This ethnographic, teacher research case study focuses upon Valerie Clarie's return to school after surgery from brain cancer, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Situated in a whole language classroom, Valerie is entering her fifth year of school in a southwest public school system. Prior to this study, Valerie was placed in a traditional classroom setting receiving services on a pull-out basis from the special education resource teacher. This study was initiated during an attempt to mainstream Valerie into her whole language classroom on a full-time basis. It critically examines Valerie Clarie's special education and whole language classroom settings and curriculum. Utilizing work samples, journals, medical records, and school records, this study questions the appropriateness of each of these settings for Valerie, and seeks to discover which setting supports Valerie best in her academic and social pursuits. The study is additionally concerned with identifying Valerie's strengths as a learner. These strengths are documented and maintained using alterative assessments utilized in her whole language classrooms. Additional topics addressed in this study include issues of literacy, social structures of school, hegemony, special education curriculum, whole language curriculum, standardized testing, and brain cancer.

A significant number of American Indian women have taught and still teach children in both public and government Indian schools. Yet there is very little written about these Native American women teachers, how they view themselves, and their relationship to their professional teaching careers throughout history. In addition, historical accounts on Native education are often inaccurate, disrespectful, and biased. To address issues about Native American women teachers, a qualitative study was conducted to determine the elements in their lives that influenced them to select elementary school teaching as a career choice, and to identify and examine the common patterns and similarities within those elements. The research documented the key elements for success of Native American female teacher including (a) a supportive family, (b) mentoring and positive role models for young Native American girls in elementary and secondary school is vital to their continuing onto higher education, and (c) a strong sense of cultural identity. Five Native American women elementary public school teachers in a large southwestern city, representing four different tribes, participated in individual in-depth interviews to gather information regarding what elements in their lives lead them to educational success. Two had taught in the public school system for more then 20 years, the other three had been in the classroom for less then five years. The research revealed that Native American mothers today are the most influential family members in terms of their daughters educational success in elementary and secondary school, along with being the primary factor in providing moral support during their college years. Mentors and positive role models for young Native American girls in elementary and secondary school are vital to their continuing on the road to higher education. All participants felt that their strong sense of cultural identity helped them as adults to deal with cultural conflict in the workplace. Recommendations for further study, based on participant comments include: increase the number of teachers involved in the study, and interview these same teachers five years from now to see if their reflections changed.

The purpose of this study was to examine my belief that allowing young children time for free choice engagements and play is not only appropriate but necessary for their development of written literacy. This teacher research study took place in my kindergarten classroom. Data was collected during a daily free choice time when students had access to virtually all materials in the classroom and were responsible for their own engagement decisions. The primary data consists of field notes of my observations while students were involved in free choice engagements, a checklist of their engagements, and artifacts of the written literacy that students engaged in. The data analysis led to the development of a description of the types, functions, and contexts for how written language is integrated into the free choice engagements of the kindergarten students in my class. This analysis is from data on all the children in my classroom. Case studies offered a portrayal of three individual students' explorations of written language during free choice. The case studies give background information about each child, then describe the child as a player, and finally the child's literacy knowledge is described. This study has allowed me to become more acutely aware of what was happening during free choice time in my classroom. Throughout this dissertation I have contended that children come to school with a great deal of knowledge about literacy, and teachers need to value the literacy knowledge that children already have. The same must hold true for play. No doubt children have learned to play long before they come to school. It is the teacher's responsibility to close the gap between the two environments. Teachers need to respect each child's literacy strengths and motivations, and continue to offer invitations for engagements in many functional literacy engagements. I am confident that students will engage in written literacy when they are ready and see the engagements as meaningful and functional in their own lives.

After studying hundreds of Saudi children's books, I decided to keep eighty of them to represent my selection. My main focus in this study is the literary and cultural characteristics of Saudi children's books. Thus, this study is based on two questions: What are the literary characteristics of Saudi children's books? and What are the cultural characteristics of Saudi children's books? I used the content analysis approach to answer both questions. Content analysis means the use of a theory or theme to analyze a text or a series of texts. The theory or theme is used as an analytical device, the main focus being analysis of the text rather than development of theory. In order to answer the question about the literary characteristics of Saudi children's books, I studied the seven most common literary elements found in textbooks of children's literature. A literary analysis chart was developed representing character, plot, setting, theme, point of view, style and tone. After analyzing the selected books literarily, I found that only a small number of the selected books use techniques of the literary elements to attract the readers. The majority of the books represent the false nature of flat characters and are written to instruct and educate children rather than entertain them. Illustrations do not add much to the written text in the majority of books; thus the majority of the books are illustrated books rather than picturebooks. A cultural analysis chart was developed from the readings and the interviews about Saudi culture. Three major categories represent the Saudi culture for this study: religion, family and childhood. After doing the cultural analysis for the selected books I found that there are many misrepresentations of the Saudi culture in most of the books indicating a lack of careful study of the culture. There is a separation between religious and nonreligious books, women have traditional roles in most of the books, and children are portrayed as either ideal or stupid in the majority of the books. Moreover, the landscape and/or the clothes of characters in most of the books are misrepresented.

No description available.

