Elementary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Predictors Of Latino English Learners’ Reading Comprehension Proficiency, Theresa A. Grasparil, David A. Hernandez

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Poor literacy achievement among English learners has contributed significantly to their high dropout rates, poor job prospects, and high poverty rates. The National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth has suggested that English learners benefit from the same direct, systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading shown effective for native-English-speaking students: phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Implementing effective reading instructional practices for English learners may reduce the literacy achievement gap between English learners and native English speakers. In this study, we used multiple regression to examine data for 1,376 third-grade Latino English …

Literature Circles: In Class And Online Discussions, Jenna Purifico

Theses and Dissertations

In compliance to the new literacy shifts in education, a qualitative study was conducted with the intention to aid improvement in literacy instruction. The course of the study spanned for four weeks in one third grade classroom within the same school building. This study was designed to see what would happen when third graders met to discuss what they read within literature circles not only in the classroom face to face but online as well through a discussion board. Students read leveled, historical fiction novels pertaining to a theme of Native Americans. It was concluded that literature circles online and …

Integrating Math And Literature In The Elementary Classroom, Megan Maureen Boebinger

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Growing up, I was the student who hated to go to math class. I was not bad at math, I just could not seem to find a way to make it interesting or exciting. I had trouble understanding the purpose of math and how it was applicable to my own life. Word problems were my worst enemy; I appreciated the attempt to make math seem relatable, but never saw the use. Many of these problems involved building or buying something; topics I had no experience with in elementary school. I did not see why I needed to know the exact …

What Happens When Qr Codes Are Used To Increase Student Engagement, Motivation And Independence In A Fourth Grade Basic Skills Classroom?, Stephanie Baruffi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what happens when QR Codes are used to increase students' engagement, motivation and independence in a 4th grade BSI classroom. Twelve students participated in the research model. Data collected included surveys, audio taped interviews, and audio taped discussions, personal teacher journal, and student surveys. The data was analyzed recursively across all data sets to determine patterns and themes. Themes that emerged were difficulties scanning the QR Codes on the iPads, creating QR Codes independently, and limited timing issues. Also, one of the major findings of this study was that the students who …

When And How To Appropriately Implement Teaching Tools And Strategies For Early Childhood Numeracy, Elizabeth Bartha, Julie Dombai

Education: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The Augustana/Longfellow Number Sense Project (NSP) is a collaborative action research project that was created to provide purposeful, individualized instruction for Longfellow’s kindergarteners and enhance the teacher education program at Augustana. During this program, we work with Kindergarten students on mathematical concepts and skills. Our lessons incorporate both hands-on materials and educational software into our lessons. As we became familiar with this software, we began to suggest ways we could improve the software as well as ideas for new applications designed to help meet needs the students encountered in the classroom. Because the students interacted with a variety of teaching …

Scrutinizing And Supplementing Children’S Trade Books About Child Labor, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

State and national initiatives place an increased emphasis on both students’ exposure to diverse texts and teachers’ integration of English/language arts and history/social studies. The intent is for students to critically examine diverse accounts and perspectives of the same historical event or era. Critical examination can be accomplished through teachers’ purposeful juxtaposition of age-appropriate, engaging trade books and relevant informational texts, such as primary source materials. To guide interested elementary and middle level teachers, researchers can evaluate trade books for historical representation and suggest divergent or competing narratives that compel students to scrutinize diverse perspectives. Researchers can locate germane primary …

You're And Your, Stella Rich

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on the words Your and You’re, which students often confuse. During the lesson, students were given the rule for when to use each of the words correctly and the tip that when using “you’re” they can substitute you are in place of the word and when using “your” they can substitute the word my in its place to see what makes sense. After students went over the words they were each given either “your” or “you’re” on a star and asked to Velcro the …

Then Or Than?, Jamie Buyak

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on the words Then and Than, which students often confuse. During the lesson, students learned the rule for when to use each word correctly and this trick to help: use THEN when referring to time (both “then” and “time” contain the letter e) and THAN when comparing things (both “than” and “compare” contain the letter a). Once students learned the rule they were each given the words then and than and a sentence was presented. Students were asked to come up and Velcro the …

Prefixes, Christine Beecher

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on Prefixes. During the lesson, students first were taught what prefixes are and how they are combined with a root word to alter the meaning of the root word. Students then were each given index cards—some with prefixes and some with root words. They had to match up their prefix with someone else’s root word to make a new word and then share this with the group. Certain common prefixes such as un, dis, pre, non, re, ex, mis, bi and con were emphasized. …

Synonyms, Saige Sturvist

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on Synonyms. During the lesson, the teacher first explained what synonyms were and gave some examples. Students then were given some predetermined words and were asked to match their word (written on an orange straw) with its synonym written on the outside of a cup. They were asked to put the word in the cup with the related synonym. To conclude the lesson, students generated their own words that matched a word on a synonym cup and the teacher challenged the students to come …

Teaching English Learners In Middle Grades: A Mixed Method Study Of The Dispositions, Priorities, And Instructional Practices Of Urban Bilingual, Esl, And Content Teachers, Elizabeth Cardenas-Lopez

