Unruly Play In Picture Books,
2024
Washington University in St. Louis
Unruly Play In Picture Books, Danielle Groak
MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture
This essay defines unruly and imaginative play based on a variety of interdisciplinary sources. The study examines a selection of children’s picture books that showcase a kind of play that defies normative narrative pacing, power dynamics, and narrative sequence. Future research is recommended to further interdisciplinary discourse on the complexity of imaginative play in children’s literature in a way that honors children’s agency as storytellers.
Primary School Teachers’ Perspectives On Parent-Teacher Engagement In A Rural Title I Charter School District In The Southeast,
2024
Walden University
Primary School Teachers’ Perspectives On Parent-Teacher Engagement In A Rural Title I Charter School District In The Southeast, Deena K. Eberhardt
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Children learn more effectively when parent-teacher engagement is high and home-school communication and collaboration are optimal. The problem addressed in this study was a lack of parent-teacher engagement in two Title I primary schools within a charter school system located in a rural area of the Southeast. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore primary teachers’ perspectives on parent-teacher engagement in a rural Title I charter school system in the Southeast. Epstein’s parental involvement model and Vygotsky’s social constructivist theory formed the conceptual framework. Research questions focused on teachers’ perspectives on parent-teacher engagement and strategies encourage this. …
A Qualitative Exploration Of Early Educator Retention And Within-Year Turnover,
2024
Walden University
A Qualitative Exploration Of Early Educator Retention And Within-Year Turnover, Elizabeth Ann Dupin
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs are experiencing high turnover, resulting in lower teacher retention rates. High turnover hinders program quality, creates financial strain, and adversely affects program sustainability. Despite efforts to increase educator retention, a rural midwestern ECEC program’s administrative team continues to experience declining retention and high within-year turnover. This study aims to explore early educators’ perceptions of the organizational factors that contribute to teacher retention and within-year turnover in the selected ECEC site. The research study explores organizational factors using Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation. The qualitative data collected from current and previous early educators employed …
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogical Practices In Early Literacy Classrooms: A Qualitative Case Study Of Two Kindergarten Classrooms,
2024
University of San Diego
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogical Practices In Early Literacy Classrooms: A Qualitative Case Study Of Two Kindergarten Classrooms, Elizabeth Carlton Phd
Dissertations
Students who attend school possess their own “funds of knowledge” from their home life and prior experiences (Moll et al., 1992). Yet, learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are not viewed from a strengths-based perspective but rather a deficit perspective. The deficit perspective perpetuates the oppression and marginalization of students of color and multilingual students. Using a qualitative comparative case study research design, the study is rooted in the tenets of Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 2000), Critical Literacy, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy as it sought to uncover insights into asset-based instructional strategies that allow multilingual learners opportunities to participate equitably …
Challenges Faced By Early Childhood Teachers (K-2) As Schools Emerge From The Covid-19 Pandemic,
2024
Walden University
Challenges Faced By Early Childhood Teachers (K-2) As Schools Emerge From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Julie Christine Wright
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Researchers have studied stress and burnout in the field of education for decades. The problem addressed in this study was that early childhood (EC) teachers of kindergarten through second grade in a large, northeastern, suburban public school district have returned to in-person instruction with many challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the personal and professional challenges experienced by EC teachers and investigate the support they need to remain in the classroom. Jennings and Greenberg’s prosocial classroom model was the conceptual framework of the study. Two research questions explored the challenges …
The Radical Refuge: Reconceptualizing Teacher Quality Liberated From The Historical Commodification Of Latina And Black Women In Early Childhood Education,
2024
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
The Radical Refuge: Reconceptualizing Teacher Quality Liberated From The Historical Commodification Of Latina And Black Women In Early Childhood Education, Vanessa Rodriguez
Occasional Paper Series
This article highlights the need to redefine 'quality' in early childhood education (ECE) and challenges systems that devalue Latina and Black women educators. It advocates for recognizing teachers' inherent value and creating a supportive framework that promotes their well-being. The "Radical Refuge" program is introduced as a means of addressing systemic traumas through identity development and healing. Activities like Education Journey Mapping shed light on how traditional measures of quality negatively affect teachers' self-worth. The article emphasizes the importance of teachers' personal experiences and their ability to foster relationships with students. It concludes with hope for a reimagined concept of …
“Pour Into The Teachers”: Learning From Immigrant Women Of Color Through Conversations On “Quality” In Urban Early Education And Care,
2024
Rowan University
“Pour Into The Teachers”: Learning From Immigrant Women Of Color Through Conversations On “Quality” In Urban Early Education And Care, Seung Eun Mcdevitt, Louella Sween
Occasional Paper Series
In this paper, we share our conversations with an education director of an early childhood education and care center, situated in a low-income immigrant community in New York City. We highlight an expanded definition of quality that she has demonstrated as a leader of the center. In doing so, we offer possible alternative ways of creating quality and equitable ECEC practices with and for immigrant children, families, and teachers, and detail the challenges that come with resisting the status quo.
