Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons^™

Head Start Classrooms And Children’S School Readiness Benefit From Teachers’ Qualifications And Ongoing Training, Seung-Hee Claire Son, Kyong-Ah Kwon, Hyun-Joo Jeon, Soo-Young Hong

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Background Teacher qualifications have been emphasized as a basis of professional development to improve classroom practices for at-risk children’s school readiness. However, teacher qualifications have often not been compared to another form of professional development, in-service training.

Objective The current study attempts to investigate contributions of multiple types of professional development to school readiness skills of low-income preschoolers. Specifically, we examined the significance of teachers’ education level, degree, teaching certificate, teaching experiences as well as specialized in-service training and coaching support as these teacher trainings are linked to preschoolers’ school readiness through proximal classroom practices.

Method We used a multi-level …

Urban Pds Partnership: Preparing Teachers For Social Justice, Connie L. Bowman, Rachel M. B. Collopy, Jamie Bentley, Elizabeth Cameron, David A. Taylor

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

We believe that for urban schools to meet their goals and mission — in the way the DECA is modeling — takes a partnership among many stakeholders. One such partnership that supports DECA, and might buttress other schools and students — and simultaneously help to enact a social justice ideal — is a school-university connection. DECA was founded as a Professional Development School (PDS), with the school and university developing a reciprocal relationship with a shared focus on the preparation of new teachers, the enhancement of high school students' achievement, school and university faculty members' professional development, and collaborative inquiries …

Dialogic Reading And The Development Of Transitional Kindergarten Teachers’ Expertise With Dual Language Learners, Carola Matera, Ph.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Elvira G. Armas, Ed.D.

Practitioner Journal Articles

This article presents highlights of professional development efforts for teachers in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) classrooms occurring throughout the state and through a collaborative effort by researchers from the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) at Loyola Marymount University. The article begins by identifying the various statewide efforts for professional development for TK teachers, followed by a brief review of the literature on early literacy development for diverse learners. It ends with a description of a partnership between CEEL and the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide professional development both in person and online to TK teachers on implementing …

Work-Related Stress And Mental Health Of Child Care Center Workers, Sarah Lietzow Witherell

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what factors are associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, somatization, and general psychological distress in a sample of child care center workers. A sample of 101 employees from 14 different child care centers in the southeastern Michigan area were administered questionnaires that asked about work and home life, social support, and mental health. Data was also collected from center directors regarding the type and size of the child care program and the annual turnover rate of each facility. One of the key findings of the study was that a significant number of …

Embracing Messy Play: Using Documentation To Illustrate A Partnership Of Community, Teachers, And Nature Education., Jennifer Leeper Miller, Erin Hamel

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The perfect companion to nature is messy play. Allowing children (and pre-service teachers) the opportunity to touch, prod, splash, toss, and experience the natural world through their senses is a must. Teachers created opportunities for children to wonder, engage and marvel in the natural world through hands on experiences; using mud day to spark interactions and inquiry among children, families, teachers and mud.

Reggio Emilia Approach, Ena Shelley, Ryan Flessner

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Article in Ainsworth, James, ed. Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z Guide. Thousand Oaks, US: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2013.

Hope At The End Of Life Among U.S. Military Veterans, Jaime L. Huffman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine the meaning of hope at the end of life among Veterans. As people enter the terminal phase of life hope becomes especially important. Recent research has been conducted examining hope among various cultural groups and their experiences of the phenomenon. These studies showed that although hope is a universal phenomenon, different cultural groups ascribe different meanings to it. These cultural variations are important for nurses to consider when caring for patients.

