Education Commons^™

Gichi-Ayaa Mashkawziiwin, Suzette E. Lacasse (Anishinaabe-Ojibwe)

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

The Work Ethic Gap: Comparing Perceptions Of Students, Educators, And Employers, Joseph Routhier

All NMU Master's Theses

Work ethic has been a constant, but elusive topic for decades. This study sought to identify the differences in perception of work ethic in between students, educators, and employers. Seventy-two participants observed videos of workers in various tasks and rated the perceived work ethic of the person in the video by using a sliding Likert scale. Additionally, participants were asked to comment as to why they rated the worker the way they did. Quantitative analyses were used to determine differences in the participant’s work ethic ratings. Qualitative analyses interpreted respondents’ comments to better understand the results. Results indicated that while …

Asking The Tough Questions: Teaching Literature And Nonfiction Through Critical Literacy To Recapture Our Voices, Agency, And Mission, Elsie L. Olan, Wendy Farkas, Kia Jane Richmond

Conference Presentations

Exploding the Myth of Mental Illness

Disrupting Notions Of Stigma While Empowering Voices: Examining Language Identity, Mental Illness, And Disability Through Young Adult Literature, Elsie L. Olan, Wendy Farkas, Kia Jane Richmond

Conference Presentations

Presenter Two will share new research on young adult literature which features characters with mental illness. She will describe strategies for using texts such as Your Voice is All I Hear (2015), Thirteen Reasons Why (2007), and The Impossible Knife of Memory (2014) to analyze and critique representations of mental illness in young adult literature. Drawing on research by Koss & Teale (2009) and Richmond (2014), this presenter will help session attendees interrogate “the power of language choices” and “become empowered to confront the stigma associated with mental illness and confront bullying” (p. 24).

Ncte State Affiliate Extravaganza Ii: Michigan Council Of Teachers Of English Myaf Creative Writing Program, Kia Jane Richmond

Conference Presentations

Discussion of the Michigan Council of Teachers of English Creative Writing program for high school students through the Michigan Youth Arts Festival.

Program Evaluation Of The Large Lecture Retention Enhancement Initiative Pilot Program At Northern Michigan University 2012-2015, Kathryn Johnson

All NMU Master's Theses

The Northern Michigan University Large Lecture Retention Enhancement Initiative (LLREI) three-year pilot program ran from Fall 2012 to Winter 2015. The LLREI served 52 sections of courses consisting of 4,336 students over six semesters. Of that total, 1,390 were freshmen targeted for retention. Between 629-882 total students enrolled in participating courses depending on the semester. The three-year pilot program cost approximately $180,000.

The main goal was to reduce the historically high failure and drop rates in large lecture introductory courses by revamping the content with active learning and supporting the courses with push-in style undergraduate teaching assistants. Eighty-eight percent of …

The Understanding Of The Formative Assessment Process By Michigan Educators, Victor Bugni

All NMU Master's Theses

Districts purchase assessments to inform teachers as to what students are learning and at which levels they are performing. Black and Wiliam (1998) told us that educators must understand the importance of feedback and student participation in the formative assessment process to enhance learning. Teachers can engage in formative practices to help close the gap between what students know and the learning objectives. This study used a quantitative survey to collect Michigan educators’ awareness of the use of formative assessment components in their classrooms, their skill for the use of these components, their perception of support for using these components, …

Developing Educational Sessions For Faculty, Staff, And Students, Kristin-Ann G. Beck

Conference Presentations

In this session, participants will learn strategies for successful sessions to engage faculty, staff, and students into external funding. I will provide participants with the basics of how to develop sessions, ways to engage attendees, and some ideas that really worked, and others that didn’t work.

Developing And Celebrating Faculty Scholarship, Kristin-Ann G. Beck

Conference Presentations

In this session, participants will discuss successful (and maybe not so successful) faculty development programs and activities. We will provide participants with some examples of building relationships with faculty early on, and how to demonstrate to faculty that the grants/sponsored programs offices are on “their” side. We will also discuss and share ideas of celebrating faculty scholarship, proposal submission and external awards.

The Liminal Experience Of 'Reacting To The Past': Faculty & Ta Role Reversals, Kathryn Johnson

Conference Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Rural School District: To Survive And Thrive, A Look At Schools In The Upper Peninsula Of Michigan And How They Serve Their Communities Today And In The Future, Erich W. Ziegler

All NMU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine small rural school districts in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in order to better understand how they serve their local communities, both today and in tomorrow’s evolving world. Seven rural school districts in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were part of the study. Characteristics of effective financial and resource management were analyzed from school district data, as well as interview data, to further understand what it takes to keep districts working. An exploration of how students’ needs are being met by the district was also done through school district and interview data. …

Examining How Novices, Apprenticing Experts, And Disciplinary Experts Approach Reading Academic Texts, Hali A. Tavalsky

