Elementary Education Commons^™

Kindergarten Students' Interactions With Texts During Independent Reading, Tracy L. Schaper

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how emergent readers interact with texts during independent reading. Audio recordings of student talk, video taped observations, notes in a teacher research journal, a book selection chart, and concepts about print assessments were all analyzed to determine how emergent readers interact with texts. Findings were that students interact with familiar, unfamiliar, and leveled texts differently including varying levels of conventionality and prosody of language, the comprehension strategies and skills they use to make meaning, and the concepts about print they apply. Findings also included trends for the types of teacher support students …

Choosing Advocacy

Occasional Paper Series

Two articles comprise this publication. In "Beyond the Story-Book Ending: Literature for Young Children About Parental Estrangement and Loss," Megan Matt analyzes over 30 books for young children on the topics of abandonment, estrangement, divorce, and foster care. She observes that this loss might appear as an event within the story or as a fear articulated by a young child. She states that, as an educator, she hopes that she can make the children realize that their own stories are "real" and legitimate, no matter what messages they might encounter or fail to encounter in the media. In "Walking the …

Toward A More Loving Framework For Literacy Education

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Motivating The Unmotivated: How Are We Supporting Struggling Readers In Upper Elementary Classrooms?, Maci V. Wood

Honors College Theses

Motivating struggling students to read is a question considered by many general education reading teachers and special education teachers alike. Since student classroom experiences today differ greatly from classrooms of the past in terms of instructional practices and learning supports, scripted materials that seldom cater to student interest have often been promoted due to the pressure of standardized assessment. With little to no student engagement present in the classroom, it is up to the student to find the will to read or to the teacher to utilize alternative strategies in increasing student motivation (Cambria & Gunthrie, 2008). However, there is …

Toro Times: Raising Our Voices!, Griffee Albaugh, Tiana Andrade, Mitchell Chen, Eric Cho, Kimberly Contreras, Minerva Ipatzi, Natalie Oporta, Jorge Cortes, Wendy Flores, Victoria Sato, David Hernandez, Kendall Hill, Ryan Guzman, Jose Lopez Huerta, Gerard Villaseñor, Isa Basche, Anthony Castro, Adolfo Bello, Raymond Ferman, Paul Callahan, Olivia Coston, Julie Ornelas, Jane Gore, Jiva Jimmons, Sakura Kato, Jessie Latin, Erin Leung, Diana Miranda, Sydnie Partida, Reuben Regalado, Kimberly Velazquez, Isabelle Arriaga, Ezekiel Banda, Angelynn Benitez De La Cruz, Airiale Hernandez, Alana Caires, Katelyn Carbajal, Karly Eastley, Kiaya Estes, Layla Fulton, Leslie Rosales, Bella Ryan, Marisol Gallardo, Krystal Gonzalez, Ciera Ortiz, Brody Shellenbarger, Jackie Solano, Kyra Gallego, Vanessa Garcia, Nhi Vo, Emily Gutierrez, Sarah Hernandez, Keila Pineda, Valerie Quinones, Luke Kudlinski, Samantha Mbodwam, Alexa Muro, Jasmine Nava, Dayana St. Clair, Lizbeth Teran, Heaven Wong

Yorba-Chapman Writing Partnership Anthology of Journalistic Writing

During the Spring 2019 semester, Dr. Noah Asher Golden's Teaching of Writing K-12 students partnered with the Journalism class at Yorba Academy for the Arts. Through collaboration over a four-month period, Chapman's future teachers and Yorba's junior high journalists engaged a deep writing process to write a series of features, editorials, and news articles related to a number of global issues. Thank you to Principal Preciado-Martin, former principal Tracy Knibb, Mrs. Andrea Lopez, Mrs. Kori Shelton, and the Lloyd E. and Elisabeth H. Klein Family Foundation for supporting this project.

