The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if the knowledge of literacy development and reading instruction practices an elementary school principal possesses impacts the level of reading achievement of his/her students. Principals' scores on an assessment of knowledge of literacy development and instruction were compared to students' levels of reading achievement found on the California Standards Test. High poverty/low performing schools were compared to high poverty/high performing schools to determine if the students' performance varied based on the administrator's knowledge. Leadership characteristics from directive to non-directive were examined to see if there was a difference in students' literacy achievement based on leadership styles. Finally levels of principals' knowledge and leadership were compared to determine if a correlation existed. Schools determined to be high poverty/high performing and schools determined to be high poverty/low performing were identified. School site administrators from the selected schools were asked to provide an assessment of their knowledge of literacy development and instruction and to identify their primary style of leadership. The research found that there were no significant differences in student reading achievement based on principals' knowledge of literacy development and instruction or based on leadership styles. The research also found to no significant correlation between leadership styles and student achievement in reading. The research found no significant differences in principal knowledge at high performing schools versus low performing schools. Finally, the research found no significant correlation between an elementary principal's leadership style and knowledge of literacy development and literacy instruction. The research did suggest a possible correlation between the length of time an administrator served at a school site and student achievement in reading.

This essay explores the dynamics of literature and reading within the Swedish educational context, focusing on teachers' perspective on student self-selected literature and how self-selected literature can be included in the school curriculum. The two key questions are “What opportunities and challenges do teachers identify when working with student-selected fiction literature?” and “What role do librarians play in encouraging reading among the students?” Through survey responses from teachers, the pros and cons of working with student selected literature are discussed. Subsequently, interviews with school librarians follow to deepen the understanding of the role of school libraries. The study uses the sociocultural perspective, which means considering how learning is tied to the situation and how students are influenced by their social surrounding. Major findings highlights that the free choice serves as motivation and ignites engagement, but it is not without its challenges. Both educators and librarians emphasize the importance of cultivating habits related to library navigation and literature selection. The study underscores the essential role of librarians alongside teachers in guiding students through the world of literature. Additionally, it explores factors influencing literature teaching such as the tension between canonized literature and youth literature, access to literature, the challenge of selecting appropriately leveled text and the need to ensure students are engaging with their book of choice.

No description available.

