Education Commons^™

Reflections Of Parents And Teachers On The Process Of Daily Transitions Into Infant-Toddler Child Care, Linda Carol Traum

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study considered seven parents’ and three teachers’ values, beliefs, perspectives and meanings of within the context of daily home-to-child care transitions in one infant-toddler center in a Southeastern land-grant university early childhood laboratory school. Sociocultural and attachment theories anchored the study and the developmental niche conceptual framework informed the methodology. Primary methodologies included naturalistic observations, video tapes of transitions and parent and teacher interviews using the video stimulated recall interview (VSRI) method. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method, creating vignettes, and ensuring trustworthiness through the creation of thick descriptions, triangulation of data, and reflective journaling. Findings …

Teach For America Corps Maintenance Practices And Long-Term Educational Change, Ashlee Brook Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations

Teach For America (TFA), a non-profit organization that recruits top-performing recent college graduates and professionals into two-year teaching commitments in low-income urban and rural public school districts, remains a hot topic of research and debate in the education sector. With this dissertation, I explore how TFA is actively preparing its recruits (via its pre- and in-service support practices) for long-term investments in educational change, both inside the classroom and beyond. I do so via interviews with five TFA alumni (four identified by TFA and one by social media) who are no more than three years removed from the program and …

Speaking Volumes: Professional Growth In Book Studies, Elizabeth Smith Blanton

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative dissertation is to provide a description of the professional book study experience and gain insight into its use to support teacher professional development. Research on the use of professional book studies has been conducted in colleges, and by university researchers in public school settings. There is also a large field of research on leisure book clubs, providing insight into their popularity. Little research exists, however, on professional book studies from the point of view of the educators who were the participants. This qualitative case study examined the perceptions of 12 educators who voluntarily participated in …

Examining The Process Of Identification In The Mathematics Classroom And The Role Of Students’ Academic Communities, Richard J. Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this research was to provide insight into the identities students develop as they interact in a high school mathematics classroom. A normative divide developed which eventually split the classroom into two distinct academic factions: those who resisted the emerging local definition of what it meant to do mathematics and those who did not resist (i.e. complied or identified). A secondary purpose of this research was to understand the role of students’ academic communities in mathematics identity development. Student narratives helped uncover mathematical spaces outside the classroom that each developed their own unique definition of what it …

Critical Social Justice In Teacher Education: Beginning Teachers' Pedagogy And Practice, Brittany Alexis Aronson

Doctoral Dissertations

Teaching for social justice is an attempt by classroom teachers to promote equity within their classrooms. Researchers have analyzed the impact of pre-service teachers’ readiness to address social justice issues in their classrooms upon exiting their teacher preparation programs. However, despite reports of already practicing K-12 teachers’ attempts to teach for social justice in their classrooms, there is little connection to teacher education programs and/or the impact of teacher practice in the classroom.

This ethnographic qualitative study addresses the research gap by highlighting the understandings and experiences of four intern teachers simultaneously enrolled in a teacher education program while participating …

Critical Teacher Inquiry: Collaborative Action Research Using Post-Structuralist And Cross-National Provocations, Robyn Anne Brookshire

Doctoral Dissertations

This study reports on the work of six early childhood teachers and the researcher as they enacted a variation of collaborative action research in a university-based early childhood center. The project included cross-national provocation via a “day in the life” video from an infant-toddler center in Milan, Italy. In addition, the model utilized a post-structural approach known as deconstructive talk (Lenz Taguchi, 2008) to facilitate teachers’ critical reflective inquiry into their own narratives. Teachers viewed the video from Milan, discussed provocations from the video, set foci of inquiry for their own classrooms, video recorded in their own classrooms, and undertook …