This dissertation documents new curriculum and instructional strategies for teaching writing in a first and second grade classroom during the eight years of the Writing Box project. It is a first-person account of ongoing change as I, the teacher-researcher experienced and understood it. My descriptions of change and children's writing samples show how teaching practices and learning activities developed and evolved through incorporating writing at the core of student learning. My experiences demonstrate how substantive change can occur in elementary schools through the efforts of a teacher and students working together to create successful academic achievement. One hundred seventy-five first and second graders were given Writing Boxes to use at home and they were in a classroom that featured writing across the curriculum. Six conclusions are drawn from their experiences. First, choice of writing materials makes a difference in how willing children are to write. Interesting, open-ended materials are prerequisites for children to write all year. Second, teachers must create many writing times throughout the day. My students wrote during regularly scheduled writing times as well as before school began, during snack and "you-choose" time, and at recess and lunch. Third, how teachers talk with children about writing is crucial to children becoming active writers. I changed my vocabulary and approach to emphasize that children are writers right now with ideas and pictures in their heads to communicate to others through text. Fourth, process models for teaching writing based on the experiences of adult writers must be modified to create "a writing process fit for a child." This child-centered approach includes diverse ways of opening up writing, generating first drafts, revising and editing, and publishing. Fifth, writing can be integrated into the study of mathematics, science and social studies using "I Wonder" journals, fiction-nonfiction stories, and math comics. Finally, computers and other technologies promote writing. Having more than one computer in the classroom allowed me to do more small group instruction with writing. The machines provide different ways to write and to publish while supporting children's creativity and self-expression.

This study is an exploration of the ways in which four Somali students use language to express their identity and assert their views. The study explores the ways in which the Somali students' home culture and the school culture influence the development of their identity. Students participated in a lunchtime focus group on a regular basis over a period of several weeks. Using a micro-ethnographic approach to analysis, the students' interactions were reviewed while considering the ways in which knowledge was affirmed and contested, examples of intertextuality and intercontextuality were identified, and ideational notations or larger world view constructs were pinpointed. In this approach, specific events and interactions were linked to the broader contexts and connections that the participants were using in their communications. The result suggests a new and deeper understanding of the way in which these Somali learners use language to express their identity and negotiate the world. As a result of the examination of their interactions, educators can take from these participants' experiences some ideas about issues to consider when working with second language learners and their families. In this study students used language to assert their own identities as well as to position others in the group. These identities were continually negotiated by students and teachers alike. Students at times pushed back against ways in which they were identified. The Somali learners spoke of changing roles in the family as a result of learning English and being relied on to translate for parents who were non-English speakers. There were occasions where students used language in meaningful and contextually appropriate ways, but without understanding the power of the terms they used. Teachers have a significant role to play in shaping learners use of language and terms and guiding them to a more nuanced understanding of language. By examining children's language, it became apparent that teachers can provide critical information to help parents of second language learners negotiate the school and district resources. Students did express their Somali language and culture as they negotiated their school experience.

This research study investigated whether gains in addition and multiplication fact fluency caused gains in subtraction and division fact fluency, as well as gains in other, more complex, grade level math skills. Participants were 22 fourth grade students. The study employed a between groups, pre-post test design with matched control group. Intervention involved an 8-week, home based program, targeting addition and multiplication fact fluency. Intervention methods involved the use of short, timed drills, with immediate graphed feedback of the student's accuracy and speed, as well the use of strategy instruction, untimed practice, and goal setting. Results suggested the intervention had a large and significant effect on increasing addition and multiplication fact fluency within an 8-week intervention period. Evidence of transfer to non-targeted math-facts was found in a medium but non-significant effect on both subtraction and division fact fluency. There was no evidence of transfer on measures of assorted grade-level complex computation problems and assorted grade level applied math problems. Limitations of the study, implications for practice, as well as future directions are discussed.

This study explored the consummations of "The Transitional Approach to Reading" with Puerto Rican native language emergent and second language early emergent readers enrolled in a Transitional Bilingual Education Program of a public school system in Central Massachusetts. The objective of this study was to put forth a paradigm for a new reading approach, "The Transitional Approach", in a Bilingual first-grade class. The intent was to enhance their initiation into English reading. The principal goal was to transfer native language vocabulary whose definitions are the same in both languages (from one language to another) allowing reading comprehension to be achieved. The students were taught to manipulate "transference" in order to reach word comprehension in the second language. The vocabulary learned in native language reading, Spanish, will be transferred from Spanish to English. The study inquired as to whether these students, at the culmination of five months, showed growth in vocabulary attainment in Spanish, in English, and in Spanish and English on the post-approach assessments. No hypothesis was tested. The study was exploratory and descriptive in nature. The following tasks were accomplished: (1) Accumulation of Transfer Word Vocabulary from the entirety of the first-grade curricula: Spanish, Science, Social Studies, Culture, Mathematics, Language Arts, Reading, and English as a Second Language (a total of 235). (2) Assessment in Spanish, first, then in English of 78 Transfer Vocabulary Words: "Yes/No" Match, Pre-Test; and "Yes/No" Read and Match, Post-Test. (3) Observations made prior to, during, and after the implementation of the approach. Fourteen children were chosen to participate in "The Transitional Approach to Reading". The research revealed that the students increased their native and second language transfer word vocabularies and initiated second language beginning reading. "The Transitional Approach" played an important role in the formulation of the child's vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and overall reading development. Knowledge of vocabulary, word meaning, plays an essential part in the first-grade reading curriculum and accounts for about half of reading comprehension.