Dissertations

This study focuses on the instruction of middle grade English language learners (ELs) and their bilingual, English as a Second Language (ESL), and content teachers in a large, urban, Midwestern school district. This mixed methods study gathered quantitative and qualitative data using a survey and interviews to examine the preparation, dispositions, and experiences of middle grade EL teachers; their professional development; their instructional decisions related to language and literacy development; and the factors that influence these decisions. Study results aided the formulation of district, school, and teacher level recommendations based on the belief that without equitable, quality instruction, and highly …

Elementary Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About Teacher Effectiveness, Mauricio A Herron Gloria

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore elementary preservice teachers' beliefs about effective classroom instruction and the characteristics and behaviors of effective teachers, and to examine how these beliefs may vary across teacher education. Participants were 24 students enrolled in a teacher education program at a large mid-west university in the United States. Data were collected using an intensive interview protocol consisting of semi-structured questions, and analyzed using grounded theory strategies (Charmaz, 2006, 2012). Using a constructive/interpretive framework (Lincoln & Guba, 2013), the analysis of the data indicated that participants' beliefs about teacher effectiveness dwell around 12 overreaching categories; …

Identification Of Specific Learning Disability In New Jersey: An Illuminative Evaluation, Jennifer Garwood

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies have examined changes in state legislation and guidance in response to IDEIA (2004) with regard to identification of specific learning disability (SLD). However, it is difficult to find research examining the diagnostic practices for SLD within various states. Investigators in the present study aim to isolate the significant features of practices used to identify SLD in New Jersey, delineate relationships between district characteristics and diagnostic practices, and detect trends in the use of response to intervention (RTI). This qualitative research study utilizes an illuminative evaluation model, in which survey and interview data was analyzed to explore aspects of …

Reading Interventions In Relation To The Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee, Kathryn C. Auletto

Honors Theses

Reading is one of the most critical skills that students learn in their first few years of education. A strong foundation in reading at the early childhood level can promote success in the rest of schooling and beyond. This is especially true for children of poverty; reading abilities and the strong education that follows provide students with opportunities to break the poverty cycle. The importance of reading achievement is a political dimension, as demonstrated by Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee. This legislation, which has many implications in education, requires that all third grade students who do not pass the Reading …

The Study Of Pre-Service Teachers Participating In Candidate Learning Communities: A Mixed Methods Study, Barbara Sunderman

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of instructional skill and professional dispositions of pre-service teacher education candidates’ understanding of their own teaching skills. The research examined perceptions before and after the clinical experience while participating in a Candidate Learning Community. In this mixed-methods study, perceptions were quantitatively measured with a pre-survey and a post survey of 17 participants and qualitatively described by 11 participants in follow up interviews; each intensely studied teaching skill and professional pedagogy in coursework and cooperative classrooms.

The research revealed significant increase in personal perception of teaching skills and dispositions during the …

"I Want To Be The Sun": Tableau As An Embodied Representation Of Main Ideas In Science Information Texts, Margaret Branscombe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study I investigated the process drama convention of tableau to mediate for the representation of main ideas in science information texts. My pedagogical goal was to focus on the body as a tool for engaging with information texts and my rationale for this goal was the belief that the body is neglected in classroom learning. The task of creating caused the students to be active and to think of their own and other bodies as signifiers of meaning.

The methodology was based on a formative experiment that allowed for changes and modifications to be made in response to …

What Happens When Parents And Students Engage In A Collaborative Book Club?, Samantha Dulude

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study investigates the potential benefits of students and their parents engaging in a collaborative book club using various texts and reader response activities. The parents and students completed a pre and post survey describing their literacy interests and engagement. Parents read various books with their children. Both parent and their child discussed the stories through a blog page and reader response activities. Narrative analysis was utilized and various themes surfaced from the data. For example: Character traits, parent-child interaction and bonding, and the value of reader response activities.

Encouraging Parent-Student Literacy Conversations: Hosting An Upper Elementary Family Literacy Event, Morgen Lehr, Lisa Remchuk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore how a partnership might be forged between parents and teachers to develop the literacy skills of upper elementary school students in grades 3-5. The family literacy event used in this study consisted of two sessions held at the students' school. The first session was a parent-only learning experience, and both parents and students were invited to participate in the program's second session. The content of the family literacy event used in this study focused on encouraging critical, high-quality literature conversations at home to benefit students' literacy development. Teacher researchers collected …

The Impact Of Using Mentor Texts And The Writing Workshop With First Grade Writers, Kelly Turner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that using mentor texts in conjunction with the writing workshop would have on struggling first grade writers. A group of eight first grade students participated in the study. The participants had varying writing ability levels. During the study, the students were provided writing instruction with a variety of mentor texts during mini-lessons. After each lesson, the students were given between thirty to sixty minutes to write. The workshop sessions concluded with the students sharing self-selected writing pieces. This format was followed four days a week for the duration of four …

What Is The Effect Of Language Arts Small Group Instruction In The Form Of Student Directed Centers Or Teacher Directed Small Groups On The Social And Educational Relationships Of Teachers And Students Within A Primary Grade Classroom?, Jennifer Gorgo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect that student directed center work had on the social and educational relationships of teachers and students in a second grade classroom. The study showed that the effect was a positive one. Students showed academic growth along with growth toward a positive self-concept. Through surveys and academic work one was able to see that the students were better able to express themselves socially and academically. While the students were working together, they were creating learning communities that were facilitating academic growth as well as social growth amongst their peers and teachers. …