Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Teacher Self-Efficacy In Writing And Instructional Choices: A Correlational Study, Beth Burke

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This quantitative study focused on examining the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and their use of writing practices in teaching writing. Participants included elementary kindergarten through fifth grade teachers in a large school district in northeastern United States. The following research questions guided this study: Is there a statistically significant relationship between overall teacher self-efficacy and the amount of time teachers spend using specific practices in writing instruction? Is there a statistically significant relationship between teaching self-efficacy factor of personal self-efficacy and the amount of time teachers spend using specific practices in writing instruction? Is there a statistically significant relationship between …

Writing With Parents In Response To Picture Book Read Alouds, Danielle L. Defauw

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

High-quality writing instruction needs to permeate elementary students’ in- and outside-of-school experiences. The aim of this research was to explore how teaching writing to parents may support home-school literacy connections. This qualitative case study explored parents’ experiences in interactive writing sessions. The descriptive coding and constant comparative analysis of transcribed parent writing sessions, field notes, and documents revealed three themes: (1) Writing Tips and Strategies, (2) Parent-Writers, and (3) Story Connections. The parent writing sessions facilitated parents’ understanding of how to support their elementary-age children’s writing development. Parents demonstrated a desire to support their children’s writing development, and they needed …

Program Implementation And Upper Elementary Writing Achievement, Lisa` Weber

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a significant percent of fourth grade students write well below the basic level. In one elementary school, teachers implemented a new writing program for all students at the school. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to determine the effects of this writing program A Language for Learning and Write from the Beginning-?¦and Beyond. Bruner's theory of constructivism formed the theoretical foundation of this study. The study included 172 students in third, fourth, and fifth grades. The research questions examined pre- and post-paragraph writing scores, extended writing scores, grammar and usage …

Adpr 221: Strategic Writing For Advertising And Public Relations—A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Michael D. Hanus

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The objective for this course portfolio was to document the changes implemented to a core advertising and public relations writing course. The portfolio outlines five proposed goals for the revised course: students should be able to write for an audience, give and receive quality feedback, prepare for novel situations in the workplace, see writing as rewarding, creative, and fun, and learn professional conventions and industry standards for strategic writing. The course was significantly restructured in order to better reach these goals on student assignments, activities, and during lectures. Each goal was assessed with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. …

Engl 254: Writing And Communities—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Rachael Wendler Shah

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio analyzes a section of English 254: Writing and Communities, exploring how well the course met individual teaching goals and the departmental course goals for English 254, with a particular focus on how the new English Department mission statement priorities are actualized in the class and how well the class supported learning to communicate across difference. The portfolio includes an outline of institutional context, course outcomes, and student background, as well as a backwards planning chart that demonstrates alignment between outcomes, activities, and assessment strategy. Then, the portfolio examines student data from each of the three major assignments, …

Feedback In Online Writing Forums: Effects On Adolescent Writers, Heather J. S. Birch

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Adolescents are writing online. A cursory look at the web reveals that teenagers are well-represented; in blog posts, social media updates, profile pages, comments on YouTube videos, responses to news articles, and websites about their interests, teenagers are writing (Williams 2009). In the current research study, the specific kind of adolescent writing under consideration is writing posted in a social media context designed specifically for writers. This case study focuses on six young writers who are active members of an online writing community, and who post their writing in order to receive feedback. Descriptive data collected through interviews, as well …

Developing Preservice Writing Teachers’ Professional Judgment: Design Conjectures For Supporting Equitable And Rigorous Writing Instruction, Britnie Delinger Kane

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

To meet the composition demands of the future, secondary students in the United States will need more rigorous and more equitable writing instruction. They will need opportunities to inquire into and frame authentic problems. They will need to communicate for a variety of audiences and purposes, and they will need access to a variety of linguistic and literary forms. In turn, secondary teachers will need improved preparation for teaching writing. This conceptual review outlines what intellectually rigorous and equitable writing instruction looks like, arguing that teaching writing in these ways requires that teachers deploy substantial professional judgment. I then rely …

Fives: An Integrated Strategy For Comprehension And Vocabulary Learning, Mary Shea, Nancy Roberts

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This article describes a strategy that emphasizes the integration of all language and literacy skills for learning across content areas as well as the importance CCSS place on learners’ ability to ask questions about information, phenomena, or ideas encountered (Ciardiello, 2012/2013). FIVES is a strategy that meaningfully integrates research-based methodologies associated with reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing for differentiated disciplinary literacy instruction related to authentic texts and issues. The strategy described can be universally applied across disciplines to develop high levels of competence with literacy processes and content.