This teacher research takes place in an inquiry based, intermediate, multiage classroom in Tucson, Arizona. The purpose of this research is to explore how students and teacher determine a new class focus through the use of a broad concept to make decisions about curriculum. In particular, this research examines the process of negotiation the teacher and students create to make connections from a previous class focus in order to discover a new focus of study. As a qualitative study, this teacher research employs the data collection techniques such as the use of field notes, reflective journals (both teacher and students), transcripts from discussions from negotiation meetings, student interviews on teacher role, and analysis of children's written artifacts. Triangulation of the data allowed for an in-depth analysis resulting in thick description of the planning conferences for a new class focus. This study focuses on the role and process the teacher takes within the negotiation period. There is an examination of how the teacher looks at (1) the organizational structures, (2) focus lessons, (3) structures for reflection, (4) facilitation, and (5) kidwatching. This study also focuses on the roles and processes of the students within the planning conference when determining a class focus. There is a look at how the students (1) make decisions, (2) listen and organize, (3) assume different roles in discussions, and (4) work toward an understanding among each other. The findings of the study points toward the need for democratic classrooms. Students need to be in a learning context where decisions are made by the members in the classroom. Education in a democratic community moves beyond the individual growth of a member. Social interaction between community members is essential to the growth of members in a learning community where people are expected to live and work together. In this study students had opportunity to voice their opinions and the freedom to create their own curriculum through meaningful contexts.

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of inquiry of classroom teachers. It considers what influences the thinking, decision making, and actions taken by three classroom teachers as the inquire in their own classrooms. In particular, emphasis was placed on what facilitates and what causes tension for the teachers as they inquire. This qualitative case study included data collection strategies of initial and final individual semiformal interviews, informal interviews, dialogue journals, and observational field notes. Study group sessions with the teachers and myself were audiotaped and transcribed. Categories were constructed using open coding and a constant comparative method. The study found that not having a vision of what the classroom looked like using new theory and practice was a source of tension. The people in the everyday working lives of teachers were both facilitating and a cause of tension while inquiring. Issues of trust in students as learners, in themselves as educators, and in themselves as learners both facilitated and caused tension in the case study teachers. Reflection was significant to moving forward with inquiry and a major part of that reflection was in the context of collaborating with others. Teachers should be encouraged to inquire in their own classrooms as a means of growing professionally. In order to do so, however, there need to be ways to support inquiring teachers. Possibilities for supporting teachers include providing resource teachers with whom they can reflect and collaborate, concern for learning and learning process, detailed accounts of classroom life, and creative rethinking of time concerns. The formation of voluntary study groups has great potential in school settings not only as a support system for teachers who are inquiring, but also as an alternative for staff development. Based on a constructivist model of learning, study groups provide teachers the opportunity to talk and think together. This format also offers teachers the chance to examine their own beliefs which guide their practice and lead to new inquiries.

This investigation examined the beliefs and practices of four Latina bilingual educators. The participants were part of a federal grant program to allow personnel from local school districts to earn a bachelor's degree in bilingual education. The researcher analyzed the language ideologies that were articulated and practiced by the participants as they worked with English language learners in local elementary schools. In particular, this investigation addressed the participants' understanding of how to use native language instruction (in this case, Spanish) in bilingual education to improve writing and other aspects of academic success in the second language (in this case, English). Using questionnaire data, interviews, and observations, the researcher concluded that the way the participants used Spanish in instruction depended significantly on their own language learning ideologies and on the assimilationist context of the larger society.

<p> This qualitative study examines the enactment of culturally responsive teaching practices (Gay, 2010) within two African American elementary teachers' classrooms. Teacher interviews, classroom observations, and classroom documents were collected and analyzed to examine the supports and barriers these teachers encountered as they attempted to enact culturally responsive teaching practices. The descriptive case study reveals that both teachers engage culturally responsive teaching in similar ways. However, the difference in school context makes this effort more challenging for one teacher than another. Barriers included institutional requirements, classroom disruptions, student issues, and teacher isolation. Additionally, by implementing a collaborative coaching model as part of the study design, I briefly explored the role a teacher educator might play in supporting practicing teachers' engagement of culturally responsive teaching. Based on the findings, school structures are critiqued and suggestions for developing systems to support the enactment of culturally responsive teaching practices are introduced.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which activities within an undergraduate teacher education course in classroom assessment prepared preservice teachers for engaging parents in their children's education. Research indicates that few preservice teachers enter their first classrooms prepared, specifically in the areas of complex tasks such as assessment and parent engagement. Moreover, sound practices in assessment and parent engagement have been demonstrated to have positive impact on student achievement. If designed appropriately, professional development activities for preservice teachers can develop their knowledge, skills, and professional efficacy to enhance student achievement. To address this, preservice teachers enrolled in a classroom assessment course in an elementary teacher education program in a Midwestern U.S. university were given a set of role-playing activities requiring them to consider and respond to typical assessment conversations teachers often have with parents. These role playing activities included (a) explaining to parents the instructional and assessment frameworks used to address the learning needs of students in a class, (b) discussing a recent change in performance with two parents (one whose child improved and one whose child declined), (c) resolving a complaint from a parent about a child's grade, and (d) explaining and interpreting a child's standardized achievement results with a parent. Through a secondary analysis of data, the degree to which these activities did, indeed, prepare the preservice teachers for engaging parents through assessment was studied. As such, a pre-post measure design was used to test whether the experimental group improved as compared to another section (control group) of the assessment class that did not participate in the role-playing activities. Results indicated that participants in the experimental group gained more knowledge about parent engagement and communicating with parents than the control group but did not change in efficacy as compared to the control. Coding and analysis of the preservice teachers' role-playing assignments demonstrated that most of them gained valuable skills in working with parents on assessment issues, and the preservice teachers in the experimental group endorsed the role-playing activities as being valuable for their education as teachers. Results are discussed in terms of possible implications for teacher education.</p>