Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

A Professional Development Program For Balanced Literacy, Sheila Charlene Mccullough

Graduate Research Papers

A balanced literacy framework is a complex yet comprehensive avenue for literacy instruction that has been successfully implemented by the author in a low socioeconomic kindergarten classroom with remarkable achievement gains. This research project first describes the successful implementation and relates it to the professional literature on balanced literacy. A professional development program is then developed that will help teachers discover the importance of implementing balanced literacy practices and gain knowledge and understanding on how to implement the components of a comprehensive balanced literacy framework into their practice.

Library Paraeducators' Training: Assumptions Or Facts?, Virginia H. Knapp

Graduate Research Papers

Paraeducators seem to be in a quandary. State officials, administrators, teachers, special education teachers, librarians, local educational agencies, community colleges and school boards all have perceptions of what training paraeducators need but few consider the special expectations for a library paraeducator.

The current study seeks responses to the following research questions:

1. How well qualified for their positions do library paraeducators feel?

2. How do library paraeducators describe their job training?

3. What are perceptions-of teacher librarians and administrators regarding the training of paraprofessionals to work in school libraries?

The researcher will examine the requirements of the Iowa Department of …

The Impact Of Matrix Notes On Textbook Comprehension In A College-Level Introductory Psychology Course, Kathryn Gonier Klopfleisch

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This paper examines whether matrix notes, a graphic form of note taking, helped lower ability students in a college level introduction to Psychology course develop self-regulation and deep processing skills that would increase exam scores. Throughout the semester, students were surveyed and 16 were interviewed about study habits and perceptions of matrix notes. Exam scores and class averages were also considered. The study supported the hypothesis that students would develop deeper processing skills and earn higher exam scores. While the data shows that students grew in self-regulations ability, it is not clear if they did so as a result of …

Lecciones Quijotescas De La Vida: Teoría Y Práctica - Quixotic Life Lessons: Theory And Practice, Julia Kennedy

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study focuses on the life lessons in Don Quijote de la Mancha, written by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605 (First Part) and 1615 (Second Part). Literary classics can be applicable in current situations to teach valuable life lessons to people in any culture, society, and at any age. The goal was to first analyze and later modify certain episodes in the novel to teach several important, age-appropriate values to children: friendship, acceptance, gender equality, and knowing oneself. Short fables were written about each value using characters and episodes from the novel. During February, using the fables as a central …

Variable Appropriation Of An Online Resource Discovery And Sharing Tool, Victor R. Lee, Mimi Recker, Tamara Sumner

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Even when following best practices for participatory design, the appropriation of tools in formal education settings can be hampered by a number of factors. Drawing from a case of a web tool built to help teachers in five school districts find and share free resources in an educational digital library, we describe patterns of tool use and provide some explanations for variability in tool appropriation. We also suggest that future research consider school districts as complex systems of professionals whose interactions and inter-relationships may yield unexpected technology adoption behaviors.

The Evolving Role Of Department Chair: Leading Faculty Through Times Of Change, Domenick Pinto

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

How does one manage conflict and change in a very volatile economic climate where academia is experiencing greater accountability, increased emphasis on outcome assessment, declining enrollment and great uncertainty for the future? The role of department chair has, in many cases, become one entrenched in conflict between the role of faculty and administrator and has experienced a tremendous evolution over the last 25 years.

The role of department chair has changed as economic, social and student climates have changed. This paper will summarize collected data from chairs of departments of various sizes and types in order to discuss and understand …

Front Matter

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

Cover art: “Mennonite 2” by Ana Maria Mendez Ritchie, a student at Blue Ridge Community College.

Discussing Gender And Sexuality In The Community College Classroom, Jason Barr

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

This author’s reading selection for his class provoked an unexpected response: when one of the main characters in the reading “came out of the closet,” the students divided themselves into those who were willing to discuss the issues, and those who weren’t.

Putting Theatre Arts To The Test: Student Performance That Goes Beyond Stem And Steam, Lisa Nanni-Messegee, Teresa B. Murphy

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” initiative emphasizes training in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). More recently, arts have been added to STEM, resulting in the acronym STEAM: Science and Technology interpreted through Engineering and the Arts, based in the Mathematical elements. However, should the arts be used only to cultivate better scientists? Or might the arts be valued apart from of their service to math and science?

Back Cover

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

Ana Maria Mendez Ritchie photographed “Mennonite 2” while enrolled in Adjunct Art Instructor Ben Wyrick’s “Digital Photography” course at Blue Ridge Community College. Here, they examine a prop for photography.