An Evaluation Of A Title One Elementary School's English For Speakers Of Other Languages Program, Kim L.P. Rigby

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Enrolled at many public schools in the United States are students who primarily speak languages other than English and lack proficiency in the English language. These students are required to show language proficiency on end-of-year English-only state assessments. One public elementary school utilizes a support program to assist second language learners in acquiring a level of language skills necessary for proficiency on state assessments. My evaluation of this school’s program utilized mixed methods to determine the viability of support services provided to second language learners. The findings of my evaluation revealed some weaknesses within the provided services and indicated …

Foucauldian Dynamics In The Formation Of A Fifth Grade Writing Culture, Ashley Renee Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study looks at a student writing culture in a fifth grade English language arts classroom through the lens of Foucauldian power dynamics to examine the power relationships in the classroom and curriculum. The research questions were: 1) What is the nature of a writing culture in a fifth-grade writing classroom? 2) What are students’ perceptions of writing in a fifth grade ELA classroom? The methodology for the study was case study research.

The research took place during the 2017-2018 school year at Southeast Elementary School in Lancaster County in the southeastern part of the United States. Data was collected …

A Window Into Practice: Examining Elementary Writing Methods Instruction, Judy H. Paulick, Joy Myers, Alexa Quinn, Lori Couch, Judith Dunkerly-Bean, Holly H. Robbins, Haley Sigler, Allison Ward-Parsons

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

We know very little about what happens in elementary literacy methods courses, particularly those that focus on writing instruction. In this study, we offer a window into writing methods instruction, examining three pedagogies of practice used by experienced teacher educators (TEs) across one U.S. state —representations, decompositions, and approximations of practice (Grossman, Compton, Igra, Ronfeldt, Shahan, & Williamson, 2009). We found a variety of ways that instructors use these pedagogies of practice, both in isolation and in combination, in their instruction. We provide implications and suggestions for the support and development of elementary writing methods TEs.

Writing Conference Purpose And How It Positions Primary-Grade Children As Authoritative Agents Or Passive Observers, Lisa K. Hawkins

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

A common practice in today’s primary-grade classrooms, teacher-student writing conferences are considered a vital component of instruction by accomplished writing teachers and advocates of process writing. Moreover, what teachers say and how they say it shapes those opportunities for student learning that are possible in classrooms. As such, building an understanding of the talk that ensues during primary-grade writing conferences, those purposes that such talk serves overall, and the significance of its pedagogical appropriateness is essential. Findings from a multiple-case study of conference enactment in both a kindergarten and a first-grade classroom illuminate the varying degrees of authoritative and dialogic …

The Impact Of A Teacher’S Implementation Of The Readworks Digital Reading Program On Second Graders’ Reading Fluency And Comprehension Test Scores, Cynthia Molina

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Since elementary school student performance on the end-of-year summative Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) Standards of Learning (SOL) reading test is vital in impacting school accreditation, computer-assisted instruction has become popular. Online reading programs have existed in many elementary schools in Norfolk Public School district since 1996, such as Breakthrough to Literacy (McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002), Istation in 2014 (Mathes, Torgesen, & Herron, 2015), and the i-Ready program from 2015 to 2017 (Curriculum Associates, 2014). The problem is that there is insufficient empirical research supporting the use of the ReadWorks program at several Norfolk, Virginia’s elementary schools.

The purpose of this …

Implementation Of Read To Be Ready Instructional Practices: A Case Study, Jessica Danielle Bigham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this embedded case study was to describe the implementation of Read to Be Ready instructional practices by elementary grades teachers. The issue this study investigated were the factors that affected the transfer of the Read to Be Ready practices, first used in a summer literacy camp environment, to the general classroom environment for 12 elementary teachers in southeast Tennessee. The theory that guided this study was Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory, which explains the relationship between behaviors and reinforcements and describes what influences human behavior. The research answered the question of what are the experiences teachers have …

Interaction Effects Of Socioeconomic Status On Emerging Literacy And Literacy Skills Among Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Children: A Comparison Study, Kasey Thompson, Lydia P. Richardson, Heather Newman, Kathleen George

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Socioeconomic differences in children’s reading and educational outcomes have been thoroughly documented throughout literature. Bobalik, Scarber, and Toon (2017) examined the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and classroom instruction on emerging literacy skills in pre-kindergarten children. The results supported the theory that children identified as belonging to a low socioeconomic status enter school with lower emerging literacy skills and benefit most from academic instruction; these children’s literacy skills substantially increased throughout the academic year, growing closer to those of their peers who were identified with a high socioeconomic status. The aim of the present study was to expand our understanding …

Brookings, South Dakota: Learning Lab, Doriane Paso

Empowering Research for Educators

The following paper explores the possibilities of education in one local setting using both an insider and outsider perspective. Education is a part of society, and as society changes, why should education not change with it?