Resources Preservice Teachers Use To Think About Student Writing, Leah A. Zuidema, James E. Fredricksen

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This article identifies five categories of resources that preservice teachers drew on as they considered student writing and planned their own approaches to assessing and teaching writing. Identifying these resources helps us better understand how beginning writing teachers think about student writing—and better understand mismatches that commonly occur between what teacher educators teach and what new teachers actually do. Our study builds on literature that considers how writing teachers are prepared, extends research about how preservice teachers use what they learn,and adds layers of detail to literature about the resources that beginning teachers draw upon to aid and support them …

Writing Groups In Eighth-Grade Honors Language Arts: Student And Teacher Perceptions, Jennifer Sara Meister Denmon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I investigated eighth-grade honors students’ and their language arts teacher’s perceptions of the support provided in writing groups, the climate in writing groups, and student and teacher support that enhanced students’ motivation to write in writing groups. Eleven study participants engaged in the inquiry, 10 middle school students and one language arts teacher. I collected data during the fall semester of 2014. Data were individual interviews, classroom observations of participants in writing groups, and program-related documents. The main aim in this investigation is to discover middle school students’ and their teacher’s perceptions of the support, …

Yorba Times: Special Edition On Safety, Noah Asher Golden, Facundo Acevedo, Jesse Alonzo, Henessy Arana, Leslie Arriaga, Michelle Brait, Amy Chau, Ashley Diaz, Jeremiah Dille, Sierra Durand, Beberly Espinoza, Elora Estes, Lesley Fernandez, Darshan Gamma, Cassandra Garcia, Karla Garcia, Yasmin Garcia, Neko Gianquinto, Gisselle Gonzalez, Jacob Gonzales, Sakina Jaffery, Adrianna Herrera, Allie Hoch, Victoria Hulett, Anthony Jaimes, Leilani Lagunes, Sandra Loredo, Kate Markey, Joshua Marmolejo, Faith Martin, Melissa Medina, Layla Melendez, Dylan Moses, Michaela Moses, Brooklynn Payne, Michelle Perez, Brianna Quirarte, Ieleen Ramirez, Edwin Reyes, Jehu Sandoval, Jaqueline Ramirez, Jonathan Sanchez, Nathalie Sanchez, Christopher Santibanez, Kaylin Seeley, Genevieve Stothers, Miranda Valdez, Christopher Velasquez

Yorba-Chapman Writing Partnership Anthology of Journalistic Writing

During the Spring 2016 semester, Dr. Noah Asher Golden's Teaching of Writing K-12 students partnered with the Journalism class at Yorba Academy for the Arts. Through collaboration over a four-month period, Chapman's future teachers and Yorba's junior high journalists engaged a deep writing process to write a series of features, editorials, and news articles, all connected in some way to the overarching theme of safety. Thank you to Ms. Andrea Lopez, Ms. Tracy Knibb, and the Lloyd E. and Elisabeth H. Klein Family Foundation for supporting this project.

Integrating Teaching Literature And Writing, John J. Hobe

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Brief Description: Come and learn how we can better understand each other through reading and writing about literature. Participants will see demonstrated and participate in integrated literature and writing lessons for all age students. They will receive references and lessons for integrating literature and writing lessons. Participants will discuss teaching literature and writing in schools.

Literacy Choice In A First Grade Classroom, Lisa Marie Maletta

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to observe and note student performance on choice literacy activities. Students were given choice pertaining to writing assignments and publishing preferences as well as guided reading material. Students completed an interest inventory at the start of the research to better understand the types of literacy activities that may interest them. The students were allowed to exercise choice in their literacy activities when choosing a guided reading book from appropriately leveled choices and choosing their writing topic as well as publishing option such as a big book, a little book, or a step book. Student …

Google Classroom For Third Grade Writing, Jessi Fallon

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and evaluate the effects of using the technology of Google Classroom in writing personal narratives in a third grade classroom. Specific aims of the study are to analyze how the technology will affect students’ motivation, engagement, and overall writing skills. Previous research indicates that integration of technology allows for more collaboration among students as well as an increase in motivation in the classroom (MacArthur, 2009). This study advances our understanding of technology to see how the application of Google Classroom will benefit students in the capacity of motivation and writing skills due …

