Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

See Me, Hear Me, Teach Me: Addressing Equity, Diversity, And Student Engagement Through Culturally Responsive Teaching, Diana Diiorio

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.)

This Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice aimed to investigate how teachers' cultural backgrounds and potential cultural biases were manifested in their teaching and determine the degree to which student engagement is impacted as a result of teachers' proficiency in the use of Cultural-linguistic Responsiveness (CLR). Additionally, this study aims to intervene in the problem of practice (lack of use of Cultural-linguistic Responsiveness strategies) through assessment of the impact of training to increase Cultural-linguistic Responsiveness strategies. By utilizing a convergent mixed-method approach, this study follows a team of devoted school community members as they planned, implemented, studied, and reflected on the …

Writing: The Lost Literacy… Found!, Tahlya Stevenson

Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy

According to the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP, 2012), writing proficiency across the country has been stagnant for the past generation. This “writing crisis” has the potential to impact job preparedness, reading development, and the future of our nation’s students. Additionally, teachers are ill-prepared with the knowledge and time to best teach writing. The purpose of this study was to identify best practices in elementary narrative writing and to explore the effectiveness of implementation in a grade 2 classroom. Experts agree that process writing, use of mentor text, explicit instruction in text structure, and peer feedback increase student writing …

Supporting Prospective Teachers’ Development Of Relevant And Authentic Mathematics Stories, Eryn M. Stehr, Lindsay M. Keazer

Education Faculty Publications

Supporting prospective elementary teachers (PTs) to develop mathematics problems with contexts that reflect their students’ lives is a challenge that remains to be explored. We began this work by conducting collaborative action research to explore PTs’ development of mathematics problems that were relevant and authentic to PTs’ own lives. We engaged in iterative cycles of action research by asking PTs to write mathematics stories, followed by our review and discussion of the themes we saw and sharing selected examples with PTs during class discussions. Findings after three cycles of data collection suggest that PTs’ mathematics contexts became more story-like and …

Meaningful Vocabulary Instruction: Bridging The Way To Comprehension, Joanne Riback

Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy

Beginning with Hart and Risley’s study that brought to the forefront a significant gap in word knowledge in students from a lower socioeconomic status, the importance of vocabulary instruction has been emphasized. Extensive research has long acknowledged that vocabulary knowledge plays a crucial role in reading comprehension. With the rigorous expectations of the CCSS, vocabulary has become an essential component of instruction. Consequently, this study, utilizing social constructivism as the theoretical framework, focused on determining the most effective strategies to enhance vocabulary instruction in order to bridge the gap between students who struggle with vocabulary learning and those who do …

Reading Strategies In Content Area Math, Jennifer Bachman O’Brien

Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy

Since the introduction of the CCSS, expectations in math have placed greater responsibility for problem-solving on students. No longer is computation the primary focus of elementary math instruction; instead the goal has shifted to student understanding of the mathematical contexts. The aim of this action research study, guided by Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism, was to determine the effectiveness of integrating reading and content area math, while deepening students’ skills in vocabulary, journaling, and visualizing. Nine fifth-grade students receiving Tier 2 math intervention were selected to participate in the study. Data collection consisted of pre and post measures including criterion-referenced …

Abc: It’S As Easy As 1, 2, 3 – The Importance Of A Multisensory Approach In Phonological Awareness Instruction, Chelsey Marsh

Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy

Currently, more than 20% of kindergarten and first grade students struggle with an aspect of phonological awareness. Further, 80% of struggling readers exhibit weaknesses in phonological processing, which is the basis for grappling with unfamiliar words. Students whose reading achievement is not at grade level by third grade are at risk for not catching up to their more-capable peers. Using social constructivism as the theoretical framework in this action research study, we examined the effect of a multisensory, explicit, and systematic approach in phonological awareness for students in the primary grades. From the larger school population, this study focused on …

Researching And Reshaping Literacy Learning: Three Urban K-6 Teachers’ Ongoing Transformations Through Everyday Action Research, Kristin N. Rainville, Grace Enriquez

Education Faculty Publications

Given the vast range of diversity among children’s backgrounds and needs, literacy educators must consider multiple ways in which children learn and interact with texts. Moreover, policies that increasingly require frequent assessments of children’s literacy achievement place pressure on educators to find immediate ways to impact children’s learning. This qualitative inquiry explores three graduate students’ yearlong engagement in literacy-related action research within ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, urban K-6 classrooms. Grounded in a social practice perspective on literacy and a sociocultural perspective on literacy learning, we examined participants’ constructions of action research as they developed research questions, entered various research sites, …

A Case Study Of Teacher Leadership At An Elementary School, Allison Wills

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this research study was to explore the status of teacher leadership at one elementary school. With increased attention on accountability for student achievement, educators have begun to look for ways to take the lead in reform efforts. But, little research has been done to identify why particular teachers emerge as leaders. This study explored the philosophies and leadership behaviors of a group of elementary teachers at Center Trail School. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data were collected using three surveys- Philosophy of Education Inventory, Teacher Leadership Self-Assessment, and Teacher Leadership School Survey- and individual interviews. Descriptive statistics …