Alexa?: Possibilities Of Voice Assistant Technology And Artificial Intelligence In The Classroom, Patrick D. Hales, Melissa Anderson, Tonya Christianson, Amber Gaspar, Billi Jo Meyer, Beth Nelson, Krista Shilvock, Mary Steinmetz, Makenzi Timmons, Michelle Vande Weerd

Empowering Research for Educators

The following paper represents the combined effort of 10 educators exploring the experience and use of voice assistant technology in classrooms. This reflection and study of our classrooms looks to better understand both our use of technology and students’ use of technology in very specific ways. Is there a place for voice assistant technology in our classrooms? What benefits are there? What obstacles exist? We tell our stories and experiences here with the intent to provide context and continue the discussion among more of our colleagues.

From Assertion To Conversion: Classroom Management For 21st Century Teachers, Benjamin Halbkat

Empowering Research for Educators

The following position paper provides a new teacher's perspective on modern classroom management. Where is there room for improvement? What might the future hold?

High School Biology Preparation: Do Students Feel They Have Been Adequately Prepared For Introductory College Biology?, Mara Neitzel

Empowering Research for Educators

The purpose of this study was to determine how well students are being prepared in high school for introductory college biology courses. Specifically, the objectives of the study are as follows: To gain a better understanding about how well students feel they have been prepared for college science classes based on their high school education, to gain insight on how college preparation in high school impacts students’ self-confidence, and to determine if the accessibility of advanced education courses is influenced by the size of a high school. A mixed methods survey was distributed to freshman in the fall semester of …

In Support Of The Tinker V. Des Moines Decision, Matthew Olson

Empowering Research for Educators

The following position outlines a case for the Tinker v. Des Moines decision, including a historical and modern perspective. With freedom of speech and protest being a regular part of the discussion about U.S. society and schools, now is a good time to look back.

Best Practices For Addressing The Achievement Gap For Hispanic Elementary Students, Megan C. Greene

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and describe effective instructional strategies for English language arts and mathematics perceived by expert fourth and fifth grade elementary teachers in southern California to reduce the achievement gap in high poverty and high English language learner (ELL) elementary schools.

Methodology: The researcher selected a qualitative research design to describe the instructional strategies used by teachers in three southern California school districts. Through in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interviews, the researcher provided an examination of the instructional strategies used to address the needs of high poverty and high ELL elementary schools. Teachers …

Scipp: An Expanded Community Of Practice - Community Publishing, Juan Delgado, Kelly (Kl) Straight Dortch, Daiana Rodriguez, Alex Avila, William Beshears, Juliana Cruz, Gina Hanson, Frank Houlihan, Lacey Kendall, Larry Light, Cati Porter, Molly Tor, Timothy "Isaac" Pieper, Bianka Sanchez, Sara Trowbridge, Daniel Aguilar, Bernardo Benigno, Arely Bernal, Alejandra Bueno, Emily Campos, Jason Cannon, Griselda Caudillo Gallo, Joshua Clemente, Sarah Coblentz, Diana D'Arcangelo, Georgia Darwin, Mary Grace Deasis, Kaylan Els, Keith Fernandez, Maria Flores, Khiyara Frontela, Anthony Galvan, Monica Galvez, Martin Garcia, Jessica Godin, Freda Guzman, Madison Hall, Diana Huitron Munoz, Jennifer Ledesma, Maria Lias Chacon, Rebekah Linares, Prisma Loya, Elijah Magana, Alberto Mancillas, Lorinda Maya, Jennifer Pimentel, Nancy Ramirez, Angelica Rodriguez, Alexis Ruvalcaba, Sandra Sandoval De Rosas, Emily Stoddard, Andrea Tinajero, Lesly Velez Montenegro, Saulo Velez Montenegro, Matthew Vigil, Sergio Zamora, Marylou Alvarez, Roxanna Cervantes, Tenaya Fuentes, Wendy Moreno, David Valenzuela, Philip Colunga, Augustine "Auggie" Fuentes, Nadia Fuentes, Olive Fuentes, Sophia Fuentes, Miraya Martinez, Diego Mercado, Iker Valenzuela, Roma Valenzuela

