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1	The Effect Of Prewriting Strategy Instruction On The Written Products Of High School Students With Learning Disabilities Sundeen, Todd 01 January 2007 (has links) ABSTRACT We know that many students with learning disabilities struggle throughout their school years with the writing process. High school is no exception. Writing is a life skill that can directly impact the quality of life for older students preparing to graduate and progress to college, a career, or simply the world of work. A need in society exists to improve the writing of all students including those who are on the threshold of high school graduation. Students with learning disabilities enter their ninth year of school with a performance gap of 4 to 5 years placing their equivalent learning in the late elementary years. Few studies however have investigated the impact of explicit written expression strategy instruction for students with mild disabilities in high school. Thus, expanding the knowledge base for this group of students becomes especially critical. The present study examines the effects of explicitly teaching a writing strategy to high school students with learning disabilities. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to observe changes in student writing. A total of 11 students in three subject groups participated in the study. Eleventh grade students in three learning strategies classes were pretested to determine the level of their organizational skills for written products. Scoring criteria were described to students using a written expression rubric to provide them with the specific expectations for their daily writing. Mind-mapping, an organizational strategy for writing, was explicitly taught to each of three classes during their daily learning strategy period. Data were collected relative to the students' rubric scores and visually inspected for changes in writing performance before, during, and following the strategy instruction. Pre- and post-tests were administered to the student groups. Following data collection and the post-test, interviews were conducted with the teacher and each of the participants. Findings indicate that the mind-mapping intervention had limited success in improving students' written products when measured by the multiple baseline across subjects design. Pre- and post-test data, however, show that writing quality certainly did improve. The participants' teacher specifically noted during her interview that, in her perception, improvements in student writing as a result of using the mind-mapping strategy did occur. The teacher also felt strongly enough about the efficacy of the mind-mapping intervention that she plans to teach the strategy to her future students. Most of the students reported during their interviews that they felt that learning mind-mapping helped them to become better writers. The vast majority of students also stated that they planned to use the strategy for tests and writing assignments. writing written expression graphic organizers special education exceptional education secondary education Education
2	The Impact of Meditation and Mindfulness in the Elementary Classroom: A Review of Research Literature Across Five Disciplines Routhier-Martin, Kayli 01 December 2015 (has links) Mindfulness meditation programs, benefits, and outcomes were examined through research previously conducted and published by professionals within five differing disciplines: health and wellness, psychology, elementary education, exceptional education, and medicine. The goal was to find common themes within the differing disciplines in order to gather information about the effectiveness of a mindfulness meditation program to be used in an elementary classroom. In this thesis, the chapter of Health and Wellness is a review of literature that tells the benefits found within meditators, which are not found within non-meditators. The chapter of Psychology explains the social-emotional needs of students, the causes of stress and anxieties amongst students, and the benefits that meditation provides in order to counter the negative effects of stress, anxiety, poverty, etc. The chapter of Elementary Education reviews research literature on the existing mindfulness meditation programs within the United States. This chapter also describes the implementation of such a program in an elementary school, as well as the documented data of the outcomes of the programs. The chapter of Exceptional Education is a review of the research literature on the benefits mindfulness meditation has on students with exceptionalities, such as specific learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. The chapter of Medicine is a retelling of previously published scholarly articles that list the neurological benefits of meditation, and also references the negative side effects to the currently prescribed medications that are being used in the treatment of ADHD. Academic achievement Accommodations Alternative treatment Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Autism Awareness Classroom management Consciousness Exceptional education Intervention Learning disabilities Long term memory Martial arts Meditation Meta cognition Mindfulness Mindfulness programs Mindfulness training Modifications Neurological Short term memory Side effects Stimulant medications Working memory Yoga Elementary Education
3	Evaluating Improvisation As A Technique For Training Pre-service Teachers For Inclusive Classrooms Becker, Theresa 01 January 2012 (has links) Improvisation is a construct that uses a set of minimal heuristic guidelines to create a highly flexible scaffold that fosters extemporaneous communication. Scholars from diverse domains: such as psychology, business, negotiation, and education have suggested its use as a method for preparing professionals to manage complexity and think on their feet. A review of the literature revealed that while there is substantial theoretical scholarship on using improvisation in diverse domains, little research has verified these assertions. This dissertation evaluated whether improvisation, a specific type of dramatic technique, was effective for training pre-service teachers in specific characteristics of teacher-child classroom interaction, communication and affective skills development. It measured the strength and direction of any potential changes such training might effect on pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy for teaching and for implementing the communication skills common to improvisation and teaching while interacting with student in an inclusive classroom setting. A review of the literature on teacher self-efficacy and improvisation clarified and defined key terms, and illustrated relevant studies. This study utilized a mixed-method research design based on instructional design and development research. Matched pairs ttests were used to analyze the self-efficacy and training skills survey data and pre-service teacher reflections and interview transcripts were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Results of the t-tests showed a significant difference in participants’ self-efficacy for teaching measured before and after the improvisation training. A significant difference in means was also measured in participants’ aptitude for improvisation strategies and for self-efficacy for their implementation pre-/post- training. Qualitative results from pre-service teacher class iv artifacts and interviews showed participants reported beneficial personal outcomes as well as confirmed using skills from the training while interacting with students. Many of the qualitative themes parallel individual question items on the teacher self-efficacy TSES scale as well as the improvisation self-efficacy scale CSAI. The self-reported changes in affective behavior such as increased self-confidence and ability to foster positive interaction with students are illustrative of changes in teacher agency. Self-reports of being able to better understand student perspectives demonstrate a change in participant ability to empathize with students. Participants who worked with both typically developing students as well as with students with disabilities reported utilizing improvisation strategies such as Yes, and…, mirroring emotions and body language, vocal prosody and establishing a narrative relationship to put the students at ease, establish a positive learning environment, encourage student contributions and foster teachable moments. The improvisation strategies showed specific benefit for participants working with nonverbal students or who had commutation difficulties, by providing the pre-service teachers with strategies for using body language, emotional mirroring, vocal prosody and acceptance to foster interaction and communication with the student. Results from this investigation appear to substantiate the benefit of using improvisation training as part of a pre-service teacher methods course for preparing teachers for inclusive elementary classrooms. Replication of the study is encouraged with teachers of differing populations to confirm and extend results. Pre service teacher novice teacher expert teacher improvisation improv improvisational performance inclusive classrooms children with disabilities exceptional student education (ese) exceptional education nonverbal children empathy affective instructional strategy interpersonal skills teacher communication teacher child interaction teacher child relationships teacher self efficacy addie improvisation training in flight decision making novice expert arts based research simulated mastery playback theater interactive theater affective instruction extemporaneous communication affective communication disciplined improvisation drama based instruction teacher training mixed methods research qualitative research teacher sense of efficacy scale (tses) yes and... vocal prosody nonverbal communication teacher immediacy emotional mirroring teacher attrition embodied cognition constructivism interactive instructional strategy classroom management co teaching spontaneity teacher agency positive classroom climate interaction rapport frustration in learning english language learners (ell) social intelligence emotional intelligence Education

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