Education Commons^™

Reevaluating Student Engagement: Exploring And Applying Alternative Assignments In Higher Education Undergraduate Applied Saxophone, Anthony S. Cincotta Ii

Dissertations, 2020-current

Undergraduate applied saxophone study revolves around the conservatory model. This inflexible model, often referred to as a master-apprentice relationship, can create an instructor-centric power dynamic which does not address the needs of the modern student. A classroom where the power lies so heavily with the instructor can stifle student engagement and can create a sense of disenfranchisement. In this setting, students have limited input on their assignment selections. While curricula have evolved with regards to being more culturally diverse, relevant, and inclusive, the approach that educators use to deliver the material has remained largely unchanged. There is limited research on …

Strategies And Methods Of Training Teacher Emotional Competence, Christina D. Beaton

Dissertations, 2020-current

Teaching is an emotional endeavor. That is why teachers must be equipped with skills to manage their emotions as well as emotions of their students. The present research investigates a strategies and methods for a model of training teacher emotional competency. Elementary school teachers (N=78) were asked about their perception of the importance of emotional competencies including emotional self-awareness, emotion regulation, effective emotional expression, identifying and responding to students’ emotions, promoting a positive emotional climate in the classroom, using emotions to promote learning, skills to promote student emotional competence, and skills to maintain teacher well-being. They also reported how often …

Equitable Counselor Education: Promoting A Sense Of Belonging In Master's Counseling Students, Jessica E. Mastrangelo

Dissertations, 2020-current

The discrepancies in racial and ethnic demographics between counselors, counselor educators, and the clients they seek to serve are prominent (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2018). Mental health counseling and the field of psychology have a traditionally Eurocentric value system that has positioned the White population to benefit from services and to become clinicians. As such, the centering of the White experience has perpetuated a lack of diversity in the field. As the demographics of the United States population continues to diversify, counseling needs to produce a greater number of racially and ethnically minoritized counselors …

Teaching Specials Teachers To Use Behavior Specific Praise In Elementary School, Elizabeth Rich

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Behavior-specific praise (BSP) has been shown to be an effective intervention across age groups for improving behavior in the school setting, including increasing on-task behavior, increasing engaged behavior, and reducing disruptive behavior. Following a review of the literature, the researcher selected tactile prompting paired with a visual prompt to increase specials teachers’ use of BSP. Using a multiple probe across participants design with an add-in component, this study investigated the effects of a visual prompt and a tactile prompt paired with a visual prompt to increase BSP use for two elementary school music teachers. Researchers also examined whether increasing BSP …

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …

Finding Reinforcers: Using Behavior Skills Training Over Telehealth To Instruct Educators To Perform Preference Assessments With Students., Anastasia Yuschak

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Future and current educators working with students in an early childhood education setting should use positive reinforcement for their students to increase behaviors. If proper assessment of student preferences is ignored reinforcers used in a classroom will prove to be insufficient. The present research sought to determine the feasibility of using behavioral skill training (BST) over a telehealth platform to teach paired stimulus preference assessments to educators. The feasibility of this platform is evident by the rapid skill acquisition and mastery of two preschool educators who accurately completed the component skill necessary to develop a preferential hierarchy. This paper will …

An Exploration Of High School Principals’ And Assistant Principals’ Perceptions Of Implementing Mental Health Curriculums In Schools, Jacqueline M. Billy

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Mental health literacy is one’s knowledge of mental health conditions and their accompanying symptoms as well as their understanding of available treatments and mental health services. Virginia Bill SB953, signed into law in 2018, made mental health a mandated topic in health education for all ninth and tenth grade students. There are several Health Education Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools which are specifically aimed at increasing students’ mental health literacy. Many of the standards can be met through implementation of evidence-based curriculums focusing on mental health, known as mental health curriculums (MHC). MHC are designed to increase mental …

Examining The Identities Of White Cisgender Female Elementary Education Pre-Service Teachers: A Qualitative Case Study, Kayla Schroeder

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Each year, elementary classrooms in the United States become increasingly culturally diverse, yet teachers of these classroom remain primarily White and female. While most teacher education programs require pre-service teachers to enroll in at least one course related to diversity education, many of these future educators do not feel adequately prepared to teach students who hold different identities or life experiences. In a qualitative analysis of class observations, participant submitted coursework, and individualized interviews, this case study sought to explore how four White cisgender female pre-service elementary teachers applied knowledge from one undergraduate diversity course to topics of identity, power, …

Threshold Concepts And Transfer: A Curriculum Mapping Tool For First-Year Writing, Kerry Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Writing scholars Adler-Kassner and Wardle, Beaufort, and Devet have placed pragmatic learning goals of transfer at the core of education’s purpose. This thesis shares the assumption of pragmatic learning goals for education and examines these goals for transfer through Meyer and Land’s theory of threshold concepts in the context of first-year composition courses. Covering Meyer and Land’s foundational work on threshold concepts and Thorndike and Woodworth’s groundbreaking research that later informed Perkins and Salomon’s work in transfer, this thesis aims to contextualize this literature within and operationalize it for first-year writing programs’ curriculum course design through the creation and testing …