Visualizing Revision: Leveraging Student-Generated Between-Draft Diagramming Data In Support Of Academic Writing Development, Justin Olmanson, Katrina Kennett, Alecia Magnifico, Sarah Mccarthey, Bill Cope, Duane Searsmith, Mary Kalantzis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Once writers complete a first draft, they are often encouraged to evaluate their writing and prioritize what to revise. Yet, this process can be both daunting and difficult. This study looks at how students used a semantic concept mapping tool to re-present the content and organization of their initial draft of an informational text. We examine the processes of students at two different schools as they remediated their own texts and how those processes impacted the development of their rhetorical, conceptual, and communicative capacities. Our analysis suggests that students creating visualizations of their completed first drafts scaffolded self-evaluation. The mapping …

What Does Motivated Mean? Re-Presenting Learning, Technology, And Motivation In Middle Schools Via New Ethnographic Writing, Justin Olmanson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article offers a critique of the way middle schoolers are often positioned as generalizable objects that can be acted upon to produce measurable increases in motivation and learning. The critique invites a reconsideration and cultural analysis of some of the dominant discourses and perceptions of technology, young adolescence, and the study of motivation. The use of New Ethnographic Writing—a method that performs a cultural critique via extended scenes—connects to the roles and status of motivation, technology, and educational research methods deployed within public schools. Coupled with weak theory, this approach offers a way to understand young adolescents as navigating …

The Effects Of A Reading Comprehension Intervention Package On Increasing Third Grade Students' Comprehension Skills, Marilyn P. Card

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Increasing students' reading comprehension involves the use of targeted strategies and effective instruction. Previous research has shown that instruction in individual skills such as vocabulary acquisition, reading fluency, writing, and story mapping help increases students' reading comprehension. However, few studies have explored combining these skills and their cumulative effects, if any, on reading comprehension. The purpose of this quasi-experimental secondary analysis study was to examine the effects of adding a reading comprehension instruction package (RCIP), which includes vocabulary acquisition, reading fluency, and writing, to instruction in story mapping alone. Constructivist theory was used as the theoretical framework for this study. …

Professional Learning Communities As A Professional Development Model Focusing On Instructional Practices Used To Teach Writing In Early Childhood, Jill T. Leonard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the implementation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as a professional development model effective in altering teachers‘ perceptions of their knowledge and skill in teaching developmental writing in grades K-3. This research is necessary to examine how offering teachers collaborative support needed for understanding and implementing research-based best practice approaches to teach developmental writing strengthens the quality of instructional practice necessary to meet rigorous standards being imparted from Common Core Standards. Through the development of a PLC, teachers have an opportunity for collaborating within the school building, which provides optimal …

“It Sounds Wrong” Vs. “I Would Be Curious”: Challenges In Seeing Students As Writers In A School-University Partnership, Anne Elrod Whitney, Nicole Olcese, Virginia Squier

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article presents qualitative data and a pedagogical reflection from two teacher educators as they consider a writing partnership between preservice teachers in their methods course and a class of middle school writers. The purpose of the partnership was to help preservice teachers think about students not just for the purposes of evaluation and grading, but as writers, and, more importantly, as human beings. Authors present their inquiry and the challenges that arose as a result of the project, including reflections on the partnership from preservice teachers.

At-Risk Writer Program That Benefits Both The Students And The Educators, Bill Elgersma, Luke Hawley

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This session presented a small-college writing workshop model centered on increasing at-risk writers' persistence and motivation as they improved their writing through the use of pre-service teachers. An important component of the presentation was the one-on-one interactions that occurred and the value of these to both parties.

Fifth Graders Blog With Preservice Teachers To Discuss Literature, Lindsay Yearta, Katie Stover, Rachel Sease

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In this study, fifth grade students participated in a pen pal project with pre-service teachers where they blogged for eight weeks about the book, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. Partnerships were established to provide fifth grade students with an authentic audience in an effort to increase engagement in reading and writing. The authors posit that individualized instruction, access to an authentic audience, and the utilization of technology contributed to students' growth as readers, writers, and global citizens.

