Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Changing The Shape Of The Landscape: Sexual Diversity Frameworks And The Promise Of Queer Literacy Pedagogy In The Elementary Classroom, Cammie Kim Lin

Occasional Paper Series

Analyzing LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature and teaching practices in the elementary classroom, the author outlines a vision for a queer literacy pedagogy. The article begins with a description of four different sexual diversity frameworks: homophobia/heterosexism, tolerance/visibility, social justice, and queer. It includes an exploration of children’s literature and teaching practices that exemplify each framework, making explicit the connections between theory and practice. It then expands on the theories, principles, and practices composing queer literacy pedagogy. The article will be of particular interest to teacher educators and elementary classroom teachers, though the frameworks are equally applicable to all levels and settings.

A Basic Interpretative Study Of Educators In The Childcare Profession: Collegiality As A Base Of Job Satisfaction, Lynda Yvonne Cavazos

Theses & Dissertations

This basic interpretative study explored 12 childcare teachers’ perceptions of job satisfaction and how their motivation has had an instrumental impact on their 10 years or more of job sustainability. In examining the childcare teachers’ perceptions of job satisfaction, the primary research question guiding this study was, “What are the motivational factors that childcare teachers perceive to have contributed to their job satisfaction and retention?” The theoretical framework underlying this study was the Self-Determination Theory, a theory that describes how interactions between early childhood teachers and the system within their work influences motivation in their teaching and their authentic well-being …

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, May 1, 2017, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes May 1, 2017

Native Science In Practice: Cases For Broadening Understanding And Engagement Of Science In Education As A Plea For Future Generations, G. Sue Kasun, Dave López

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

We make a departure from the U.S.’s traditional “science education” in recognition of several stark realities—from the genocidal practices that have eliminated so many indigenous populations in the U.S. to the problems our planet faces, such dire environmental degradation. We are faced daily with a dissonance of knowing our planet needs our respect and care while at the same time bearing witness to “modern” lifestyles based in property rights and individualism. We engage Native science—which encapsulates all of Western science and expands upon it by including the spiritual and emotional realms as well as the physical and mental dimensions of …

Mindfulness For Teachers: A Plan For Intrapersonal And Interpersonal Growth, Bryan Meyer

MA TESOL Collection

Stress is a malady pervasive in today’s culture, which schools are not immune. Teachers are under pressure to raise standardized test scores while students spend more of each day sitting in their seats trying to learn increasingly more abstract concepts at younger ages. All of this leads to a stressful environment. However, there are tools and skills that can be learned to minimize the stress an individual encounters and provide a means to live with more engagement, creativity, and happiness. The author uses his twenty years of meditation and yoga experience to create materials that teachers can implement in their …

The Influence Of Administrators On Literacy Instruction Through The Promotion And Selection Of Professional Development, Lucy K. Johnston-Josey

Dissertations

Literacy is a key component to success in school and in life. Literacy has been a focus of education since 1965 when President Jimmy Carter announced a “war on poverty.” Since then, history has shown that educators should place an emphasis on literacy within schools. Because literacy is so important, I set out to explore how administrators influence literacy through the promotion and selection of professional development.

Mississippi was chosen as a basis for the study because it falls below the nation in terms of literacy rates on the National Assessment for Educational Progress assessment. Nineteen participants from four school …

Identity Crisis: Understanding How American Males’ Self-Perception And Experiences Impact Their Educational Attainment, Jo Yarketta Hawkins-Jones

Dissertations

If you google African American males, the top results include the following words and phrases: poverty, incarceration, locked out of employment, struggle in the classroom, and high school incompletion. Likewise, research continues to show that disadvantages in education and in African American communities are responsible for many Black males’ poor academic achievement and social outcomes. However, there is one key element missing from majority of the research on Black males, their perspectives.

This dissertation addresses how the personal and educational experiences of low-income African American males, who dropped out of school, influenced their self-perceptions and decision regarding their educational attainment. …

Ceteal News, May/June 2017, Ceteal, Coastal Carolina University

CeTEAL Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Currere And Prolepsis: A Literary Analysis, Kristin Kristner Hall, Mario Itzel Suárez, Sungyoon Lee, Patrick Slattery

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Literary scholars and English teachers will recognize the word prolepsis as a term describing the moment in a short story or novel when the reader becomes fully cognizant of past, present, and future events all in one instant. This is a moment of heightened insight, transcending historical sedimentation. " A proleptic moment is any experience " of a text that shifts the reader/viewer/listener outside of " linear segmentation of time and creates a holistic understanding of the past, present, and future simultaneously " (Slattery, 2013, p. 305). Prolepsis is the moment when all of the events of the narrative coalesce. …

Up From Poverty: A Narrative Non-Fiction Study Of Three Female Superintendents From Poverty, Stephanie L. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This narrative non-fiction study was designed to investigate the lived experiences of three female superintendents in the state of Texas who have lived in poverty during their youth and early life. The participating female superintendents were contacted by this researcher through email. The information used in this study was collected from participating superintendents through interviews and analyzed to find the common themes that exist between the lived experiences of each female superintendent from poverty as she progressed through the stages of development in life. The information was also analyzed to ascertain how she was able to elevate out of poverty …

The Phenomenon Of Teacher Burnout: Mitigating Its Influence On New Teachers, Kaila Sanford

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Burnout is a psychological condition with physical, emotional, and mental dimensions. Burnout often includes feelings of exhaustion, long-term fatigue, negative self-concept, despair or hopelessness, frustration, and a lack of productivity at work.

