This qualitative dissertation research explored the case studies of four novice special education teachers who were the primary instructors for English language arts for students in grades three through eight with an I.E.P. This study addressed the teachers' perspectives, beliefs, practices, and related induction needs concerning their construction of exemplary practice in the teaching of wtiting. Exemplary writing instruction is defined by the inclusion of (a) the professional standards found in the state of Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, Illinois English Language Arts Standards for All Teachers and (b) the Exceptional Needs Specialist Standards of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Data were obtained over the course of three months from audio-taped, semi-structured interviews, three full class period non-participant observations, and an open-ended written questionnaire addressing the following primary research questions: (1) How do the descriptions by special education teachers of exemplary practice in the instruction of writing align with the professional standards? (2) What do special education novice teachers percieve as the role of teacher educators, mentors, other teachers, administrators, as well as classroom and school contexts, in learning and applying the professional standards in their writing practices? (3) How do novice special education teachers' beliefs about the learning and instruction of writing influence their acquisition of pedagogical knowledge pertaining to the professional standards in their writing practices? All data were transcribed and analyzed from a theoretical perspective of socially situated constructivist learning first by open coding and then coded by research question through cross-case analyses. Data were then analyzed by open-coding, followed by the coding of each research question utilizing a case-by-csae analyses. Data were further analyzed by comparative analyses of data collected by interviews, observations, and open-ended questionnaires to determine emerging patterns, categories, themes, and discrepencies. Findings indicated five emergent themes or issues and associated sub-themes of teacher as learner as common across cases and within- case findings were distributed throughout. These five major themes were (1) k-12 experience in learning to write, (2) learning to teach writing in teacher education programs, (3) learning to teach writing as practicing teachers, (4) preferred ways to learn to teach writing, and (5) novice special education teachers' beliefs about the learning and instruction of writing. The novice special education teachers' need for professional development induction support networks pertaining to the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge for writing was another emergent category that was addressed in the findings for research question two. The findings were presented and discussed to illuminate the novice teachers' perspectives, beliefs, practices, and needs concerning teacher education, induction, and professional development in constructing exemplary writing instruction. Implications for teacher education, induction, professional development and further research were also discussed.

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Instruction in meaningful grade aligned English Language Arts (ELA) content for students with moderate to severe intellectual and developmental disabilities provides a full educational experience that can lead to increased quality of life. Many teachers, however, face barriers in how to teach meaningful, grade aligned ELA. This article bridges research to practice by describing effective strategies for teaching a wide range of strands that fall under ELA, such as comprehension, writing, and student-led research. In addition, a framework is offered as a model of how to put it all together when teaching grade aligned ELA.

This study investigated the approximations of disciplinary literacy in high school English Language Arts students’ writing. To study the development of these disciplinary conventions, the portfolios of written literary analyses were examined from fourteen twelfth-grade students over their last two years in high school. The conceptual framework for analysis of data was informed by a developmental approach. Intermediate forms, approximations, or incremental moves students made as they progressed toward the more expert or conventional forms of literary discourse were identified. Analysis focused on macro-characteristics of literary analysis, adapted from the literature on literary studies, rhetoric and composition, and systemic functional linguistics, including Appreciation, Interpretation, Textual Evidence, Warrant, and Response to Literature Genres. Analysis included a cross-case descriptive analysis of macro-characteristic scores on a rubric designed for the study and a cross-case analysis of literary discourse approximations as seen in students’ writing portfolios. Analysis of scores on midterms and finals found that students’ scores increased from Year 1 to Year 2, with Appreciation scores increasing the most. Analysis of literary discourse approximations resulted in several findings: 1) Development in Interpretation was characterized by increasing accuracy of comprehension, logical consistency, and depth of interpretative meaning; 2) Development in Appreciation was characterized by a growing awareness of the role of the author in a literary text; and 3) Response to Literature Genres demonstrated a range of genres, including Character Analysis, Thematic Interpretation, Thematic Analysis, Critical Response, and alternative or hybrid genres. Thematic Analysis is a proposed new genre that differed from the Thematic Interpretation on the elements of subject, audience, and purpose. Additional analysis of student writing portfolios found a growing awareness in many students of the values and beliefs of the academic literary community, or habits of mind of literary disciplinary literacy, including 1) Increased level of familiarity with the audience’s common knowledge in the field, as demonstrated in use of definitions; 2) Understanding of the value of multiple interpretations of literature, as demonstrated in use of graduation resources, such as epistemic hedges or epistemic boosters; and 3) Ability to engage with multiple voices, as demonstrated in instances of intertextuality.

