Education Commons^™

“I Don't Read No Books” : How Teachers Can Use Students' Literacy Stories To Change Literacy Lives., Stephanie J. Malone

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Practitioner knowledge, as the center for change in teacher education, is the heart of The Carnegie Project of the Educational Doctorate (CPED) program. Margaret Lata and Susan Wunder explain a key principle of CPED is to grow practitioners as change agents, through the development of a Problem of Practice. In their article, Investing in the Formative Nature of Professional Learning: Redirecting, Mediating, and Generating Education Practice-as-Policy (2012), they discuss how the capstone product that evolves from this Problem of Practice should impact the professional field by producing knowledge that informs and changes professional practice.

This Dissertation in Practice, “I …

Effects Of Direct Instruction Flashcards And Reading Racetracks On Sight Word Acquisition And Maintenance For A Student With Autism, Chelsea Burton

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A student’s abilities in literacy can be indicative of his/her ability to live successfully in our society (Rinaldi, Sells, & McLaughlin, 1997). The ability to read is an area of difficulty, particularly for many students with autism spectrum disorders. Two fundamental cognitive processes required for skilled reading are word recognition and reading comprehension (Spector, 2010). Struggles with word recognition hamper the ability of students with ASD to work towards the goal of literacy (Spector, 2010). Browder and Xin (1998) argued that sight word instruction is important because that knowledge provides a foundation for other functional academic skills. The purpose of …

Creating A New Normal: Language Education For All, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Martha G. Abbott

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

How close are we to the reality of all students having the opportunity to learn another language and gaining support for these efforts from the general public? The answer has a long history, which we point out by referencing articles that span the 50‐year history of Foreign Language Annals. From the 1979 President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies report under President Jimmy Carter to the recent article by Kroll and Dussias (2017) on the benefits of multilingualism, this article tracks ACTFL’s advocacy efforts over the years. Most recently, the 2017 launch of the Lead with Languages public awareness …

Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

Reflecting upon my personal experiences teaching mathematics to English Language Learners (ELL) in a public high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, this essay largely focuses on the time I spent as the only Accelerated Math teacher in my school building. From 2012 – 2017, I taught three different subjects at this high school: Advanced Algebra, Algebra, and Accelerated Math. This essay highlights why I chose to become a math and ELL teacher, as well as the challenges, issues, struggles, and successes I experienced during my time teaching. I focus on the challenges I faced teaching students who did not share my …

Examining Dosage: Comparisons Of A High-Quality Program's Impact On Vocabulary And Social-Emotional Characteristics Between One- And Two-Year Cohorts., J. Joshua Byrd

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study investigated the effects of high-quality early childhood program dosage by measuring its associations with low-income children’s vocabulary and social-emotional characteristics. The current study also examined the different patterns of annual change between monolingual English-speaking children and Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) in two dimensions of language development. The purpose of this study was to explore program impact at two levels of dosage per measure, Group 1 (single year of program) and Group 2 (two or more years of program). Results revealed significant increases in fall-to-spring PPVT-IV scores for English-speaking children in Group 2, significant decreases in Spanish PLS-5 …

Lumos Literacy: Utilizing Harry Potter As A Guide For English Language Learners, Kayla Punt

Honors Theses

This research paper and project looks at teaching literacy in a 9^th grade Standard English classroom with accommodations for high-level English Language Learners through JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It explores three schools of thought surrounding ESL education: transitional bilingual education, developmental bilingual education, and two-way immersion, and then uses this information to guide a full unit plan, complete with assessments, a lesson map for 20 days, and two appendixes of lesson plans. Drawing inspiration from Parker Palmer (1997), Lourdes Ortega (2013), and Kylene Beers (2003), the unit focuses on the engaging elements of Harry Potter …

Navigating Authoritative Discourses In A Multilingual Classroom: Conversations With Policy And Practice, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, Violet J. Harris

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Using Bakhtinian concepts of persuasive and authoritative discourse, this study reports on science and English language arts instructional practices in a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya. Situated in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and through the use of case study, the study explores classroom discourse data to illustrate how teachers use instructional practices to reproduce, contest, or navigate prevailing institutional monolingual policies when mediating students’ access to literacy and content. By analyzing classroom discourse, the authors argue that restrictive language policies that aspire for fixity disconnect multilingual learners from their daily realities. In contrast, they call for …