All NMU Master's Theses

First-year college students are often unprepared for college-level reading, writing, and discourse. It is important to understand how various instructional practices affect students’ reading and writing abilities. The purpose of this study was to explore how reading and writing instruction grounded in a sociocognitive and combined-use theoretical framework affected participants’ reading and writing outcomes, and reading attitudes. The dependent variables were participants’ a) reading comprehension, b) summary and synthesis abilities, c) reading attitudes, and d) reading strategy application. Six participants were recruited from a first-year developmental reading course. How those participants (novices) approached academic texts compared to three English graduate …

Will You Be My Mentor? Self-Selecting A Mentor During Student Teaching., Linda Ludwig

All NMU Master's Theses

The purpose of this research study was to investigate student teachers who self-selected mentors during student teachings and the ways they perceived support and professional advice compared to student teachers who did not self-select mentors. The study looked at the nature of the mentoring relationship with student teachers and their self-selected mentor. This mixed-methods research collected data using a five-point Likert scale and open-ended questions. Questionnaires were given to students during their 16-week student teaching placement. The common themes to emerge were that a self-selected mentor’s greatest influences included: offering advice, teaching strategies, encouragement and being a role model. The …

Developing And Celebrating Faculty Scholarship, Kristin-Ann G. Beck, Roger Wareham

Conference Presentations

In this session, participants will discuss successful (and maybe not so successful) faculty development programs and activities. We will provide participants with some examples of building relationships with faculty early on, and how to demonstrate to faculty that the grants/sponsored programs offices are on “their” side. We will also discuss and share ideas of celebrating faculty scholarship, proposal submission and external awards.

Learning Objectives:

- Explore ways to connect with faculty early-on at your institution (during the interview process, at the start of the academic year, etc.)

- Learn some of the different ways institutions celebrate faculty scholarship, proposal submission, …

Analysis Of Academic Administrators’ Attitudes: Annual Evaluations And Factors That Improve Teaching, Brian Cherry, Nathan Grasse, Dale Kapla, Brad Hamel

Journal Articles

This article examines academic administrators’ attitudes towards the academic evaluation process in the US and those factors that are utilised to improve teaching. We use path regressions to examine satisfaction with evaluation procedures, as well as the direct and indirect effects of these factors on perceptions of whether the evaluation process facilitates quality instruction. With increased pressure for accountability being placed on higher education, it is important to ensure that we are meeting both public and academic expectations. The evaluation process is an important tool to ensure the university’s goals and values are articulated and that academics can be successful …

Considering Teachers’ Classroom Literacy: Toward Uniting The Knowledge Base For Teaching And For Learning, Christi Michigan Edge

Grants

Drawing from both teacher education and reading/literacy education—distinct bodies of knowledge—I have investigated a problem situated in the unexplored space between (Edge, 2011). A Classroom Literacy framework (Edge, 2011; Edge, 2014; Edge, 2015) re-conceptualizes persistent problems in learning to teach in light of research on literacy, in order to (a) understand how teachers make meaning from classroom events and to (b) articulate how teachers’ literacy practices can purposefully guide K-12 learners to actively build knowledge and understanding. This project addresses how the knowledge base of reading instruction might provide a unifying framework for how teachers learn to “read” and “compose” …

Disrupting The Dominant Narrative: Beginning English Teachers’ Use Of Young Adult Literature And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy., Elsie L. Olan, Kia Jane Richmond

Journal Articles

In this multiple case study that uses narrative research methodology, two beginning English teachers’ stories, their use of young adult literature, and their dialogic interactions with university mentors are examined through a lens of culturally responsive pedagogy. This study is focused on how teachers’ stories indicate the difficulties they have incorporating culturally relevant young adult literature into their secondary English classes, how they establish connections between the texts, their students’ lived experiences, and their own lived experiences, and why they struggle with the application of culturally responsive pedagogy. Findings indicate that beginning teachers’ stories (a) express uncertainty regarding the place …

Storying Our Journey: Conversations About The Literary Canon And Course Development In Secondary English Education., Elsie L. Olan, Kia Jane Richmond

Journal Articles

Olan and Richmond present preservice English teachers’ stories about having little experience with canonical texts they are asked to teach in their field experiences.

(Mis)Reading The Classroom: A Two-Act “Play” On The Conflicting Roles In Student Teaching, Christi U. Edge

Journal Articles

This case study examined concentric and reciprocal notions of reading—that of high school students, a pre-service teacher, and a teacher educator. An intern charged with teaching students to read, interact with, and compose texts in an English/language arts classroom constructed her role in the classroom based on her reading the “text” of her internship experiences, relationships, and responsibilities. Using interviews and observations, a teacher educator read and interpreted the classroom “text” the pre-service teacher “composed” during her internship and then constructed a two-act “play” which details the conflict in the intern’s enacting the dual role of student-teacher and her subsequent …