, and policy decisions (Kinsella & Pitman, 2012a; Zeichner, 2012) with regard to teacher qualification, evidence-based practices, and scripted curricula, there is growing concern that something of fundamental importance and moral significance is missing from the vision of what it means to be a professional, particularly in the field of education. In order to articulate teacher practical knowledge in a way that reflects the complexities of practice, a framework that captures the complexity of teaching practice and helps to define the type of knowledge beyond content and technique, …

Exploring The Relationship Of Motivation, Anxiety, And Virtual Worlds In The Experiences Of Two Spanish Language Learners: A Case Study, Amy Katherine Wehner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Virtual Worlds (VWs) in foreign language education are slowly becoming more popular. Many studies have looked at the affordances of these worlds and how they affect some aspects of language acquisition. However, it is still unknown to what extent, if any, these virtual worlds can play a role in affecting motivation and anxiety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivation, anxiety and virtual worlds to see how participation in activities within these environments interacted in two individual language learners, Jessica and Melissa.

Using a case study approach, I observed and interviewed the two participants in …

Parent Preferred Teacher Qualities: The Call For Highly Qualified Teachers, Taylor M. Roberson

Honors College Theses

This study sought to answer the question, “What teacher characteristics do parents value most?” as an initial response to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.The purpose of this study was to determine what teacher characteristics parents perceive as making teachers highly qualified to be used to improve parent-teacher relations and teacher effectiveness. To answer this question, a survey was used to collect data from the parents of K-5 students. 176 surveys were returned out of the 800 administered and were used to help the researcher conclude that there is not a teacher characteristic that stands alone to make …

An Examination Of Cooperating Teachers' Observations Of Their Student Teachers In The Areas Of Personal, Teaching, And Musical Skills In The Elementary Classroom, Mark Remsen Cole

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the observations of elementary school music teachers regarding the level of preparation of their most recent student teachers at the beginning of their student teaching experience. Twenty-seven elementary music teachers participated in a survey rating the preparedness of their student teacher in the areas of personal, teaching, and musical skills, and provided free-response feedback concerning the skills and abilities they observed as strong and weak. These responses were compared to the 1997 research completed by David Teachout, where preservice teachers and experienced teachers were asked to list what they felt were …

Active Development Of Tacit Knowledge: Adtk In A World Without Farmers, Roger E. Garrett Jr.

Capstone Collection

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and extensions such as Transformative Learning Theory offer significant potential for skill development later in life – reskilling. Despite wide acceptance and deployment, practitioners are still obliged to design their own methods and activities in order to implement these theories. This paper introduces a novel curricular model, Active Development of Tacit Knowledge (ADTK). Educators can use ADTK to effectively implement and scale ELT. Agricultural Education, specifically the training of new farmers, is used as a sample context to demonstrate ADTK. In new-farmer education, it is necessary to compress the educational cycles of dozens of years of …

Influence Of Siop Cognitive Coaching Workshops On Teaching Practices Of Esl Teachers And Esl Paraprofessionals, Ruben Alicea

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore and report on the influence that cognitive coaching, as an embedded part of professional development, has on ESL teachers' and ESL paraprofessionals' learning and practice in the context of educating English learner (EL) students using the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model of instruction. An examination was made on the views of 52 ESL teachers and paraprofessionals regarding participation in a series of 12 professional development workshops, use of cognitive coaching, and implementation of the SIOP with their EL students. As part of their participation in the professional development, self-reflection data were …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Use Of Read 180 With Secondary Remedial Reading Students, Melanie Mclaughlin Cleveland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Read 180 is a research-based reading intervention program. One local district implemented the program to improve student performance on the state assessment, and after a year of implementation, nearly half of the students in the district studied still did not make adequate progress in reading. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of and experiences with the use of Read 180 in secondary reading classrooms. Guided by Carroll's framework on the critical aspects of implementation, the study examined teachers' perceptions of (a) availability of resources necessary to adhere to the program's design, (b) ample class time to …

Corporate Social Responsibility Enrichment Exchange Program, Deborah Waggoner

Capstone Collection

In this globalized age, international companies and organizations are working in more countries than ever before, and consumers and concerned citizens now have the opportunity and, perhaps even the responsibility, to better understand the environmental and social impacts of the companies and organizations with which they do business.

The concept that businesses and organizations need to be responsible to society for their direct and indirect impacts on people and the environment has become known as corporate social responsibility (CSR). As CSR continues to be a growing practice, companies seem to be approaching it from very different angles, depending upon their …

True Blue: A Narrative Inquiry Exploring Instructional Practices Used During Reading Instruction In A Title I, 2010 National Blue Ribbon School In New Mexico, Debra Yvonne Kerney

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the past 32 years, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, a trademark of excellence and success in academics, has recognized nearly 7,000 American schools in which students have demonstrated high academic performance and achievement (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Previous studies of National Blue Ribbon Schools have largely centered upon leadership characteristics (Carney-Dalton, 2001; Copeland, 2003; Kushner, 2000; Lyles, 2009; Maslyk, 2012;Sapone, 2001), but studies have not focused on the particular instructional practices that are used within these schools. Since 1982, 36 out of 862 New Mexico schools (NCES, 2013) have achieved National Blue Ribbon status (United States Department …

Stakeholders' Roles In Prioritizing Technical Vocational Education And Training In Postconflict Liberia, Edward S. Forh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Postconflict governments and counterparts have collaborated to provide skills training to communities as a critical postconflict development strategy. In these undertakings, the role of community members remains largely undefined. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to understand the perceptions held by rural community members regarding the role they played in influencing government's policy priority for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a local human development strategy in postconflict Liberia. The conceptual framework was based on human capital theory and concepts of motivation and achievement. Fourteen participants were purposefully selected for the study. Data were collected …