Education Commons^™

Discursive Tactical Negotiations Within And Across Literacy Coaching Interactions, Carolyn S. Hunt

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the researcher employed de Certeau's theoretical insights into cultural production in everyday life to examine how literacy coaches and teachers discursively negotiated issues of identity, power, and positioning during coaching interactions. The study also explored how literacy coaches and teachers enacted emotions within these discursive negotiations of identity, power, and positioning; and how physical, social, and ideological spaces were shaped by and reflected in coaching interactions. Data were generated during a yearlong qualitative study of literacy coaches and teachers interacting within a mid-size, suburban district in the U.S. Midwest. The researcher used a microethnographic approach to discourse …

The Ethos Of Excellence In An Effective School: A Study Of An Exemplary Urban School, Karen Danita Gyenfie

Theses and Dissertations

THE ETHOS OF EXCELLENCE IN AN EFFECTIVESCHOOL:

A STUDY OF AN EXEMPLARY URBAN SCHOOL

This research project was organized in three phases. Phase I began with the selection of the high performing urban school site to be studied. Phase II of the study centered on the researcher's study of the school's policies, curriculum, instructional practices, personnel, and related artifacts. The researcher processed, analyzed, and coded all data in accordance to qualitaive standards in order to identify those indigenous practices that impact the success of the school.

The findings of the study including the following:

1. School improvement is a multifaceted …

Innovation In Academic Libraries During A Time Of Crisis, Dane Michael Ward

Theses and Dissertations

During a period of rapid social and technological change, academic Academic libraries and librarianship are experiencing a period of great change, or crisis, influenced by multiple factors including emerging technologies, declining budgets, and changing information. More than a transitory historical phase, these changes represents a fundamental transition between paradigms (Kuhn, 1962). Academic libraries and librarianship are moving from a paradigm focused on collections and books to a paradigm focused on learning. Within this context, innovations are new processes, services and products that facilitate this transition to the new paradigm.

Beyond this definitional work, the work serves as an exploration of …

The Effects Of An Undergraduate Algebra Course On Prospective Middle School Teachers' Understanding Of Functions, Especially Quadratic Functions, Jonathan Taniola Duarte

Theses and Dissertations

Although current reform movements have stressed the importance of developing prospective middle school mathematics teachers' subject matter knowledge and understandings, there is a dearth of research studies with regard to prospective middle school teachers' confidence and knowledge with respect to quadratic functions. This study was intended to fill this void. It generated information on prospective teachers' knowledge of quadratic functions as well as of their confidence to answer questions involving quadratic equations and multiple representations of functions.

The study employed a multiple-perspectives design, with data being collected from different vantage points - documents, pre- and post-teaching tests, artifacts, interviews, classroom …

Secondary Education Teacher Preparation Programs Should Differentiate Curriculum And Instruction For Traditional And Nontraditional Preservice Teachers, Cynthia Jane Schairer-Kessler

Theses and Dissertations

Much demand remains for teacher education programs to produce highly qualified teachers. Current trends show that almost half of today's preservice teachers are considered nontraditional in terms of age and life experience. The purpose of this study was to determine whether secondary education teacher preparation programs should differentiate curriculum and instruction for traditional and nontraditional preservice teachers. Research questions incorporated four variables of professional demeanor, teaching and learning, interpersonal skills, and time management. Data was collected through a presurvey at the beginning of the student teaching semester and a postsurvey at the end of the semester, as well as an …

Examining Middle School Students' Statistical Thinking While Working In A Technological Environment, Melissa Arnold Scranton

Theses and Dissertations

Examining Middle School Students' Statistical Thinking

While Working in a Technological Environment

Melissa Arnold Scranton

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how students think in a technological environment. This was accomplished by exploring the differences in the thinking of students while they worked in a technological environment and comparing this to their work in a paper and pencil environment. The software program TinkerPlots: Dynamic Data Exploration (Konold & Miller, 2005), a construction tool that middle school students use for data analysis was the technological environment. In both environments, types of critical, creative, and statistical …