Education Commons^™

Studying The Self: Students Examining Culture And Identity For Improved Engagement And Achievement, Zara Pylvainen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has demonstrated that incorporating culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) into teaching can lead to greater academic success. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on using concepts of identity and culture as topics of study in a seventh-grade English language arts (ELA) class with the aim of improving student engagement and academic achievement. CSP argues that young people are in a fluid process of developing their identities, and our pedagogy should foster that development. CSP also maintains that classrooms need to provide space for communities of color to maintain, nurture, and sustain cultural practices. This curriculum design …

Does Lexia Core 5 Support Accelerated Reading Growth In Third Grade Intervention Students During Independent Reading Time With Minimal Teacher Support?, Whitney Strand

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone addresses the following research question: Does Lexia Core 5 Support Accelerated Reading Growth in Third Grade Intervention Students During Independent Reading Time With Minimal Teacher Support? The author first examines the previous research around Lexia Core 5 done by O'Callaghan et al. (2016) & Maracuso et al. (2019). This mixed methods study investigates how using Lexia Core 5 impacts participants’ overall reading growth via pre- and post- assessment data. It follows participants’ Lexia Core 5 usage over the course of 7 weeks tracking both the minutes spent and number of units completed. Data for this study also includes …

Using An Interactive Word Wall To Increase Spanish Language Acquisition For Urban Middle School Learners, Jordan Schuneman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

My primary research question for my capstone project is: What are the ways in which interaction, collaboration, and dialogue impact students’ Spanish language acquisition? More specifically, my research and project aim to answer: How can an interactive word wall affect Spanish language acquisition in an urban classroom? I have created an interactive word wall curriculum. This was specifically designed to fit my context as a middle school Spanish teacher, grades 6-8. However, this interactive word wall curriculum can be utilized effectively in any content area. Through considering culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (Hollie, 2018) as well as how to best …

Strengthening Early Literacy Skills Through Data-Driven Decision Making, Kaari Bly

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As part of this research, nine professional development sessions and a data workbook were designed to address the research question: how can a school establish a sustainable system for making data-based decisions to strengthen the literacy skills of kindergarten and first-grade students necessary for further educational success? Data-driven decision-making is an essential component of an MTSS framework and is based on the steps of a problem-solving model. Key tenets of a data-driven school include strong leadership, a comprehensive assessment system, easy access to data, time and resources to examine data, and clear connections between data and potential interventions. Often schools …

Effective Literacy Differentiated Instruction, Lauren Kahl

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This school improvement plan details the importance of using literacy differentiated instruction within the classroom to instruct the vast array of students’ needs. This plan details different types of differentiated instruction and shares research of the success rates of differentiated instruction across various grade levels. It also highlights key components needed to make differentiation successful within the classroom, as well as obstacles in implementing differentiated instruction. The purpose of this school improvement plan is to display the need for using literacy differentiated instruction to improve students’ literacy rates, as well as to tailor instruction to match students’ individual needs.

Sped 874: Language Arts And Literacy For Students Who Are Deaf/Hard Of Hearing, Anne E. Thomas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio documents the process I used to critically analyze the structure, teaching methods, assessment, and students learning in SPED 874 Language Arts and Literacy for Children who are Dear/Hard of Hearing. This is a course that students in the Deaf Education Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) take while pursuing a master’s degree and/or graduate endorsement in Deaf Education. This portfolio documents how I aligned the course objectives, content, and activities to the Council for Exceptional Children - Initial Specialty Set for Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing (CEC-DHH). I share the results of one method I use …

Representation Of Cultures And Languages In Children’S Picture Books, Kristen Neff

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated cultural representation in children’s picture books located in classroom libraries. The literature review explored what is culture, the history of children’s books, what past studies have found on representation in books, and why this topic is important. The research methodology was a qualitative study that involved inventorying classroom teachers’ libraries, as well as interviews with teachers about diversity and their libraries. The results included each of the individual teachers’ libraries as well as all the libraries’ data together; data revealed that the majority of characters were animal or non-human characters. Additionally, most of the books in these …

Composing Her Growing Identities As A Mexican American, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article studies the growing and changing cultural identifications of one early adolescent Mexican American girl as represented by her engagements with literacy. Her writing behaviors in particular manifested a changing cultural identity that reacted to and represented her response to a changing world. Her bilingualism and biculturalism manifested a dialogic innervation of distinct voices and truths, particularly set in the Trump-era United States. Through a theoretical framework of cultural hybridity and bordered identity, this study analyzes the complex linguistic, developmental, and cultural identities of a young Mexican American woman in the rural South.

