Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

An Analysis Of A High School American History Textbook, Harris Ong

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For my honors project I will be examining and analyzing a high school American history textbook. The specific textbook that I will be looking at is _America: Pathways to the Present_ written by Andrew Clayton, Elisabeth Israels Perry, Linda Reed, and Allan M. Winkler. This textbook was published by Prentice Hall in the year 2003. I will be analyzing the textbook for it’s historical accuracy, checking that the events covered in the textbook tell the actual story of what really happened during that event. I will determine the textbook completely covers incidents that happened during big events. I will also …

Towards A Participatory Epistemology: Latinx Poetry In Us High School English Classrooms, Sarah Ceja

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis combines academic interests in Latinx literature (specifically poetry) and education. Focusing specifically on inner-city U.S. high schools with high Latinx student populations, I research how we can incorporate poetry written by Latinx authors in our curriculum to help foster student engagement and a sense of belonging in the classroom. The second half of this thesis explores the works of several Latinx poets. It provides a detailed analysis of their work, how it relates to various aspects of Latinx identities, and gives recommendations for educators on how to use these poems in class.

The Devaluation Of Career Technical Education (Cte) By The Graduates Of Wonderwood High School, Jason J. Weiss

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In Georgia, high school graduates are expected to be college and career ready, however due to recent educational legislative changes the focus has been placed on being college ready. These modifications have led to a low number of graduates completing a Career Technical Education (CTE) pathway as well as a low number of graduates passing their CTE End-of-Pathway assessments and earning industry credentials. To assist in determining the factors that have led to the devaluation of CTE by Georgia graduates, a critical qualitative inquiry study was conducted on a sample of 13 graduates from Wonderwood High School, in South Heights, …

Why Become A Teacher? Exploring Motivations For Becoming Science And Mathematics Teachers In Australia, Chrystal Whiteford, Nick Kelly, Les Dawes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There is an identified shortage of mathematics and science teachers across Australia and many of these teachers leave the profession within 3 to 5 years of graduating. This paper provides important insights on what motivates people to become science and mathematics teachers in Australia. Data drawn from two surveys, one investigating why students might become a teacher and the other examining why teachers joined the profession, are explored to provide unique insight into an area of need. Using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rho, results suggest contribution to society and love of subject area to be among the top motivators for …

Creating Greater Awareness Of The Australian Professional Standards For Teachers In Initial Teacher Education, Melissa Cain, Chris Campbell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Throughout their initial teacher education training in Australia, students are informed about the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) and the necessity of gathering evidence to achieve these for teacher registration. Whilst the use of digital technologies as tools for reflection has become increasingly popular, there remains a paucity of research around the types of digital technologies that students use to document their ability to achieve accreditation requirements. This study presents details of how PebblePad, a specialised ePortfolio platform, can assist teacher education students to gain increased awareness about the 37 APST descriptors through the use of tagging. Results demonstrate …

Aboriginal Community-Led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning From Country In The City, Katrina Thorpe, Cathie Burgess, Suzanne Egan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In Australia it is well documented that teachers continue to struggle with implementing Aboriginal content, pedagogies and engaging with Aboriginal communities. This paper describes a research project analysing place-based learning for preservice teachers at an urban university led by Aboriginal community members. We argue that place-based learning is critical in developing preservice teacher’s knowledge and confidence in Aboriginal education. Surveys, individual and group yarns provided in-depth data from 64 participants completing elective courses including place-based ‘Learning from Country’ (LFC) experiences. Three key findings emerge from the data. Firstly, the utility of an experiential ‘learning by doing’ approach, secondly, the profound …

Teachers’ Experiences Of Educating Eal Students In Mainstream Primary And Secondary Classrooms, Jessica Premier

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Many schools in Victoria, Australia, are multicultural, with students coming from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Content area teachers often educate EAL students in their classrooms, even though they may not have specialised EAL teaching qualifications. This paper presents the experiences of primary and secondary teachers working in multicultural schools in Victoria. It explores the way in which teachers meet the needs of EAL students in their classrooms, and the support that is available to assist them to do so. This paper reports that teaching practice, school leadership, professional learning, and identity, influence the way in which teachers educate …

