Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Creativity: Interwoven In The Curriculum Or An Afterthought?, Amanda Bourne

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Students are identified as gifted and talented based on their abilities, including both academic and creative strengths. This study examined whether teachers foster creativity in their classroom, their perceptions of creativity, and how they incorporate creativity in their classroom. Using a mixed methods convergent parallel design, teachers at a K-8 school in the southeastern United States responded to questions about how they define creativity, how they incorporate creativity into the classroom, and their teaching practices, using the 45-item Creative Fostering Teaching Behaviour Index (CFTIndex). The study found that teachers implement practices in their classrooms that promote creativity, though there are …

“We Are Not Robots”: Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Focus Group Talk About Problems Of Practice Around Literacy Instruction, Jacquelynn S. Popp, Carin Appleget, Tori Golden Hughes, Crystal Dail Rose, Christine Leighton, Kierstin M. Giunco, Poonam Arya, Xiufang Chen

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) problems of practice around literacy instruction and to explore how the PSTs framed/talked about such problems. The study comprised qualitative analysis of data collected from focus group interviews with 21 PSTs from five teacher education institutions across the United States. Analysis of the PSTs’ talk about problems of practice in the focus groups yielded three themes about the nature of their problems and how they defined and discussed strategies or solutions to problems. PSTs expressed concerns about (1) meeting the needs of students below expected …

Bootmaking Before Bootstrapping: Patterns Of Grit And Slack In Multicultural Nonfiction Picture Books, Kristine Mensonides Gritter, Wing Shuen (Alice) Lau, Yaru (Sarah) Zhou, Jiang Pu, Munyi Shea

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This investigation reports the findings of a critical multicultural content analysis of recent-award winning Orbis Pictus (non-fiction) picture books. The analysis examines patterns of grit and slack strategies across race and gender for historical characters of color as they overcame boundaries and accomplished long-term goals. Findings suggest that the concept of “grit” is not merely a universal construct of an outstanding individual who lifts themself up by their own bootstraps but that systems are important in allowing an individual to succeed to overcome boundaries. The bootstrap myth can be contested by critical readers, even young readers of picture books, as …

August 2025 Cafe Newsletter, Center For Advancing Faculty Excellence

CAFE Faculty Newsletters

No abstract provided.

High School Students’ Navigation Processes In An Internet Reading Task: A Descriptive Video Analysis, Hyeju Han, Kole Norberg, Byeong-Young Cho, Scott H. Fraundorf

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Most research on internet reading has identified skilled readers based on well-established theories of print reading. Nevertheless, an emerging body of work suggests that higher competency in print reading does not fully account for competency in internet reading comprehension. The authors conducted a descriptive video analysis of high school readers’ online navigation behaviors to identify characteristics that could account for differences in their internet reading outcomes. In particular, they focused on students with high grade point averages but diverging internet reading outcomes. The authors found that the participating students with lower outcomes tended to adopt a linear path of navigation …

Editorial Review Board Vol. 64 Issue 2

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Teacher Perceptions Of Middle School Behavior Management And Intervention, Raechel Brianne Roberts

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that behavior management and intervention is a complex experience in school settings. Middle school students, in particular, must contend with physical, social, and educational changes and responsibilities, which may impact their behavioral responses and relationships with their teachers. The literature suggests that teachers often report that there are limitations to support for behavioral management in regards to pre-service training, access to research-based practices, and barriers to successful intervention implementation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to privilege the lived experiences of middle school teachers and their needs for working with students with challenging behaviors. The study included …

Preschool Teachers’ Perspectives On Conceptual Movement In Academic Instruction: A Mixed- Methods Study With Implications For Early Math, Kehinde H. Orimaye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This convergent mixed-methods study investigated Missouri preschool teachers’ familiarity, implementation, and perceptions of conceptual movement (CM), the purposeful integration of bodily actions to support young children’s understanding of abstract academic concepts, particularly in early mathematics instruction. Grounded in embodied cognition and informed by enactivism and the theory of event coding (TEC), the study explored: (a) preschool teachers’ awareness and frequency of CM use; (b) how teacher characteristics such as experience, age group taught, and math anxiety relate to CM implementation; and (c) teachers’ perceptions of CM’s instructional value, implementation challenges, and professional development needs.

