Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THAT DEFIES THE TRADITIONAL CONSTRUCT OF TEACHER LEARNING: A Charter School's Commencement(2012) Oliver, Rollia Mandrell; Mawhinney, Hanne; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In August 2006, in accordance with a recently passed charter school law, a Mid-Atlantic school district opened its first public charter schools. The charter schools' staff had opportunities to exercise autonomy over their instruction and had very little in-service training. This study examined what seven teachers at a newly created charter school did with their time to achieve on-going professional development in the absence of frequent traditional structured in-service training. I employed a case study approach to portraiture that was guided by Desimone's (2009) core features of professional development as the theoretical framework. The data were specific activities that teachers used in place of frequent in-service that reported by the participants. Elements of the activities teachers used to construct knowledge were analyzed using the core features of professional development. Content focus, collective participation, coherence, active learning, and duration were present throughout the data. The data from this study revealed that teachers were deliberate in their actions. They constructed their own professional experiences and held themselves accountable. The retrospective nature, small sample of teachers, and limited span of focus for this study posed limitations. These findings have implications for designing professional development, facilitating autonomous instructional development, and future research.Item Motivation and Long-Term Language Achievement: Understanding Motivation to Persist in Foreign Language Learning(2009) Smith, Laura J.; Martin, Cynthia; Lavine, Roberta; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Achieving native-like proficiency in a foreign language is a long-term process; therefore, designing and implementing a plan for long-term language achievement may help more learners achieve their long-term language goals of fluency as well as related career goals. This study presents recommendations that may be incorporated into the college curriculum to help both learners and teachers facilitate the development of motivation to persist in language learning and use at native-like proficiency. The results of this dissertation study provide greater insight into language learning motivation, changes in motivation, and motivational regulation. Data were collected using a questionnaire and an unstructured interview protocol to report the language learning motivation patterns of seven native-English speaking, traditional age undergraduate foreign language learners. Data were collected, coded, and analyzed following an emergent constant comparison method using process modeling procedures to analyze and report quantifiable categories of data, sequences of variables, patterns, and processes as they emerged. Results indicate that changes in the primary source of motivation and motivational orientations occur over time and that internally regulated motivation associated with long-term goals is associated with persistence. A greater understanding of language learning motivation may help teachers and learners develop strategies to regulate motivation in order to facilitate the development of motivation to persist in language learning beyond basic university requirements. This may also operationalize motivation for professional language use at native-like proficiency.Item DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT MOTIVATION IN THE VISUAL ARTS USING HIP HOP CULTURE, AN ART SHOW, AND GRAFFITI(2009) Jenkins, Stephanie Conley; Hendricks, Susan; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This participatory action research study explored the development of student motivation in the visual arts using hip hop culture. Six adolescent middle school students from a Washington, DC, public charter school were studied. They participated in an after-school art club centered on the National Portrait Gallery's "Recognize: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture" special exhibition. The subjects were interviewed before and after visiting the museum and creating their own graffiti self-portraits. The self-portraits were displayed in an art exhibit at the school along with their artist statements. The interviews, statements and field notes were analyzed using the coding method. The results showed that feelings of competence, adequate support, autonomy, authentic purpose and personal connections to hip hop culture and musical artists all increased student motivation to participate in the visual arts. Motivation decreased when students attempted to create `real' looking graffiti, consistent with existing research.Item Factors That Motivate Fifth-Grade Students To Read During Sustained Silent Reading (SSR)(2007-04-11) Newman, Terry Harlowe; Chambliss, Marilyn; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)One of the most widely accepted ideas is that the more you read the better reader you become. Research has demonstrated a positive link between frequent reading and reading achievement. Because of this relationship, popular programs like Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) would appear to be an effective instructional strategy to improve students' reading ability. However, there is little empirical evidence to support SSR as a means to increase student achievement. One concern is the amount of time students spend reading during SSR. Utilizing both qualitative and quantitative designs, this study examined teacher and student perspectives to find factors that motivated students to read during SSR. Three exemplar fifth-grade teachers were interviewed and observed to learn more about their purpose and methods of implementation for SSR. One class of above average readers, one class of average readers, and one class of below average readers, for a total of 68 students participated by being observed and completing surveys. Overall, teachers reported that teacher modeling and student choice were important for increasing student participation during SSR. Teachers provided additional instructional support based on their students' ability level. Students in the below average classroom appeared to receive more instructional support to sustain silent reading with the average and above average classrooms receiving less instructional support. Students across the three classes reported that choice and interesting texts were important factors for motivating them to read during SSR, whereas having to write about what they read during SSR was a least favorite activity. Teacher modeling may also positively influenced the below average and average readers more than the high ability readers. While females were on-task during SSR more than males across all three classrooms, overall student participation during SSR varied based on ability level with both the high and low ability readers participating at lower rates than average readers. Findings from this study revealed instructional strategies that appear to increase student participation during SSR. However, it may be that SSR, as originally conceived, is not effective for students of all ability levels. Rather, the effects of SSR may be much more complex requiring varying amounts of different types of instructional support for students to sustain silent reading based on ability level.Item The Influence of Supplemental Instructional Approaches Upon The Comprehension, Metacognitive Awareness, and Motivation of Struggling Third- and Fourth-Grade Readers(2007-01-25) O'Hara, Janice Dotterer; Dreher, Mariam J.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Schools are challenged with the responsibility of providing the quality of instruction necessary for all students to meet the achievement standards of "No Child Left Behind" legislation. Supplementary instruction has been used extensively to accelerate struggling readers' progress; however, schools need to consider methods that have been examined for their effectiveness. This quasi-experimental study explored the effect of two supplementary instructional approaches, CORI-STAR and Guided Reading, on accelerating struggling readers' growth in reading comprehension, reading motivation, and metacognitive awareness, as well as their transference of strategies to their classroom reading groups, their application of reading strategies, and their metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies. Struggling third- and fourth-grade students were invited to participate in an 8-week supplementary instructional reading group. Fifty students with parental consent were then randomly assigned by classrooms to either the CORI-STAR or Guided Reading approach. CORI-STAR combined (a) the engaging and motivational elements of Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) developed by John Guthrie, and (b) a metacognitive component, Strategic Thinking Applied to Reading (STAR), consisting of explicit instruction on metacognitive awareness, modeling, think-alouds, and reflective thinking. The Guided Reading approach was implemented according to Fountas and Pinnell's recommendations. The results revealed statistically significant time (pretest, posttest) by treatment interactions with large effect sizes favoring the CORI-STAR group on (a) three comprehension measures: WRMT-PC, QRI-4 questions, and QRI-4 retelling and (b) three metacognitive awareness measures to assess students' awareness of strategies, their application of strategies, and their metacognitive awareness of the declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of regulating their use of reading strategies. Performance on the Motivations for Reading Questionnaire did not show a statistically significant interaction for time by treatment. However, on another measure of motivation, choosing to take home books for reading, CORI-STAR students outperformed those in the Guided Reading group. Both groups were perceived by their teachers to transfer strategies to classroom use. Thus, students in the CORI-STAR group improved more than Guided Reading students on reading comprehension, metacognitive awareness, and their knowledge and use of reading strategies as a result of the intervention. Further, CORI-STAR students were more motivated to choose books for home reading.