Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Traditional, Online, And Blended Instruction : An Investigation Of Outcomes In A Graduate Special Education Course Taught In Three Different Learning Environments, Mary C. Gozza-Cohen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Nationally and regionally there are insufficient numbers of qualified special education teachers to meet current demand. Online course delivery has been proposed as one way to reach more students and increase the number of special education teachers. A recent meta-analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (2009) reviewed the research on online learning and reported that on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those in traditional classes. However, among other issues noted in the meta-analysis, it was specified that many of the included studies did not control for curriculum materials and various aspects of pedagogy. This …

The Forgiveness Classroom: Bringing Together Students From Both Sides Of The Walls Through Deep Listening, Ruth Henderson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay describes a forgiveness course taught in prisons and on college campuses. The course served as a bridge for Endicott College students and inmates from the Maine Correctional Center at Windham, highlighting how deep listening may reduce violence and promote understanding.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Back matter.

A Preliminary Study: Do Alternative Certification Route Programs Develop The Necessary Skills And Knowledge In Assistive Technology?, Sherry Mee Bell, David F. Cihak, Sharon Judge

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

A large number of special education teachers in the United States are prepared in alternative certification programs and insufficient empirical information exists regarding their knowledge of assistive technology. The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary investigation of alternatively licensed special education teachers' knowledge, experience, and confidence with assistive technology. One-hundred twenty-three special education teachers who were enrolled in an alternative license program were surveyed. The data indicated a significant positive relation between teachers' knowledge/usage and their confidence with assistive technology (r = .74; p < .01). In addition, the extent to which the teachers' perceived barriers to integrating assistive technology in the classroom were moderated by their level of confidence. The results are presented in the context of building special education teachers' knowledge and skills as well as affective issues regarding assistive technology.

The Experiences Of Parents With Adolescents Identified As Having A Specific Learning Disability, Linda J. Seals

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Of the 6.6 million children in the United States who were deemed in 2008 to have a disability that required special instruction, over 39% were classified as specific learning disabled (SLD). This figure translates into a high number of people who are parenting a child identified as having a SLD. Bronfenbrenner's theory of the ecology of human development indicated the importance of interconnections between school, home, and community settings. Collaboration between teachers and families may be strengthened by utilizing knowledge gained from parents' lived experiences of parenting an adolescent identified as having a SLD. The primary research question guiding this …

A Behavior Management Seminar For Special Or General Education Graduate Students, Franklin D. Schindelheim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the classroom management needs of graduate education students in one college, and develop a seminar that emerged from the research. Researchers have shown that professional development provided for graduate education students typically deals with curriculum and instructional methodologies rather than classroom management. However, graduate education students have expressed the need to learn more effective classroom management skills. The research questions asked what classroom management skills participants said they needed to teach in both collaborative, and special education classrooms. A grounded theory approach and the constructivist paradigm were used in the study. …

High School Teachers' Perspectives On Effective Approaches For Teaching Biology To Students With Special Needs, Agnieszka Kos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The demands of national educational reforms require high school biology teachers to provide high quality instruction to students with and without special needs. The reforms, however, do not provide teachers with adequate teaching strategies to meet the needs of all students in the same context. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand high school biology teachers' perspectives, practices, and challenges in relation to teaching students with special needs. This approach was used to develop a substantive model for high school biology teachers who are challenged with teaching students with and without special needs. Data were collected via …

Staff Development And Leadership Roles Related To Response To Intervention Levels Of Implementation In Rural Schools, Karin A. Strohmyer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The concepts of professional learning communities and organizational disciplines support staff development and leadership that lead to sustainable systems. Little research has examined the ability of rural schools to achieve sustainable systems. This quantitative design study considered the relationships between predictor variables of administrative roles and staff development and the criterion variable of Response to Intervention (RtI) implementation level. Administrator roles included planning and scheduling training, participating in training, planning implementation, building knowledge and commitment, selecting RtI teams, participating on teams, promoting parental involvement, evaluating RtI, and implementing follow-up and targeted training. Staff development practices addressed commitment and support, team …

The Relationship Between Perceived Preparedness, Effiacy And Special Education Training, Leslie Haley Wasserman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Limited information exists on early childhood first year teachers' training for accommodations for diverse student abilities in classrooms. This mixed methods sequential explanatory study examined the self-efficacy of 28 first year early childhood teachers from Midwest urban schools. Vygotsky's social learning theory and Gardner's multiple intelligences were used as the conceptual framework. Email survey data were collected and analyzed using a t-test to answer the quantitative questions on the relationship between perceived efficacy and type of and amount of special education training provided in preservice programs. Qualitative questions on self-efficacy to instruct diverse students within the regular classroom were examined …

