Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Impacts Of An International Professional Development Program: A Qualitative Study, Marijn W. T. De Waal

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This qualitative study with phenomenological components examined the impacts of a U.S. State Department-funded teacher professional development program, hosted at a liberal-arts university on the east coast of the United States in the spring semester of 2018. An initial review of the public literature revealed that it was challenging to find evaluation data pertaining to this particular program or ones of a similar nature. Through semi-structured synchronous online interviews with five program alumni, the researcher probed if—and if so, how—the professional development (PD) program had made the intended impacts on participants’ (1) teaching methods/curriculum, (2) content knowledge in their personal …

Embracing Écriture Inclusive Students Respond To Gender Inclusivity In The French Language Classroom, Rebecca Lynn Garbe

Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

In 2017, the French Academy published a declaration opposing the official integration of écriture inclusive into the French language for fear that it would put it in “péril mortel.” Specifically, the Academy targeted a newly proposed punctuation, le point milieu, or the middot, that would allow those writing in French to express both the masculine and feminine endings of words with a dot between the two. This addition would disrupt traditional gendered interpretations within the language and make space, not only for the goals of French feminists, but also for visibility of non-binary French-speaking people. The Academy argued, however, …

The Language Outcomes Of Hmong Dual-Language Immersion Program, Chao Vang

Doctorate in Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a K-12 Hmong dual-language immersion program on kindergarten through fifth-grade Hmong students’ academic performance in the category of reading Hmong and English. Moreover, the parents of those students were investigated concerning specific factors they used in choosing a dual-language immersion program for their child. Hmong bilingual students have different perspectives about their cultural identities, retaining the Hmong culture, and learning English when the Hmong language was used as the instructional language. It was also imperative to determine the most prevalent factor that parents consider when selecting a program with …

Letter From The Editor

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A Letter from the Editor

About The Authors

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Read this to learn more about this issue's authors.

Teacher Expectations, Self-Efficacy, And Collective Efficacy In Three Tennessee Literacy Networks, Amanda Tinker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a significant difference in the dependent variables- teacher expectations, self-efficacy, and collective efficacy among the three levels of the independent variable- membership in one three literacy networks in Tennessee- Leading Innovation for Tennessee (LIFT), Read to Be Ready Coaching Network (RTBR), and Tennessee Early Literacy Network (TELN)- and if significant correlations existed between the dependent variables for each network. The population consisted of 161 K-3 Tennessee teachers who had been involved in the work of one of the three networks. Participants responded to an online survey via Google …

Implementing Writing In Content Areas: Teachers’ Perceptions As Writing Instructors, Matthew Davis Shemwell

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers across content areas have a shared responsibility to incorporate writing instruction into the curriculum; however, analysis of needs assessment survey data collected during Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant application in 2014 revealed that the faculty of the participating high school did not embrace writing instruction responsibility. The purpose of the study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions, confidence, and use of writing instructional strategies throughout content areas at the conclusion of implementation of the five-year grant. The researcher conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods design that utilized a survey, interviews, and lesson plan document analysis. The survey sample consisted of …

Embracing Écriture Inclusive Students Respond To Gender Inclusivity In The French Language Classroom, Rebecca Lynn Garbe

Audre Lorde Prize

In 2017, the French Academy published a declaration opposing the official integration of écriture inclusive into the French language for fear that it would put it in “péril mortel.” Specifically, the Academy targeted a newly proposed punctuation, le point milieu, or the middot, that would allow those writing in French to express both the masculine and feminine endings of words with a dot between the two. This addition would disrupt traditional gendered interpretations within the language and make space, not only for the goals of French feminists, but also for visibility of non-binary French-speaking people. The Academy argued, however, …

Grading For Growth: Introducing New Assessment Approaches In Traditional Grading Models, Beth A. Walsh-Moorman, Katie Ours, Aubrey Deaton, Maura Mcginty-O'Hara

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

This article explores three teachers’ experiences introducing a new assessment approach in an existing school-wide, grading framework. Teachers explore how they were able to manipulate the school framework in a way that allowed (and required) students to revise and rewrite until they had achieved mastery on key writing assignments.