Writing The World: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Of 21st Century Writing Instruction, Kristine E. Pytash, Elizabeth Testa, Jennifer Nigh

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore preservice teachers’ perceptions of integrating technology into writing instruction before and after a methods course and the experiences in a methods course that, according to the preservice teachers, influenced these perceptions. Participants were enrolled in two sections of a Teaching Language and Composition course. Data collected included an adapted Likert-scale pre and posttest survey, and focus group interviews. Preservice teachers self-reported salient course experiences, and also discussed the affordances and tensions they felt in thinking about how to use technology to teach writing. This study has implications for teacher education and …

Community, Identity, And Transition: Student Veterans And Academic Writing At The Two-Year College, Mark Edward Blaauw-Hara

English Theses & Dissertations

Higher education is experiencing an almost unprecedented influx of student veterans. However, research is sparse on their transition to college, and, in particular, their experiences with college writing. Additionally, current scholarship focuses mainly on veterans at four-year schools. This dissertation describes six student veterans’ transitions to academic writing at the community college. Based on a case-study approach, the study seeks to identify key themes in student veterans’ experiences with learning and writing in the military and compare them to their experiences learning and writing in college. In addition to locating areas of disconnect, the study highlights typical strengths student veterans …

Cognitive Function And The Administration Of A Writing Strategy Compendium Incorporating Autobiographical Recall And Art, Jonnie Sue Cleveland

Dissertations

The ability to write is vital in many academic areas (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). Roughly 70 percent of U. S. students in a representative sampling during 2010 (grades 8 and 12) scored only at the Basic (fractional grasp of prerequisite information and abilities) level and below (U.S. Department of Education, 2011).

Fifty-four percent of students in the eighth grade and 52 percent of students in the twelfth grade in the United States scored at the Basic level. Another 20 percent of students in the eight grade and 21percent of students in the twelfth grade scored below the Basic level. …

The Writing Process: Using Peer Review To Develop Student Writing, Jennifer M. Selting Troester

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The following thesis will explore how peer review through an online writing exchange influences student writers during the writing process. I propose that when students participate in this online writing exchange to peer review, it will assure that they will have a better understanding of the writing process, and more confidence in analyzing their own writing and in themselves as writers. It also makes these students more conscientious of the writing they share with peers because they have a wider audience than just their teacher, and this motivates them to improve their writing. The last part of the document features …

Using Embedded Institutes As Professional Development To Create A Culture Of Writing Excellence, Melanie K. Farber

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The following thesis addresses the problem of creating a culture of writing excellence at a large, urban school. I will show how the Embedded Institute model helped our school to reconsider our professional development model and to create writing leaders across the content areas. The thesis will make the argument for something larger than test scores through qualitative feedback from teacher participants.

Adviser: Robert Brooke

Reading And Math Strategies For Struggling Students, Tonya Hiers, Arlene Berry, Kim Trepanier

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will provide Common Core based strategies for teachers to use with students at risk of failure. Participants will engage in tasks that will allow them to experience Close reading, constructed response, and math problem solving. These cross curricular strategies will address literary, informational, and problem solving standards.

Caught In The Tractor Beam Of Larger Influences: The Filtration Of Innovation In Education Technology Design, Justin Olmanson, Fitsum Abebe, Valerie Jones, Eric Kyle, Lyrica Lucas, Katie Robbins, Guieswende Rouamba, Xianquan Liu

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

While emerging technologies continue to emerge, research into their use in learning contexts often focuses on a subset of educational practices and ways of using technologies. In this study we begin to explore the extent to which educational designs are influenced by larger societal and education-related factors not usually explicitly considered when designing or identifying technology-supported education experiences for research study. We examine patterns within and between factors via a content analysis across ten years and 19 different journals of published peer-reviewed research on technology-supported writing. Our findings have implications for how researchers, designers, and educators approach technology-supported educational design …

The Impact Of Formative Feedback On Student Motivation To Write In Eighth Grade English Courses, Dayna Nielsen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined the impact of feedback on student motivation to write in eighth grade English courses, specifically during a persuasive essay unit. A literature review was conducted to determine the characteristics of effective feedback and when it should be delivered to students. The findings from the literature review were used to develop the experimental context for the study to find out how feedback can impact motivation. A mixed-method approach was used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data through the use of a survey administered after varying types and levels of feedback were provided to participating students. The study …

The Techno-Pedagogical Pivot: Designing And Implementing A Digital Writing Tool, Justin Olmanson, Katrina Kennett, Bill Cope

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In educational technology, the idea of innovation is usually tethered to contemporary technological inventions and emerging technologies. Yet, using long-known technologies in ways that are pedagogically or experientially new can reposition them as emerging educational technologies. In this study we explore how a subtle pivot in pedagogical thinking led to an innovative education technology. We describe the design and implementation of an online writing tool that scaffolds students in the evaluation of their own informational texts. We think about how pathways to innovation can emerge from pivots, namely a leveraging of longstanding practices in novel ways has the potential to …