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Secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers in independent K–12 schools are well-situated to teach for social justice as they do not face the same constraints prevalent in many public schools, such as restrictive curricular mandates, high-stakes testing, and legislation resulting from the weaponization of critical pedagogy. Thus, secondary ELA teachers often have the liberty to craft their own curricula and use literature, verse, and other media as vehicles for teaching social justice. Despite an increase in empirical research examining social justice teaching in various contexts throughout K–12 education, there was a gap in the research focused on social justice teaching in the secondary ELA classroom in independent schools. To address this gap, this qualitative multicase study investigated how three secondary ELA teachers in three independent schools in Southern California perceived and enacted social justice teaching to foster critical engagement. The study further explored how teacher participants’ beliefs and practices about social justice teaching intersected with their independent schools. Cross-case analyses of demographic questionnaires, semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and class syllabi provided rich descriptions of how secondary ELA teachers understood and operationalized justice-oriented practices and demonstrated meaningful social justice teaching in the independent school context. Findings revealed teacher participants valued inclusive curricula, identity work, building relationships, the examination of literature through multiple perspectives, discussion-centered classrooms, students’ well-being, and critical engagement. Additionally, cross-case themes identified included teachers’ autonomy, commitment to growth, and the navigation of tensions associated with teaching in privileged schools.

Each of these four units use the exemplar texts outlined by CCSS and highlight four different genres in Literature: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Drama.; The purpose of this project design Problem- Based Learning (PBL) Units that would meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for a 9/10 grade English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. The CCSS, newly adopted into Florida public schools, were created to provide students with the skills necessary to be successful in both higher education and ultimately, the global economy. PBL has been practiced in some of the country's leading medical schools for decades, and recently, has begun to play a leading role in designing math and science curricula. Until now, few attempts have been made incorporating the structures of Problem- Based Learning into the secondary English Language Arts classroom. My intention in tapping PBL was to utilize a tool that would foster critical thinking skills and create real world relevance in the curriculum for my future ELA students. With the ever increasing shift into a more inquiry- based teaching approach in today's schools, these units will not only meet the CCSS, but they will provide real world application in both research and collaborative learning. PBL utilizes an "ill-structured scenario" that provides the student with a role that gives them ownership into solving a problem (Lambros, 2004). In order to create these scenarios, I examined the 9/10 Grade exemplars offered throughout the CCSS. I then used the CCSS to identify which standards would be met by each unit. I also evaluated the Brevard County District calendar to identify the constraints on time that a teacher might typically encounter in the classroom. The result is four PBL units that meet the CCSS for Grade 9/10 English Language Arts. I developed these units with the idea that they would be the main methods of instruction in an ELA classroom and therefore provided time frames for each unit to be completed. The time frames account for research, project completion and presentation.

