Education Commons^™

"I Feel Like A Literacy Coach Today." Professional Identities Of Literacy Coaches, Antoinette Czekanski

Educational Studies Dissertations

Educators transitioning from teaching positions to roles as literacy coaches take on new identities as leaders within their schools in both content and pedagogy. They negotiate relationships with teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders on a daily basis and construct their new professional identities through these social interactions. Research shows that this multi-faceted role can be challenging if not supported within the culture of the school and preparation through coursework and training. This qualitative study investigated the developing identities of four novice literacy coaches who participated in a training program, Literacy Collaborative, to prepare them for this role. They shared their …

Action Research And Teacher Voice: A Pathway For Transforming Our Schools Into Learning Organizations, Susan Inman

Educational Studies Dissertations

Our PreK-12 schools face increasing complexities such as accountability, diversity, closing the achievement gap, and working in an era of standards-based reform (Drago-Severson, 2009). The purpose of this inquiry was to understand teachers’ experiences with one type of learning experience, action research, and to investigate the impact of this experience on the teachers’ practice and voice. Three research questions guided this inquiry:

• What are the experiences teachers have as they utilize the action research process?
• How do teachers find that their experiences with action research impact their practice?
• What connections are there between the action research process and …

Men In A Female-Dominated Profession: The Lived Experiences Of Ghanaian Male Nurses In The United States, Daniel Kwadjo Frimpong

Educational Studies Dissertations

Minority men are less than two percent of the total nursing workforce in the United States. The small presence of minority men in the nursing profession presents a challenge to healthcare providers as patients are much more responsive and open-minded to healthcare providers of the same cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This qualitative study was designed to explore the lived professional experiences of Ghanaian male nurses in the United States to shed light on the barriers minority men encounter in the nursing profession in order to make suggestions relating to strategies to appropriately support minority men in their nursing practice. This …