Re-Integrating Play-Based Learning (Pbl) Activities Into The Primary Classroom, Katherine Horstmann

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Can we even call it kindergarten anymore or should we rename it to be called first grade part one? Students entering into kindergarten today are now expected to meet much higher academic standards that were once designed for first grade. Five-year-olds are now expected to write complete sentences, and even read and comprehend complex texts by the end of the year with play having been removed from the kindergarten classroom completely. This leaves children with no prior exposure to school settings with a much steeper hill to success. Re-incorporating play-based learning experiences back into the kindergarten classroom could be the …

Phonological Awareness In The Elementary Classroom, Marisa Brown

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has demonstrated that teaching all elementary aged students phonological awareness skills in an explicit manner builds a strong literacy foundation. The blog designed for this project focuses on each explicit instructional skill set to best set our students up for success and is inspired by the work of Dr. Louisa Moats. The creation of the project involved looking at the background of how educators teach students to read including whole language and balanced literacy approaches. The goal of this project is to provide an online resource that can serve as a form of a professional learning community. The blog …

Using Visual Arts To Teach Beginning Literacy Skills, Stacy Phaxaysithideth

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of using visual arts to teach rhyming words and word family words. Two interventions were used, both utilizing the use of visual arts to learn both literacy skills. The interventions were then assessed with a pre- and post-test to see the if the interventions were successful. A student attitude survey was also given at the end of the study to see how the students felt about the interventions. A semi-structured interview was done at the end of the interventions as well to collect the thoughts of my co-teacher on the interventions. Lastly, my teacher observations …

Ict As A Tool For Enhancing Literacy For Livelihood In The Communities Of Imo State, Nigeria, Godwin Nwogu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined ICT as a tool for enhancing literacy for livelihood in the communities of Imo State, Nigeria. Four (4) research questions guided the study. Survey research method was adopted. Sample size was 60 respondents. An instrument with r=0.71 tagged ‘Questionnaire on ICT for Enhancing Literacy for Livelihood in the Communities’ (ICTELLC) was used for data collection. Completed and retrieved 57 copies of questionnaire were analysed using mean statistics. Results show that smart phones, computers, radio and television are ICT facilities available in the study area’s literacy centres; basic literacy, functional literacy, civic and political education and remedial education …

7 Hands-On Strategies For Struggling Readers, Elise Murray, Stacey Murray

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Struggling readers are found in almost every classroom across the world. With differing learning styles and abilities, teachers are encouraged now, more than ever, to be innovative when teaching foundational reading strategies. Within this article, readers are provided with a literature review of research and educational literature that discusses how multisensory, hands-on activities promote engagement and active learning for all students. The recommended seven hands-on learning strategies that can promote learning and support for struggling readers during literacy instruction include Build the Words, Feel the Words, Whole Body Letters, Five Finger Retell, Sight Word BINGO, …

Teaching With The Genius In Mind: Enacting Literacy As A Civil Right, Katie Glupker, Pam Gower, Angela Knight

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Because literacy is a civil right, educators are responsible for designing and implementing literacy education that is designed with the excellence of all students in mind. In order to learn about ways to ensure that literary practices are equitable for all students, the authors joined an educators’ book club to read Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad. Muhammad describes the Black literary societies of the past and challenges educators of today to enhance classrooms by upholding equity and excellence through a five-layered framework: Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy.

