Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item An Analysis of the Relationship Between Mathematics Beliefs and Mathematics Teaching Self-Efficacy in Elementary Pre-tenured Teachers(2017) Vohrer, Susan; McLaughlin, Margaret; Norris, John; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Preparing students to be college and career ready with 21st century skills requires elementary classroom teachers to effectively understand and execute the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. In order to achieve this goal successfully, teachers need to possess both positive mathematics beliefs and mathematics teaching self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between mathematics beliefs and mathematics teaching self-efficacy in pre-tenured elementary teachers in Title I schools as well as the relationship of these constructs with demographic factors such as grade level taught, number of years teaching (0-3), level and number of mathematics courses completed in high school and college, and completion of a mathematics degree. While there has been extensive research on the teaching self-efficacy for pre-service teachers, there is a paucity of research focusing on pre-tenured teachers. An online survey based on a validated instrument, the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument, was administered to a representative sample of 125 pre-tenured elementary teachers. A moderate relationship between mathematics beliefs and mathematics teaching self-efficacy was found. Further, it appears that the greater the numbers of mathematics courses completed (high school or undergraduate), the greater the mathematics teaching self-efficacy. No other significant relationships were found with any other variable tested. Implications regarding these findings and possible next steps are examined.Item Care in the Lives of Women Teachers(2006-08-03) James, Jennifer Hauver; Price, Jeremy; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: CARE IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN TEACHERS Jennifer Lynn Hauver James, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation directed by: Professor Jeremy Price Department of Curriculum and Instruction This is a study of care in the lives of six women elementary school teachers. It expands and challenges some of the dominant constructs of care found in the literature that often underplay the dynamic of context, gendered identity and power in the making of caring pedagogies. I chose narrative inquiry as a means to study because I was particularly interested in exploring how these women understand and experience care in their lives as teachers. This approach looks to the three-dimensional space of experience as a source of knowledge and understanding. The pedagogies of care held by these six women reflect their needs to care in particular ways: They see themselves as self-sacrificing, they see care as an isolated act, and they believe they need to look to the authority of others to validate their knowledge and experience. I assert that these understandings of care are informed by dominant patriarchal discourses about womanhood and caring that contribute to their enactments of care as teachers. Through these enactments, I believe these women are unknowingly complicit in the devaluation of their voices and experiences. The culture of the school contributes to these understandings in complex ways. There seems to be a dynamic relationship between these teachers' ability to free themselves from the determination of others and their ability to care for students. I posit that if pedagogies of care are to meet the needs of students and at the same time empower women teachers to name themselves as gendered beings, they will need to be more authentic, critical, collective and inclusive than those explored here. This study complicates traditional constructs of care by drawing on the voice and experience of these women. The findings significantly contribute toward conversations at the intersection of pedagogy and gendered identities. As such, it raises critical questions about how contexts shape our life experience and the meanings we make of that experience as women and as teachers.