Elementary Education Commons^™

Effect Of Implementing A Guaranteed And Viable Ela Curriculum, Christian Manley

Masters Theses

A guaranteed and viable curriculum (GVC) outlines what standards are taught and when; ultimately providing all students with the opportunity to learn identified content over the course of a school year. This paper reviews the impact of implementing a guaranteed and viable English Language Arts curriculum and specific adult practices on ELA proficiency in Battle Creek Public Schools.

This project largely seeks to identify how Battle Creek Public Schools is implementing their English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in 3rd through 5th grade classes, the adult practice data that contributed to the implementation, and to what degree it is having an …

Student Attitudes, Collaborative Group Work And Technology Use In Elementary Mathematics Classrooms: Examining Connections, Katie Kukulka

Honors Theses

Understanding how the structure of a group of students impacts how they work together has always been an interesting concept for me, as sometimes my teachers strategically placed certain students with other students, and sometimes we got to choose our seats in class. Recently, I began to focus on how my college peers worked together in groups in my mathematics classes. For example, I noticed how some students would start to lead and take ownership for a group, others would facilitate these group conversations, commenting on the lead students’ suggestions or perhaps recording answers to group work but not necessarily …

How Elementary Teachers Demonstrate Leadership In The Classroom To Increase Science Learning, Dipsy Anais Etanislao Gonzalez

Dissertations

In the DR, the need of producing drastic changes in students’ outcomes fostered the adaptation of a professional development (PD) program to improve the public education system. In 2013, the National Institute for Teacher Preparation chose the School Centered Continuous Teacher’s Preparation (EFCCE, acronym in Spanish) PD program to help teachers with the needed transformation. This program aimed to form knowledgeable and skillful teachers who exhibit instructional leadership in the classroom.

This qualitative, multiple instrumental case study involved 10 Dominican science elementary teachers who had completed the EFCCE program and who had self-identified as a teacher actively implementing engaging science …

The Pre-Instructional And Reading Comprehension Strategies Special Education Teachers Use To Engage And Instruct Elementary Student Readers With Asd, Murfet Alnemr

Dissertations

Lyon (1998) called reading “critical to a child’s overall well-being.” Given the ubiquity of text in their lives today, reading skills can help students lead productive, meaningful lives. But what about elementary student readers with ASD? Senokossoff (2016) argued that “in addition to the social and emotional difficulties that children with ASD experience, many also struggle with reading comprehension.” Research indicates that students with ASD can face deficits associated with self-regulation and sensory overload—associated with visual, hearing, and touch —and this can threaten learning and comprehension (Bogdashina, 2003). Thus, it could be argued that pre-instruction strategies focused on visual, hearing, …

Understanding The School Experience Of Recent Lgbtq+ Graduates In The Dominican Republic’S Education System, Rossina Matos

Dissertations

Studies show that, in general, schools fall short when it comes to serving LGBTQ+ students, sometimes even ignoring the situations regarding bullying, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and heterosexism that arise. The detrimental effects of repressive, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, and other marginalizing school environments on LGBTQ+ students are well-documented in the research. However, the limited research available on the school experiences of LGBTQ+ students in Dominican K-12 schools suggests the country could benefit from examining the breadth and depth of the reality of LGBTQ+ students in its schools.

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of …

Learning To Teach Reading Responsively Through Tutoring, Jodi Nickel, Scott Frederick Hughes

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article describes a community service learning collaboration between a teacher education program and a nonprofit literacy society. Seventeen teacher candidates (TCs) tutored young readers weekly for seven months as part of their course-related field experience and completed reflective assignments analyzing their own learning and the learning of their tutees. The study demonstrates how the tutoring experience enhanced the pedagogical competence of TCs (kid-watching, assessment, instruction, responsiveness, professional conversations, and affirmation of impact). These findings align with contemporary research in literacy teacher preparation, which identifies that the combination of coursework and tutoring is effective in promoting the integration of TC …

Breaking Through The Noise: Literacy Teachers In The Face Of Accountability, Evaluation, And Reform, Catherine M. Kelly, Sara E. Miller, Karen Kleppe Graham, Chelsey M. Bahlmann Bollinger, Sherry Sanden, Michael Mcmanus

