Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
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Item KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS’ VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES, AND INFLUENTIAL FACTORS: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY(2023) Johnston, Tara Burke; Dreher, Mariam J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Early and explicit vocabulary instruction is one important way teachers can support early readers for later reading comprehension success (Duncan et al., 2007; Marulis & Neuman, 2010; Neuman & Dwyer, 2011; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000); however, some observations indicate that early childhood and early elementary teachers do not provide consistent and explicit vocabulary support (e.g., Dwyer & Harbaugh, 2020; Wright & Neuman, 2014; Donaldson, 2011) and that most teachers do not have much time to spend on vocabulary instruction generally (Baumann et al., 2003). To further explore why these phenomena may occur and to provide direction for future research and teacher education initiatives, this study examined the reported vocabulary knowledge, reported vocabulary practices, and reported influential factors on vocabulary instruction of seven kindergarten teachers in public school settings in the United States. Using a multiple case study design, I studied seven teachers to answer the following research questions: (1) What do kindergarten teachers report about their own knowledge related to vocabulary instruction? (2) What do kindergarten teachers report about how they implement and change their vocabulary instruction? (3) What factors do kindergarten teachers report as influencing their vocabulary instruction? Each case was bound as one teacher, and I framed my study using two main theories: Shavelson and Stern’s (1981) pedagogical decision making and Shulman’s (1986, 1987) pedagogical content knowledge as it relates to teacher professional knowledge. I collected data using a demographic survey, a knowledge screening survey, an initial interview about reported vocabulary practices, four pre- and post-vocabulary lesson interviews, and artifacts related to the vocabulary lessons. I used multiple rounds of coding for both individual case analysis and cross-case analysis. Individual case analysis yielded a profile for each teacher which describes in detail their reported vocabulary knowledge, practices, and influential factors. For example, one teacher’s profile (pseudonym Brenda) describes reported use of a consistent Tier 2 vocabulary routine for every lesson, whereas other teachers in the study did not report a consistent vocabulary instructional routine. Another teacher (pseudonym Joyce) frequently reported using hands on science lessons to teach vocabulary; she also frequently discussed how knowledge of her students’ needs impacted her vocabulary instruction. Cross-case analysis revealed that participants reported little knowledge of and wide variation in reported pedagogies to effectively support Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs) or students with reading difficulties’ oral vocabulary development. Participants frequently reported using explicit instruction to teach Tier 2 (Beck et al., 2002) vocabulary words before and during literacy read aloud lessons. However, participants did not often report teaching taxonomically or thematically connected words using informational texts; these pedagogies have proven to be particularly effective for increasing word knowledge and comprehension in young children (Neuman & Dwyer, 2011; Pinkham et al., 2014). Additionally, participants reported that they received very little professional development in how to effectively teach vocabulary, despite knowing that vocabulary instruction is important for young learners. Most of participants’ reported knowledge about vocabulary instruction was rooted in their knowledge of students’ perceived needs and knowledge they gained informally from other members of their teaching teams. These findings have implications for the professional development of both pre-service and in-service teachers, and for future research on early vocabulary practices in classroom contexts.Item The HLL-Turned-Language-Teacher: Exploring the Relationship Between Heritage-Language Maintenance and Pedagogical Content Knowledge(2022) García, Andrés A.; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)For over four decades now, fields like applied linguistics and world-language education, have investigated heritage languages, the “nonsocietal or nonmajority languages” (Valdés, 2005, p. 411) typically used in the homes and communities of immigrants and their descendants. While still growing and diversifying, heritage language (HL) research has often focused on how users of these languages—also known as heritage language learners (HLLs)—are different from other language learners, and how teachers can best adapt their instruction to their needs. With so much literature focusing on either HLLs as learners or their teachers, this study aims to bring together these topics in a novel way. Specifically, this multiple-case study centers around three adult HLLs who currently work as teachers of language-related subjects, and it aims to explore whether there is a relationship between their life experiences with HL maintenance and their pedagogical content knowledge. The research questions explored in this study are: 1. How do the focal HLL-turned-language-teachers in this study describe their experiences with HL maintenance and development?2. What kinds of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) are evident in the practice of these HLLs-turned-language-teachers? 