Integrating Movement And Science To Promote Physical Activity And Academic Performance In Middle School Children, Kevin E. Finn, Kyle Mcinnis

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Recommendations from leading U.S. health agencies concerned with reducing childhood obesity call for increased physical activity during school and afterschool environments. Methods: We developed the Active Science curriculum, which is a variety of activity-based lessons (e.g., nature hike, dance class, walk at local park, treadmill at local YMCA) and incorporated them into traditional science classes and after school programs for middle school children in a low-income, ethnically diverse community. Following the activity experiments, students and teachers uploaded data from devices to an interactive website that provided inquiry-based exploratory learning of science content. Results: Physical activity results showed that the …

Teacher Characteristics On Student Achievement: An Examination Of High Schools In Ohio, Angela H. Rockstroh

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Teachers are the most important school-based factor in affecting student achievement levels. Knowing what teacher characteristics influence student achievement and whether or not schools in different locations have dissimilar student achievement levels will help administrators prioritize who to hire, retain, and assign to classes. The purpose of this paper is to answer two questions. The first question is whether teacher characteristics are related to student achievement; the second is whether there are differences in student achievement based on school location. A review of teacher quality, teacher incentives, teacher background, the ability of a school to attract teachers, and differences in …

Acreditación De La Universidad Privada ¿Es Un Sinónimo De Calidad?, Gus Gregorutti, María Bon Pereira

Faculty Publications

This is a qualitative study done in a private university in the city of Monterrey, Northern Mexico. With a sample of 50 professors, department directors, students, and employees, within communication and journalism programs, this paper sought to unveil perceptions regarding the impact self-assessments and accreditations had on these two programs. Particularly, it was researched whether they believed these processes impacted their quality. Although accreditation was regarded as important, faculty members and employers believed that certified assessments did not produce significant changes over the way teaching and classes are conducted. Students showed high levels of misinformation about benefits and purposes of …

Spreading The Word: Reading, Journaling, And Social Engagement, M. Owens, Cynthia R. Chambers

ETSU Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Competencies And Experiences Needed By Pre–Service Agricultural Educators To Teach Globalized Curricula: A Modified Delphi Study, Nathan W. Conner, T. Grady Roberts

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

The 21st century graduate must be able to interact with people from all over the world and must also be knowledgeable about the world (Longview Foundation, 2008). In order to produce graduates that are globally competent, The National Council for the Accreditation of Teachers (NCATE, 1982) has mandated that multi–cultural education be incorporated as part of the teacher–preparation curricula. The purpose of this study was to identify competencies and experiences needed by agricultural pre–service teachers in order to teach globalized curricula. A modified Delphi method was used and the panel consisted of 13 (n = 13) experts in the field …

Great Expectations: Twenty-First Century Public Institutions And The Promise Of Technology Based Economic Development: A Case Study, Tara K. Baas

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

American research universities, especially over the past 30 years, have increasingly become involved in technology transfer activities. For public land grant institutions, involvement is largely inspired by a desire to maximize revenue opportunities and demonstrate economic relevance. This intrinsic case study addresses the efforts of a public, land grant and flagship institution, the University of Kentucky, to augment its technology transfer activities, with a specific focus on its attempts to spin off university technology-based firms. The data were gathered primarily through oral history interviews with technology transfer personnel, entrepreneurs, and spinoff personnel. Its purpose is to understand better the structure …

Experiences Of Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students: An Exploratory Phenomenological Study, Anysia J. Ensslen

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Within the past decade little research has been conducted in the United States to examine the preparedness of beginning speech-language pathologists; the seminal article used for this research study comes from the United Kingdom (Horton, Byng, Bunning, & Pring, 2004). Literature from the past few decades indicates that there may be deficiencies in the way that beginning speech-language pathologists are being trained clinically.

The review of the literature suggests that the field may lack a clear and broadly supported learning theory or framework for the clinical supervision and training of speech-language pathology graduate students. The literature further supports the importance …

Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices Of Adult Education English For Speakers Of Other Languages And English For Academic Purposes Teachers, Christy Michele Rhodes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the culturally responsive teaching practices of adult education ESOL and EAP teachers in the state of Florida. Using Ginsberg and Wlodkowski's Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching, an online survey of 17 teaching practices was developed and validated. In the survey, participants assessed how frequently they used each practice and how important they believed each practice was to their teaching on 5-point frequency scales. The sampling frame consisted of teachers from 15 colleges, 2 universities, 8 school districts, and Bay Area Regional TESOL (BART) and resulted in 134 responses.

Results indicated …

Aligning Human Resource Development With The Strategic Priorities Of Healthcare Organizations: The Cfo Perspective, Carla Breedlove Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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Affective Components Perceived To Be Important In Today's Global Society From A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Helena H. Wallenberg-Lerner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Global competencies, with differences in terminology by various researchers, had been frequently investigated, primarily from an American-biased perspective. Little or no defining research existed that identified requisite, universally agreed upon global competencies, or identified what affective components were perceived to be important cross culturally.

This research study answered the following questions:

1. What affective components are perceived to be important from a cross-cultural perspective?

2. Are there differences in these perceptions of affective components from a cross-cultural perspective?

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which individuals in different GeoCultural regions view and identify affective components …