Digital Commons Network^™

Using Disciplinary Literacies To Enhance Adolescents' Engineering Design Activity, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Emma Smith, Daniel L. Householder

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This comparative case study describes the literacy practices of two groups of adolescents as they sought to solve authentic problems through engineering design processes. Three types of data were collected as the groups addressed these problems: video- and audio-recordings of their conversations; adolescent-generated products; and pre- and post-challenge interviews. The authors used existing coding schemes of engineering design activity to identify when the adolescents enacted different stages of engineering design, as well as a modified form of constant comparative analysis to identify the literacy practices that corresponded with each stage. The analysis indicates that applications of literacy practices at each …

Teaching The Writing Methods Course: A Multiple Case Study Of Teachers’ Professional Journeys, Teaching Contexts, Theoretical Frames, And Courses, Kristin A. K. Sovis

Dissertations

This study, situated within the fields of English education and writing teacher education, illustrates not only what is happening in writing methods courses but why in its examination of writing methods courses and instructor influences. The writing methods course is identified by English educators and writing teacher educators as “pivotal” in K-12 English teacher preparation, and the purpose of this study is to better understand multiple versions of this course and how teacher influences affect the design and implementation of the course (Grossman, 1990; Smagorinsky and Whiting, 1995; McCann, 2005).

This study builds upon scholarship that explores individual versions of …

Using Shared Reading And Close Reading To Bridge Intervention And The Common Core, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

While classroom teachers are grappling with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and its implications for instruction in the core curriculum, designing effective intervention to meet the needs of diverse struggling readers poses another challenge, especially because Response to Intervention (RTI) as an instructional framework frequently emphasizes the teaching of discrete skills. Experts have concluded that intervention focusing primarily on foundational skills without instruction in comprehension is not only contrary to literacy research, but also antithetical to the shift to contextualized literacy instruction, resulting in fragmented instruction for those most in need. At the same time, inherent within both CCSS …

Preparation For Practice: Elementary Preservice Teachers Learning And Using Scientific Classroom Discourse Community Instructional Strategies, Elizabeth Lewis, Oxana Dema, Dena Harshbarger

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Despite historical national efforts to improve elementary science education, science instruction continues to be marginalized, varying by state. This study was designed to address the ongoing challenge of educating elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach science. Elementary PSTs are one of the science education community's major links to schools and science education reform. However, they often lack a strong background in science, knowledge of effective science teaching strategies, and consequently have low confidence and self-efficacy. This investigation explored the initial learning of elementary PSTs using an interdisciplinary model of a scientific classroom discourse community during a science methods course. Findings …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Instructional Practices Of General Education Teachers For English Language Learners, Cynthia Delozier

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative hermeneutical phenomenological study was designed to describe general education elementary teachers' perceptions of effective instructional strategies, methods, and models of instruction to enhance the learning of core content curriculum of the English Language Learners (ELLs) in the classroom. Through questionnaires and interviews, data was collected that described general education elementary teachers' perceptions regarding the need for instructional strategies, methods, and models to assist ELL students in learning. Challenges, frustrations, and successes were reported as teachers reflected on the process in which they make the decisions to use particular instructional strategies, methods, and models. The results of this study …

The Correlation Between Temperament And Technology Preference And Proficiency In Middle School Students, Sabrina Sterling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to identity the relationship between the temperament of middle school students, their level of interest and proficiency in technology-related activities. This study also aimed to identify the differences in proficiency of the students in the technology programs. Participants were selected from two middle schools in the medium-sized rural school system. State technology test results and a student technology interest survey were analyzed using analysis of variance and descriptive statistical measurements. Correlational studies help educators evaluate existing curricula, differentiate current instruction, and plan for future programs. The results of this study suggested that there is …

Quality Media Literacy Education. A Tool For Teachers And Teacher Educators Of Italian Elementary Schools, Damiano Felini Ed.D.

