Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Building The Systematic Teaching Of Reading Across Independent Schools: 2011-2012: Final Report, Deslea Konza, Paul Woodley

Research outputs 2013

The PALL project commenced in March 2011 with principals and other school leaders of 19 schools from the Association of Independent Schools in Western Australia, and concluded in November 2012. Participants attended five professional learning modules that centred on the leadership of literacy learning (specifically reading) and carried out activities between modules to connect their learning with practical action in their schools. Supporting these activities was a Mentor, whose task was to assist principals to understand and internalise key messages from the workshops, to implement interventions in reading consistent with the learning undertaken during the modules, and to support leaders …

Multiliteracies In The Classroom: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Approach To Teachers' And Students' Perspectives Toward Integration Of Technology, Laura Janine Chitty

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An increased number of students graduating from high school lack college and career readiness skills to earn credit in entry-level college courses or begin a career in an entry-level position. Many schools across America have prepared to address students' college and career readiness with the adoption of Common Core State Standards. Twenty-five teachers and 92 students participated in this dissertation study conducted at a high school (grades 10-12) in the southern United States. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain teachers' and students' perspectives toward the integration of technology that enhances multiliteracies in the classroom. An explanatory …

Perceptions Of College Readiness And Social Capital Of Ged Completers In Entry-Level College Courses, Donalyn L. Lott

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Examining the efficacy of literacy improvement, general education development (GED) completion, and GED completers’ perceptions of college readiness and social capital was the purpose of this study. The participant sample (n=321), derived from the target population (N=1050), consisted of former participants of Adult Literacy Education (ALE)/GED programs in the Greater New Orleans area (GNO), who have earned the GED credential, and, are currently enrolled in entry-level courses at two community colleges in Southeast Louisiana; specifically, in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes. The study was framed by the social capital theoretical perspective.

The study used quantitative methodology, with …

A Study Of Secondary District-Level Literacy Coaches’ Beliefs About How To Teach Reading, Pamela Sharp Crawford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This case study explored the knowledge and beliefs held by six district-level reading coaches about how to teach reading at the middle-school level. It narrowed in on the possible influence past personal experiences, past academic and work experiences, and the influence of domain specific knowledge (i.e., English, social studies, elementary education, special education, ESL, etc.) might possibly have had upon the development of their knowledge and beliefs about how to teach reading. Finally, the study looked at how these influenced practice and decisions made in their roles as a cohort of district-level literacy coaches involved in developing and implementing a …

More Than Just Nonsense Verse?: The Language Of Dr. Seuss And Children's Literacy, Nicole Hewes

Senior Scholar Papers

In this Senior Scholars project I wanted to demonstrate that Dr. Seuss books are much more than just nonsense verse. For the first part of my project, I familiarized myself with all of his texts and scrutinized his use of language in a textual analysis. By scrutinizing Geisel’s use of language and wordplay, I hoped to isolate some characteristics that make a Seuss book different from other types of stories and texts. The second part of my project was an empirical study that tested what influence reading a real Seuss text versus a fake Seuss text has on students’ performance …

Assessing The Presence And Use Of Nonverbal Communication In Primary Reading Instruction, Amelia C. Ferrell

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This research examined the presence and types of nonverbal communication presented in primary reading instruction. Primary instructors were surveyed about their use and types of nonverbal communication employed during reading instruction. Nonverbal communication variables studied were determined from relevant literature regarding nonverbal immediacy, primary education, and reading instruction. Findings revealed that almost all nonverbal communication variables studied were employed frequently and most respondents had no prior training. Findings suggest how future studies can better evaluate the role of nonverbal communication in reading instruction and provide education for primary teachers in hopes of improving literacy education.

In The Flow: A Mixed-Methods Phenomenological Study Of Optimal Experience In Adolescent Literacy, Susan E. Miles

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study is concerned with the flow experience of students while involved in independent reading. Based on Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow, this experience is one of total engagement to the point of immersion involving deep concentration; enjoyment; and a loss of a sense of time, place, and self.