Perceptions On Inclusion In Elementary Schools, Rosanne Field

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine how perceptions on inclusion impact supports of both special needs and regular education students in first grade. In order to grow a stronger understanding of what perceptions are in place, the perception had by teachers and administrations, and their direct impact on supports provided, two first grade classes, two classroom teachers, and one administrator were used to seek the answers we were looking for. This study explored the impact perceptions had on two first grade teachers, one administrator, and the impacts of support on 32 first grade students. Quantitative and qualitative methods …

Book Ends Program Is A Win-Win, Karen C. Waters

Karen C. Waters

Book Ends is a site-based University reading clinic that provides a nurturing and interactive environment that empowers children to increase their reading achievement through multimodal and research-based practices in literacy. Trained to administer multiple assessments, certified teachers pursuing advanced literacy CT State Certification provide one-on-one instruction that considers students’ interests and strengths while targeting the foundational skills of the common core state standards and the comprehension anchor standards. Each child is partnered with a certified teacher who shares the philosophy that children learn to read by reading and that success comes from many opportunities to practice. Weekly tutoring sessions last …

A Clinical Practicum Experience To Prepare Teacher Candidates For Early Literacy Instruction, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to explore teacher candidates’ tutoring experiences within a university clinical practicum to acquire an understanding about how their unique interactions with struggling readers and research-based methodology contribute to their pedagogical understandings of literacy instruction.

This article spotlights teacher education and addresses the question of how teacher educators can guide teacher candidates in putting theory into practice with early readers. The author describes a scaffolded clinical practicum in which preservice teachers have the opportunity assess, teach and reflect on their work with children.

Primary And Secondary Distance Education: Expanding The Knowledge Base In The Schools Sector, Michael Barbour, Keryn Pratt

Education Faculty Publications

The use of distance education at the primary and secondary levels began in New Zealand around 1922 with the introduction of The Correspondence School (Barbour, 2011a). The roots of web-based or online distance education in the schools sector trace back to 1993, and have been firmly entrenched in the nation’s schools sector since 2002 (Davis, 2010). With the implementation of the Rural Broadband Initiative and Ultra Fast Broadband in Schools programmes, there is an opportunity to develop research-based initiatives to leverage the learning potential provided by this increased connectivity. However, to date there has been little published research on the …

Integrating Multimedia Into Moodle: Resources, Antoinette P. Bruciati

Education Faculty Publications

Create and share multimedia learning materials in your Moodle courses. This presentation introduces methods for embedding multimedia into Moodle for instruction, discussion, and assessment. An overview of free Web 2.0 applications that enable K-12 teachers and their students to produce multimedia files is also included.

School, Home, And Community: A Symbiosis For A Literacy Partnership, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

With the belief that fertile ground for a literate environment is created through lots of oral language, ancestral anecdotes, and reading a variety of genre in fiction and nonfiction, it is possible to link home and school literacy communities. This chapter describes the connection between district literacy events and functional home activities as the basis for a partnership in developing higher level thinking that transcends the classroom. At monthly get-togethers, families were encouraged to participate in the very activities that were used in the classroom as part of the district's literacy block. In helping families acquire a few basic strategies …

African American Literature: Books To Stoke Dreams, Jane M. Gangi, Aimee Ferguson

Education Faculty Publications

In addition to market forces, unconsciously damaging trends in many textbooks for teacher education have resulted in classroom trade book collections that represent children who are primarily white and middle class. While all children—whether from Argentina, Afghanistan, or Algeria—deserve to see themselves and their families in books, the focus of this article is on new publications that depict African Americans.

Teachers who are committed to learning all they can about multicultural literature and culturally and gender relevant pedagogy become agents of change.

Includes significant bibliography of Resources and list of Children’s Literature That Picture Children of African Descent.

Paul Laurence Who? Invisibility And Misrepresentation In Children's Literature And Language Arts Textbooks, Mary Jackson Scroggins, Jane M. Gangi

Education Faculty Publications

This article is a call-and-response-type conversation between two women—educators, mothers, lovers of words—on the representation of books about children of color in literature and language arts textbooks for preservice teachers. Scroggins shares anecdotes on the experience and real-life effects of invisibility, misrepresentation, and underrepresentation; her comments are italicized. Gangi reviews select textbooks and booklists. Both comment on the state of multiculturalism in children's literature.

Parts of this article were presented at the conference "Color, Hair, and Bone: The Persistence of Race into the 21st Century," held at Bucknell University on September 27, 2002. Other parts are adapted from Encountering Children's …

Spreading Technology Around: An Investment In Tomorrow, Domenick Pinto, Babu George

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

Sacred Heart University, a private, liberal arts university in southwestern Connecticut has, over the past fourteen years through the Faculty of Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science established partnerships with various educational institutions and school systems for both teacher and student enhancement in the science and technology areas. Those who have benefited include teachers grades K-12, senior citizens, corporate and municipal employees in the community, and students in inner city, private, and suburban settings in grades 2-12.

This paper was presented at the 1994 CAUSE Annual Conference held in Orlando, FL, November 29- December 2, and is part of the conference …

Language Studies- Where To Begin, Ralph L. Corrigan

English Faculty Publications

The question in the minds of many teachers of language today is: where do I begin?