Secondary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Geographical Literacy, Attitudes, And Experiences Of Freshman Students: A Qualitative Study At Florida International University, Daniela F. Ottati

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the geography literacy, attitudes and experiences of Florida International University (FIU) freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geography literacy survey. The Geography Literacy and ABC Models formed the conceptual framework. Participants were freshman students enrolled in the Finite Math course at FIU. Since it is assumed that students who perform poorly on geography assessments do not have an interest in the subject, testing and interviewing students allowed the researcher to explore the assumption.

In Phase I, participants completed the Geography Literacy Survey (GLS) with items taken from …

Ethnodrama As A Path To Teacher Euphoria: How Might Ethnodrama Influence Teachers' Perceptions Of Themselves And Promote Teacher Euphoria?, Rodney W. Grist

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study is intended as a mini-pilot program, exploring the potential of ethnodrama to positively impact the burnout experiences of urban public secondary teachers. The current study holds small sample sizes and limited development time, yet an informant panel of nine teachers met in three sessions to discuss and reveal their personal stories, and to plan an ethnodramatic performance to be shared with the entire school faculty and administration (Mienczakowski, Handbook 468; Saldaña, Anthology 2). Informant panelists’ dispositions toward burnout was measured pre and post experience via the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a small, non- participant group was also measured …

Boston Writing Project, Glenn Mitchell, Peter Golden

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Boston Writing Project focuses on the core mission of improving the teaching of writing and improving the use of writing across the disciplines by offering high-quality professional development programs for educators, at all grade levels, K–16 and across the curriculum.

Educators' Perceptions Regarding Common Core State Standards And Professional Development, Christine Hipsher

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the impact of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Georgia K-12 on the professional development needs of educators. Across the United States the enactment of a Common Core State Standards went into effect. The primary goal of the Common Core State Standards movement was to clarify standards. Accordingly, this study reviewed Social Learning Theory and Constructivism. The research questions in this study examined the types of support educators requested. The research conducted in this multiple case study analyzed teachers' perceptions about the implementation of the CCSS and …

Engaging With Excellence In Mathematics Teaching : Creating Excellence In The Learning Environment, Ray Peck, Hilary Hollingsworth, W Morony

Ray Peck

No abstract provided.

The Power To Transform: Leadership That Brings Learning And Schooling To Life, Stephanie Pace Marshall

Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

The Power to Transform is a call to re-conceive and re-design schooling. Rather than offer “best practices” or “prescriptive solutions,” it invites leaders of all ages and walks of life to think differently about learning and schooling. It illuminates the “why” and “what” of educational transformation and explores its deepest roots. It offers new language, new design principles, a new framework, and a new map for creating vibrant, imaginative and adaptive learning landscapes that integrate the dynamic properties of living systems with the generative principles of learning. It is from this natural integration that the new story of learning and …

Learning To Teach Mathematics With Reasoning And Sense Making, Amy L. Nebesniak

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study uses teacher research to examine teacher learning in the context of instructional coaching. The author, a mathematics instructional coach, engaged in an intense three-week coaching relationship with a high school Algebra teacher. A detailed description of the teaching and learning of quadratics that took place during this research provide information about what and how a teacher learns to teach mathematics with reasoning and sense making. Mapping the terrain of quadratics deepened the teacher’s understanding of the mathematical content and encouraged him to adapt his textbook in order to build mathematical reasoning. Through the coaching process, the teacher also …

Teaching, Writing, Writing Teaching: Reflective Journal Responses From Teaching Engl 1000, Christine Hamman

Honors Theses

A series of reflective journals and responses written to reflect on and improve in the teaching of English. Each journal was written following each class meeting of a Fall 2011 ENGL 1000 course, reflecting on the lesson, activities, and teaching for the day. From these journals, responses were written for 9 of them and lesson plans for those days were revised and added for the purposes of comparison. Using research in best practices in teaching writing, educational training, and personal experience, responses were written to each journal to condense the strengths and weaknesses of my teaching, to chart progress as …

Connect & Thrive: Perspectives Of A Newly Tenured Professor, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

This essay encapsulates my perspective (newly-tenured and seven years into my career) on how average professors can become highly effective professors. The secret rests in the ability to genuinely connect with students. Connecting really matters - even if it takes some personality adaptation and thrusts academics out of their comfort zones. Many professors fail to connect with students in a meaningful way. My evidence for this assertion is simple and straightforward. In addition to teaching, I am blessed to travel the country and speak on college campuses.3 After extensive discussions on these trips, students consistently claim their professors are boring, …