Supporting Pre-Service Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Noticing Of Student Thinking, Gregory Hine, Kristin Lesseig

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A growing body of evidence suggests developing the attention of preservice, secondary mathematics (PSMTs) teachers towards professional noticing of student thinking should feature in teacher education programs. There were two aims for this qualitative study: first, to explore the extent to which an Interview Module (IM) supported the development of PSMTs’ ability to notice and make pedagogical decisions based on student thinking evidenced in video- and paper-based work samples. A secondary aim was to establish the viability of the IM in an Australian context. Overall, PSMTs regarded their involvement in the IM as beneficial to their development as teachers. Specifically, …

Leveraging Social Media And Scholarly Discussion For Educator Empowerment, Steven Kolber, Sandy Nicoll, Kelli Mcgraw, Nicolas Gaube, Keith R. Heggart

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper shares insights from an international community of educators who have been using social media as a virtual space for a scholarly reading group: #edureading. The collection of educator narratives presented in this paper show how social networks on Twitter and Flipgrid were used as inclusive environments for teacher-led professional development. This paper is both a report of research involving five practitioners inquiring into their collective experience, and an exercise in building the scholarly capacity of the #edureading group. The accessibility of the social media platforms, as well as the collaborative, inquiry-based approach to scholarly reading, emerge as key …

Supporting Urban-Oriented Teacher Candidates To Value Rural Schooling: The Story Of A Virtual Adapted Practicum, Joanne Pattison-Meek

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the fall of 2020, due to the institutional impacts of COVID-19, the Master of Teaching Program in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (Canada) transitioned to a modified practicum program. In this article, I draw on self-study (Kitchen et al., 2020) to examine and share my experiences as a Practicum Advisor tasked to design and deliver a four-week virtual practicum program for 30 teacher candidates, without access to high school classrooms. I reflect on how my rural teacher and researcher selves informed my practicum design in one of Canada’s largest urban faculties of education, including …

Supporting Mathematic Achievement For Students With Learning Disabilities Through Enhanced Anchored Instruction, Wendie Lappin Castillo

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Difficulties in mathematical learning are common and significant.The struggle has increased exponentially with the Common Core State Standards in effect. Students with or without learning or mathematical disabilities may respond to continued failure by withdrawing their effort, carrying low self-esteem, and/or displaying avoidance behaviors. Enhanced anchored instruction is designed to provide students the opportunity to construct knowledge and design solutions to problems collaboratively. The approach of enhanced anchored instruction attempts to guide students to become more active in learning through the use of technology. Enhanced anchored instruction provides students the opportunity to work through problems attached to a visual anchor. …

Career And Technical Education Experiences Relationship To Technology Attitudes, Self-Regulation And Grit, Kendall Hartley, Xue Xing

Teaching and Learning Faculty Research

Career and Technical Education (CTE) secondary school experiences have a positive impact on career development and academic achievement. This study explores other positive impacts such as technology attitudes, persistence, and cognitive traits that are associated with career and academic success. This study investigated the relationships between high school CTE experiences of 103 pre-service education students and technology attitudes, grit, and self-regulated learning. The results demonstrate a statistically significant positive correlation between the number of CTE courses taken in high school and technology dependence. Similarly, there is a positive correlation between CTE courses and self-regulatory skills. Grit was positively correlated with …

Factors Impacting Students’ Perceptions Of Mathematics, Amber Souza

Honors Program Theses and Projects

I want to be able to present math in a positive light to all of my future students, regardless of race, gender, and math background. However, for teachers as a whole to be able to take this important step, they must first develop a deeper understanding of why math is a sore spot for many students.