This is a quan>Qual study, which began with a quantitative measurement to determine a criterion sampling, followed by the primary research method, a transcendental phenomenology of flow during voluntary, independent reading. This primary research method was used due to the lack of research available on flow in the field of literacy …

Preservice Teachers Respond To And Tango Makes Three: Deconstructing Disciplinary Power And The Heteronormative In Teacher Education, Donna Kalmbach Phillips, Mindy Legard Larson

Faculty Publications

This study employs Foucauldian concepts to analyse macro and micro contexts of publicly spoken and silent discourses describing ‘homosexuality,’ ‘education’ and ‘teacher’ in order to identify teacher subject positions available to preservice teachers. The macro context is analysed by tracing heteronormative discourses found in newspaper stories involving teachers and public schools that address conflicting views of homosexuality. The macro context analysis indicates two binary teacher subject positions: martyred (unemployed) teacher/silent (employed) teacher and sophisticated teacher/unsophisticated teacher. The micro context analysis is of preservice teachers' responses to And Tango Makes Three, a picture book by Richardson and Parnell. This analysis …

Dialogic Conversations In An Embedded Literacy Assessment Field Experience, Lucy Spence, Amy Donnally, Amy Johnson Lachuk, Marcie Ellerbe

Faculty Publications

Preservice teachers often come into teacher education programs with a positivist view of assessment, which may have developed during their own schooling experiences. For this reason, purposefully constructed course work and field experiences must be offered to enable them reframe their conceptions of literacy assessment and to complicate the assessment practices that have become most familiar to them. This paper examines a course in which, the aim is to intentionally counter the positivist testing culture and invest in helping preservice teachers understand assessment as a multi-faceted, dynamic process of inquiry.

A Mixed Methods Study Of Special Education Teachers' Knowledge Of Reading Instruction And Perceptions Concerning Their Preparation To Teach Reading, Cynthia Darden Blakeslee

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Significant changes in requirements for reading instruction and special education teacher preparation have occurred in recent years due to provisions found in the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001 and the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. This study examined the preparation for reading instruction that prospective special education teachers received during their teacher preparation and their beliefs concerning their preparation. Reading instruction preparation was examined in the context of the knowledge and skills associated with reading instruction acquired in two required university reading courses. Using a mixed methods sequential explanatory design-participant-selection model (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2010) …

Delayed Beginnings, Jump Start? The Combined Effects On Early Literacy Of Age At Entry Into Kindergarten With Experiences Prior To Entry, Kathryn A. Wilson

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

As the first compulsory grade in the elementary school program, kindergarten is designed to prepare students for the numbered grades. Students are eligible for entrance into kindergarten if they turn five before a state-determined cut-off date. These dates range from the June before the start of school until the January after. Because some states do not require that children attend kindergarten until 6, 7, or even 8 years old, some parents are delaying their child’s entry into the program on the assumption that their child will benefit from an extra year to grow cognitively, physically, and emotionally. The result is …

Literacy Centers: A Way To Increase Reading Development, Lisa Burke, Sara Baillie

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Given the current trends in education and the passing of No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 (U.S. Department of Education), literacy education has become increasingly important. Many studies have been done that indicate that students who do not learn how to read in the early years of their education may experience failure during the later years (Martson, Deno, Dongil, Diment, & Rogers, 1995). The National Reading Panel’s (NRP, 2000) findings suggest that becoming a good reader in elementary school is more likely to produce a more effective learner and a better reader as students move through school and into …

Teachers' And Principals' Perspectives Of Literacy Coaching In An Elementary School., Barbara Jane Anderson Hull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the literacy coach's tasks and qualities teachers valued the most and which qualities they valued the least. Knowing those precepts might help one to become a more efficient and valuable resource for both classroom teachers and principals. School visits, focus group interviews, individual interviews, interviews with each principal, and documents from the 3 southwest Virginia schools in 2 districts provided the data for analysis. Teachers' and principals' perspectives of literacy coaching explained both the desirable and undesirable practices and techniques.