The Impact Of Coteaching On Regular Education Eighth Grade Student Achievement On A Basic Skills Algebra Assessment, Misty B. Rigdon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Coteaching strategies have been implemented in many of the inclusion math classrooms in an attempt to improve the achievement of students. Math achievement continues to be a concern as reported by the National Mathematics Advisory Council in 2007. Educators and previous research reported that coteaching does not improve student achievement. The purpose of this study and the research question was designed to investigate, determine, and examine if coteaching has an impact on regular education students' achievement on an algebra assessment in the eighth grade. This concurrent mixed methods design used test data from a convenience sample of 70 eighth grade …

Manipulatives In Mathematics Instruction, Jessica Strom

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is a review of research pertaining to the use of manipulatives in middle and secondary school mathematics instruction. It covers the research on the rationale for using manipulatives, the psychology behind learning with manipulatives, the common mistakes when teaching with manipulatives, and the suggested process to follow when using manipulatives in the classroom. There is a large amount of research and information on manipulatives in the classroom. One of the most prevalent topics addresses that the concrete characteristics of manipulatives allow students to progress through a natural learning process on their way to an abstract understanding of mathematical …

Examining Teachers' Knowledge And Perceptions Of Response To Intervention, Ashley Elizabeth Moore Swigart

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-step approach to providing interventions to students within general and special education. This study investigated the relationship between elementary, middle, and high school teachers’ perceptions of RTI and (a) whether they taught general versus special education, (b) grade level taught, (c) knowledge level of RTI, and (d) presence in a school implementing RTI and participation in the process. Understanding teachers’ perceptions is of particular importance to school psychologists and can be used to ensure that teachers participate fully in the RTI process. Participants were given a questionnaire to complete that assessed their perceptions and …

Examining Play Among Young Children In Single-Age And Multi-Age Preschool Classroom Settings, Mia Song Youhne

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Advocates for multi-age classrooms claim multi-age groupings benefit children (Brynes, Shuster, & Jones, 1994). Currently, there is a lack of research examining play among students in multi-age classrooms. If indeed there is a positive benefit of play among children, research is needed to examine these behaviorsamong and between young children in single-age and multi-age classrooms. The purpose of this study was to determine if young children benefit from increased play opportunities.

This qualitative study utilized observations, interviews, and questionnaires to gather data from teachers, parents, and children regarding play interactions in both single-age and multi-age classrooms. The intent of this …

The Effects Of Fluency Training On Implementation Fidelity Of A Reading Intervention Conducted By Paraprofessionals, Breda Victoria O'Keeffe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Improving educational outcomes involves many variables, including identifying effective interventions and ensuring that they are effectively implemented in schools. Within a "response to intervention" model, treatment integrity of academic interventions has become increasingly important. However, recent research has suggested that ensuring treatment integrity by instructional staff may require intensive coaching, including daily or weekly performance feedback. This system may be unsustainable in typical schools because of limited resources for supervision. Some studies have found that treatment integrity can be achieved with intense prior training that includes extensive practice followed by feedback in the training setting. Fluency-based instruction has the advantage …

Saying Yes To Freestyle Volunteering: Doubting And Believing, Judy Lightfoot

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

My formerly academic interest in Peter Elbow's work developed fresh relevance a few years ago after a member of my family was diagnosed with schizophrenia. To volunteer "outside the box" with individuals who suffer from mental illness or homelessness, I needed a skeptic's doubt as well as an enthusiast :S belief But the first step was believing.

Reflections From A Grateful Guest Edit, Peter Elbow

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Jaepl, Vol. 15, Winter 2009-2010, Kristie S. Fleckenstein, Linda T. Calendrillo

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Peter Elbow - Reflections from a Grateful Guest Editor

Sheridan Blau - Believing and Doubting as Hermeneutic Metbod: Reading and Teaching Paradue Lost

Tim Doherty - Lessons from tbe Believing Game

Anne Ellen Geller - The Difficulty of Believing in Writing Across the Curriculum

Shelly Sheats Harkness, Catherine Pullin Lane, Sue Mau, Amber Brass - The Believing Game in Mathematics: Stories in a Discipline of Doubt

Judy Lightfoot - Saying Yes to Freestyle Volunteering: Doubting and Believing

Clyde Moneyhun - Believing, Doubting, Deciding, Acting

Irene Papoulis - A Refiection on Habitual Belief and Habitual Doubt

Stephanie Paterson - Friday …

The Difficulty Of Believing In Writing Across The Curriculum, Anne Ellen Geller

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

What would happen if we tried to consider writing-acrossthe- curriculum work through the lens of Peter Elbows methodological believing? If we were to believe that every faculty person in the university is a writer, thinks about writing, and teaches writing in his or her own way, what virtues would we find that doubting leads us to disqualify?