Teaching Non-Cognitive Skills For College: A Qualitative Case Study Of A Low-Income, High-Minority, Urban School District In Southeastern United States, Elizabeth Byron

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This instrumental, multisite case study examines the role of secondary teachers in preparing high school students for the non-cognitive skills needed to persist in and graduate from college, using Bourdieu’s (1984) and Lin’s (1999) social capital theory as a guiding framework. Non-cognitive skills are defined as the “behaviors, thoughts, and feelings” of students (Borghans, 2008). Data collection for this study is based on semi-structured interviews via telecommunications with secondary educators and postsecondary student success practitioners and electronic archived documentation of non-cognitive skills found to be important for college success by the interviewees. In this study, college success is defined as …

An Exploration Of Teacher Preparation Practices With Foundational Knowledge Of Literacy, Marla K. Robertson Phd, Laurie A. Sharp, Roberta Raymond, Rebekah E. Piper Phd

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

The Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals 2017 published by the International Literacy Association provide the basis for high-quality literacy teacher preparation. This study used qualitative survey responses to explore the literacy practices that teacher educators use to promote understandings among preservice teachers for each grade-level band (i.e., Pre-K/Primary, Elementary/Intermediate, Middle/High School). The researchers used conceptualizations of teacher knowledge as a theoretical lens to better understand reported preparation practices. Data analysis revealed three themes: Teacher Educator Pedagogy, Course Content, Student and Program Expectations. Researchers posit that teacher educators do not evenly focus on all components of literacy and …

A Case Study Regarding Induction Supports And Activities And Their Impact On Successful Teacher Retention, Alicia Ponds

Doctorate in Education

At the end of every school year, new teachers either stay or leave public classrooms. Multiple challenges drive these new teacher choices. State, district, and local administrators struggle to fill teacher vacancies. New teacher departures challenge schools with the maintenance of an attractive work environment and provision of quality student education. This case study shares how five successful Minnesota educators apply extrinsic activities and intrinsic supports to not only meet these challenges, but effectively respond to the 2019-2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through research interviews, this qualitative study analyzes intrinsic supports and extrinsic activities in relation to positive teaching …

Technology Criticism And Data Literacy: The Case For An Augmented Understanding Of Media Literacy, Thomas Knaus

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Reviewing the history of media literacy education might help us to identify how creating media as an approach can contribute to fostering knowledge, understanding technical issues, and to establishing a critical attitude towards technology and data. In a society where digital devices and services are omnipresent and decisions are increasingly based on data, critical analysis must penetrate beyond the “outer shell” of machines – their interfaces – through the technology itself, and the data, and algorithms, which make these devices and services function. Because technology and data constitute the basis of all communication and collaboration, media literate individuals …

Understanding Teacher Experience With Instructional Coaching To Inform Program Improvement Reflecting The Principles Of Adult Learning Theory: A Mixed Method Case Study, Shay Reitz

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Instructional Coaching (IC) is a strand of Professional Development (PD) during which an instructional coach provides individualized support and feedback to teachers, focused on instruction, generally within the context of the teacher’s classroom (Kraft et al., 2018). This fully integrated mixed method case study examined teacher experience with IC in order to understand which operational and emotional components of IC had the greatest perceived impact, in order to inform program improvement. Adult learning theory served as the conceptual framework for this study; the process of teaching adults is known as andragogy (Knowles, 1980). Andragogy indicates that teaching adults in a …

From Teacher To Teacher-Leader: A Phenomenographic Study Of Transition, Jennifer Santi

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

As Education evolves, the roles within traditional teaching and learning also evolve. School structures change and leadership roles within those structures change as well, creating and recreating the educational experience for students and practitioners alike. As these structures change the nature of education, the roles found within them also transform what it means to be a professional educator. Increases in teacher-leadership positions have led to more instructional coaching roles for teachers and it is necessary to understand how those roles are perceived by those that are now changing the nature of their chosen work. As teachers leave the classroom to …

Training Peer Mentors In Reinforcement And Modeling With Prompting (Ramp): Using Mixed Reality Simulation To Encourage Social Reciprocity Skills In Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jasmine V. Sadler

Doctor of Education in Special Education Dissertations

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can face many challenges, including limited ability in social reciprocity, nonverbal communication, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors and interests as a result of the disorder (APA, 2013). This hinders their ability to build and maintain friendships in the same manner as their typically developing peers and affects their interactions, speech and language abilities, and emotional regulation (Whitman & DeWitt, 2011). Peer Mentors (PMs) are trained to support the development of these skills as part of the Peer Mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII) evidence-based practice (EBP). However, and explicit training program is not always …

Copyright Information, Todd Pagano, Sami Kahn

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Call For Manuscript, Todd Pagano, Sami Kahn

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Mental Health Of Students: A Teacher Resource, Kathryn Seguin

Honors Projects

Mental Health of Students: A Teacher Resource is a professional website regarding the four main types of mental health disorders, which are anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and substance use. The website also includes both a detailed list of legal responsibilities of teachers and a list of school personnel to be involved in improving the mental health of students. The objective is for the website to be used for the educational basis of teachers regarding mental health issues in their students and is a compilation of research information collected from several sites.