“I Want To Say The Right Thing”: Developing Translingual Literacy Practices Through Early Care Educator And University Researcher Partnerships,
2024
University of Missouri
“I Want To Say The Right Thing”: Developing Translingual Literacy Practices Through Early Care Educator And University Researcher Partnerships, Angie Zapata Phd, Mary Adu-Gyamfi, Phd, Adrianna González Ybarra
Occasional Paper Series
An early care educator (ECE) and university collaborative model of teacher learning offers a distinct departure from common top-down models of professional development. Implementing a Social Design-Based Experiment, ECE and university partners collaborate to explore translingual picturebooks to address curricular inequities in their school settings. Featuring the experience of one white, middle-class ECE (Tamara) in a Midwest rural suburban school, we identify three critical components of this ECE and university researcher collaborative inquiry model: role of ECE as mentors and supporters, picturebooks as tools, and role of university partners as facilitators. Tamara’s experience highlights the critical components of the model, …
Redefining Quality To Center The Capabilities Of Young Children,
2024
Bank Street College of Education
Redefining Quality To Center The Capabilities Of Young Children, Soyoung Park, Sunmin Lee, Nnenna Odim, Jennifer K. Adair
Occasional Paper Series
In this article, we offer a justice-centered approach to measuring and documenting instructional quality that counters traditional teacher evaluations models commonly used in states' Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS). We tell the story of two early care and education practitioners - one teacher and one school leader - who participated in a professional development that focused on learning to observe young children in agentic contexts and finding more ways for young children to showcase, demonstrate, strengthen, or contribute their capabilities. Through these stories, we show how focusing on children's capabilities served to counter the reductionist, hierarchical, and dehumanizing approaches of …
Stories From Three Native Hawaiian Alaka‘I About The Education Of Young Children,
2024
University of Hawaii
Stories From Three Native Hawaiian Alaka‘I About The Education Of Young Children, Charis-Ann F. Sole, M. Nalani Mattox-Primacio, Shin Ae Han
Occasional Paper Series
The stories of three alaka‘i wahine (Native Hawaiian women leaders) who are involved with cultural and linguistic early education environments that promote family and child interaction are featured here. Through interviews and interactions their stories and work are highlighted for stakeholders to glean from lessons they have learned. This work is framed through the lens of (re)imagining educational systems for Native Hawaiian children to experience education that is congruent with their heritage, their family, and their cultural ways of being. Contextualizing the experiences and wisdom of these island leaders’ voices, this weaving of stories highlights the significance of native ideas …
Learning Stories As Assessment For Liberation,
2024
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Learning Stories As Assessment For Liberation, Helen Frazier
Occasional Paper Series
This paper illustrates the transformative power of learning stories as an alternative approach to in early childhood assessment. The author uses examples from her own classroom to demonstrate the use of formative assessment to foster attachment, pluralism and creativity.
Permission To Play: A District's Initiative To Innovate Kindergarten And Promote Developmentally Appropriate Practices,
2024
Portland State University
Permission To Play: A District's Initiative To Innovate Kindergarten And Promote Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Cristin Mcdonough
Dissertations and Theses
Kindergarten's original purpose was to promote socialization skills for young children using play. However, recent research has shown an increased focus on teaching literacy and math skills, combined with pronounced increases in more advanced academic tasks and activities. Given this shift in kindergarten, as well as a lack of professional development for teachers to assist them in promoting developmentally appropriate practices, the Kindergarten Innovation Cohort was created in the Portland School District to address these needs for both students and teachers. Using findings from interviews and field notes, the current study addresses the question: What does the implementation of the …
Book Review: How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction: Understanding The Persistent Problems Of Policy And Practice,
2024
University at Albany, State University of New York
Book Review: How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction: Understanding The Persistent Problems Of Policy And Practice, Nicole Hertz
The Language and Literacy Spectrum
Abstract: This review of How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction: Understanding the Persistent Problems of Policy and Practice, edited by Rachael Gabriel, explores the most pressing educational concerns and their relationship to history and policy, written by scholars from all over the country, such as retention, intervention, early childhood and English language literacy acquisition, and coaching. With the current Science of Reading (SoR) movement and all the related laws that are being passed throughout the United States based on current educational reform measures, this review explores the relationship to past, present, and future literacy legislation, through a historical lens, …
Beating The Heat: The Use Of Coral-Benefitting Bacteria For Heat-Stressed Anemones And Inspiring Future Biologists,
2024
University of San Diego
Beating The Heat: The Use Of Coral-Benefitting Bacteria For Heat-Stressed Anemones And Inspiring Future Biologists, Navah Eshraghi
Undergraduate Honors Theses