The 3 schools had been swept into a change process when …

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

Education Faculty Publications

There is a pervasive reading crisis in the United States. Critics, including policymakers, educators, literacy scholars, and professional educational organizations have openly accused university teacher preparation programs of not preparing candidates to deliver effective reading instruction. This qualitative study used narrative inquiry to explore ways in which teacher candidates' participation in a research-based university clinical practicum contributed to their pedagogical understanding of literacy instruction. Conceptually this study was based on constructivism and the ideas of Dewey, Freire, Vygotsky, and Schön. Data collection included multiple interviews and observations to determine how teacher candidates' participation in clinical practicum affects their assumptions about …

Language And Literacies In The Borderlands: Children Acting Upon Theworld Through Testimonios., Cinthya M. Saavedra

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Identity Development Of Preservice Teachers Of Literacy In Field Experiences Considering Their Prior Knowledge, Lindsay Pearle Grow

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative multiple case study explored the identity development of three preservice teachers of literacy. The study focused on the prior knowledge of the preservice teachers of literacy and how their knowledge related to their identity development while in field experiences. The primary question that guided this study was: What is the nature of the construction of identity during field experiences for preservice teachers of literacy? Sub questions explored identity in field experiences and the role of prior pedagogical content knowledge to identity development.

Findings indicated that an evolving habitus central to their identity as literacy teachers could be deduced …

Nurturing Urban Native American Families Through Preschool Family Literacy Celebrations, M. Susan Mcwilliams, Tami Maldonado, Paula Szczepaniak

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Most Native Americans (NAs ) live in urban settings [1]. Only half of indigenous ninth-grade students graduate with their non-native, same-age peers [2]. New and innovative approaches to teaching urban NAs to increase their graduation rates are urgently needed. One such innovative approach infuses cultural education into curriculum: young children from diverse Native Nations, many of whom have additional non-Native heritage, attend an experimental, urban Native Indian Centered Education (NICE) preschool in the Midwest. The preschool focuses on building and strengthening family literacy resources and developing family-school-community partnerships to strengthen literacy.

Turning Pages Together: Supporting Literacy And Social Engagement, Cynthia R. Chambers

ETSU Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

“Grounded” Technology Integration: Instructional Planning Using Curriculum-Based Activity Type Taxonomies, Judith B. Harris, Mark J. Hofer, Denise A. Schmidt, Margaret R. Blanchard, Neal Grandgenett, Marcela Van Olphen

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK or TPACK) – the highly practical professional educational knowledge that enables and supports technology integration – is comprised of teachers’ concurrent and interdependent knowledge of curriculum content, general pedagogy, and technological understanding. Teachers’ planning – which expresses teachers’ professional knowledge (including TPACK) in pragmatic ways -- is situated, contextually sensitive, routinized, and activity-based. To assist with technology integration, therefore, we suggest using what is understood from research about teachers’ knowledge and instructional planning to form an approach to curriculum-based technology integration that is predicated upon teachers combining technologically supported learning activity types selected from content-keyed …

Parents As Partners In Kindergarten And Second Grade Literacy Instruction: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Student-Authored Traveling Books, Dorothy C. Little

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to study a sociocognitive “student/parent/peer authoring community” called Traveling Books (TBks) in kindergarten and second grade in a public elementary school setting. TBks are teacher-made vehicles for involving parents in peer-based literacy environments. The study was based on Epstein's theory that increasing overlap of students' spheres of influence, home, school, and community, creates a greater likelihood that children will learn what the parents want them to learn. The aim was to locate essential elements that triggered learning processes to occur and to discover research-based fundamentals still missing from TBks.

This qualitative inquiry incorporated the …

Implementation Of Language And Literacy Practices By Prekindergarten Teachers In The West Virginia Universal Pre-K System, Leslie Papelier

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study investigated the perceived frequency of implementation of language and literacy practices for 217 West Virginia Pre-K teachers. Teachers were employed in public school-based and community-based classrooms for 4-year-olds. Respondents completed the Language and Literacy Practice Survey (LLPS), which measured their perceived frequency of implementation of 18 language and literacy practices. Their overall perceived ability level for implementing effective language and literacy instruction was also assessed. Respondents also rated their use of resources and materials to facilitate effective language and literacy instruction. Additionally, respondents answered open-ended qualitative questions to determine perceived constraints that may hinder their effective implementation of …

The Saga Of Diagnosing The Entry Behaviors Of Ghanaian First Graders, Francis Godwyll

