What He Learned To Think He Earned, Andrew Matschiner

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"This story offers an autobiographical counterstory examining different ways young white, middle-class children in the United States learn to accept and celebrate their place in a viciously unequal society. The story explores this process through the experiences of a young white student named Zack growing up in Cedar Grove and attending Cedar Grove Elementary.

The story focuses on what researchers call white racial socialization (Hagerman, 2018), socialization practices (Hughes et al., 2006), and white habitus (Bonilla-Silva, Goar, & Embrick, 2006). This counterstory attempts to pull back the curtain on how white children are socialized to accept and celebrate the status …

Teaching For Musical Understanding Through The Core Music Standards: Creating, Performing, And Responding In The Elementary Music Classroom, Amanda Lynn Ijames

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the implementation, assessment, and instructional needs of elementary music educators of the First District of the Kentucky Music Educators Association in teaching for musical understanding through the artistic processes of creating, performing, and responding of the Core Music Standards. The overarching goals of music education are to teach students to become musically literate and independent makers of music. The researcher conducted an online survey and interviews of members to determine their current instructional and assessment practices and their challenges so that an action plan could be created to assist elementary music educators. Through this study, the researcher …

Factors Predictive Of Self-Efficacy In First Year Teachers, Jessica Leigh Hamelin

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research demonstrates that there are increased teacher burnout rates within the first 5 years of entering the field (Darling-Hammond, 2003; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010; Yost, 2006). Consistent with those findings is that teacher preparation matters when conversing about recruitment and retention (Brown, Lee, & Collins, 2014). As more research is conducted in the area of teacher preparation it has become clear that teacher effectiveness is directly related to preparation (Darling-Hammond, 2010). As teachers enter their first-year teaching, philosophical stances can change, inflated beliefs about the teaching profession can be altered, and self-efficacy is influenced. Drawing from Hoy and Spero’s (2005) …

Inside Collaborative Communities: Teachers' Perceptions Of The Collaborative Process, Pamela Ann Evors

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand teachers’ perceptions of the collaborative process and how it affected their classroom practices. The research question was “What are the perceptions held by experienced public elementary-school teachers in a large urban school district in the southeastern United States regarding the collaborative process in their school settings?”

The research design used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a specific group of public elementary-school teachers who had extensive professional development and experience with the collaborative process, either in co-teaching settings or in frequent collaboration with colleagues. Using the process of educational criticism (Eisner, 1998) …

Leading Effective Inclusive Schools: How Principals Make The Difference, Megan Robinson Mcmillan

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In effective inclusive schools, school principals are the difference-makers. Principals of these schools possess a commitment to leading schools adept at delivering high academic achievement outcomes and providing an inclusive education for students with disabilities. This leadership is predicated upon their inclusive consciousness, or a dogged determination to provide ethical and meaningful educational experiences to all students, but especially those with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to understand how four elementary-level public school principals acquired, developed, and demonstrated an inclusive consciousness that guided their leadership of effective inclusive schools. Data were collected using a basic qualitative methodology and …

Teacher Perceptions On How To Best Support Student Well-Being In Elementary Classrooms, Elanna Beth Derby

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Elementary schools should be adept at assisting students in meeting their mental health need, such as, providing a non-violence approach to conflict resolution; strengthening the students’ relationships with their family members and friends; taking responsibility for their education and future; creating a stronger positive image; handling tough times more effectively; and setting and achieving their goals in life. The purpose of this Q methodology was to explore what teacher perspectives are on how to best support student well-being in the elementary school classroom. Specifically, this study examined what factors emerged when faculty in a large urban school district …

Sowing The Seeds Of Love: Dialogic And Collaborative Literacies For Social Change, Liz Murray

Doctoral Dissertations

This ethnographic case study explored the impact of community organizing on the literacy practices of elementary and middle school aged children and youth in a Bay Area intergenerational non-profit centered on education justice and equity. The participants in the study were part of a program that addressed the needs of children and youth aged four to fourteen. This study foregrounded collaborative critical literacy practices that promoted engagement with topics relevant to their lives. This study is informed by a belief in critical literacy and community organizing as tools to change the world. The children and the youth drew on a …