We studied Muhammad’s …

The Effects Of Education And Cognitive Skills On Employability And Earnings For Labor Market Entrants: Evidence From Large-Scale Worldwide Survey Data, Yongchao Zhao

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

People’s stock of knowledge, abilities, and other personal characteristics, namely human capital, has been widely regarded as a fundamental input to both individuals' ability to earn a living and to fuel economic growth. Traditionally, formal education has been widely considered as a good investment in human capital and an extensive literature has shown that it has a positive and strong association with labor market success. However, considering the global knowledge economy, which emphasizes skills and knowledge, the economic benefits of formal education are being questioned, as findings from recent research reviews revealed that the overall rate of return to education …

Book Review Letting Go Of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction For White Students, Jeremy Hyler

Michigan Reading Journal

Race, racism, and literary whiteness are at the forefront of many conversations in education today. In Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students, authors Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides highlight what should be addressed in our classroom today to address race and racism.

Free To Read: Growing Elementary Students' Literacy In The Summer, Allison M. Nieboer

Michigan Reading Journal

This article describes the implementation of “Free to Read”, a summer reading program with three key components: free student-selected books, Little Free Libraries and one-minute parent videos. The author explains how these three components come together to form a summer reading program that provides access and choice to a community of readers. Recommendations on creating such a program are shared at the end of the article.

Responsible Classrooms: Unfinalizability, Responsibility, And Participatory Literacy In Secondary English Language Arts, Emma Jamilah Gist

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines participatory literacy practice in secondary English language arts classrooms. While literacy achievement in this context is often measured according to a student’s ability to receive and repeat predetermined information within the scope of mandated curricula and standardized tests, this study attends specifically to classroom literacy practice that centers authentic, unanticipated, dialogic student response. Within its consideration of literacy practice, this study applies the Bakhtinian notion of unfinalizability to consider those conditions that allow for learning experiences that are not predetermined but are rather uniquely, unpredictably, and unrepeatably co-constructed by individual students, student groups, and teachers. These unfinalizable …

Infographic: Student Reading In A Digital Age, Zoe Kaskamanidis

Teacher infographics

An OECD report 21st-Century Readers: Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World analyses data from the 2018 PISA test and student survey to report on the reading habits of 15-year-olds in OECD countries. Find out more about how reading in digital and paper formats effects students' reading performance and enjoyment in today's infographic.

Virtual Free-Writing Journal Portfolios In An Intensive English Program In Iraq, Charles Mckinney

MA TESOL Collection

Middle-Eastern English language learners (ELLs), specifically Iraqi students, are often not well equipped to succeed in university settings where English is the medium of instruction (EMI) for their intended graduate and undergraduate studies. Oftentimes, they are weaker in their academic literacy skills, when compared to listening and speaking, and need extra scaffolding and/or remedial instruction to develop their reading and writing dexterity for overall academic success. One way to support their writing development is to implement free-writing journal projects that will enable them to cultivate an original writer voice, to think quickly and critically in the L2, and to integrate …

Finding Their Chrysanthemum: Linguistic Representation In Children's Literature, Marielena Zajac

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Children in America today struggle with finding themselves in the books they read due to societal expectations. From an early age, children are dictated on the correct way to speak and write in “American,” which can leave children and their home languages feeling unseen and dismissed. To help further the conversation and promotion of linguistic diversity in American society, this capstone analyzes dialectal representation in children’s books, with a heavy focus on attitudinal linguistic principles rather than prescriptive mechanics. The secondary research explores current literature and resources that discuss literacy acquisition in adolescents, trends in dialects in America, and childhood …

Factors Related To Teachers, Students, And Schools And Reading Achievement Of Middle School Students, India Danielle Elliott

Dissertations (2016-Present)

Low reading achievement is an issue that plagues school systems across the United States. It is well established that students, teachers, and school styles have an impact on students’ reading ability and performance. This study aims to determine whether student and teacher demographics along with school-related factors significantly predict reading achievement in middle school. Specifically, this study investigates student gender, student ethnicity, teacher gender, teacher ethnicity, school curriculum, and school schedule as it relates to middle school scores on the reading component of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test. To test whether or not three hypotheses …

Pronunciation Classes For Intermediate English Learners In The Literacy Program, May A. Her

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Monterey County Free Libraries is a public government organization that provides a wide range of resources and services for residents of Monterey County including a Literacy Program that serves 52 learners who are eligible to participate in this capstone project. The macro problem that this project is related to is the increasing number of immigrant residents who do not have access to equal educational opportunities in Monterey County. The micro problem is that learners who have participated in the Literacy Program are not confident with their English pronunciation even after their initial tutoring sessions conclude. This project provided an educational …

Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of essays that describe what the writer has come to see as essential topics in second language acquisition. It begins with a professional environment piece, and then a teaching philosophy statement focused on student identity and interaction in the classroom. This is followed by an essay on observations of teaching. The next two sections focus on pragmatic resistance among advanced learners and the importance of preparing learners for peer interaction. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography outlining the main concepts associated with Communicative Language Teaching, a method that is commonly employed in second language …

Ink: A Study Of Cholx Literacies, Lauren Elizabeth Peña Uribarri

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis provides an exploration of what Cholx literacies are and aims to prove that tattoos are a significant and restorative literacy practice within Cholx communities. Because this is a specific area in the field of literacies studies about which little is known, this study works towards establishing Cholx literacies as a viable and recognized form of literacy and opens the door to further research on the topic. Although there is so much that is yet to be learned about the specific literacy practices of Cholx community members, this study opens a conversation about normative and non-normative literacy practices and …

Zapatista Maya Literacies And Decolonial Civic Pedagogies, Juan Moisés García-Rentería

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Zapatista Maya Literacies and Decolonial Civic Pedagogies evaluates an educational outreach project led by an Indigenous grass roots mobilization in the high plateau of central México, the Zapatista movement. Using retrospective narrative inquiry and theoretically informed perspectives, this dissertation shows that the program of the Zapatista escuelita, Spanish for “little school,” is rooted in the Maya educational paradigm of nojptesel-p’ijubtasel, a cultural and political process of socialization at the heart of contemporary Maya peasant families. The research focus of this study offers rhetoric, composition, and literacy studies two interrelated points of insight tied to the overall Maya conception of the …

Age-Specific Effects Of An Early Grade Literacy Intervention In Asia And Africa, Doris Suzuki Esmerio

All Theses

Education has been widely recognized in the economic literature as a fundamental element in the economic development of nations and individuals. In this study, I focus on literacy acquisition for young children in poor communities in South Asia and Sub- saharan Africa. Literature on cognitive skill formation, neurobiology and psychology have found converging evidence that returns to investments in education differ by age. This is explained by the fact that neural circuits are more receptive to environmental influences at sensitive periods of brain development. Using data from a RCT experiment conducted between 2012-2016 in Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Ghana, India, …

The Effects Of Guided Reading In A Primary Montessori Classroom, Taylor Bates, Mary Brocklesby, Katie Mcgarrigle

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research was to decide if conducting guided reading instruction three times a week in a primary Montessori classroom would make an impact on reading levels among kindergarten students. The research took place over six weeks in a public Montessori school. The school is a Title One school located in a rural area of South Carolina. The population who participated in the study were 26 kindergarten students aged five to six from three different classrooms. Our intervention included using a variety of reading strategies such as pointing to each word, using picture clues, sounding out words, …

Contextualizing Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education Preschools Within The Turkmen Community Of Afghanistan, Carrie Ann Shaver

Theses and Dissertations

The Turkmen Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) Preschool program in Afghanistan provided the ideal environment to research how evidence-based MTB-MLE preschool programs can be implemented in a way that aligns with the cultural and linguistic views of the Turkmen people in Afghanistan such that supervisors, teachers, and the community strive to implement and participate in the program to the fullest extent. Data was triangulated by the use of interviews, participant observation, and MTB-MLE preschool monitoring reports. A qualitative research method was used to gain insights into the perceptions and experiences of supervisors, teachers, and the community on the MTB-MLE program. …

How Rhythm Affects Prosody, Mckenzie Ward

Student Research Submissions

Music interventions and how they benefit reading fluency have been researched, but there is more to be done in discovering the benefits of rhythm and prosody. This quantitative research study looked at how rhythm-based interventions affect student prosody in a second-grade classroom. Data were gathered from a music experience survey, a prosody pre-assessment, and a prosody post-assessment. The music intervention in this study involved three rhythm-based interventions called “DeeDee games.” This research analyzed and compared the growth between the prosody pre-and post-assessments and the results between students with musical backgrounds and students without musical backgrounds. This study found insufficient evidence …