The warming of ocean temperatures has caused mass coral-bleaching events characterized by the expulsion of vital algal symbionts from coral tissues. However, the possibility of algal reuptake and existence of bacteria that support coral-algal symbiosis are two avenues of potential restoration efforts. Using the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana as a model for corals, I tested whether the coral-benefitting bacterium Endozoicomonas montiporae could enhance algal uptake under ambient (27°C) and heat-stressed (32°C) conditions. I then turned acquired results into an article modeled after National Geographic Kids to introduce the experiment to younger ages. While temperature was a larger determinant of algal-uptake …
Utilization Of Empathy As A Learning Tool Among Educators At Kate Bond Elementary,
2024
SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad
Utilization Of Empathy As A Learning Tool Among Educators At Kate Bond Elementary, Heather Demarest
Capstone Collection
This qualitative research study explores the opinions and experiences of a group of six educators at Kate Bond Elementary in Memphis, Tennessee. This research examines how these educators utilize empathy as a teaching tool, how they choose to implement social-emotional learning into their classrooms, and how their own educational histories impact their current teaching practices. Data collection spanned four weeks and consisted of six interviews. The findings suggest that empathy not only plays a role in education but is, for this group of educators, inseparable from the academic learning they facilitate in their classrooms. The educators interviewed in this study …
Classroom-Based Simulation & Clinical Education Innovations Improve Graduate Education,
2024
University of South Alabama
Classroom-Based Simulation & Clinical Education Innovations Improve Graduate Education, Brenda L. Beverly, Emma A. Townsend
CoTL 2024 Research Talks
Although classroom-based coursework and clinical education activities in speech-language pathology graduate programs strive to link education to relevant practice, gaps persist. Parent-implemented intervention is an evidence-based practice mandated by federal law in early intervention; however, speech-language pathology graduate programs do not provide students with ample opportunities to gain relevant experience. Outcomes from two research studies supported revising classroom and clinical education, increasing educational relevance and professional preparation for students. A qualitative study with focus groups identified key implementation needs that led to the addition of role play simulation in the classroom. A follow-up study supported developing an innovative clinical model …
Graphic Novels As Learning Tools,
2024
University of South Alabama
Graphic Novels As Learning Tools, Leesha Coleman
CoTL 2024 Research Talks
Graphic novels are not just for kids! Graphic novels can be used in nearly every aspect of teaching and learning. This presentation focuses on providing attendees with research on using graphic medicine in the classroom for retention. While the presentation focuses on Graphic Medicine, the principles can be applied to other disciplines.
Using Early Childhood Literacy Interventions To Support Healthy Development In At-Risk Students,
2024
Concordia University St. Paul
Using Early Childhood Literacy Interventions To Support Healthy Development In At-Risk Students, Patrick Gustafson
Graduate Teacher Education
This Capstone research study investigated ways early childhood literacy interventions can support healthy development in at-risk students. Children entered kindergarten at a wide range of literacy skill levels, and skill gaps could persist for years. Students who failed to read proficiently by third grade are less likely to finish high school. Research showed the potential for targeted early literacy interventions to positively impact outcomes for at-risk students. Interventions implemented by families, teachers, and trained volunteers all made a positive impact on academic achievement. Fidelity played an important role in effective intervention implementation, though challenges exist in real-world early childhood classrooms. …
Reflections Of Growth As A Reggio Emilia Inspired Arts Integration Educator,
2024
Butler University
Reflections Of Growth As A Reggio Emilia Inspired Arts Integration Educator, Katherine Miriam Briner
Education Honors Theses
The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy that puts children at the center of everything involved. The main principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach covered in this paper include the Hundred Languages, which are the idea that children communicate in multiple different ways, the atelier, which is a space that gives opportunities for exploration and social interaction, and documentation, which is a form of representation that shows a child’s thinking and work. The goal of my work was to reflect on my growth as an educator who incorporates arts into the general education classroom and takes inspiration from the …
Exploring Children's Culture Through Tactile Experiences: Kindergarten Children's Intra-Active Encounters In The Art Classroom,
2024
University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
Exploring Children's Culture Through Tactile Experiences: Kindergarten Children's Intra-Active Encounters In The Art Classroom, Leigh Erin Blocker
School of Art Graduate Theses
This study aims to document and investigate kindergarten students’ cultural and social practices relative to the intra-active relationships they encounter when they engage in a tactile experience using clay. By considering emergent tactile experiences involved in kindergartener’s play-based art experiences, I call attention to nuances and intra-active moments embedded in children’s culture. More specifically, I argue that the art classroom is an ecological system in which young people and materials co-shape each other; a system that is essential to the formation of knowledge within an artmaking space. Employing an ethnographic approach, I situate myself as researcher, co-facilitator, and art educator …