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The dissemination of good practices in MLE requires a more rigorous definition of their characteristics, including criteria and indicators to measure their quality. This article – after reflecting on the meaning and function of identifying good MLE practices – presents a systematic framework of 35 indicators for good MLE activities in Italian elementary schools. These indicators are grouped according to five general criteria of quality: adequacy of the teaching methods; competence and involvement of the actors; structuring and coherence of the activity's organization; awareness of the underlying MLE theories as well as their appropriateness; and originality of the project. The …

Collaborative Literacy Work In A High School: Enhancing Teacher Capacity For English Learner Instruction In The Mainstream, Felice Atesoglu Russell

Faculty Articles

As more English learners (ELs) are included in mainstream content classrooms at the secondary level, the need to understand how teachers collaborate to meet the particular instructional needs of ELs is essential. This paper presents findings from a qualitative case study that investigated the collaborative work that engaged a group of literacy teachers over the course of a school year in one culturally and linguistically diverse high school. The ongoing collaboration of the mainstream language arts teachers and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers is examined, including the role of an EL facilitator/ESL teacher in supporting teacher professional learning and inclusion. The contributions …

An Instructional Model To Support Problem-Based Historical Inquiry: The Persistent Issues In History Network, Thomas Brush, John Saye

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

For over a decade, we have collaborated with secondary school history teachers in an evolving line of inquiry that applies research-based propositions to the design and testing of a problem-based learning framework and a set of wise practices that represent a professional teaching knowledge base for implementing a particular model of instruction, problem-based historical inquiry (PBHI). PBHI centers history instruction on decision-making about persistent societal problems as they occur in particular historical periods. In order to prepare future teachers to be better able to implement this model in their classrooms, we have integrated components of this model throughout our secondary …

Teaching And Learning For Intercultural Sensitivity: A Cross-Cultural Examination Of American Domestic Students And Japanese Exchange Students, Yoko Hwang Sakurauchi

Dissertations and Theses

Global student mobility has become a dynamic force in American higher education. Integrating international students into diverse campus environments provides domestic as well as foreign students with enriched learning opportunities. However, a diverse campus climate itself will not make college students interculturally competent. Intentional curricular design is critical for overcoming issues such as resistance and reinforcement of stereotypes, but the research literature is extremely limited on effective pedagogical strategies for cultivating college students' intercultural sensitivity.

This paper explicates a research study to investigate college students' development of intercultural sensitivity through an intentional course design utilizing Kolb's (1984) learning styles cycle …

The Invisible Composition Classroom: The Reciprocity Of Face, Identity, And Politeness, Pennie L. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of face and identity as they arise in a first year composition classroom. Using the illuminating theoretical framework of linguistic politeness theory, new understandings of the social interactions in the composition classroom are unveiled. Specifically, through an analysis of the politeness strategies that students use during the peer review process, it becomes clear that students prefer to temper their critique of others' work rather than openly criticize that work. Additionally, students offer far more positive feedback than their peers' work perhaps merits, minimize the revision work they suggest, and downplay their own authority over each …

Human Rights And History Education: An Australian Study, Nina Burridge, John Buchanan, Andrew Chodkiewicz

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The place of education for and about human rights within the school curriculum remains contested and this paper reports on the first national cross-sectoral investigation of its place in Australian curricula and more specifically in national and state History curriculum documents. Opportunities for the inclusion of human rights based studies were examined across school learning stages, taking into account explicit and implicit, compulsory or elective, as well as curricular and extra-curricular dimensions. Given the continued importance of History as a learning area there is a need to strengthen the available explicit and mandatory opportunities for students to learn about human …

Drawing Their Way Into Writing: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students Finding Voice Through Mini-Novelas, Stephanie Wessels, Socorro G. Herrera,

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Writing can be a difficult task for many students in today’s classrooms; however, for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), writing can be especially difficult. These students often are in the process of developing their facility with the English language, and they possess cultural backgrounds that differ from those of many of their peers and teachers. In addition to these challenges, they face the typical difficulties of selecting ideas to write about for their stories. One way to tap into the cultural backgrounds of Spanish-speaking CLD students is through the use of a strategy called the mini-novela. A …

Enhancing Understanding Of Teaching And The Profession Through School Innovation Rounds, Wendy Moran

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Currently, Australian teacher education programs include professional experiences as a means of enhancing preservice teacher understanding about teaching and the profession. The challenge the programs face is the lack of places available in schools and, at times, the unpredictable quality of the placements as some teachers are time-poor, are not good models of effective teaching practice, and/or lack the skills of articulating their practice. This paper briefly explores features of past models of professional experience before describing a new model that, as an inclusion in a range of field-based placements, addresses many of the challenges in teacher education today. Results …

Secondary Social Studies Teachers' Experiences Implementing Common Core State Literacy Standards, Krista Webb