Students' Attitudes Towards Standardized Testing: A Literature Review, Kelly Gard

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

Standardized testing is a task that all students must undertake during their educational careers. Standardized tests are large determinants to course placements, exceptionality placements, grades, school sanctions or rewards, and education policy. It is imperative that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed on standardized tests. However, bias, stress, and anxiety in standardized testing often hinders the opportunity for many students to excel on the tests.

The purpose of this literature review is to discuss the research conducted on standardized testing bias which includes the prevalence of testing bias as well as the causes and types of testing bias. …

Getting To Denver: Instructor Participation In The Design Of Writing Program Assessment Technologies, Soha Fransis Turfler

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation presents a framework for writing instructor participation in the design of writing program assessment technologies. I base this framework on a case study into the participation of 16 non-tenure track (NTT) and graduate teaching assistant (GTA) writing instructors in the design of a final portfolio assignment prompt for the first-year composition (FYC) program at the University of New Mexico (UNM). I specifically question how Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) and assessment designers can address the needs, interests, and values of writing instructors in the design of writing program assessment technologies, including the important need for agency and professional autonomy. …

Educator Researched Methods And Interventions That Increase Below Level Readers’ Fluency And Comprehension, Shawnee Knott, Shannon Tovey

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A student walks into a classroom multiple grades below grade level and already on day one that student is behind and will most likely be behind their entire school year. Many teachers are faced with this scenario year after year. Students entering their classrooms unprepared for the on-level content they need to be on. Reading below grade level is just the beginning of the learning gap that exists in today’s classrooms. Teachers work hard to close that gap, but by upper elementary is it too late? What can teachers do to help these students grow and become successful learners?

This …

What’S Next For Literacy Education In Georgia? An Interview With Dr. Caitlin Dooley, Deputy Superintendent, Georgia Department Of Education, Shannon Tovey Howrey

Georgia Journal of Literacy

An interview with Dr. Caitlin Dooley

Indigenous Wisdom, Storytelling, And Language Renewal Ꭰꮒᏸꭺꭹ, Ꭰꮒᏼꮻꮿ Ꭰꭷꮩꭵꭿꮝꮧ Ꭴꮒꭽ, Ꭰꮴꭿꮠꮧᏹ Ꭶꮼꮒꭿꮝꮧ, Arlo Starr

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Abstract ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎩ

Language, cultural immersion, and intergenerational land-based education have shown the potential to vastly improve dire health issues that Indigenous people face. What is the most effective way to produce a large number of second language learners who speak at a basic level in order to improve Indigenous health?

Relationship is a vital part of Indigenous cosmology. Rather than promoting the consumption of words as things, acquisition will be more readily integrated into relationship-based thought when also interacting with them in context through story, and cultural activities that are fun, understandable, and engage community. Many successful language immersion models …

Student Perceptions Regarding The Use Of Purposive English In A Spanish As A Foreign Language Classroom, Kacey Booth

Dissertations

In modern American society, diversity is both challenged and celebrated, and inclusion is imperative. This ideology begins in the classroom. Oftentimes, this celebration of diversity, more specifically linguistic diversity, is most visible in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) classes and similar bilingual educational programs. In TESOL programs, students’ international identities are highlighted and students are often instructed using multilingual educational resources to scaffold their acquisition of English. Historically, foreign language teaching also utilized dual-language instructional methodologies. Such archaic teaching methodologies have since been replaced by more modern and immersive sociopsycholinguistic approaches such as Communicative Language Teaching. Such …

“My Heart Was Like, Write About This. There's No Other Way.”: Strengthening And Deepening Literacy Skills Of Adults In A High School Equivalency Program Through Creative Writing, Elizabeth Santiago