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

SCIPP redefines and expands the existing notions about what makes for a vibrant and robust community of practice by partnering CSUSB students and professors with K-12 students, parents, and educators, along with committed community partners. SCIPP encourages curiosity in ways that leads to critical thinking, exploration, "risk taking", confidence building, open-mindedness, and other personal traits that equip them with the softskills to be active, critical, and creative contributors to our communities. SCIPP pedagogy embraces our students' collective wisdom and focuses on relational building where multi-directional communication is promoted and students are viewed as equal stakeholders in their own educations. SCIPP …

Why Parents Choose Dual Language Immersion Programs, Darice Irby

Education Dissertations and Projects

School choice details a range of programs which offer families alternatives that are available to educate their children. Language immersion is a school choice option that is available for parents seeking to provide their children an innovative environment conducive for learning. This modality of learning uses dual languages to immerse students completely within the subject being taught. This qualitative design study sought to investigate why parents choose to send their child to a dual language immersion school. This study examined parent motivations and decision-making processes for choosing dual language immersion programs. This study also investigated parents’ own school experiences and …

Lexical-Level Predictors Of Reading Comprehension In Third Grade: Is Spelling A Unique Contributor?, Kimberly A. Murphy, Laura M. Justice

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Purpose:

Considerable research effort has focused on understanding reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties. The purpose of this correlational study was to add to the small but growing body of literature on the role that spelling may play in reading comprehension, by investigating the full range of lexical-level literacy skills and whether spelling makes a unique contribution. This study also explored whether these relations vary with the spelling scoring metric.

Method:

Data were collected from 63 children attending Grade 3 in a Midwestern state. In addition to measuring reading comprehension, word recognition, and vocabulary, 4 spelling scoring metrics were examined: …

Teacher Perspectives Of Their Implementation Of Guided Reading Instruction, Kristi Presley

Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of guided reading in the classroom and the perception teachers had related to their own self-efficacy in their implementation of guided reading instruction. Using an interpretative qualitative methodology, this researcher interviewed twelve teachers in Tennessee concerning their implementation of guided reading instruction in their classrooms. This researcher designed and utilized a Guided Reading Fidelity Checklist for the purpose of analyzing the collected data. This researcher identified misalignments regarding the fidelity of the implementation of guided reading instruction. The findings of this study demonstrate a need for teachers to have further …

The Effect Of Comprehensive Instructional Program On Grades 3-8 Student Achievement, Marcia Shortt

Ed.D. Dissertations

Student achievement and the state Standards of Learning testing was a critical criterion for success for school districts, administrators, and teachers. The researcher in this study investigated the efficacy of the Comprehensive Instructional Program in improving student achievement in reading and mathematics and whether school configuration impacted student achievement. The population consisted of all students in District A in Virginia who took achievement tests in reading and math in 2012-2018. The researcher determined there was a significant difference in reading and math scores between pre‑implementation and post-implementation in grades 3-8 as measured by the Virginia Standards of Learning testing program …

Juxtaposing Primary- And Intermediate-Elementary Trade Books’ Historical Representation Of Amelia Earhart, Rachael A. Burkhardt

Masters Theses

Amelia Earhart can be used in the classroom not only to interest students but can also be used to cover Common Core State Standards (CCSS), National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) framework, and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). When teaching Amelia Earhart, textbooks, trade books, and primary sources can be used, however one must be careful with the misrepresentations each resource can portray. To look at what is misrepresented, omitted, and included within primary and intermediate grade level trade books, 32 books were scrutinized. The trade books being analyzed were found to have some historically representative and misrepresentative elements …