Public School Teacher's Experience Of Technostress In A Mandatory Technology Adoption Policy Environment, Brandon Liu

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

With new technology restructuring instructional practices, many school systems are working towards adoption and integration to meet learning standards and demands (Çoklar, Efilti, Şahin, & Akçay, 2016; Al-Fudail & Mellar, 2008; Hixon & Buckenmeyer, 2009; McCannon & Crews, 2000; Nepo 2017; Straub, 2009; Sang, Valcke, van Braak & Tondeur, 2010; Wood, Mirza, & Shaw, 2018). However, few studies have been conducted within educational environments on technology-related stress and well-being when technology adoption is mandatory. Building off of Jena’s (2015) prior technostress study, this study aims to contribute to and better understand technostress within a Mandatory Adoption Policy Environment (MAPE). This …

How Successful High School Boys Soccer Coaches Perceive And Develop Cultural Competency: A Grounded Theory Approach, Lauren Jefferson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this study was to examine how high school athletics coaches conceptualize the knowledge, values, and skills of cultural competence, with specific attention to learning processes and influences. In order to serve the increasingly diverse U.S. student population equitably and to the full holistic potential of extracurricular programming, high school coaches must develop a greater comfort with and capacity for exercising cultural competency. A qualitative approach using a grounded theory was applied. Seven coaches and one athletic director were recruited by purposive sampling. The research suggests a process-oriented, chronological model of how experienced coaches begin to work with …

Assessing The Mental Health Awareness And Training Needs Of College Professors, Kendall Perez

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This study identified the relationship between college professor knowledge of mental illness, their ability to identify mental illness, and assist students exhibiting symptoms of mental health distress. The study utilized an explanatory mixed method research design and combined an initial faculty survey and with follow-up interviews. The design allowed for a deep examination of the research questions and helped identify the current needs of JMU professors. The study found that faculty felt ill prepared to identify and refer students to mental health resources. Other findings suggested that the majority of respondents were willing to participate in mental health training, yet …

Building Teachers’ Emotional Competence: A Transactional Training Model, Caroline Fulton

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Classrooms are complex entities, where the emotions of students and teachers interact to influence learning, relationships, and students’ social emotional development. Teachers’ understanding of emotional processes within the classroom is critical to effective teaching, promotion of healthy child development, and attaining desired learning outcomes. Further, emotions have powerful consequences for teachers themselves. They affect teachers’ well-being, self-efficacy, and ultimately whether teachers remain in the profession or not. Therefore, teachers need skills to recognize and respond to emotional experiences in the classroom. In the present research project a set of emotional competences relevant to educational practices were developed. These competencies include …

Avid Tutor Training: Strengthening Connections Between Field Experience And Coursework, Laura H. Vandemark

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) is a national college preparation program that seeks to help students who have the potential to attend college but need extra support and access to resources. This project explores the current connection between the Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) AVID program and the JMU Middle and Secondary Education teacher candidates placed in AVID classrooms for an undergraduate field experience. Overall, this project seeks to better prepare and improve the effectiveness of JMU students serving as AVID tutors. After reviewing the current training as well as anonymous end of semester course reflections from MSSE 371 students, …

Exploring Diversity Workforce Experiences Of Ahrd Alumni, Kayce Croy

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Diversity plays a crucial role in everyday life, especially in academic and workplace settings. Despite increased attention to the value of diversity across settings, institutions of higher education, businesses, and organizations often do not provide adequate diversity initiatives to prepare students and employees for life and work in diverse environments. Therefore, to understand diversity education practices from formal college education and workforce experience, alumni who have graduated within the last five years from the Adult Education/Human Resource Development (AHRD) graduate program at James Madison University (JMU) were surveyed.The current study utilized a mixed methods survey approach that provided data on …

The Power Of Feedback: An Indicator Of Mentor Effectiveness During Student Teaching, Dara M. Hall

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Mentorship programs have become increasingly prevalent in multiple organizations, particularly due to a large number of positive outcomes for the mentees such as improved performance, attitudes, and retention (e.g. Eby et al., 2013). Likewise, research suggests that there are potential benefits of training mentors to work with student teachers, leading many teacher preparation programs to devote human and financial resources to develop trained mentor teachers, known as clinical faculty, to provide pre-service support. Findings have shown that student teachers feel most supported when given concrete and meaningful feedback to improve their instructional practices (Sayeski & Paulsen, 2012), therefore, clinical faculty …

Fairy Tales And Adaptations: A Unit Of Study For High School Seniors, Angelica P. Babauta

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project is a unit of study designed for high school seniors in an advanced English class. The topic is fairy tales and adaptations, and through these twelve complete lesson plans, students will be led to examine the way fairy tales and society influence one another based on how a classic fairy tale is adapted over time. Students will study Jeanne Leprince de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast," the Brothers Grimm's "Brier Rose," and Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" as the original fairy tales. The adaptations paired with these texts are Alex Flinn's Beastly, James Finn Gardner's "Sleeping …

Learning From The Reggio Emilia Philosophy: How It Can Work In Public Elementary, Allison Shira Kaye

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In depth exploration of the Reggio Emilia philosophy of elementary education. This paper includes practical application ideas for teachers working in the US in public elementary schools who wish to incorporate different aspects of the philosophy into their classrooms.

