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The Relationship Of Self -Evaluation, Writing Ability, And Attitudes Toward Writing Among Gifted Grade 7 Language Arts Students, Lisa Dement

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Previous research has indicated that literary skills performance in reading and writing for middle school students has declined. There remains an important gap in the current literature regarding the decline in literary skills, which is a good predictor of the potential for students to drop out of school. The goal of this study was to determine if the use of self-evaluation influences students' writing ability and their attitudes toward writing. Using a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, and over the course of 10 weeks, the researcher administered a writing pre- and posttest, as well as a pre- and posttest Writing …

Exploring Technological Literacy: Middle School Teachers' Perspectives, Jane Mcever Baker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 mandates that middle school students be technologically literate by the end of 8th grade, but teachers need more information on how to make this outcome a reality. This qualitative phenomenological study used a constructivist theoretical framework to investigate teachers' descriptions of technological literacy outcomes, instructional practice, and challenges influencing middle school student technological literacy. Twelve teachers at 1 public middle school in a large urban area of Georgia were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the typological method with the inclusion of both inductive and predetermined categories. Teachers described technologically literate middle …

Changing The Negative Behavioral And Developmental Outcomes To A Toxic Prenatal Environment Through Parent Education, Angela Elieen Laughlin Lebedev

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of current education materials on changing maternal smoking attitudes. Children are affected by prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke. Although there are educational efforts to discourage pregnant women from smoking, the practice continues in a significant number of pregnancies. New materials, based on current research, were also evaluated for effectiveness. The theoretical framework for this study was adult learning theory presented by Knowles which makes the assumption that an individual is shaped by environmental systems, that adult learning is affected by previous knowledge they bring to the learning and that adults …

Family Message Journals: A Tool For Writing Instruction Combined With Parent Involvement, Sandi Michele Mccann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mandates on reading and math achievement in elementary education in rural Georgia have led to a decline in writing proficiency as the subject becomes increasingly neglected. At the same time, schools strive to increase parental involvement programs. Consequently, there is a need for more research on the impact of parental involvement on student writing proficiency. Accordingly, this qualitative case study examined the impact of Family Message Journals (FMJ) and parent participation on teaching writing across the curriculum. Participants included 6 third-graders and their parents. Students wrote in journals 4 days per week across the 4 months of the study, and …

The Impact Of Daily Writing On Kindergarten Students' Phonemic Awareness., C. A. Snell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether or not a significant relationship exists among daily writing and student growth in phonemic awareness. The study also considered the impact of writing on the phonemic awareness development of students at different literacy levels. Although studies exist on the importance of phonemic awareness development in reading acquisition, a deficit exists examining the correlation among daily writing and the phonemic awareness development of students representing different literacy levels. Forty students in an experimental group engaged in daily writing opportunities, while 37 students in the control group engaged in less frequent writing …

A Program For The Training Of Elementary Art-Music Teachers, Edward A. Boynton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The writer has had experience as a supervisor of music at the elementary and secondary levels. This experience combined with the development of courses to suit the program for an elementary teacher training institution provided the background for the development of this project.

The problem, as it appeared to the writer, was that in spite of valiant efforts on the part of music supervisors and art teachers’ elementary students did not comprehend music or art as an aesthetic whole. The methods in use, in most Maine schools, presented the arts as a technical skill to be mastered by the student …