3. How do these HLL-turned-language-teachers’ experiences with HL maintenance and development relate to their PCK as L2 teachers? Data collection included teaching observations, interviews with the focal teachers and some of their colleagues who know their teaching directly, and the gathering of relevant teaching artifacts and documents. Data analysis, meanwhile, occurred in a two-tiered approach: within-case and cross-case. That is, each focal case was analyzed individually first, and then patterns were sought across cases during the second phase of data analysis. Findings from this study support the idea that the HL maintenance experiences of HLLs-turned-language-teachers affect their PCK. Moreover, there is remarkable consistency across cases; for not only did they all report the influence of similar factors in their HL maintenance (e.g., supportive families and communities, constant exposure to their HLs through written and spoken media), but they also embraced similar pedagogical techniques and behaviors as part of their PCKs (e.g., translanguaging and native-language supports, building strong bonds with their students). Furthermore, in rationalizing many of these moves by alluding to learning experiences they did not have growing up, or to their own struggles with HL grammar rules, these teachers also show consistency in the potential connections between their life experiences as HLLs and their pedagogy and PCK. Implications from this study, then, are pertinent to heritage-language studies as well as language teacher education, and they include calls to expand the notion of PCK to account for the influence of experiences with language maintenance and loss. Regarding practitioners, this study underscores the relevance of biographical reflection to pedagogical decision-making, and it encourages teachers who wish to make the most of this sort of reflection to expand their notion of “pedagogy” to include student-teacher relationship-building—if it does not do so already.Item UNDERSTANDING HOW PRESERVICE TEACHERS USE FOCUSING QUESTIONING STRUCTURES: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY(2019) Nolan, Edward Charles; Walkoe, Janet; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The study explores how five secondary mathematics preservice teachers use questioning structures as they develop understanding of how to teach. Teacher questioning impacts the degree of student thinking during solving problems, specifically selecting focusing over funneling questioning structures (Herbel-Eisenmann & Breyfogle, 2005; Wood, 1998). Questioning structures are investigated as the participants plan a lesson, practice it to their peers, and then teach it to high school students. As these preservice teachers explore this lesson over most of a semester, a rich analysis of questioning is developed through planning, practicing, and teaching the lesson. Investigation includes how participants elicit and interpret student thinking and how their responses either focused on the thinking of students or funneled students to the thinking of teachers. The research questions of this study are: • Do preservice teachers use focus and funnel questioning structures as they elicit, interpret, and respond to student thinking and, if so, how do they use them? • In what ways does preservice teachers’ use of focus and funnel questioning structures change through the plan-practice-teach cycle? Data for the study include an initial peer rehearsal activity; draft and final lesson plans; reflections on experiences with planning, peers, and students; and transcripts of peer rehearsals and interviews with each participant at the end of the study. Analysis of the data explored the types of questions asked and questioning structures used, how the preservice teachers used questioning to privilege or minimize the role of student thinking, and how flexible the preservice teachers were in asking questions, be they planned or extemporaneous. While each of the participants stated the goal of creating student-centered learning environments, they varied widely in their ability to privilege student thinking. Some reasons for the differences in these abilities are explored. The study demonstrated four potential areas of future research in regard to teacher preparation: preservice teachers need help to learn about and use focusing questioning structures; opportunities may need to allow preservice teachers to address and overcome their current beliefs; preservice teachers need support to effectively elicit, interpret, and respond to student thinking; and peer practice needs specific structures to be effective.Item IPADS IN THE SECOND LANGAUGE CLASSROOM: AN EXAMINATION OF IPAD USE BY TEACHERS THROUGH TPACK AND TEACHER PERCEPTION LENSES.(2017) Sharp, Steven Kary; Lavine, Roberta Z; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research indicates a need for teacher education programs which include embedded computer assisted language learning (CALL) to support teachers’ technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of how to employ technology in classroom settings. Researchers also indicate a need to better understand the knowledge-base of language teacher education (LTE), including a teacher’s possible 40 year career through ever changing technology. This mixed-method case study examines the use of iPads by four teachers, who represent maximum variation in their teaching and technology experience, in two mostly homogenous schools. The study looks specifically at how teachers’ perceptions of 1) teaching, 2) technology, 3) using technology and 4) their students shape the way they use iPads with English language learners. It also examines what supports facilitate the use of iPads for instructional purposes in second language classrooms. I focus on the use of iPads in a one-to-one implementation in a technologically embedded context because iPads are a relatively new innovation in classrooms, with the potential of changing instruction. Such changes may contribute to the challenges and benefits of being an effective teacher in the English language teaching (ELT) classroom. Research on the use of iPads in classrooms has been previously limited to mostly suggestions for use and has given little guidance in how this disruption will assist and challenge teachers. TPACK is used as a powerful construct based in a reconceptualization of the language teacher education (LTE) knowledge-base, indicating influences of context, teachers and their perceptions, identity and agency and activities in the classroom. These factors suggest ways which classroom technology and teacher, student, administrative and contextual influences may mediate the activities of teaching and learning in the classroom. The data show a correlation between teachers’ practices with iPads and their previous experiences using technology in the classroom. Teacher groupings demonstrated differences in teaching based on their experience using technology and teaching. Schools showed differences only in terms of some choices made by the administration. Students’ effects on the use of iPads is minimal, except for instances of how student behavior affected the classroom.Item Framing Novice Teacher Persistence: A Collective Case Study of Early-Career African-American Teachers in Urban Public Schools(2016) Sherman, Dawn Marie; Turner, Jennifer; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Efforts to recruit high-quality minority teachers have proven successful over the past two decades, particularly