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In an era of increased accountability, it is important to understand how exemplary teachers navigate the demands placed on them by their schools, districts, and states in order to support student learning aligned with their beliefs of effective instruction. To understand these negotiations, tensions facing exemplary literacy teachers were examined through a qualitative interview study. Participants included nineteen experienced PK-6th grade teachers from across the U.S. Results of the study indicate that teachers experience discrepancies between their beliefs and state and local mandates, and they discuss a variety of strategies for negotiating these discrepancies. Findings suggest that schools can support …

The Impact Of External Audience On Second Graders' Writing Quality, Meghan K. Block, Stephanie L. Strachan

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The overarching purpose of writing is to communicate; as such, the intended audience is a critical consideration for writers. However, elementary school writing instruction commonly neglects the role of the audience. Typically, children are asked to compose a piece of text without a specific audience that is usually evaluated by the classroom teacher. Previous studies have found a relationship between audience specification and higher quality writing among older children; this study examines the impact of audience specification on young children’s writing. Using a within-subjects design, the study compared writing quality when second-grade students wrote for internal versus external audiences and …

Writing Across Campus: Using Authentic Writing Experiences To Help Pre-Service Teachers Learn To Teach Writing, Jennifer A. Knight, Meghan K. Block

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study demonstrates the impact asynchronous discussion boards had on cross-college preservice teachers writing and writing instruction understanding. Participants from two universities in writing methods courses participated in discussion boards to learn about writing instruction. Students in the groups not only asked higher-level depth of knowledge questions to each other, but they also began to focus their responses and comments about their future teaching and instructional practices. Students built a stronger community of writers than students in previous courses that read, responded, and replied to peers.

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 …

Military Deployment In A Family: Children’S Literature As A Basis For Counseling Support, Aimee Tubbs, Ellie L. Young, Melissa A. Heath, Tina M. Taylor

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The authors summarize 30 children’s books that tell stories of a family member’s military deployment in order to identify books that could be used in bibliotherapy for children impacted by deployment. In this sample of books, the main characters are most commonly portrayed as feeling sad about a family member’s deployment. The most prevalent coping strategies are finding ways to stay connected to the deployed person and talking with an adult. An unexpected finding was a coping strategy of expressing pride in the family member’s military service.

Effective Teaching Methods For Elementary Students With Add/Adhd, Jane Bensen

Honors Theses

This paper first describes ADHD, or attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, then discusses the effects on students with ADD/ADHD when elements of choice (specifically alternate seating and book choice) and strength-based strategies are used in the classroom. Research is conducted as a literature review through peer-reviewed articles on ERIC educational database. The literature shows that incorporating choice in the classroom, including offering alternative seating, is a beneficial practice for students with ADD/ADHD. Additionally, strengthbased strategies are a beneficial way to highlight and work with traits that students with ADD/ADHD possess in the classroom in a positive way. Some of which include incorporating …

The Role Of Response To Intervention In Michigan High Poverty Elementary Schools That Are Beating The Odds, Alina J. Fortenberry

Dissertations

The Michigan Department of Education has identified schools that are beating the odds as either schools that perform better than expected based on risk factors of race, ethnicity, low socioeconomics or/and English Language Learner populations, and/or also as schools performing above their comparison group of the most demographically similar schools in the state. Many districts in the state are attempting to incorporate multi-tiered systems of support with a Response to Intervention (RTI) Framework, as the academic component for assisting students in accomplishing skills needed to help them meet grade level expectations.