Research conducted among Veterans has shown that as a cultural group, Veterans have different experiences and needs throughout their lives …

An Investigation Of Traditional Professional Development Versus Reform Professional Development And The Implementation Of Strategies, Curriculum And Classroom Environment By Prekindergarten Teachers, Helen Marie Oliver-Brooks

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT VERSUS REFORM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIES, CURRICULUM AND CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT BY PRE- KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS

by

HELEN OLIVER-BROOKS

May 2013

Advisor: Dr. Marc Rosa

Major: Curriculum and Instruction

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences between traditional conventional professional development and high quality reflective professional development and curriculum implementation of classroom practices. This study examined the extent to which professional development activities were associated with increased levels of curriculum implementation. Differences in curriculum implementation, teacher knowledge, and changes to teaching practice based upon the type …

Supporting The Growth Of Principals As Instructional Leaders: An Interpretive Study About The New Work Of School Leaders, Jeffrey Thomas Hillman

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study explored the emerging context of elementary school principals as they engaged in the work of Instructional Leadership. Naturalistic Inquiry was adopted as a methodological framework to explore the unique perspectives and understandings of participants. Focus Group activities, surveys, small group interviews, and recursive ethnographic interviews were used to capture rich and descriptive representations of principal understandings. Research questions explored the experiences and conditions that participants identified as essential for their growth as Instructional Leaders. The concept of paradigm and the implications of system structures and hierarchies was investigated as it relates to the supporting conditions necessary for principal …

Making Voices Visible: Teacher Research In A Community College Early Childhood Teacher Education Program, Debra Murphy

Educational Studies Dissertations

Teacher research has been included in university and graduate teacher education programs for the past 2 decades. Recently, associate degree programs have also begun to engage their students in teacher research. What happens when community college early childhood students conduct teacher research as a course assignment? This study involved 8 former community college early childhood education students who had recently completed teacher research projects as part of their coursework in 1 of 3 different courses. Data sources included students’ written reports of teacher research, classroom field notes, photographs of student data, and interviews with each participant. The study was informed …

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

Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to explore teacher candidates’ tutoring experiences within a university clinical practicum to acquire an understanding about how their unique interactions with struggling readers and research-based methodology contribute to their pedagogical understandings of literacy instruction.

This article spotlights teacher education and addresses the question of how teacher educators can guide teacher candidates in putting theory into practice with early readers. The author describes a scaffolded clinical practicum in which preservice teachers have the opportunity assess, teach and reflect on their work with children.

The Development Of A Model Of Culturally Responsive Science And Mathematics Teaching, Cecilia M. Hernandez, Amanda Morales, Gail Shroyer

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

This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the literature; a synthesis of the literature into thematic categories to capture the dispositions and behaviors of culturally responsive teaching; and the piloting of these thematic categories with teacher candidates to validate the usefulness of the categories and to generate specific exemplars of behavior to represent each category. The model of culturally …

Impact Of An Activity Mini-Schedule On The Inattention Of Preschoolers With Cochlear Implants During A Group Activity, Sharon A. Raver, Peggy Hester, Anne M.P. Michalek, Dana Cho, Nicole Anthony

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

This pilot study evaluated the effectiveness of using an activity mini-schedule which divided a circle time activity into four sub-activities with four preschoolers who were deaf and had received cochlear implants. Often preschoolers with cochlear implants display difficulty directing attention to appropriate stimuli during large group activities (Chute & Nevins, 2003). It was hypothesized that the use of an activity mini-schedule would decrease inattention. Using a multiple baseline design across participants, an activity mini-schedule was introduced to each participant sequentially by a paraeducator who sat behind the children during circle time. Participants' behaviors were videotaped and coded. The introduction of …

A Professional Development Program For Balanced Literacy, Sheila Charlene Mccullough

Graduate Research Papers

A balanced literacy framework is a complex yet comprehensive avenue for literacy instruction that has been successfully implemented by the author in a low socioeconomic kindergarten classroom with remarkable achievement gains. This research project first describes the successful implementation and relates it to the professional literature on balanced literacy. A professional development program is then developed that will help teachers discover the importance of implementing balanced literacy practices and gain knowledge and understanding on how to implement the components of a comprehensive balanced literacy framework into their practice.

