Elementary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Making The Grade: Authentic Assessment Through Music Portfolios, Kendra June S. Aylor

Theses & Honors Papers

Research shows assessment is an important part of education. However, information on assessment in music is often limited to secondary education leaving elementary music teachers to devise their own systems of evaluation students. This teacher research addresses elementary music assessment by examining the implementation of student portfolios as a way to manage the data that is created in the music classroom. The portfolios were compiled using fourth grade student work which was divided into section that mirror the MENC National Standards. This research shows that student portfolios provide tangible evidence of student understanding to be shared with teachers, parents, and …

Using Poetry To Improve Fluency And Comprehension In Third-Grade Students, Karen E. Newsome

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study examined the effects of repeated choral reading of poetry on fluency and comprehension of third-grade students (N = 76) in the southeastern United States. Student attitudes toward poetry were also measured. Students served in regular, remedial, and special education were taught reading using the school’s basal series for four weeks. Choral repeated reading of poetry was then added to the curriculum. The DIBELS ORF test, STAR reading assessment, and an attitude survey were used to assess student performance. Statistically significant gains were made during the poetry intervention in fluency (M = 18.78, p < .01) and comprehension (M = 0.33, p < .05). Slight improvements in students’ attitudes toward poetry were also observed.

Preservice Literacy Teachers In Transition: Identity As Subjectivity, Mindy Legard Larson

Faculty Publications

This research addresses the complexities of identity development of elementary and middle school preservice literacy teachers during their teacher education program using a poststructural feminist theoretical lens. This research investigated two questions: 1) How do preservice teachers develop their identity as teachers of literacy in the midst of authoritative discourses? 2) What kinds of strategies and discourses do preservice literacy teachers use to negotiate the competing discourses of literacy during student teaching? The results indicated that the identities of the preservice literacy teachers were in transition during their teacher education program and authoritative discourses were at work constituting their subjectivities …

The Effects Of Teacher Race In The Elementary School On Student Achievement Test Scores, John Stortz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The racial and gender composition of elementary school teachers does not match those of the students and this may be contributing to an inequity of achievement scores between African American and European American students. This ex post facto causal comparative study compared three levels of elementary school diversity personnel staffing on Grade 4 African American student Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores and differences between male African American scores and female African American scores in a suburban Atlanta county. Nine intentionally selected elementary schools were chosen representing 3 racial diversity personnel staffing levels including 39% to 50%, 25% to 27%, and …

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 …

Improvement In Quality Of Life Indices: The Role Of Women’S Literacy In Rural Punjab, Pakistan, Iffat Farah

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Thinking About The Preparation Of Teachers Of Elementary School Mathematics, Jane Wenstrom, Kathleen Martin, Susan King

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The Reading Recovery Program At Main Street School In Shelbyville, Illinois, Leslie L. Hohenstein

Masters Theses

Traditional solutions to reading problems have not adequately addressed reading difficulties. Many students in the lower 20% of the reading level of their class have far reaching academic and social problems that lead to dropping out of school, entering special education classes, becoming frustrated, and possibly becoming discipline problems. This study examined the Reading Recovery Program at Main Street School in Shelbyville, Illinois. Specific study objectives were measurements of student test data and progress for the 1992-1993 school year. Measurements were performed using a pre- and post-testing method. A survey questionnaire was used to gather data from Reading Recovery teachers. …

Children Learning To Write: A Progression Through Predictable Stages, Shirley D. Vestal

Masters Theses

A first-grade teacher documents her students' progression through predictable stages as they learn to write: distinct units of scribbling and/or ground line and profile in drawing, letters, words, sentences, story structure (character, setting, problem, solving the problem, and ending the story/telling how the characters felt), and conventions (capital letters, punctuation, and conventional spelling).

Criteria based on readability at each stage by a knowledgeable and sensitive reader are an important aspect of this study.

The class writes every day using a five-day story format:

Day One: Character Pink paper

Day Two: Setting Blue paper

Day Three: Problem Yellow paper

Day Four: …

Ua35/11 Student Honors Research Bulletin, Wku Honors Program

WKU Administration Documents

The WKU Student Honors Research Bulletin is dedicated to scholarly involvement and student research. These papers are representative of work done by students from throughout the university.

• Coates, Alan. Management's Attitude Toward Collective Bargaining
• Frew, Becky. The Effects of Personality Type and Social Support on Instances of Job Stress
• Green, Laura. Earth Sheltered Housing
• Gregory, Vicky. Fraud and Abuse by Medical Providers in Medicare and Medicaid
• Hignite, Susan. Japanese Students in Kentucky Classrooms
• Hodum, Martha. The Mathematically Gifted Child
• Jones, Rodney. Superman to Censorship: America's Romance with the Comic Book
• Marrs, Shawn. Romanticism and Unromanticism in Sir Gawain and the …

A Teacher's Guide To Pioneer Life In South Central Kentucky, Nancy Disher Baird, Carol Crowe Carraco

Teacher Resources: Kentucky History

No abstract provided.

Ua35/11 Student Honors Research Bulletin, Wku Honors Program

WKU Administration Documents

The WKU Student Honors Research Bulletin is dedicated to scholarly involvement and student research. These papers are representative of work done by students from throughout the university.