The purpose of this study is to describe and …

Ten Elementary School Teachers’ Voices: How They Build Effective Literacy Learning In The Lives Of Their 2nd Grade Children, Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie

Dissertations

It is important to support teachers to adapt and apply effective literacy instruction strategies. Teachers may receive support from many sources, such as pre-service developers, principals, supervisors, literacy coaches, parents, colleagues and peer teachers. Perhaps most importantly, the teaching of literacy requires the support of the principal, literacy coach, and others who can collaborate with the classroom teacher to implement effective literacy instruction and strategies (Vallejo & Wren, 2009; Cole, 2008). All of these supports play a role in effectively achieving high literacy levels among students (Cole, 2008). Thus, teachers should work to maximize the benefit they receive from these …

Positive Discipline As A Part Of Effective Classroom Management, Allison Stevens

Honors Theses

This study was driven by the researcher’s interest in learning more about classroom management, and in particular, how experienced teachers thought about positive discipline as part of a management system. The researcher was a teaching intern in an elementary suburban school, where she interviewed 5 teachers and the building principal about classroom management and positive discipline. Interviews were transcribed, and patterns across responses were sought. Findings revealed common pieces of effective classroom management: 1) setting clear expectations and rules, 2) consistency in applying rules and expectations, and 3) having good parent communication. All teachers used tangible extrinsic rewards to motivate …

Impacts Of Representation On Increasing Flexibility In Understanding Number Composition, Abigail Carr

Honors Theses

Place value is a mathematical concept that young children struggle to understand. A common misconception for children is that the digits that make up multi-digit numbers represent the quantity of that number itself, instead of the number according to its place value (i.e. the 1 in 18 represents 1, instead of 10). The base-ten representation is an efficient way to represent numbers and quantities, but it is not easily learned. One reason children may struggle to fully understand place value is the English language does not make the value of the number known and has hidden base-ten meanings. To contrast, …

Markers Of An “Inclusive” Reading Classroom: Peers Facilitating Inclusion At The Margins Of A Fourth Grade Reading Workshop, Mary R. Coakley-Fields

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

What are indicators, or markers, of ‘inclusive’ reading classrooms? As elementary school teachers across the United States are increasingly required to teach reading to diverse, heterogenous groups of students within the same classroom space, practitioners and researchers seek to identify what constitutes 'inclusion' in reading instruction. This study explores how two fourth grade friends – one labeled ‘struggling’ and one labeled ‘average’ by normative reading assessments – transgress classroom expectations around quiet, leveled reading behaviors while also facilitating each other’s inclusion in the classroom reading community. Combining ethnographic methods and D/discourse analysis, this study explores the dominant cultural Discourses that …

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume, 2018

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Conferring In The Café: One-To-One Reading Conferences In Two First Grade Classrooms, Bethanie Pletcher, Rosalynn Christensen

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to explore the teacher/student reading conferences in two first grade teachers’ classrooms in one primary school. Sixteen one-to-one reading conferences were recorded and transcribed over a two-month period and coded for content as related to the CAFÉ (Boushey & Moser, 2009) model of reading instruction, which the teachers used daily. We found that the two teachers placed heavy emphasis on students’ reading accuracy (the “A” in CAFÉ) and did not spend as much time working on comprehension, fluency, or expanding vocabulary (the C, F, and E in CAFÉ). We suggest teachers …

Movement In The Classroom To Practice Sight Words, Galina Vander Meer

Honors Theses

This project encompassed the development and implementation of a unit plan that proved beneficial for first grade students in learning and practicing their sight words. Sight words are words that students are expected to read and write by the end of the school year. Every student learns differently, and using movement to enhance students’ learning can give kinesthetic learners a chance to grow. There were four lessons in the unit plan that incorporated different modes of learning, including movement and technology, and correlated to the first grade curriculum. By the end of the four lessons, the students collaboratively created a …

A Survey Of Elementary School Technology Needs: A Needs Assessment, Shaun Kellogg

Masters Theses

Given the potential of technology to enhance teaching and learning, there is little surprise that schools have been investing in technology. Unfortunately, technology has been and continues to be an expensive and ongoing investment. Recent federal mandates and public demand have led to increasing pressures on schools to show results and to justify such heavy expenses as technology. Sandy Grove Elementary has followed national trends in its recognition of technology's potential, its increasing investment, and its need to justify this expense with hard evidence. Sandy Grove is still in the early stages of its evaluation process and currently there is …

Effects Of Computer Troubleshooting On Elementary Students' Problem Solving Skills, Anne Todd Ottenbreit