Steam Education Afterschool And Summer Learning, Tracey Hunter-Doniger

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This article discusses the potential of STEAM education in afterschool and summer learning programs. The author suggests artistic methods and pedagogies that can be implemented in the programs, such as TAB (teaching artistic abilities), art infusion, and Studio Thinking. Challenges are brought forward and essential factors are suggested for STEAM programs. This article outlines STEAM afterschool and summer programs as spaces that invite, encourage and provide a safe learning environment where the students have more freedom to explore and get a deeper understanding of the arts and other disciplines.

The Beliefs Literacy Specialists Hold Regarding Processes That Assist Struggling Readers With The Comprehension Of Informational Text, Marguerite Haldin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children have a basic human right to read. It is the evolving work of the reading/literacy specialists to provide support and build confidence in readers struggling in all components of reading. The purpose of this study is to explore the beliefs of reading/literacy specialists regarding the processes that assist struggling readers with the comprehension of informational text. The methods used were designed to address the research question: What are the beliefs reading/literacy specialists hold regarding processes that assist struggling readers with the comprehension of informational text? Nineteen members of a professional learning group from an intermediate unit in Southwestern Pennsylvania, …

Power Of Choice: Empowerment Through Reading, Sarah Heise

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the impact and relationship between empowerment through choice of literary work and hand-selection “on-level” books within public schools, precisely grade three, in the West-Central region of Minnesota. Twenty-three third graders completed a written questionnaire before and after the study to determine their preference when reading for enjoyment using a Richter Scale. Upon completion of the study, students’ Accelerated Reader scores, a tool for comprehension, were thoroughly analyzed and calculated. Scores were sorted between choice books, those that students chose for themselves, and hand-selected “on-level” texts that I chose for them. The …

The Journey Of A Teacher: Adjusting To A New And Larger School District, Lauren Conroy

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Becoming an educator comes with many challenges. As an educator you are often faced with high or different expectations from administration and superiors, you work with a variety of student abilities, backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses. Each day you are faced with situations where you might be challenged to use problem solving skills, or conflict resolution. You must also adapt to a new building, demanding schedules, meetings students’ unique needs, working with new colleagues, and implement and effective classroom management system. This study analyzes the adjustments that I, as an educator went through as I adapted to a new school district. …

Learning While Building: Enhancing Opportunities For Teacher Candidate Development Within Professional Development Schools Through Programmatic Analysis, Valerie Widdall 7532451, Andrea Lachance, John M. Livermore

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of differing models of practicum placements on teacher candidates’ (TC’s) abilities to practice teaching skills and receive feedback on their teaching. Within the Professional Development School (PDS) model TCs were placed as cohorts in a single PDS site with at least one college faculty member assigned as a liaison, and within the Traditional model TCs were placed across a variety of schools without college faculty connected to the various school sites. Teacher candidates completed a survey with Likert scale and open-ended items to measure TCs’ perceptions of how much time they spent teaching lessons …

Inquiry-Based Learning: Student Teachers’ Challenges And Perceptions, Alain Petro Gholam Dr.

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a student-centered approach driven by students’ questions and their innate curiosity. IBL was introduced and effectively implemented in the general secondary teaching methods course at the American University in Dubai. The study made use of a mixed methods approach. It was guided by two research questions: 1). What factors hinder the implementation of IBL in the student teachers’ classrooms? 2). Why do student teachers favor the use of IBL in their classroom? Eight student teachers enrolled in the general secondary teaching methodology course at the American University in Dubai (Fall 2017) participated in the study. First, …

The Missing Mirror: A Critical Content Analysis Of Multicultural Children's Literature With Black Male Characters, Wendy Harris