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study investigates how creative writing plays a role in strengthening and deepening literacy skills of adults in community-based high school equivalency diploma programs, which are operated under the publicly funded, adult basic education umbrella. Specifically, the study explores two sub-questions: How can creative writing processes support adult high school equivalency students’ achievement of personal and/or academic goals? How does a curricular focus on individual storytelling build students’ literacy confidence and/or their sense of student agency? Data sources includes pre- and post-surveys, pre- and post-interviews, field notes, and student work based on a curriculum designed using best practices in …

Valuable Voices: Increasing Student Buy In Through Allowing Them To Be Involved In Planning, Erika Watts

New Jersey English Journal

This piece is on the research that surrounds the benefits of incorporating student voices into the classroom to improve student scores and also the student buy in. This allows students to feel included and as though their voices are being heard.

Helping Students Choose A Reading Frame: Three Ways Of Teaching Jacqueline Woodson’S Harbor Me, Emily S. Meixner, Anne Peel

New Jersey English Journal

Choice and autonomy in ways of reading are just as important as choice and autonomy in what to read. Teaching students different frames for reading novels provides students with essential tools for making meaning of texts. This article explores three frames using the middle grade novel Harbor Me.

Beyond Man Vs. Nature: Utilizing Book Clubs On Nature And Climate Change To Create Engaged Citizens Of The Anthropocene, Shannon Falkner, Ryan Skardal

New Jersey English Journal

In this article, we consider the following question: "What’s next for ELA? Over the next 10 years, how will our students change? How might we need to change? Which traditions and practices will (or should) grow obsolete, and which should be preserved?" Our aim is to help teachers find ways to bring "climate literacy" into their classrooms and to help teachers recognize the central role that ELA as a discipline can play in educating students about the environment and climate change. We see this topic as highly engaging for students, and we want teachers to reconsider and reanimate older approaches …

The Necessity Of Second Language Learning, Elizabeth M. Youmans

Classical Conversations

In the past half-century, Americans have had ongoing issues with foreign language instruction. Around 1970, the number of foreign language classes began to decline, and funding slowly began to disappear. Although some proficiency tests and requirements have been put in place, no nationwide requirements for foreign language instruction exist for public high schools. The foreign language requirements for entrance into college used to be more prevalent and followed, but studies have shown that 84% of four-year schools do not require foreign language credits (The History of Foreign Language Education in the United States Timeline 1). Because of this lack of …

The Equity And Engagement Challenges Of Teaching Reading In Middle School, Edmund T. Hamann, Stephanie Malone

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

The point is to look at midlevel and high school students—those often encapsulated by the term ‘adolescent literacy’—and to ask what it is that makes those students less likely to engage in productive reading practice. That may at first look like a psychological question about motivation, which makes the challenge seem like it is something inside the student that needs attention or ‘fixing’. But the orientation here is instead more sociological. If we talk about instruction, in this case reading instruction, it is intrinsically interactive, between teacher and student most obviously, but also interactive between students and their peers (e.g. …

Impact Of I-Think Maps On The Flow Of Ideas And Writing Performance Of Year Five Pupils, S Thuraisingam T. Gewa

Student Works (2020-2029)

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of i-think Maps on the flow of ideas and writing performance of Year Five pupils. The use of i-think Maps as a cognitive tool enables pupils to activate and illustrate their flow of ideas in the i-think Maps templates during the planning and editing stages of the recursive process of writing. A total of 28 pupils participated in this pre experimental: one group pretest post-test study where treatment lessons using four i-think Maps were carried out for 10 weeks. The qualitative aspect of this study focused on structured interviews, classroom …

Mentoring Secondary Novice Teachers To Develop Academic Language Of English Language Learners, Susan O'Hara, Joanne Bookmyer, Robert Pritchard, Robin Martin

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This exploratory, qualitative study examines the foundational knowledge and instructional methods needed for academic language teaching of English language learners (ELLs). It also examines how mentoring practices can build secondary content-based novice teachers’ instructional capacity in this area. The study uses synthesized data from two independent studies to contextualize findings on essential instructional practices within the process of mentoring new teachers. Three themes emerged: novices need the foundational, theoretical and practical knowledge underlying essential practices for academic language development; essential practices must be articulated in detail for enactment by teachers; and balancing explicit and immersive academic language instruction is a …