Implementing Reading Strategies With Ell Elementary Students, Nelofar Khamisani

Masters Theses

This study shows the challenges the English Language Learners face in learning reading at the Elementary level; implementing reading strategies for them; and choosing effective strategies for the students to learn reading more easily. The findings of the study show that teachers use different strategies according to the language proficiency level of the students. ELL students face challenges in communication, pronunciation, sound recognition, and vocabulary. As a strategy to overcome these challenges, the teachers emphasize learning phonics and vocabulary. Observations of three teachers in three mainstream classrooms show that teachers implement nearly similar strategies for teaching phonics and vocabulary. The …

Supporting The Development Of Upper Elementary School Students’ Online Research And Comprehension Skills Through A Reframed Guided Reading Framework, Jennifer Van Allen, Vassiliki Zygouris-Coe

Publications and Research

Today’s students are increasingly required to use skills when conducting online research for academic purposes. However, students may be unable to transfer their reading skills with printed texts to reading online texts in upper grades and beyond. Strategic actions required for online research are extended to account for the unique, complex reading environment of the Internet as readers locate, navigate, evaluate, and synthesize information across multimodal sources. The guided reading framework, a popular instructional framework that is widely adopted in U.S. elementary schools, lends itself to supporting students’ use of strategic actions as they conduct online research. Informed by theory …

Supporting Clinical Practice Through Rehearsals, Lubna Javeed

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Rehearsing is a form of pedagogy in teacher education to prepare pre-service teachers with instructional practices before live enactments in a classroom. This qualitative study used grounded theory to explore how rehearsals impacted five elementary literacy courses in a university teacher education program. Data comprised of prolonged observations, video recordings of rehearsals, and surveys. The process of coding and re-coding resulted in findings that reflect rehearsing provided Teacher Candidates with confidence with lesson presentation, improved understanding of literacy content, and understand how to make in-the-moment instructional decisions.

Does Waldorf Education Offer A Well-Rounded And Integrated Experience That Prepares Students For Higher Grades And Life In General?, Jacqueline A. Stratton

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis research focuses on the study of Waldorf education and how it benefits the whole child. It begins by looking at Rudolf Steiner’s Waldorf educational program and its foundational history and then takes an in depth look at the key elements of its rich philosophy and pedagogy. The literature review focuses on the key question, ‘Does this 100 year-old teaching philosophy encourage a more well-rounded and integrated educational experience than traditional public schools?’ The review highlights four broad topics in relationship to Waldorf education. These include: Educating the Whole Child; Education for the Three Stages of Childhood; Early Childhood …

Halliday’S View Of Child Language Learning: Has It Been Misinterpreted?, Anne Thwaite

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper gives a brief summary of Halliday’s theory of how children learn to talk, illustrating the development of children’s language from the microfunctions through the macrofunctions and into the metafunctions of adult language. The paper points to a possible source of the misinterpretation of Halliday’s theory in the work of Frank Smith (1983), which appears to have “trickled down” into some of the textbooks written for pre-service teachers in Australia. Links are made to teachers’ knowledge about language (KAL) and the current Australian Curriculum English (ACE). It is suggested that while any number of functions of the language of …

New Approaches To Literacy Problems: Multiliteracies And Inclusive Pedagogies, Rachel J. Drewry, Wendy M. Cumming-Potvin, Dorit Maor

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper is based on a qualitative study examining multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996, 2000) and inclusivity. Underpinned by a socio-cultural approach, the study examined ways to facilitate meaningful literacy learning for students experiencing challenges in print-based, classroom activities. Key to this research was an analysis of how scaffolding was used to bridge home and school communities. This paper focuses on one of the study’s students, Hannah, who exhibited extensive engagement with multiliteracies at home - driven through the Arts (e.g. graphic design, singing and music). In contrast, Hannah’s literacy experiences in the classroom were, at times, challenging and …