Extensiveness And Perceptions Of Lecture Demonstrations In The High School Chemistry Classroom, Daniel S. Price

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While lecture demonstrations have been conducted in chemistry classrooms for hundreds of years, little research exists to document the frequency with which such demonstrations are employed or their effect on learners’ motivation and performance. A mixed-methods research study was performed, using quantitative and qualitative survey data, along with qualitative data from follow-up interviews and structured correspondence, to determine the extent to which lecture demonstrations are used in high school chemistry instruction, and the perceived effects of viewing such demonstrations on students’ performance on course assignments and on motivation to excel in current and future chemistry courses. Fifty-two randomly selected chemistry …

Putting History Teaching 'In Its Place', Keith A. Erekson

Keith A Erekson

Recent literature on history teaching has emphasized "doing history"—whether as "active learning," "historical thinking," or reading photocopies of primary sources. This paper extends the discussion of a "signature pedagogy" of history teaching and learning to include attention to the places where historians do history--in the archives and at the presenter's podium. It presents a case study of effective teaching from the 1920s and 1930s and provides recommendations for helping students to research in nearby archives (such as the home) and present their findings to public audiences.

Erin Gruwell: Catalyst For Change, Lisa Penrod, Jennifer Edmond

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

On the evening of February 19^th, 2008, we had the distinct honor and pleasure of meeting Ms. Erin Gruwell, teacher, motivational speaker and author of The Freedom Writers’ Diary and Teach With Your Heart. Upon being introduced, Ms. Gruwell focused the attention of the audience on her greatest passion, the students. After asking the teenagers to stand and be recognized, she ardently requested that the adults in the room purchase a copy of her book The Freedom Writers’ Diary, for every student present so that they might be inspired by students like themselves.

Erin Gruwell And The Freedom Writers: Two Books Reviewed, Jessica Cannaday

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Two books, “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them,” by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell, and “Teach With Your Heart,” also by Erin Gruwell will be reviewed herein. Together, they weave an integrated tale of discovery and self-actualization. This is true for both the students who undergo catharsis with diary entries in “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and for Ms. Gruwell who learns more deeply about who she is as a teacher, a professor, and a person, through a heartfelt journey to help 150 at-risk students find …

Digital Heritage As A Dynamic Source In The School Of Information And Knowledge: Teaching Scenarios And Applications Using Infromation And Communication Technologies, Kosmas Touloumis

Kosmas Touloumis

Teaching with Information and Communications Technologies provides a significant opportunity for the study of cultural heritage and its management by the students. Τhe present paper discusses the need to develop a digital cultural heritage didactic and analogous learning scenarios, following the modern pedagogic principles and methods, based on: - The use of the official digitized cultural data and archives as multimodal semiotic resources in the ICT teaching context - The exploitation of digital nodes and digitized heritage archives, on the elaboration of interdisciplinary and collaborative projects by the students themselves - The social networking and the use of Web 2.0. …

Comics, The Canon, And The Classroom, James Carter

James B Carter

This chapter, which explores what I call the canon-curriculum-culture connection in terms of comics and graphic novels, also offers definitions of the augmental and supplemental approaches to using graphic novels in the classroom. The link is to the "Google Books" version of the paper, which begins on page 47 of the book.

Building Literacy Connections With Graphic Novels: Page By Page, Panel By Panel, James Carter

James B Carter

A book devoted to using graphic novels in the classroom for authentic literacy experiences, focusing upon pairing graphica with young adult or canonical texts. The URL is to the book's page at the publisher's.

From Research To Practice : Using The Timss Video Study Findings To Enhance Australian Mathematics Teaching, Hilary Hollingsworth

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

The findings of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 Video Study have been reported at both international and national levels, however its impact on Australian mathematics teaching has yet to be realised. How can the results of the video study inform teachers' efforts toward excellence in mathematics teaching in Australia? This paper highlights some of the findings and recommendations in the national report, 'Teaching Mathematics in Australia: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study', and anticipates ways that the products of the study might be used for improving teaching and teacher development. The broad purpose of the …

Engaging With Excellence In Mathematics Teaching : Creating Excellence In The Learning Environment, Ray Peck, Hilary Hollingsworth, W Morony

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

No abstract provided.