The Cognitive And Psychological Effects Of Youtube Video Captions And Subtitles On Higher-Level German Language Learners, Peter Yang

Faculty Scholarship

This study reviews the psychological and cognitive role of using videos, YouTube videos and modes of text support in foreign language learning, with a focus on the effect that captioning and subtitling YouTube videos have on intermediate-high and advanced German language learners. The results of the study found that enhanced captioning plays a more positive role on the intermediate-high and advanced German learners’ motivation likely due to more efficient language processing; more specifically the videos are able to provide linguistic integrity, which allows the language learners to focus their incidental attention effectively. The findings provide useful insights into and enthusiasm …

Story Squad: Connecting Books, Standards, And Literature Circles, Leslie Cowell

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Story Squad was developed after experiencing the use of Literature Circles in a fourth grade classroom. Students enjoyed the idea, but the jobs themselves and process were not engaging. Story Squad presents roles for connecting to literature after giving students “a mission” to solve. Roles expand past the traditional Literature Circle roles and directly connect to state standards. Can be used and adapted for 3-8^th grade.

Behavioral, Cognitive, And Health Benefits Of Walking While Listening To Educational Podcasts, Debra D. Ives

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This session will highlight the behavioral, health and cognitive benefits of walking while listening to educational podcasts. Improvement is learning, mood and healthy habits result. Attendees will get to experience these benefits first hand when they go for a walk listening to a Walking Classroom podcast. Attendees will Walk. Listen. And Learn.

Read, Write, Rhyme: Increasing Reading Performance With Hip-Hop Texts, Crystal Monique Lavoulle

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation describes the Harlem Renaissance to Hip Hop Movement, a literacy program that uses best practices in literacy instruction to improve reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing. Moving beyond educational hip-hop songs and videos, this presentation offers insight into effective ways to increase Georgia Milestone Assessment scores in both English language arts and social studies using a variety of hip-hop texts.

Prek–5 Teacher Views Of Professional Development Integrating Common Core Language Arts With Science And Social Studies, Janie Hubbard, Melisa Fowler, Lee Freeman

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Three preK–6 U.S. university methods instructors-researchers (literacy, science, social studies) joined 17 Title I school teachers for collaborative lesson planning and teaching within the preK–5 school setting. Each team’s goal was to create and teach interdisciplinary curriculum units using U.S. English language arts Common Core State Standards with social studies and science. A year-long instrumental case study design was used to examine (a) how teachers perceived collaborative professional development to create interdisciplinary unit plans and (b) how teachers viewed outcomes of teaching interdisciplinary units of their own design. Practice articles regarding Common Core State Standards curricula integration are plentiful; however, …

Using Visual Journals As A Reflective Worldview Window Into Educator Identity, Christina Belcher, Terry Loerts

International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal

This ethnographic case study research and content analysis presents the conclusion of a three-year study involving 37 teacher candidate participants across a three-year study within a two year (2 semester program) Bachelor of Education program at a university in Ontario, Canada. Each academic year participants were intentionally given time over two semesters of literacy courses to engage in literacy practices and knowledge of self through the use of multimodal visual journals. Candidates reflect on their conceptions of literacy, teaching, identity and worldview within an institution grounded in the Christian faith. Findings, philosophical ponderings and content analysis suggest that the identity …

Supporting English Learners Through Practice-Based Research, Catherine Lammert, Erica B. Steinitz Holyoke

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Learning to use critical practice-based research as part of teaching is an important goal for preservice teachers, especially for those who plan to teach English learners in linguistically diverse settings. In this study, we examine the experiences of preservice teachers who were introduced to a framework for enacting iterative, transformative action research, and used the framework to study their own teaching in a one-on-one writing partnership with young English learners. Using an established self-efficacy survey instrument, as well as qualitative measures such as course artifacts and observations of teaching, we conducted a mixed-methods study to examine the impact of research …