Research on learning to teach mathematics reveals that mathematics teaching is a complex process (Lerman, 2000) and classroom teaching and learning is a “multifaceted, extraordinarily complex phenomenon” (O’Connor, 1998, p. 43). Moreover, research reveals that the mathematics reform agenda has had an impact on what happens in the mathematics classroom, however, the impact has been superficial (Kazemi & Stipek, 2001) with teachers often retaining their pre-reform habits and attitudes in regards to mathematics teaching and learning (O’Connor, 1998). This study examined the reform discourse practices that three novice teachers, who had been enrolled in a reform based methods course during their preservice teacher education program, adopted, adapted, or ignored as they attempted to engage students in mathematical conversations. Data sources included interviews, field notes, artifacts, and transcripts of videotaped classroom lessons. The primary research questions guiding this study included: (1) What reform-oriented discourses practices do novice teachers, who participated in a reform-based mathematics methods course adopt? What practices do they adapt? What practices do they ignore as they engage students in mathematics conversations? and (2) What issues and challenges surface as novice teachers begin to enact reform-oriented discourse practices? Results indicated that despite holding beliefs that reflect the basic tenets of mathematics reform, theses novice teachers represent a continuum of practices ranging from traditional to reform. Evidence suggests that adopting the reform-oriented practice of eliciting different solutions was critical in the development of social norms that reflect mathematics reform. Eliciting different solutions served to focus classroom conversations on meaningful student generated explanations and justifications. Moreover, evidence suggests that enacting the practice of eliciting different solutions was instrumental in enacting other reform-orientated practices associated with the development of reform-oriented socialmathematical norms. Lastly, results indicate that the pressures of teaching in an underperforming school, as defined by state standardized high stakes tests, can impact a novice teacher’s ability and willingness to adopt mathematics reform practices.

This study examined the nature of social interactions taking place between students working with computers in three inner-city school classrooms. Its main objective is to present a descriptive analysis of the impact of computers on the social relations between students in a bilingual/multicultural setting. The social interactions between students in the classroom are assumed to be an important dimension of their learning experience, especially for students from subordinate cultures. It is further assumed that student-student interactions take place within the context established by the teacher and the school, and within the general context of the society. The micro context (student-student interactions) can not be analyzed in isolation from the macro context (the society). Student interactions were defined as a verbal or non-verbal transaction between two students. These interactions were analyzed by using three major categories of interaction: (1) type of interaction, (2) form of interaction, and (3) mode or expressive style. Classroom sessions were videotaped for a period of 4 weeks near the end of the school year. In addition, fieldnotes were taken to complement the videotaped material. A crosstabulation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the categories of interaction and the demographic characteristics of the students initiating or receiving those interactions. Data on the students' demographic characteristics, such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and ability level, were gathered through the use of a questionnaire. It was found that all of the determinants of access to the computers and learning tended to favor Anglo students and did not facilitate the success of Hispanic and other minority students. On the other hand, Anglos usually assumed the dominant role in the interactions with Hispanic students. In general, the social interactions between students was determined by a combination of factors, including socioeconomic status, ethnicity, ability level, and sex. These factors played an important role in determining the type, form and mode of social interaction between students, but they should not be seen in isolation from each other. The powerless status of Hispanics in the school and the city, and the generalized presence of Anglos in positions of authority are additional factors that contribute to explain this phenomenon.

The problem was to determine whether health textbooks include content and material that make them valuable and important tools for a functional health instruction course. The area of this investigation was limited to sixteen health texts designed for use in the seventh and eighth grades. The problem was to determine whether these sixteen selected books have range and adequate coverage for the needs and interests of this age level. Whether they include: teaching aids that enrich the learning experiences, suggested activities of interest to the pupils, up-to-date information, adequate, stimulating, understandable illustrations, supplementary references; and whether the general makeup of the texts were appropriate for seventh and eighth grade pupils. It was the purpose of this study (1) to develop criteria by which health textbooks would be evaluated on content, teaching aids, and format; (2) to evaluate sixteen health textbooks to determine whether content, suggested activities, teaching aids, and the physical features were suitable for health instruction in the seventh and eighth grades; (3) to make a comparative analysis as to which texts were most valuable as tools to learning in the seventh and eighth grades; and (4) to indicate the areas of shortages in the California State Health Series for seventh and eighth grades.