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In Ghana, on average, a child enters the first year of the primary school at the age of six because few manage to go to first grade at the age of five. About 30% of these children would have had access to kindergarten or nursery education for at least one year (Ministry of Education, 1995). There are some children who before entering first grade, would have had early education on a continuum from one to three years. Yet, the majority of children will enter the first year in the primary school with no prior exposure to early education. Therefore, they …

College-Readiness: The Current State Of Affairs, W. Barnes

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Imagine a nation in which every student, from Boston to Houston, from Cleveland to Miami, from Chicago’s South side to Compton, from a New Mexico Indian reservation to the Appalachian Mountains, characteristically graduates from high school prepared for postsecondary training (i.e., college, university, trade school, or workforce training). Further, imagine being able to say to every child “you will be provided with a high school that will educate you, challenge you, care for you, support you, and graduate you ready to compete and succeed in this world” (Balfanz & Letgers, 2004, p. 2). The current realities of the proposed outcomes …

Increasing Teachers' Metacognition Develops Students' Higher Learning During Content Area Literacy Instruction: Findings From The Read-Write Cycle Project, Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Roxanne Greitz Miller, Kimberly A. White-Smith, Robert C. Calfee

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Success in the 21st century, for individuals and societies, requires competence in comprehending and communicating in the academic disciplines--the natural sciences, history, geography, and more. The Read-Write Cycle (RWC) Project, a three year longitudinal research study conducted from 2005-2008 in ten public elementary schools in southern California, explored the effectiveness of curriculum and instructional strategies that integrate literacy with disciplinary knowledge with the simultaneous goals of: (1) enhancing students' literacy outcomes; and (2) broadening and deepening knowledge of the content area. Funded by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences, the RWC Project concentrated over years one and two on 1,024 …

Unsung Voices : The Transformation Of Writing And Identity Of Korean Esl Students In U.S. Secondary Schools, Cheonghwa Cheong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

Getting Boys To Read: A Look At The Research And The Books They Love, Carrie Lynn Cooper, Kathy Cox Watson

Library Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

This session focuses on what the research says about males as readers and introduces the audience to great boy books and other types of text that appeals to male readers. The presenters have chosen titles from the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards program that are of interest to young male readers. Presenters also introduce and promote Kentucky’s children’s choice reading program, the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards. To misquote George Ella Lyon, the presenters would like to get boys to "shake hands with a book."

Writer’S Workshop: Promoting Peer Relationships On Early Literacy, Jim Labrie

All Graduate Projects

Writer's Workshop and the influence of peer relationships and art on young children's literacy development were explored. There was found to be a direct correlation between children's art/drawings on their literacy development. Peer interactions during writing were also found to positively impact young writers. Peers and art do impact early literacy and have influences on Writer's Workshop and children's attitudes toward writing. Based on this research a handbook was developed to aid educators in planning a Writer's Workshop model, developing peer relationships during writing, and assessing student writing.

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 …

Strategy Instruction And Lessons Learned In Teaching Higher Level Thinking Skills In An Urban Middle School Classroom, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

Through a compilation of standards-based lesson plans for small- and whole-group instruction, this chapter offers a humorous and heartbreaking perspective of the author's experiences during a yearlong university partnership “Book Bistro” in a 7th grade classroom with urban adolescent struggling readers. Using a combination of leveled, fictional, nonfictional, and culturally relevant text, the chapter is written as a personal narrative to address higher level thinking through systematic instruction in comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and structural analysis. A step-by-step implementation procedure for each of the research-based strategies is presented, including concept of definition, discussion web, probable passage, pointed reading, semantic feature analysis, …

Literacy Initiatives In The Urban Setting That Promote Higher Level Thinking, Karen C. Waters

Education Faculty Publications

How does an urban district become a twice-nominated candidate by the Broad Foundation? In a district in which 72 languages are spoken, 38% of the students live in homes in which English is not the dominant language, and 91% of the population is minority (African American, Asian, and Hispanic), this largest school district in Connecticut not only made student learning a priority, but focused on higher level thinking as part of the process. This chapter provides insight to grassroots implementation of district and department initiatives over the course of five years that emphasized cognitive and metacognitive strategies in advancing the …