Masters Theses

The lack problem solving skills exhibited by students has generated concerns at national and state levels of education (Coleman, King, and Ruth, 2001). If the educational technology curriculum involved computer troubleshooting, students could possibly increase their problem solving abilities. Because computer troubleshooting follows similar procedures to problem solving, there is possibility of an educational transfer and could be easily included into the educational technology curriculum. The purpose of the research study was to discover if the computer troubleshooting curriculum designed by the researcher affected the elementary students' problem solving abilities. Technology education at the elementary level includes keyboarding and 'practice …

The Effect Of Systematic Cursive Instruction On The Length Of Writing Samples, John Kendall Vail

Masters Theses

This research study investigated the effects of a systematic cursive writing instruction program on the quantity of written product generated by sixth grade students identified as having poor cursive writing (legibility). A Direct Instruction curriculum was chosen to remediate the students' cursive writing skills. Subjects received three to nine weeks of four 20-minute sessions per week of cursive instruction. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used. During the baseline phase, students were asked to write a story based on story starters provided. The total number of words generated was determined for each story. In the intervention phase, subjects received …

A Comparison Of The Hutchings’ Low-Stress, Factor Analysis, Hand-Held Calculator, And Conventional Addition Algorithms For Speed, Accuracy, And Preference With Regular Education Students, John C. Hampel

Masters Theses

Three repeated measures experiments were conducted to determine the efficiency with which medium and low math-achieving, fourth- and fifth-grade students computed two sizes of addition problems using each of four different algorithms. The experimenter selected the conventional algorithm and the hand-held calculator because they are currently in popular use. The experimenter selected the Hutchings' low-stress and factor analysis algorithms because of their demonstrated performance enhancing characteristics and unique design features. The three written algorithms represented a design continuum that facilitated a powerful deductive analysis.

In all conditions the Hutchings' low-stress algorithm produced incrementally superior performance consistent with its unique features. …

The Role Of A Chairperson Of A Michigan Accreditation Program Visitation Team, Ione M. Condit

Masters Theses

This project report describes the functions and responsibilities of an accreditation team leader before, during and after a three-day, on-site visit to validate an elementary school's self-study findings. The elementary school accreditation process for both host school and visitation team is described.

The evolution of the Michigan Accreditation Program as conceived by the Michigan State Legislature and current obstacles to the planned implementation in the Michigan elementary schools are review.

Teacher And Student Discourse Variables In Academic Communication, Janet M. Sturm

Masters Theses

This study was designed to analyze the oral communication exchanges between first, third, and fifth grade teachers and their students. It was based on the hypothesis that discourse parameters of linguistic quantity and complexity and communication acts change over grade level, much as the discourse parameters of caregivers with young children have been found to do. The language of teachers and students in 15 classrooms was examined by measuring 6 form and quantity variables and 11 communication act variables. Results showed significant differences for some form variables (MLU, mazes, and Type-token ratio) and some communication acts (convey content, mark content, …

Computer Assisted Drill And Practice: An Instructional Aid To Increasing Rate Of Acquisition Of Addition Math Facts, Paula G. Frandsen

Masters Theses

This study supplemented existing math instruction and drill and practice (flash cards and worksheets) with computer assisted drill and practice (CADP) to facilitate addition math fact attainment of first grade students. The six students selected were introduced to (CADP) on an individual basis using a multiple baseline across subjects research design. Timed tests were used to select subjects, as baseline measures, and as probes throughout the study to measure the students' rate correct per minute (the dependent variable).

All subjects showed an increase in their individual rate correct per minute after the introduction of CADP. This rate increase is important …

Education For Employment: An Update Of Kalamazoo County's Career Education Model, Wendy French

Masters Theses

The major accomplishment of this project was the creation of career education goals that have been accepted by the nine Kalamazoo County school districts involved in Education for Employment. These broad goals are infusable into all the local districts as they review each curricula.

The essential skills of problem solving, group responsibilities, and basic skills are not subject specific and can therefore be addressed in all curriculum areas. Abilities and indicators are listed with the goals to help local districts specifically address student needs.

The Education for Managing the Future (Career Education K-6) committee, as a sub-group of Education for …

A Suggested Sight Vocabulary Training Program, Martin Halvorsen

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.