High School Block Scheduling As A Stimulus: A Multiple-Site Case Study, William H. Phelps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the processes that have been used for implementing the alternative scheduling plan of block scheduling in high schools. The study attempted to discover what professional development activities were used for the change, if teachers altered instruction, and what additional staff development was needed. The qualitative method of case study research was selected for the study. The investigator chose five public high schools, representing city and county systems and different professional development budgets and types of instructional support. Central office administrators who were responsible for the implementation of block scheduling, principals, and a …

Block Scheduling: From Possibility To Reality?, Frederic M. Muse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines teacher practices and student learning as perceived by teachers within public high schools that have implemented block scheduling. Comparisons are made between the possibilities advanced by block scheduling advocates and the actual results as interpreted from the data gathered. Comparisons are made between teaching and learning with the traditional schedule and the manner in which it takes place with block scheduling. Open-ended questionnaires were developed for use with voluntary participants who had worked with traditional scheduling and now taught with some form of block scheduling. Participants recorded observations based solely upon personal perceptions of experiences with students …

The Relationship Of Experience, Education, And Tennessee Career Ladder Status To Teachers' Perceptions Of Staff Development Needs In Block Scheduled Programs, Rita S. Mullins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem related to this study was to develop a clearer understanding of the staff development needs of high school classroom teachers implementing block scheduled programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if teachers' perceptions of staff development needs differed when teaching experience, education (highest degree earned), and Tennessee Career Ladder status were considered. Four levels of each independent variable were analyzed by six categories of perceptions, the dependent variables. The categories were: (a) Planning, (b) Knowledge, (c) Satisfaction with staff development, (d) Adult learning strategies, (e) Level of involvement, and (f) Impact on student testing and grades. …

Stages Of Implementation Of Block Scheduling: Perceptions Of School Climate In High Schools In The First Tennessee Regional District, Chele L. Dugger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A descriptive study was conducted to identify teachers' and principals' perceptions of school climate in four stages of a change to block scheduling: Initiation, the first year of Implementation, the second year of Implementation, and the third year of Implementation or Institutionalization. Data were collected from 442 teachers and principals in nine high schools in the First Tennessee Regional District in a stratified purposeful random sample using the Organizational Health Index (OHI), a 44-item survey, and a demographic information sheet. The survey has seven dimensions: Institutional Integrity, Initiating Structure, Consideration, Principal Influence, Resource Support, Morale, and Academic Support. These dimensions …

Occasional Papers: On Collaboration In Education, Janice Rowan

Hollybush Series

Volume 4 of The Hollybush Series contains 11 faculty essays on collaboration in education, with artwork from students at John Fenwick School and Elmer School.

Faculty authors are: Jane Sullivan, Carl Calliari, Sharon Davis-Bianco, Donna Hathaway, Jody Blohm, Christine Johnston, Gary Dainton, Charles Ivory, Christy Faison, Peggy Beck, David Kapel, Carol Sharp, Janet Moss, Edith Thompson, and Brenda Benson-Burrell.

Return To English, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Autobiographical: A burnt-out teacher gives teaching away after fifteen years in the classroom to pursue a personal agenda--writing, income generation independent of the classroom, and rediscovering life. But after three years he returned to teaching. The article explores why he left, and why he returned.

An Unquiet Pedagogy : Transforming Practice In The English Classroom, Eleanor Kutz, Hephzibah Roskelly

Eleanor Kutz

An Unquiet Pedagogy argues for a new approach to teaching English in the high school and college classroom, one that reconceives the relationship of literacy and the learner. The title is taken from an essay by Paulo Freire in his book with Donaldo Macedo entitled Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. Like Freire, the authors believe that pedagogy must be critical -- that it must examine the assumptions that teachers and students bring to any educational enterprise, that it must take into account the contexts of learners' lives, and that it must question, rather than quietly accept, existing practices. …

Dorchester: The Community Teaches, A Resource Book Of Information And Activities, Institute For Learning & Teaching, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Institute for Learning and Teaching Publications

We have prepared this manual of resources and activities so that Dorchester teachers and children can explore their community. We have done so in the belief that community studies can be a valuable addition to the curriculum. They involve children in thinking about and taking part in the affairs of their community. Through community studies, children in the process of becoming citizens can learn how to participate in and have an impact on their community. In this time of widespread apathy, despair, and resignation about community problems, education for citizenship is a top priority.

When children are learning about their …