for low-income, high-minority, and urban schools. Unfortunately, increases in minority teacher hiring have been undermined by the high turnover rates of minority teachers and novice teachers -- e.g. teachers who have less than five years of professional teaching experience. Teachers who embody both of these characteristics, novice minority teachers, are doubly disadvantaged because they experience higher turnover rates than their colleagues. As a result, low-income, high-minority, and urban schools continue to struggle to maintain teacher staffing levels for the student populations with the greatest need for quality and consistency. The purpose of the study was to explore why novice African-American teachers choose to remain in the profession after their first three years of teaching in urban school settings. Through the lens of social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1994, 2000, 2002), the study explored novice African-American teachers’ personal characteristics and background experiences which framed their pursuit of a teaching career, identified the contextual challenges and supports which had the greatest impact on their teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and examined how these teachers mitigated apparent and perceived challenges to career persistence. A qualitative collective case study design (Stake, 2005; 2006) was used to gain a deeper understanding of how novice African-American teachers’ personal characteristics, background experiences, and contextual factors proximal to teaching shaped their career self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and persistence in urban schools. This study adds the novice African-American teacher voice to existing research on novice urban teacher retention and provide a better understanding of their unique needs. The findings of this study can be used to develop targeted teacher training, recruitment and induction initiatives designed to increase the number of African-American teachers who eventually enter and sustain the urban teaching workforce.Item Transforming Knowledge: The Effects of Scaffolded Instruction in the Toulmin Model of Argument on the Problem-Solving Strategies of Four Sixth-Grade Writers(2014) Wilson, Adam Holmes; Slater, Wayne; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this case study was to examine the effects of scaffolded instruction in the Toulmin Model of Argument on the problem solving strategies used by four sixth-grade writers while composing argumentative essays. Three major components of the Toulmin Model that were presented to participants were claims, data, and warrants. Participants for the proposed study were four sixth-grade students, two of whom were identified as "high ability" (one male and one female) and two of whom were identified as "average ability" (one male and one female). Results of the study were derived primarily from the analysis of intervention protocols and essays produced by participants. After completing a survey about their experiences with argument/persuasion, participating in a practice think aloud, and composing a pretest argumentative essay while providing a think aloud guided by the intervention protocol, participants received a total of six units of scaffolded instruction in the Toulmin Model over a period of four weeks. At the end of the instructional period, participants composed an "independent" argumentative essay under normal (non-protocol) conditions. For the posttest, participants provided a second think aloud guided by the intervention protocol while composing an argumentative essay. Pre-test, independent, and posttest prompts asked participants to formulate and support a claim about a proposed change to a school policy and were identical in form, audience, and task demands. As a result of the intervention instruction in the Toulmin model and the scaffolds I was able to construct through the intervention protocols, participants were able to move beyond knowledge telling to engage in knowledge transforming, moving back and forth between problem spaces of content and rhetoric, and thus more effectively handling the audience-related task demands of warranting claims and providing convincing supporting data - aspects of argumentative writing that existing research suggests pose the greatest difficulties for secondary students. I had hypothesized that the intervention instruction in the Toulmin model would also enable participants to more effectively handle the argumentative writing task demand of anticipating and responding to opposition, but this hypothesis was not supported by the study data.Item Teacher Interns' Written Reflection in College Assignments(2013) Wilson, Robin Black; Hyler, Maria E; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This exploratory study investigates preservice teacher written reflection during the full-time internship semester and trends across assignments, topics, and interns that may have a relationship with dialogic or critical reflection. Sociocultural theory serves as the theoretical underpinning of the study. The study applies Hatton and Smith's (1995) types of writing: descriptive writing, descriptive reflection, dialogic reflection, and critical reflection. Case study and content analysis methodologies are simultaneously used to address the research questions. This study reveals that interns engage in written reflection within all three categories (descriptive reflection, dialogic reflection, and critical reflection) (Dinkelman, 2000; Hatton & Smith, 1995), however, the overwhelming majority of reflection is descriptive reflection (95.8%), followed by dialogic reflection (4.1%) and critical reflection (0.1%). This study did not find a single condition, topic, or assignment that guarantees written dialogic or critical reflection. Instead, this study found that intern written dialogic and critical reflection appears to be an outgrowth of a combination of factors including, but not limited to, intern understanding of reflection, internship semester responsibilities, assignment design, and the role of the college supervisor.Item In Search of Signature Pedagogies for Teacher Education: The Critical Case of Kodály-Inspired Music Teacher Education(2010) Baumann, Paul J.; Malen, Betty; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purposes of this study are to identify the features of Kodály-inspired music teacher education programs that either confirm or refute the notion that signature pedagogies (Shulman, 2005 a, b, c) are present in this form of teacher education and to identify whether and how philosophical, pedagogical, and