• Bachert, Sara. Rational Portrayal of the Irrationational in The Pit and the Pendulum
• Bell, Suzanne. Early Secret Involvement of the United States Military in Cambodia
• Brock, Beth. The Informal Caregiving System: The Frail Elderlys' Avenue of Choice
• Daniel, Janice. Child Sexual Abuse
• Johnson, Linda. International Telecommunications Trade with Japan
• Jones, LaMont. Ernie Pyle: Journalist Without Peer
• Kesserling, Marcia. Attitudes Toward the Need for Computer Literacy
• Lewis, Gloria. John Donne's Attitude Toward Love
• Majdi, …

A Study Of Group Attitudes Toward The Professional Status Of Teachers In Selected Adventist Elementary And Secondary Schools, Edward Joseph Kunitz

Dissertations

Problem. It was not known to what extent groups associated with Adventist education supported the professional role orientation of teaching which in turn affected the work behavior and morale of teachers.

Method. A Professional Role Orientation Scale (PROS) was responded to by 701 randomly selected subjects. The scale contained four criteria identifying professional aspects of teaching as a profession. Responses to the instrument were item weight analyzed and judged for point multiserial reliability before insertion into a BMDP statistical program. Four null hypotheses were tested using two-way ANOVA with the Scheffe test for multiple mean comparisons. Stepwise multiple regressions were …

Readers Theatre In The Classroom, Linda Lapham-Pilgrim

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Hand-Me-Down History: Local Resources For The Classroom, Nancy Disher Baird, Carol Crowe Carraco, Vicky Middleswarth

Teacher Resources: Kentucky History

No abstract provided.

Ua37/30/2 Wku Research Notecards - L Topics, Lowell Harrison

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Notecards created by Lowell Harrison while researching his book Western Kentucky University. The cards transcribed below are for 151 topics beginning with L ranging from L&M Bookstore to Lyne, John.

Ua3/3 Society Of Discontent, Kelly Thompson

WKU Administration Documents

Speech delivered by former WKU President Kelly Thompson to the Third District Education Association meeting in 1975. Includes note cards and speech.

Ua11/1/5 Hilltoppers In The News, Wku University Relations, Skip Church

WKU Administration Documents

Hilltoppers in the News radio program regarding the student fair and science fair.

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?

Ua77/1 Western Alumnus, Vol. 42, No. 3, Wku Alumni Association

WKU Administration Documents

WKU alumni magazine. Features the following articles:

• Corts, Paul. Western's Honors Program Forges Ahead
• Gray, David. Students Still Work Their Way
• Mefford, David & Roy Reynolds. Reaching Out for the Good Student
• Lawrence, Fred. Nick Rose All American
• Yeager, Randolph. A Westerner Remembers Harry Truman
• Scarborough, Clarice. Western Goes to Mexico
• Dillard, Gary & Rudolph Prins. Western at Tech Aqua
• Lawrence, Fred. Student Teaching - a la Guatemala
• Corts, Paul. Theatre Study Goes British
• Thompson, Kelly. The Most Unforgettable Person I Have Ever Known . . . Henry Cherry
• Commonwealth in a Capsule - Kentucky Building
• Adams, Ronald. Teacher Evaluation …

Biblical Discipline In Covenant Christian Education, James Koldenhoven

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

The Application Of Self-Instruction To Elementary School Music, Jane Austin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of self-instruction on achievement in elementary school music at the fourth grade level. In order to study this effect, the investigator will seek answers to the following questions:

1. Which methods of self-instruction are most applicable to children at the fourth grade level?
2. What concepts are basic to the understanding of music?
3. What studies have been concluded to define the range of conceptual developments among fourth graders?
4. What materials and activities are most effective in achieving the desired results based on the above considerations?
5. Is I.Q. a significant factor in musical …

150 Years Of Education In Maine, Kermit S. Nickerson

Maine Collection

150 Years of Education in Maine

Kermit S. Nickerson, Deputy Commissioner of Education

State of Maine, Department of Education, Augusta, 1970.

Sesqui-Centennial History of Maine's Educational System and the Growth and Development of the Maine State Department of Education.

Contents: Foreword / 150 Years / Part I - Education in Maine Prior to 1900 / Part II - Development of the State Department of Education

Ua64/4 Technical Progress Report Of The Western Kentucky Human Relations Center For Education, Wku Human Relations Center

WKU Administration Documents

Quarterly report created by the WKU Human Relations Center regarding activities to provide support and technical assistance to local school districts during the integration process from September 1 through November 30, 1969.

Ua64/4 Technical Progress Report Of The Western Kentucky Human Relations Center For Education, Wku Human Relations Center

WKU Administration Documents

Quarterly report created by the WKU Human Relations Center regarding activities to provide support and technical assistance to local school districts during the integration process from June 1 through August 31, 1969.

Ua64/4 Technical Progress Report Of The Western Kentucky Human Relations Center For Education, Wku Human Relations Center

WKU Administration Documents

Quarterly report created by the WKU Human Relations Center regarding activities to provide support and technical assistance to local school districts during the integration process from April 1 through May 31, 1969.

Ua64/4 Technical Progress Report Of The Western Kentucky Human Relations Center For Education, Wku Human Relations Center

WKU Administration Documents

Quarterly report created by the WKU Human Relations Center regarding activities to provide support and technical assistance to local school districts during the integration process from January 1 through March 31, 1969.

Ua64/4 Yearly Report Of The Western Kentucky Human Relations Center For Education, Wku Human Relations Center

WKU Administration Documents

Report created by the WKU Human Relations Center regarding activities to provide support and technical assistance to local school districts during the integration process in 1968.

Ua64/4 Technical Progress Report Of The Western Kentucky Human Relations Center For Education, Wku Human Relations Center

WKU Administration Documents

Quarterly report created by the WKU Human Relations Center regarding activities to provide support and technical assistance to local school districts during the integration process between October 1 to December 31, 1968.