The Impact Of Baby Sign On Motor Development In Typically Developing Infants And Toddlers, Melissa Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

"Baby Sign is an augmentative communication approach that teaches babies keyword signing that they can use to communicate before they talk." (Sneddon 2003). Baby sign has become popular among parents of infants as a means to communicate before the child can verbally express wants and needs. Programs and classes are now becoming available in many areas of the country to help teach parents basic signs to use with their children. This study aimed to assess the impact of baby

sign on motor development in typically developing infants. The study found that the impact of baby sign language on motor development …

Preschool Language And Phonological Proficiencies In Predicting Stuttering Recovery Or Persistence, Caroline E. Spencer

Open Access Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between expressive and receptive language, phonological, and verbal working memory proficiencies in the preschool years and eventual recovery from or persistence in stuttering. Participants included 40 children who stutter (CWS). At ages 3-5 years, participants were administered the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language, 3rd edition (TACL-3), the Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test, 3rd edition (SPELT-3), Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology--Consonant Inventory subtest (BBTOP--CI), Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills--Revised (TAPS--R) auditory number memory and auditory word memory subtests, and the Dollaghan & Campbell Nonword Repetition Test (NRT). Stuttering behaviors were tracked …

Teachers' Perceptions And Satisfaction With Pbis In A Southeast Georgia School District, Deidra C. Martin

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In today’s educational system, an important concern is student behavior. Problem behaviors can affect students’ academic learning as well as teachers’ instructional time. Many programs and approaches are available to improve student behavior in schools. One school-wide program known as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is designed to help schools create and sustain effective behavioral supports for students. PBIS is a national framework schools can use to help them design and implement behavioral practices for students. It involves all the faculty, staff, and students in a school system. Teachers are important stakeholders in implementing PBIS. If they do not …

The Effects Of An Intervention That Includes In-Class Coaching On Preschool Teachers And Children, Amber K. Oliveira

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The impact of high quality early learning experiences on a child's development is profound. Teacher quality has been deemed an important predictor of classroom quality, but currently teachers in Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) in the state of Florida are required to meet minimal training requirements. The purpose of this study was to examine an intervention including in-class coaching as a means of professional development to better prepare preschool teachers. The present study included and examination of the changes in environmental quality, child outcomes, and teacher perceptions after the intervention. Scores obtained were compared before and after the intervention. A two-tailed t-test …

Blending Worlds, Reforming Practice?: An Instrumental Case Study Of Collaborative Early Childhood Teacher Education, Ann Marie Mickelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative models of teacher education have grown from the belief that through such models we can improve the quality and availability of truly inclusive opportunities for children with diverse abilities and their families. Little is known however as to the extent collaborative models are capable of influencing inclusive service delivery or in terms of their efficacy to impact the relative inclusive practice of their graduates as compared to other models of teacher education. As an important first step toward examining the relative worth and efficacy of collaborative models of early childhood teacher education, this case study applied a conceptual framework …

A Case Study Of Jamaican Children's Lived Play Experiences, Carol Ann Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although research on children's play is abundant and considerable advances have been made in young children's play, the majority of these studies have been based in western developed countries and written from adults' perspectives rather than with children. Additionally, very little research has been done on children's play with active participants from smaller developing countries. The voices of society's youngest members have been lost or are only marginally represented.

The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore, understand, and describe young Jamaican children's lived play experiences as related through their eyes. The theoretical frameworks used to guide this study …

Making Room For Formative Assessment Processes: A Multiple Case Study, Rob Mcentarffer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative instrumental multiple case study (Stake, 2005) explored how teachers made room for formative assessment processes in their classrooms, and how thinking about assessment changed during those formative assessment experiences. Data were gathered from six teachers over three months and included teacher interviews, student interviews, participant-observation notes, videos of classroom experiences, and classroom artifacts. These data were analyzed using a category construction method (Merriam, 2009) that involved open coding, axial coding, and finally a cross-case analysis that grouped axial codes according to themes relating to the two research questions. Four case studies describe the process of co-created work with …

The Relationship Of Peer Acceptance, Age, Gender, Ethnicity, And Appearance Among Preschoolers, Kora Klaire Stuffelbeam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine preschool children's acceptance of peers. The term peer acceptance is defined as "the degree a child is Socially accepted or rejected by his or her peer group." Johnson et al. (2002) found children between the ages of three and five were able to develop friendships and Social skills that would impact their acceptance among peers. The study determined if children based their choice of peers according to a child's age, gender, ethnicity, appearance, and/or Social skills. The subjects of this study were 31 children whose ages were three-, four-, and five-years-old who …