institutional influences support such pedagogies. Signature pedagogies are shared modes of teaching that are distinct to a specific profession. These pedagogies, based in the cognitive, practical, and normative apprenticeships of professional preparation, dominate the preparation programs of a profession, both within and across institutions. This study employs a collective case study design to examine Kodály-inspired teacher education programs, specifically those endorsed by the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE). This study serves as a critical test of the applicability of the construct of signature pedagogies to teacher education. Because these programs purport to hold shared philosophical and pedagogical ideals and are governed by an endorsing body (OAKE), signature pedagogies ought to be present in these programs if they are present in any teacher education programs. Embedded in this collective case are: (1) a history of Kodály-inspired pedagogy and its adoption and adaptation in the U.S., (2) case studies of two prominent and influential OAKE-endorsed Kodály-inspired teacher education programs, and (3) case studies of four to five faculty in each of these programs. Data sources include primary and secondary texts and documents, observations of the various events and activities that occur as a part of Kodály-inspired teacher education programs, and focus group and individual interviews with program faculty and students. This study finds that the two case sites possess four signature pedagogies: (1) demonstration teaching, (2) master class teaching, (3) discovery learning, and (4) the music literature collection and retrieval system. These pedagogies appear to be inextricably tethered to the contexts, professional body (OAKE), and work of Kodály-inspired music educators though multiple complex linkages. The study closes by assessing the applicability and usefulness of the construct for the discourses and study of teacher education and by offering revisions to the construct that may help to improve the construct's usefulness in future research.Item The Teacher's Homecoming: Understanding Vocational Identity Development of Military Career Changers(2008-11-11) Fleming, Kimberly; McCaleb, Joseph; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As increasing numbers of teacher candidates enter the field of education from other careers, teacher educators must consider the complexities of career transition. Insiders' accounts of vocational change can help teacher educators act with tact and authenticity in a way that is sensitive to the experiences of career changers. This study uses philosophical hermeneutics to develop understanding related to the sociocultural process of vocational identity development for two military career changers as they become teachers. The concept of identity is explored, and it is developed both as lived experience in community as well as a sense of self, fashioned through rememberings and imaginings. Two case studies center on Caucasian males with military experience who are transitioning into secondary English teaching positions. Thomas, a 50-year-old Air Force retiree with 24 years of service, is enrolled in a local school system-sponsored alternative preparation program. Rob, a 38-year-old past Verizon employee and current lieutenant in the Army Reserves, is enrolled in a Master of Arts in Teaching program. This study employs a participatory paradigm in which participants serve as co-researchers. The study follows each co-researcher into three communities of practice related to their teacher preparation and/or induction to teaching. Their experiences as persons-in-community are analyzed using a sociocultural perspective. The following constructs are explicated for each community of practice under study: place, social structures, practical tools, conceptual tools, metaphors, narratives, and imagined futures. Each community is shown to promote certain teaching identities while constraining others, although the process of vocational identity development emerges as a negotiation among person and community. In the spirit of Wenger (1998), each individual's nexus of being is then discussed, and vocational identity is explored in relation to coordination and contradiction of multiple communities as well as in mutual constitution with an individual's rememberings and imaginings. A vocational meta-story is told in archetypal language to represent the reverse coming of age which military career changers undergo on their journeys to become and belong as teachers. Finally, a synthesis of understandings related to identity, ways to make meaning, and the needs of military career changers is offered.Item Metaphor Instruction in One English Teacher's Classroom: His Understandings, Instructional Practices, and Attitudes(2008-07-02) Schugar, Jordan T.; Slater, Wayne H.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this case study, I describe one high quality English teacher's understandings, instructional practices, and attitudes towards explicit and direct metaphor instruction. In this study I focused on ecological validity because the participating English teacher, and his classroom, have been studied under real-world and authentic circumstances. The participating English teacher was selected based on a pre-existing set of established criteria. Specifically, the participating English teacher was state licensed in English teaching, has demonstrated a commitment to the field of English education through promotions and recommendations, and had a willingness and the time to allow his pedagogy, and those variables that influence his pedagogy to be studied. An independent school was selected as the site for this study because of the particular heavy emphasis on reading literature and for convenient research access. This research has the potential to make two important contributions to the research and theory of metaphor instruction. First, by studying a high quality English teacher's understandings, instructional practices, and attitudes I am able to describe some of those variables that have influenced the students' comprehension of literal and figurative language in this particularly rich literature environment such as learning critical reading skills. Second, using, applying, and understanding metaphors is more than just simply comparing two unlike things, and by contrasting current metaphor theory to the prevailing definitions English teachers have been using in their classrooms, I am able to make recommendations regarding needed research and practice in this important line of inquiry.