Quantitative data were collected through a …

Examining How Self-Regulated Learning Professional Development Affects Teacher Srl Knowledge, Beliefs, And Practices, Stephanie Greenquist-Marlett

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies promote valuable student learning outcomes including academic achievement and lifelong learning (EU Council, 2002). Teachers have an opportunity to cultivate student SRL development within their classrooms (Azevedo et al., 2008). While teachers believe in the benefits associated with SRL promotion (Spruce & Bol, 2014), their positive attitudes are not often supported by adequate knowledge of SRL strategies. This leads to a lack of self-efficacy for developing SRL instruction in classrooms (Dignath & Büttner, 2018; Zimmerman et al., 1996). SRL-based professional development (PD) interventions have demonstrated their effectiveness for increasing teacher SRL instruction and implementation (Cleary et …

Do Themes Improve Visitor Outcomes In Interpretive Programs?, Amber K. Hawes

All Theses

Thematic interpretation is widely promoted as being integral to an effective interpretive program. Some studies have suggested that thematic interpretation may enhance visitor outcomes; however, park visitor demographics have changed over the last decade, and others have suggested alternative approaches. In this study, we systematically observed live interpretive programs at 330 programs at 52 National Parks across the United States, monitored the extent and characteristics of theme usage, and collected visitor surveys immediately following each program. We used these data to determine the influence of the presence and characteristics of themes and theme questions on visitor outcomes. The results suggest …

Learning English On The Border: Identities, Investment, And Imagined Futures In El Paso, Texas, Jennifer Lyn Mansour

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explores how adult English language learners living along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas experience language learning, identity formation, and social positioning within a bilingual community. Drawing on Norton's (1995, 2013) theoretical frameworks of identity, investment, and imagined communities, the research investigates three central questions: (1) How does the relationship between English learners and the social world of a bilingual community on the U.S.-Mexico border impact their ideas about their possibilities for the future? (2) How does the use of English construct worlds that are different from those constructed in their first languages, and do learners …

Not Just A White People's Book Club: The Participatory Action Research Of An Educator Collaborative, Jessica E. Smedley

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This participatory action research (PAR) study investigated the learning and action of a racial and social justice book club composed of educators within a public school district. Over several years, the group engaged in collaborative cycles of inquiry, reflection, and systemic action to deepen understanding of racism, power, and equity in education. Framed by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, Relational-Cultural Theory, and Transformative Learning Theory, this study explored how learning in community supported both personal and collective transformation. Findings highlight that the book club functioned as a relational and intellectual space where vulnerability, critical reflection, and mutual accountability fostered growth-fostering relationships …

A Collaborative Teaching Approach: Teaching Emergent Bilinguals In Higher Education, Erika Oliveros

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This dissertation examines the collaboration between two college instructors, one in writing and one in psychology, to enhance support for emergent bilinguals at a private university in the northeastern United States. While collaboration among educators is widely encouraged in K–12 settings, it is far less common and studied in higher education, particularly in relation to language-minoritized students. Through an action research model, this study examines how our informal exchanges evolved into a more intentional and reflective collaboration over time. Grounded in the frameworks of translanguaging (García, 2009) and community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), the study traces the evolution of our …

Empowering Writers: Integrating Digital Prewriting Tools In The Research Writing Process, Heather A. Rundo

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

This practitioner article explores the integration of digital prewriting tools, specifically MindMeister and VoiceThread, in a high school sophomore honors English class during a research writing unit. The author, a classroom teacher, discusses the challenges students face in research writing and seeks to enhance their confidence and organization skills. Drawing insights from student and teacher perspectives on writing strengths and weaknesses, the article delves into the significance of prewriting as a fundamental component of the writing process.