A Final Portfolio, David Chapman

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio includes an example of English/Language Arts research, literary analysis, technical writing, and syllabi for teaching high school seniors.

Mitigating Trauma In The Newcomer Classroom: A Commitment Beyond Borders, Laura Garriguez

Master's Projects and Capstones

In this field project, you will observe a melding of macro-and micro-perspectives on the mitigation of trauma in the newcomer classroom. The central premise of the project is that without understanding the socio-political factors, socio-economic realities, and historical process of migration to the United States, it is nearly impossible to attempt to ameliorate the trauma of students new to the country. In other words, attempts to do so without this perspective can and often does leave students marginalized and/or feeling marginalized. Working from an anti-racist and anti-imperialist lens, the project’s framework is grounded in the scholarship and activism of abolitionist …

Struggling Student Teachers: Interventions For Support And Success, Sheree Moser

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Teacher shortages in K-12 schools have created unique challenges for teacher preparation programs. University instructors face the task requirements of supporting candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds at the undergraduate and graduate level. While some of these candidates enter higher education programs skilled, eager, and committed, others are less prepared, requiring significant attention to make it through the program. Exams required by state departments of education and minimum grade point averages influence each candidate’s ability to move forward within the program, causing some students to experience additional struggles related to mental health and financial burdens.

The problem of practice …

Struggling Student Teachers: Interventions For Support And Success, Sheree Moser

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Teacher shortages in K-12 schools have created unique challenges for teacher preparation programs. University instructors face the task requirements of supporting candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds at the undergraduate and graduate level. While some of these candidates enter higher education programs skilled, eager, and committed, others are less prepared, requiring significant attention to make it through the program. Exams required by state departments of education and minimum grade point averages influence each candidate’s ability to move forward within the program, causing some students to experience additional struggles related to mental health and financial burdens.

The problem of practice …

Teacher Perceptions Of Blended Learning To Support 21st Century Learners, Nikki Hensley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand teacher perceptions of blended learning as an instructional methodology for addressing the needs of diverse learners. The researcher explored the perceptions of teachers who were participating in an ongoing professional development program within their school district. This program focused on improving teaching and learning through the implementation of a blended learning approach. The researcher examined the experiences of teachers as they learned to adapt pedagogical practices to address the learning needs of 21st century students through blended learning. The researcher sought to gain a better understanding of how teachers perceived that …

Mixed Methods Study Of Special Education Training In Educational Leadership Preparation Programs In Rural Georgia, Robert Lewis-Vice

Theses and Dissertations

This research study addressed the problem that school leaders may not be adequately prepared to address the needs of an increasing population of students with special needs. The purpose of the study was to examine the difference between beliefs and perceptions of middle and high school leaders and special education teachers about the knowledge and skills necessary to implement special education programs effectively. The conceptual framework of this study focused on the preparation of principals and assistant principals at the university level through certification programs and district level programs. For this causal-comparative research design study, the quantitative and qualitative data …

Potential Mentoring Impacts On Oklahoma Induction-Year School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers: A Modified Delphi Study, Jessica M. Toombs, Jon W. Ramsey

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Literature supports benefits of mentoring for induction-year school-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers. Yet for the past 15 years, no structured mentoring program has been offered for Oklahoma SBAE induction-year teachers. This study sought to find consensus among an expert panel representing Oklahoma SBAE regarding the impact on induction-year SBAE teachers without a structured mentoring program. Panel members were asked to respond to three open-ended questions representing goals, outcomes, and impacts of a mentoring program. Sixty-two unique statements representing eight themes met consensus. Themes included building mentoring relationships, effective emotional management, effective SBAE program management, impact to the profession, student learning, …