The Achievement Gap And Students Living In Poverty: The Role Of Core Self-Evaluation And Transformational Leadership In Teachers, India Harris

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Research has shown that the combination of locus of control, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and emotional stability is a good predictor of life success. Until now, this second order factor, called core self-evaluations (CSE) has only been studied in adults. Findings from this study, showed levels of CSE were significantly and positively connected with academic achievement for middle and elementary aged students. CSE appears to play to a similar role between students and academic achievement as it plays with adults and job performance. In this study, the dimensions of transformational leadership were applied to teacher behaviors and students were grouped based on …

The Evaluation Of Family-School Collaboration With Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Families, Samantha Silver

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Research has demonstrated that when parents are involved in their children’s academic and school life, children experience improved language achievement, overall behavior, grades, test scores, have improved attendance, and a lower chance of dropping out of school (Friend and Cook, 2007). Despite the growing diversity of U.S. schools, there is a still a systemic lack of effort to include parents of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This research study sought to examine barriers to establishing a successful collaborative relationship with these families from the perspective of elementary, middle, and high school teachers using an online survey. A total of 39 …

Finding The Resilient Teacher Within: A Workshop To Address K-12 Teacher Well-Being, Laura Jones

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Teacher stress comes from a variety of sources: accountability pressures, lack of time to relax, students who are not motivated, excessive duties and responsibilities that go beyond the classroom, testing pressure, large class size, lack of administrative support, and general concern for the safety and well being of their students (Richards, 2012). As a result of the constant high stress, more teachers are reporting mental/physical health issues and leaving the profession (Richards, 2012). One way to help deal with the stress teachers are feeling is to strengthen the teacher from within by using the resources they have already. This paper …

A Selected Survey Of Sacred And Secular Music From The English Reformation, With Emphasis On Pedagogical Applications For The High School Choral Classroom, Caroline Morse

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this project was to examine the historical and applied performance aspects of music from the English Reformation, and to explore and explain the pedagogical methods of teaching this music to developing musicians in high school. I was responsible for organizing, programming, rehearsing, and conducting a recital featuring several works of sacred English, sacred Latin, and madrigal/secular songs. In addition, I was responsible for researching and presenting a lecture recital on the Tudor Dynasty, and the effect the monarchy had on the publication of music during 1517-1648.

I developed a lecture recital based upon age appropriate choral pieces …

Summing It Up: Comparing And Contrasting Constructivist-Based Teaching Practices, Megan T. Kohanik

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast various aspects of focused teaching practices supported by constructivist learning theories in a mathematics classroom. This paper will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of three focused teaching practices and connect the results back to current literature in mathematics education. The three focused teaching practices observed were 1) involving students in classroom discussion (Discussion-Based Classroom), 2) implementing a flipped model of instruction (Flipped Classroom), and 3) incorporating problems related to real-world contexts (Real-World Applications Classroom). Each focused teaching practice corresponded to one secondary or post-secondary classroom that was observed over the …

Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Related To Student Self-Regulation In The Classroom, Marlana L. Webster

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Self-regulation serves as a pivotal skill for children to acquire early in life. Mastery of the skill leads to high academic achievement and increased sense of self-efficacy. Teachers play a major role in developing self-regulation in children. Consequently, the beliefs and practices that teachers hold regarding poor self-regulation (i.e. inattention and impulsivity) are to be understood and taken into account. The Self-Regulation Survey was created to capture teachers’ attributions for inattention and impulsivity along with subsequent chosen interventions in 52 participants. The results indicated that teachers attribute impulsivity to organic factors and family origin to a greater degree than classroom …

Successful Approaches To Encourage Family Involvement In A School Division Located In Southeastern Virginia With Varying Income Levels, Katelyn Elizabeth Montague

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this project was to identify successful approaches that teachers use to encourage involvement of all families. Following a review of professional and research literature, a survey of Pre-kindergarten through fifth grade teachers was distributed in a school division located in southeastern Virginia with varying income levels.

The findings in this survey suggested that participating teachers encouraged family involvement by inviting families into the classroom and explaining to them how they could help their children at home. The teachers utilized weekly communication in various forms such as printed material, electronic formats, and classroom websites. Teachers were also flexible …