Bringing Life To Our Mission And Vision: A Problem Of Practice, Jessica Preisig

All Dissertations

This study leveraged principles of improvement science and a mixed methods approach to evaluate the impact of an intentionally designed professional learning cohort for teachers. The intended aim of this study was to equip teachers with the knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy necessary to effectively utilize instructional technology to meaningfully engage all learners. As one part of a collaborative dissertation in practice, this study explored the broad impact of teachers’ participation in a cohort implementing the seven elements of effective professional development (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017) and framed around the ISTE Standards for Educators (Crompton, 2017). The companion study (Britton, forthcoming) …

Teaching To Transgress: A Practice Of Justice And Healing In Teacher Education Program, Finney Cherain, Syed Ali Nasir Zaidi

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

We create deep connections with our surroundings, people and societies, and classrooms are one of such deep connections. Classrooms are spaces where the unfulfilled dreams and painful experiences of teachers and students can fester and estrange classrooms from being places of justice and hope. The absence of justice, healing and hope estranges public education of many of its democratic ideals and promises. We believe that teachers and students can heal together to deconstruct their experiences with oppression and envision new ways of coexisting with others and personally transform. Influenced by the work of Bell Hooks and Parker Palmer we offer …

The Marginalization Of Black Students And The Burnout Of Black Teachers, Jasmine N. Wilson

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Black students' language and culture should matter inside the classroom, but the K-12 education system perpetuates racist ideologies that otherwise stifle and shame Black students and their identities. There is a disproportion between the number of White teachers and Black students in minority-serving K-12 institutions, and this racial mismatch severely influences Black students’ academic success. In addition to the racial mismatch between White teachers and Black students, K-12 institutions foster a prejudiced learning environment that condemns African American English speakers. There is an abundance of research that suggests that Black teachers, Black culture, and Black English are of the utmost …

Reflection And Reimagination As Resistance: Towards Humanizing Critical Writing Pedagogy, Grace Y. Kang, Sonia M. Kline

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Given the pressures, demands, and standardization teachers face in our sociopolitically charged times, teachers need opportunities to reflect and reimagine their instruction. Drawing on critical and related scholarship, we conceptualize critical humanizing writing pedagogy. We share our instructional moves as teacher educators for enacting humanizing writing pedagogy in a graduate course and supporting teachers to enact humanizing writing pedagogy in their K-12 classrooms. Specifically, we show how a graduate student and practicing teacher found ways to shift toward critical orientations as she navigated her school’s curriculum and state standards. We argue that sociocultural and critical lenses provide powerful tools for …

Unburying The "Bury Your Gays" Trope In Young Adult Literature, Brooke Armbrustmacher

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this paper, I unpack what the "Bury Your Gays" trope is, how it originated, its purpose, and its contemporary use and impacts. Through analysis of example novels and referenced scholarly articles, I explain how character deaths do or do not align with the trope, exemplifying the broader patterns of the trope and its impacts on young adults. Educators can learn to contextually identify the trope, gain the tools to spark classroom discussion through analysis, and identify examples of novels that disrupt this trope to be implemented in classroom libraries and reading lists.

The Tree That Would Not Fall: An Educator’S Autoethnographic Journey Of Healing Through Words, Raeanna Marie Carlson

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

To say the world has changed since the 2020 COVID-19 shut down is to minimize the micro and macro social changes that infiltrated the school system. In the wake of it all, we find a landscape marred by a both rising teacher attrition and struggling student motivation. This autoethnographic dissertation explores the deeply personal experience tethered to a deeply problematic system that contributes to not only teacher burnout but what I came to know as teacher demoralization. Personal traumas of teachers profoundly impact their experience in the classroom, and as I examined my own near departure from the classroom, I …