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of secondary social studies teachers who implemented Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in history/social studies, science and technical subjects in social studies courses requiring End of Course Tests at secondary schools in one suburban district in Georgia. Ten teachers of United States history and economics courses participated in this study. Data was collected through questionnaires, reflective online journaling, documents, individual interviews, and focus groups. Analysis was conducted using transcription, thematic coding, textural and structural descriptions, and a composite description of the essence of the …

Where Writing Happens: Elevating Student Writing And Developing Voice Through Digital Storytelling, Jane M. Saunders

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

A Late Adopter's Chance To Take An Esl Program Multimodal, Erin K. Laverick

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article outlines an ESL program's journey in revising its curriculum to include multimodal compositions as a means to help non-native speakers of English improve their language proficiency by offering them greater means to communicate with wide audiences. The article also discusses means to provide faculty with the proper rhetorical and technology training, so they could use multimodalities in their own teaching.

Writing For The Audience That Fires The Imagination: Implications For Teaching Writing, Denise K. Ives, Cara Crandall

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Great authors embody their audiences through the language of their texts. Good readers learn to recognize and respond to the cues such writers embed in their texts about the kind of audience they are expected to be. They also learn from other authors how to fictionalize in their minds audiences like those they have experience being. In this article through an analysis of two texts, we showcase how two middle school writers through their texts, embody their audiences and cue readers to the roles they are expected to play. We then trace the rhetorical moves made by the writers to …

“This Erstwhile Unreadable Text”: Deep Time, Multidisciplinarity And First-Year Writing Faculty Mentoring And Support, Denise K. Comer

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Despite the otherwise rich multidisciplinary terrain of writing studies, the strategies most often used with first-year writing teacher teaching mentoring and support tend to remain discordantly anchored to a comparatively narrow version of writing pedagogy. I argue in this article that the geologic concept of deep time offers a way of infusing a multidisciplinary dimension into first-year writing faculty teaching mentoring and support that will enrich the ways faculty and students think, write, and talk about first-year writing. This article discusses deep-time pedagogy, providing specific strategies for infusing multidisciplinary dimensions into first-year writing faculty teaching mentoring and support. Such a …

Teacher Educators Using Encounter Stories, Danne Davis, Janna Jackson Kellinger

Department of Teaching and Learning Scholarship and Creative Works

Many prospective teachers are unaware of the encounters that Black, heterosexual women or White lesbians face. Here, we present encounter stories-individual narratives of poignant encounters and interactions that we have experienced with people unlike us-to identify with and ultimately draw on their experiences. Subsequently, the narratives become data that not only inform our work as teacher educators and scholars but also are used to shape prospective teachers' understanding of inimitable difference. Despite the heralded affirming visibility of Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres, oppressive practices and perspectives against Black women and lesbians continue. Our encounter stories are put forward as qualitative …

Crises In Efl Proficiency And Teacher Development In The Context Of International Donation And Transformation Discourses, Dereje Tadesse Birbirso

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Since 2000, Ethiopia has been working to come out of social crises, modernise itself and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Although provided with billions of dollars by the West and their international agents, little has been changed and the crises seem never to abate, especially in the educational system. This study, thus, critically analysed a paradox of Ethiopia’s educational problems: the crisis in teachers’ EFL proficiency, on the one hand, and the discourses of international aids and transformation of her educational system, on the other. The main participants are 25 randomly selected EFL teachers and teacher educators from all corners …

Re-Visiting The Theory And Practice Gap Through The Lens Of Student Teacher Dilemmas, Nese Cabaroglu

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study concerns the dilemmas student teachers met during their field experiences: what they were and what coping strategies they used. Its purpose is to help staff and students better understand the challenges student teachers face as they move from university-based to school-based learning. Data reveal three main categories of dilemmas: teaching, professional identity and future career plans. When coping with dilemmas, participants turned to various people around them. They felt some of the dilemmas were beyond their control, thus, could not be resolved due to problems in the Turkish education system. Findings are discussed as related to professional learning.