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Editor's Message.

Believing And Doubting As Hermeneutic Method: Reading And Teaching Paradise Lost, Sheridan Blau

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Using a variation on Peter Elbow's believing game, I help students discover the degree to which Milton in Paradise Lost succeeds in his explicit attempt to justify God's ways to man and in that success also offers us an account of human happiness and misery that is psychologically sophisticated, spiritually illuminating, entirely rational, and supremely wise as a guide to living a humanly satisfying life. Such an approach to Paradise Lost also fosters an experience of the text through which many students undergo a modern version of the spiritual transformation and enlightenment that Milton explicitly aimed to make possible for …

Before Belief: Embodiment And The “Trying Game”, Donna Strickland

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I use my experience of teaching "Mindful Writing" to reflect on the pre-cognitive act of "trying out" new ideas. It seems that there's an important piece of the believing game that happens before the cognitive act of belief and that involves the body as much as the mind.

Reviews, Julie J. Nichols, Charles Suhor, Edward Sullivan

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reviews

Julie J. Nichols - Meaning and The Evolution of Consciousness: A Retrospective on the Writing of Owen Barfield

Charles Suhor - The Great Transfonnation: The Beginnings of Our Religious Traditions

Charles Suhor - The Chalice and the Blade

Edward Sullivan - The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

Believing, Doubting, Deciding, Acting, Clyde Moneyhun

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I used Peter Elbow's believing and doubting games and cooked up two games of my own, to structure a first-year writing class aimed at teaching students to read and reason critically. The first new game has been hinted at by Elbow himself: the deciding game, in which students used their exercises in believing and doubting to make up their minds about a topic. The second new game, which my students called the living game, asked them to extend their intellectual decisions into the world and take or recommend actions based on them. This was all enacted through a series of …

Friday Writes: An Exercise In The Believing Game, Stephanie Paterson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I introduce the basic principles for the practice of proprioceptive writing and describe the experience and outcomes of incorporating this ungraded writing into three undergraduate compostion classes. I offer this as a case study of a writer, teacher, and reflective practitioner emboldened by Peter Elbow's believing game, and I point out some of the intellectual and pedagogical discoveries that emerged in my fourteen-week experiment.

Connecting, Helen Walker, Andrew Statum, Vic Kryston, Jie Li, Dominique Zino, Joonna Smitherman Trapp

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Connecting - Helen Walker

Andrew Statum - The Question

Vic Kryston -Conflict Resolution

Jie Li - Teaching with Accent

Dominique Zino - Space

Joonna Smitherman Trapp - Composition Class 7:45 AM

Lessons From The Believing Game, Tim Doherty

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

My essay reflects on different lessons I have learned in using the believing game to promote deliberative dialogue in first-year writing courses. I have learned that it helps not to be in a hurry: spending enough preparation time with students thinking about belief itself, listening to students' stories and sense of attachment to beliefs, and playing the game repeatedly. I also explore the believing game as a mode of play, especially the fruitful way that role-play can be integrated into the believing game.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

The Believing Game In Mathematics: Stories In A Discipline Of Doubt, Shelly Sheats Harkness, Catherin Pullin Lane, Sue Mau, Amber Brass

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Many people view mathematics as a discipline of certainty and rigidity. Answers are either right or wrong, and, when they are wrong, it is easy to play the doubting game. We invite readers into our mathematics classrooms as we story our attempts to play the believing game. We provide a lens into how we suspended our own logic, assumptions, and interpretations until we first tried to "unpack, " understand, and honor our students' logic, assumptions, and interpreta· tions. Within our individual stories, elements of tension, surprise, and wonder emerged as collective themes.

A Reflection On Habitual Belief And Habitual Doubt, Irene Papoulis

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Some people are habitual "believers" while others are habitual "doubters." I' m a believer, but doubting others helps me believe myself I explore the idea that examining our individual habitual relationships with believing and doubting helps us think better and relate better to others and to ourselves.

A Highly Incomplete Bibliography, Peter Elbow

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I’m nervous to include this because I’ve not read a lot of these books and articles, and the whole thing is so inadequate for such a large topic. Many are titles I’ve jotted down for when I “have time.” But the list also includes a few suggestions from the authors in this issue, though this list mostly doesn’t duplicate the valuable Works Cited sections they’ve put with each of their essays. I’m risking the amateur quality of this enterprise in hopes that it can help others to pursue an important issue. (At the end, I’ve listed my various essays about …