Family Environment And School Environment As Predictors For Physical Aggression In Low-Income Children, Xiaoyu Li

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the current study was to examine the unique and collective contributions of child’s own characteristics, their family environment and school environment to the development of child physical aggression at Grade 5. This study was based on Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Children’s gender and their aggression at age 3 were included as person characteristics. Family environment (primary caregiver’s ethnicity, maternal education, home warmth, physical punishment, exposure to violence, family conflict, and parent-child dysfunctional interaction) and early child care experience measured by whether the child was in child care at both age 3 and age 4 …

Transforming Pedagogies In Early Childhood Education Through The Early Childhood Development Project, Balochistan, Almina Pardhan, Cassandra Fernandes Faria, Noor Bano, Nighat Fatima, Rehana Jaffer, Mumtaz Murani, Salima Rajput

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Strengthening The Professional Development For Teachers At Uc-Trc Level – A Hub For Teachers Professional Development, Rakhshinda Meher

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Professional development is a continuous improvement process, on job training and support needed to improve teaching, it encompasses the processes that educators engage in to initially prepare themselves, continuously update themselves, and review and reflect on their own performance. The experiences suggest that continuing professional development is needed to reinforce learning and support educational change process. This paper encompass on strengthening the professional development for teachers at Union Council Tehsil Resource Center (UC-TRCs). Teacher Mentors, developed by AKU-IED, STEP Project initiated the Cluster-based Mentoring Programme (CBMP) and also providing teachers follow-up support through Schools visits. Teachers professionally support each other, …

Exploring The Current Practices And Perceptions Of Ecd Teachers For The Implementation Of High Scope Curricular Teaching Approach, Sultana Qamar, Arisha Qayyum, Seema Laasi, Dilshad Ashraf

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Early Childhood of human life is crucial in terms of holistic development of children. In this regard, the teachers of early years need to play a significant role in the teaching and learning process. Currently educators and teachers are using a number of curricular teaching approaches. High Scope is one of the mostly used curricular teaching approaches in the context of Gilgit Baltistan, of Pakistan.

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and practices of early childhood teachers to implement High Scope curricular teaching approach.

The findings suggest that prior training on curricular teaching approaches provided the …

Mother-Child Interaction And Emotional Development Of A Child : Exploring The Connections, Salima Moosa Sadruddin Sewani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This study explores the perceptions of mothers (working and stay-at-home) about their role in the emotional development of their children in early years (4-6 years). It also explores the impeding factors in mother-child interaction during the emotional development in early years of the children. The qualitative design was used to explore the effects of stay-at-home and working mothers‟ interaction on their children‟s early year (focusing 4-6 years) emotional growth and development. Through a purposive sampling, four participants (two working and two stay-at-home mothers) were selected whose children were 4-6 years of age and were enrolled in Kindergarten I and II. …

Multi-Cultural Encounter And Exchange Among Spaniards, American Indians And Africans In Colonial Florida And The Caribbean, Kathleen Deagan Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Around The World In 180 Days, Laura Rogers

Honors Theses

For years, multicultural curriculum has been accepted as "normal curriculum" sprinkled with various holidays celebrated by non-white cultures and the occasional multicultural book. As a result, many students graduate from high school and college ignorant of the various cultures present in our communities, states, our country, and our world. Myself, and others such as Paulo Friere (educator and author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed) and Susan Piazza (associate professor of literacy studies at Western Michigan University), believe that multicultural curriculum should be much more. For teachers to create a thoughtful, reflective, substantive multicultural curriculum they must intentionally create what Susan …

Lesson 6: Mapping The Spanish American War, Mario J. Minichino

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

The proximity of Tampa and Key West, Florida to the island of Cuba, and how their geographic locations played a major part in the Spanish American War. In this lesson, students will transfer/combine historical data from different sources to create a representative map, developing a deeper understanding of the connections between Tampa and Cuba and practicing their mapping skills.

(This lesson plan is designed for two days or can be used for a block schedule)