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of a note-taking intervention using the Livescribe 4GB Echo SmartpenTM assistive technology on students’ notes and lecture comprehension, with an emphasis on content, vocabulary skills, and total words written. Students both with and without disabilities, including Specific Learning Disability, in 9th grade English Language Arts classes participated in this study. Students with disabilities may struggle with slower processing speed and poor working memory skills, which reduces the quality of their notes. Students in the experimental group were instructed how to use a note-taking intervention in conjunction with the smartpen assistive technology. This note-taking intervention was designed to assist students with disabilities to focus on taking their notes using the smartpen assistive technology, identify vocabulary words and definitions, amend their notes for errors or missed information, and write a brief summary of the important content. Results from the data analysis found statistical significance with special education students in the experimental group; they recorded more words in their notes, as well as an increase in word count and vocabulary words on the Immediate Free Recall (IFR) assessment. / Special Education

The purpose of this qualitative study was to employ a sociocultural, anti-deficit, and dialogic rural theoretical framework to examine the ways teachers seek to support the lived experiences of rural adolescent students in the secondary English language arts classroom as students make meaning with the content of the curriculum. This study worked with the social constructs of rurality (Azano, 2011; Azano and Biddle, 2019; Corbett, 2007; Gruenewald, 2008), critical literacy (Freire, 1990, 2018; Gee, 1990), and learning-centered pedagogy (Fecho et al., 2021) to develop insights into ways that teachers navigate opportunities and challenges in contemporary rural schools. The study focused on secondary English language arts teachers teaching in rural school districts. The participant selection criteria included being employed fulltime as an English language arts teacher at a secondary rural high school, having taught for at least three years, and identifying as teaching from a learning-centered pedagogical stance. All three participants taught at rural North Carolina high schools. The method used was adapted from the three-phase interview approach (Seidman, 1990), with an intake interview, a midpoint interview, and a final interview. The midpoint interview was adapted to consist of three separate post-classroom observation interviews. The post-classroom observation interviews were preceded each round by a co-planning lesson and a classroom observation. There were three stages of data generation, spanning from February 2021 to May 2021. To learn about participants' experiences supporting rural student voices, triangulation (Guba and Lincoln, 1981) was used through multiple data sources: teacher interviews, collaborative lesson planning, classroom observations, post-observation conferences, field notes, memos, and email correspondences. Thematic analysis (Maxwell, 2013) was used to analyze and code the data. From the data analysis, three understandings were generated about the ways in which rural English language arts teachers support students in the classroom. Participants were (1) supporting student voice through instructional design, (2) attending to biases and seeking to dialogue within the classroom, and (3) utilizing lived experiences and literacies. The implications of the study include that rural students can face stereotypes due to the deficit mindset of rurality (Azano et al., 2021a, 2021b, Azano and Biddle, 2019; Theobald and Wood, 2010) and that the utilization of bringing their lived experiences into the classroom can serve as a means to help them make meaning with the content of the classroom. The English language arts classroom can be a space for students to be supported through the use of a learning-centered stance that seeks to collapse traditional hierarchies in the classroom (Fecho et al., 2021). / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this study was to use a sociocultural, anti-deficit, and dialogic rural theoretical framework to examine ways teachers can draw on the lived experiences of rural adolescent students in secondary English language arts classrooms as students make meaning with curriculum content. This study worked with the social constructs of rurality (Azano, 2011; Azano and Biddle, 2019; Corbett, 2007; Gruenewald, 2008), critical literacy (Freire, 1990, 2018; Gee, 1990), and learning-centered pedagogy (Fecho et al., 2021) to develop insights into ways that teachers navigate opportunities and challenges in contemporary rural schools. Participant criteria included being employed fulltime as an English language arts teacher at a rural secondary school, having taught for at least three years, and The study's three participants were rural North Carolina secondary English language arts teachers. Utilizing an adapted three-phase interview process, the study had three stages for each participant: (1) an intake interview, (2) three rounds per participant of co-planning, classroom observations, and post-observation conferences, and (3) a final interview. Thematic analysis (Maxwell, 2013) was used to analyze and code the data. Understandings were that participants, in their success and challenges of supporting rural student voices (1) supported student voice through instructional design, (2) attended to biases and seeking to dialogue within the classroom, and (3) utilized the lived experiences and literacies.