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

Education in America is facing many challenges, such as the adoption of common core standards and the demand for highly qualified teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Further, the achievement gap lingers on, with Black males often performing poorly on national assessments of reading proficiency (Tatum, 2005). Although Black males are highly literate, they may feel alienated from traditional school systems and classroom reading selections (Kirkland, 2013). One of the most effective strategies for teachers to bridge the gap in reading is to inspire Black males to get engaged with their books and read for longer periods of time. However, children are more …

Ell Families: Myths, Truths And Strategies For Engagement, Stephanie Knight, Marjaneh Gilpatrick

Journal of English Learner Education

This article is the first in our new category, Teaching Tips. These are practitioner articles designed to enhance existing in-service teacher's classroom strategies with ELs.

Parental involvement may be the strongest predictor of a child receiving a solid education. This means it is vital that teachers and administrators understand the students’ families’ culture and the way they view education. We also must be proactive with them so that we can empower them with literacy strategies to ensure academic success. Also, many English Language Learner (ELL) families are not familiar with the school system in the United States and may …

The Case For Grammar: What Preservice Teachers Need To Know About Metalinguistic Awareness, Aimee Schoonmaker, Kerry L. Purmensky

Journal of English Learner Education

The present study focused on preservice teachers’ grammar knowledge and its importance for their future students’ understanding and use of language, particularly English Learners. This quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest study investigated the grammar knowledge of preservice teachers who were enrolled in an undergraduate applied linguistics course at an urban university in the southern United States. The results confirmed prior research which found that preservice teachers are not knowledgeable enough about English grammar when explaining sentence level errors. This study demonstrated that preservice teachers’ basic understanding of English grammar can be increased in a short time, particularly in the recognition of simple …

A Survey Of Teacher Attitude Regarding Self-Awareness And Inclusive Education Of Special Education Students, Brooke Parvi

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Self-awareness is not something that develops individually or in solitude. Merriam-Webster (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2019) defines self-awareness as, “an awareness of one's own personality or individuality.” Schools have started to increase their understanding of the relevance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and have been progressively providing more training in this area to their teachers. Inclusion happens when students with disabilities to mingle and learn with typically developing students; learn from each other and experiencing social expectations together. Research has indicated that students with learning and behavior disabilities lack social and emotional skills, specifically self-awareness skills.

In this study, educators were …

Supporting Children With Social And Emotional Challenges: A Phenomenological Study Of Teachers’ Experiences Using Social And Emotional Learning Competencies, Tina Pettway

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of teachers in supporting students who encounter social and emotional learning (SEL) challenges in the classroom. This study examined if and how SEL competencies were implemented by teachers in supporting students experiencing SEL challenges in the classroom. SEL was the framework used during this research. A total of 10 teachers from an urban school located in a southern state were selected to represent the population for this study. Data were collected via face-to-face individual semistructured interviews with all participants. Participants were asked to share personal artifacts of successful …

Bridging The Gaps In Elementary Life Science Lessons, Kaitlin Cook

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The United States is experiencing a rise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers while facing a shortage of STEM workers. This could partly be due to a decline in the amount of time allowed for science in elementary schools or possibly because many life science lessons in elementary school lack originality and may not stimulate an interest in science. Lack of captivating STEM education prior to college may be contributing to the decline of students graduating with STEM based degrees. My thesis focuses on getting out of the routine of using monotonous life science lesson plans. I identify …

Utilizing A Critical Literacy Framework To Discuss Issues Of Power And Privilege With Elementary Students, Barbara A. Pollard

Intersections: Critical Issues in Education

This action research study utilizes a critical literacy framework to bring issues of privilege and power into critical dialogue with elementary students. The study is based on the idea that disadvantaged groups can eventually agitate for societal change if they are prompted to begin to critically question systemic inequalities from a young age. Thus, instead of allowing dominant culture to dictate unfair norms and practices by simply abiding to the status quo, this study suggests that elementary teachers should aim to be the vehicle for transformational change by implementing pedagogy that encourages students to think deeply and critically. Over time, …