Thesis (PhD. Ed. (Curriculum Studies) --University of Limpopo, 2019 / The Natural Learning Approach (NLA), commonly referred to as ‘unschooling’, is deeply embedded in the belief that children have an innate desire to learn. Therefore, the notion of autonomy and freedom of the learner in the learning and living process is highly valued and the cornerstone of this approach. The home and the child’s broader environment become the authentic space for the unfolding and implementation of the NLA, where learning and living is a seamless experience. This study examined how the individual and the family go about creating their unique ‘curriculum’, how learning happens, and how families negotiate the challenges of this approach. Using a mixed methods research design, a questionnaire was used to collate quantitative data, and a sample of ten families (parents and children) and seven young adults contributed to the qualitative data; documents were also used as part of the qualitative strand. Content, thematic and critical analysis were used to analyse the data to gain and provide a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. The research evidence of this study evinced that diverse, vibrant, holistic and joyful learning is taking place in the NLA homes. Families shared how authentic learning took place when children directed their own learning process and where the diversity of each unique human individual is valued and empowered. Furthermore, the study attested the key role of the parents in the child’s development and wellbeing. Possibilities of how this approach can be extended to broader society under the notion of a learning society is also proposed. Recommendations and further research suggestions are outlined so that possibilities of the NLA becoming the key learning approach to birth a vibrant learning society in South Africa is realised.

In 2 experiments, I studied the effects of the establishment of Incidental Bidirectional Naming (Inc. BiN) for unfamiliar stimuli on reading comprehension for first-grade students. In Experiment 1, I measured the associations, differences, and predictive value between multiple measures of reading comprehension and Inc. BiN stimulus control in 22 first-grade students. Inc. BiN stimulus control was measured with familiar and unfamiliar stimuli and partitioned into groups according to degrees of Unidirectional Naming (UniN) and Inc. BiN. Measures of reading comprehension included the i-Ready® K-12 Adaptive Reading Diagnostic and Woodcock-Johnson® Tests of Achievement (WJIV®). Results indicated significant correlations between degrees of UniN for unfamiliar stimuli and reading comprehension. In Experiment 2, I studied the effects of the establishment of Inc. BiN for unfamiliar stimuli on multiple measures of reading comprehension in a single case, multiple probe design across dyads. I selected 3 dyads of first graders who textually responded at or above grade-level and demonstrated the absence of Inc. BiN stimulus control for unfamiliar stimuli. There were 3 reading comprehension measures: (1) explicit reading comprehension probe after reading a fiction and nonfiction passage, (2) read-do probe consisting of unfamiliar stimuli, and (3) WJIV® subtests. Participants acquired Inc. BiN stimulus control for unfamiliar stimuli through a Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) intervention across listener and speaker responses. After participants demonstrated Inc. BiN stimulus control by emitting at least 80% accuracy across listener and speaker response topographies across two consecutive novel stimuli sets, I assessed reading comprehension performance. Results from experimenter-derived passage comprehension probes demonstrated increases across all 6 participants. Although read-do results were inconsistent, 5 participants demonstrated increases following the acquisition of Inc. BiN stimulus control. WJIV® results demonstrated the greatest increases in Passage Comprehension performance, while marginal and educationally significant increases were still observed across Reading Vocabulary and Reading Recall subtests.

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Foundations of Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2007. / The aim of this study was to pursue an investigation into the role of continuous assessment in the primary school. From the literature study it became clear that the role of continuous assessment, as formative assessment is to inform educators and learners about a learner's progress in orderto improve learning. The information obtained by continuous assessment should be of such a nature, and be available at a time, that willl enable the learner to grow. Effective continuous assessment should involve the continuous updating of assessment of the performance of a learner. There are many different methods that can be employed in continuous assessment and different ways in which they can be used. In order to improve assessment and to ensure the best feedback from it, the educator needs to find the method which best fits the purpose of the assessment. The purpose of continuous assessment is to assess all aspects of a learner's development. For the purpose of the empirical investigation a self-structured questionnaire, to be completed by primary school educators, was utilised. The completed questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics. In conclusion a summary was presented on the findings of the literature and empirical study and the following are some of the recommendations that were made: * Educator development should focus on the skills needed by educators for the effective implementation of continuous assessment. • Adequate human and material resources should be made available to educators for the successful implementation of continuous assessment.