A Comparison Of Vocabulary Learning From Joint Reading Of Narrative And Informational Books With Dual Language Learner Children, Deborah Bergman Deitcher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A Comparison of Vocabulary Learning From Joint Reading of

Narrative and Informational Books With Dual Language Learner Children

By: Deborah Bergman Deitcher

Advisor: Professor Helen L. Johnson

This study examined joint reading of narrative and informational texts in the home setting, between parents and their English-Hebrew dual language learning preschool children. Parent-child dyads were video-recorded while reading two sets of books; each set contained one narrative and one informational text on the same theme. Children's target word learning of 48 target words (12 words per book) of varying difficulty levels was measured from pretest to posttest. Results showed that children …

Reading Pedagogy In Today's Classroom, Maria Beeman-Rygalski

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the phenomenon of successful primary classroom teachers' instruction, in the area of reading pedagogy. All children who are capable of reading must be taught how to read; such is the essential responsibility of American schooling. Moats (1999) describes reading as the most basic, yet critical responsibility of schooling. Haycock (1998), Marzano (2003), and Nye, Konstantopulos, and Hedges (2004) determined that the influence of an effective teacher has the biggest impact on student achievement, independent of anything else that happens in school. There is little research linking evidence of teacher perceptions, knowledge …

Academic Hiring Gatekeeper & Employer Perceptions Of Online Degrees And The Acceptability Of Online Degrees For Faculty And Administrator Employment In Higher Education, Renee Sinow-Mandelbaum

Theses and Dissertations

Due to its flexibility and convenience, online education has become a feasible alternative for degree seeking students who are unable to attend a traditional higher education institution. Although online courses and programs have their benefits, there remains an ongoing debate on issues related to credibility, quality, and acceptability among certain stakeholders including faculty, administrators, and employers. The current study focuses on one group of academic stakeholders-namely, academic hiring gatekeepers and employers; that is, those who are directly involved in the hiring process of faculty and administrators. Specifically, the objective is to explore hiring gatekeeper and employer acceptability of online degrees …

Instructional Practices Of Teachers And The Academic Success Of African American Males At The Elementary Level, Donna D. Lewis

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

How can teachers improve instructional practices during interactions with African American males, a demographic where reform initiatives have tried to reduce an achievement gap? This qualitative study will examine this issue from the perspective of African American male students and the teachers who teach African American male students. It will specifically focus on what instructional methods and overall beliefs contribute to the academic success of African American male students. Findings indicated that relationship building and culturally responsive teaching strategies were both critical components of improving achievement.

An Evaluation Of A Remedial Reading Program For Middle-Grade Students In A Southeastern State Public School, Susan S. Nichols

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects on reading achievement for middle school students after participation in a remedial reading program, Xtreme Reading, at a southeastern state public school. The researcher used Stufflebeam's (2003) context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model to guide the study. A mixed-method research design was used to examine data collected from 80 students in Grades 6 through 8 participating in reading interventions spanning a 1-year period from 2013 through 2014.

There were significant differences in reading achievement scores of students during the 1-year implementation of Xtreme Reading. The findings in this study …

Eury Value-Added Experience Model: A Case Study On The Collective Learning Culture Of A Suburban Middle School In The Southeastern Region Of The United States, Timothy Merrell Reed

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to test the Eury Value-Added Experience Model as a theoretical model to measure and evaluate the collective learning culture of a school organization. The Eury Value-Added Experience Model is based upon five domains of the theoretical model: (1) dispositions, (2) professional experiences, (3) structure, (4) shared decision making, and (5) assessment and reflection skills. This mixed-method case study used the five domains to focus on the collective learning culture of a suburban middle school in the western region of the State of North Carolina. Limited research exists on the use of the Eury Value-Added Experience Model …

The Effect Of The Helps Program On The Oral Reading Fluency And Accuracy Rates Of Third-, Fourth-, And Fifth-Grade Students, Susan C. Blackburn

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the effects of the HELPS Program on the oral reading fluency and accuracy rates of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students as compared to students who received regular classroom instruction only. The study was conducted in a school district in northwestern North Carolina. The students in this study scored below benchmark on a Reading 3D End of Year Assessment and were nonproficient on the North Carolina end-of-grade reading test. As fluency is tied to reading comprehension, it is important that students have sufficient fluency and accuracy skills to read grade-level texts.

The study used Reading …

The Impact Of Instructional Rounds Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy, Melessa B. Widener

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of instructional rounds professional development on teacher self-efficacy. The scope of this study was a qualitative case study including interviews with teachers who had participated in instructional rounds professional development in a rural district in the foothills of North Carolina. The methodology included interviews with two teacher leaders from all elementary schools implementing Responsiveness to Instruction (RtI) and teachers at the Early College who participated in instructional rounds professional learning through the New Schools Project. The findings include teachers' quotes from the transcriptions of the interviews as supporting the research …