Teacher burnout is a well-known and researched field. It has been documented in the literature that teachers experience high levels of stress and emotional exhaustion, which leads to high levels of burnout and professional attrition. This study examined the incidence of burnout in new elementary school teachers and offered recommendations for changes to organizational structure that may reduce professional burnout.

For the purpose of this study five new …

Responses Of Education Preparation Program Instructors Toward Mental Health Legislation, Alison Bradford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2013, Texas State legislature passed Senate Bill 460 which implemented a law that requires the inclusion of knowledge relating to students’ mental health status in teacher preparation curriculum. This requirement is explained in Texas Education Code (TEC) §21.044(b). The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of awareness of the new requirement and the attitudes toward mental health among Education Preparation Program (EPP) instructors. In addition, faculty were asked about their implementation plans for the new requirement.

A survey was developed to address these research questions. Thirty-five public and private universities in Texas were targeted, which resulted …

Crowdsourcing Cognitive Presence: A Quantitative Content Analysis Of A K12 Educator Mooc Discussion Forum, Kathryn Dawson Shields

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer participants opportunities to engage with content and discussion forums similar to other online courses. Pedagogical components of MOOCs and the nature of learning are worth of examining due to issues involving scale, interaction and the role of the instructor (Ross, Sinclair, Know, Bayne & McLeod, 2014). The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework provides a basis for measuring cognitive presence in online discussion forums. As voluntary point of entry to a community of learners, it is important to consider the nature of participant contributions in terms of cognitive presence. This study focused on an educator …

"Y'All And All These Assessments Is A Little Bit Too Much" : The Effects Of High-Stakes Testing On Critical Literacy Pedagogy., Diana Lalata

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

As the United States of America becomes increasingly diverse, there is a need for teachers to embrace multiculturalism within the classroom. Shifting away from the traditional “banking model” of teaching, educational researchers call for a more critical approach—one in which teachers and students challenge dominant beliefs and practices of education. Foregrounded in those aims of cultural competence and critical consciousness, “critical literacy pedagogy” addresses the politicization of literacy education and employs conscious curriculum and teaching strategies to empower marginalized voices. Although a number of case studies on critical literacy pedagogy show considerable promise in disrupting dominant discourse and developing cultural …

To What Extent Do General Education Elementary Teachers Perceive They Are Prepared To Teach Students With Disabilities?, Susan Fuller Elder

Theses and Dissertations

The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2010 brought many changes to classes but it did not bring changes to the way teachers were trained. Many teacher preparation programs only required one exceptional child course for general education teachers. This dissertation analyzed the data gathered from 12 elementary, general education teachers on their perception of their preparedness to teach students with disabilities in their general education classrooms. The participants’ perceptions of preparedness were evaluated in regards to their pre-service training and their post-service, in-service, and professional development. The interviewees responses to this study demonstrated the need for …

Strategies Of Reading As A Second Language Instruction Across Curriculum In Secondary Grades, Anisa A. Ben Idris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored what themes of best practices teachers report using in real classrooms to teach reading skills to ESL students across curricula. It examined teachers’ applications of the following five themes in their instruction as a regular routine described as best practices in the literature for teaching diverse students: (1) providing comprehensible input, (2) teaching learning strategies of metacognition to bridge the gap between school literacy practices and home literacy practices (3) lowering the affective filter, (4) implementing formative assessment, and (5) cooperating between teachers and ESL facilitators. The study involved teachers from two high schools in one school …

Importance Of And Satisfaction With Characteristics Of Mentoring Among Nursing Faculty, Jacklyn Gentry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The nursing faculty shortage and its contributing factors have been well documented in the literature. Contributory factors include lack of graduate prepared faculty, difficulty recruiting and retaining faculty, and a decrease in job satisfaction within the faculty role. The use of mentoring programs has the potential to impact the nursing faculty shortage by increasing job satisfaction while providing novice faculty with additional support during the transition from clinical nurse to nursing faculty.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the importance of and satisfaction with characteristics of mentoring in full time nursing faculty teaching in baccalaureate …

The Quiet Discrimination Of Lowered Expectations: A Study On The Independent Living Needs Of Severely Disabled Individuals In Kansas, Joe Dalgarn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing the independence of individuals with severe disabilities is of increasing concern to schools and federal agencies. Improving quality of life for high needs individuals with disabilities is an objective of transition programs, which allow consumers to adapt from one aspect of life to the next. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between variables (a) vocational assessment and exploration; (b) workplace readiness training; (c) independent living skills; and (d) self-advocacy and self-care and the independence level of individuals with severe disabilities residing and receiving their education within an institutionalized setting. Finally, this study will examine the …

Factors Contributing To The Problem Of Student Absenteeism In A Rural School, Angela Denean Durborow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Student attendance would seem to be a vital link in measuring student success in school. If students are not in school, they miss instruction from the teacher. Without instruction it seems incredibly difficult to complete the work needed to pass classes and be successful in school. The research explored the problem of practice of student absenteeism in a rural school. The study was conducted using mixed methods research methodology, specifically a sequential mixed methods research design. The research questions were as follows: (1) What explicit or implicit messages are parents and the school sending about school attendance? (2) What is …

Stories At Work : Restorying Narratives Of New Teachers' Identity Learning In Writing Studies., Rachel Gramer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rhetoric and composition has a long, robust history of studying how we train new writing teachers in our graduate/writing programs; yet we lack in-depth inquiries that foreground how new writing teachers learn. This dissertation traces five graduate students learning how to be and become writing teachers, using narrative as an object and means of analysis to study the tacitly internalized process of newcomer professional identity learning. In this project, I enact narrative as a feminist, interdisciplinary methodology to restory new writing teacher research narratives away from implicit deficit or explicit resistance and toward a more generative focus on newcomers’ motivated …