This study examined differences in literacy development between five students attending whole language pre-first-grade classes and five students eligible for pre-first-grade classes but attending modified traditional first-grade classes. Differences between whole language pre-first-grade classes and modified traditional first-grade classes in use of literacy materials, teaching procedures, and amount of time spent on literacy were also examined. The procedures involved testing the subjects on reading and writing skills, observations of the pre-first-grade and first-grade classes, and analysis of subjects' writing samples.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Reflecting on the didactic and methodological practices of literary reading experienced in classroom at elementary school is becoming ever more profitable and urgent. Thinking about it, this work proposes the analysis of literary representations in juvenile infants literary texts of children and adolescents rights as an atempt to develop activities of literary taste. This cut is relevant, because it enables the discussion of different social realities to the reader in training. To that purpose, it is intended that children and adolescents expand their horizon of expectations regarding their rights, yet challenging situations of abuse, exploitation of child labor, sexual abuse and other violations, and realize social tensions represented in literary texts. This concern is relevant because the school should be seen as a protection space for discussion and what is disrespect for the child and its consequences. For this, it is suggested in the methodological field a practice of reading the Gomes (2012) guided cultural model and the Bordini and Aguiar (1988) recepcional method. The search for a trampled teaching of literature in literary literacy is also a concern in this endeavor, and literary reading workshops were produced, on the pretense of developing more meaningful teaching strategies and attractive to our readers in training. To achieve these workshops, we have worked with literary texts: "Ciranda, cirandinha" by Arriete Vilela (2003) and "Por um pé de feijão," by Antonio Torres (2002). After the making and applicability of diverse activities, it culminated with the making of an educational notebook directed to the teacher, in order to spread our work proposal. As theoretical apparatus were used conceptions of literature teaching, reading and literary reading anchored in the postulates of Cosson (2011), Candido (2011), Dória (2008), Viegas (2012), Werneck (2010), Eco (2004), Leffa (1996), Magnani (2001), Silva (2009), Lajolo and Zilberman (2007) among others; in addition the study on violence against children and adolescents supported in Vicente Faleiros and Eva Faleiros (2007), Philippe Ariès (2014), Moura (2013), Passetti (2013) and as the concepts and guidelines regarding juvenile infants public rights established by the Statute of Children and Adolescents (1990). / Refletir sobre as práticas didático-metodológicas de leitura literária vivenciadas em sala de aula no Ensino Fundamental faz-se cada vez mais profícuo e urgente. Pensando nisso, este trabalho propõe a análise das representações literárias em textos literários infantojuvenis dos direitos de crianças e adolescentes na tentativa de desenvolver atividades do gosto literário. Esse recorte é relevante, porquanto possibilita a discussão de realidades sociais diferentes para o leitor em formação. Com esse intuito, pretende-se que crianças e adolescentes ampliem seu horizonte de expectativas no que concerne aos seus direitos, questionando ainda situações de maus-tratos, exploração do trabalho infantil, abuso sexual entre outras violações, além de perceberem as tensões sociais representadas nos textos literários. Esta preocupação é pertinente, pois a escola deve ser vista como espaço de proteção e discussão para o que é o desrespeito à criança e suas consequências. Para isso, sugere-se no campo metodológico uma prática de leitura pautada no modelo cultural de Gomes (2012) e no método recepcional de Bordini e Aguiar (1988). A busca por um ensino de literatura calcado no letramento literário também é uma preocupação dessa empreitada, assim foram produzidas oficinas de leitura literária, na pretensão de desenvolver estratégias de ensino mais significativas e atraentes aos nossos leitores em formação. Para a consecução dessas oficinas, trabalhamos com os textos literários ―Ciranda, cirandinha‖, de Arriete Vilela (2003) e ―Por um pé de feijão‖, de Antônio Torres (2002). Após a feitura e a aplicabilidade de atividades diversificadas, culminou-se com a confecção de um caderno pedagógico direcionado ao professor, com a finalidade de propagar a nossa proposta de trabalho. Como aparato teórico, foram utilizadas concepções sobre ensino de literatura, leitura e leitura literária ancoradas nos postulados de Cosson (2011), Candido (2011), Dória (2008), Viegas (2012), Werneck (2010), Eco (2004), Leffa (1996), Magnani (2001), Silva (2009), Lajolo e Zilberman (2007) entre outros; ademais os estudos sobre violência contra crianças e adolescentes respaldados em Vicente Faleiros e Eva Faleiros (2007), Philippe Ariès (2014), Moura (2013), Passetti (2013) e conforme as concepções e orientações a respeito dos direitos do público infantojuvenil estabelecidos pelo Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (1990).

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a set of teacher demographic, knowledge, and instructional variables is related to preschool children’s literacy development. Specifically, the study investigated how these teacher variables impact children’s language development scores on the four subscales of the Preschool Language Assessment Instrument, Second Edition (PLAI2) and the four subscales of the Test of Language Development – Primary, Fourth Edition (TOLD-P:4). There were two major research questions in the study: (a) Will the predictor set of CLASS emotional support, CLASS classroom organization, CLASS instructional support, level of education, years teaching pre-kindergarten, and answers on a teacher knowledge questionnaire (TKQ) correlate with the TOLD-P:4 language assessment subscales of relational vocabulary, syntactic understanding, sentence imitation, and morphological completion? (b) Will the predictor set of CLASS emotional support, CLASS classroom organization, CLASS instructional support, level of education, years teaching pre-kindergarten, and answers on a TKQ correlate with the PLAI2 language assessment subscales of matching, selective analysis, reordering, and reasoning? Results indicated no noteworthy correlations between the predictor variable set and the subtests of the TOLD-P:4; hence, the variable relationships posited in research question 1 were not supported by the data. Results for research question 2 indicated support for the variable relationships posited. Specifically, canonical correlation yielded two roots of noteworthy size (Rc 2 values = .19 and .09 for roots 1 and 2, respectively). Canonical structure coefficients indicated positive correlation between the teacher predictor variables of education, experience, knowledge, and the CLASS domain of emotional support with students’ scores on the PLAI2. At the same time, the amount of teaching experience that teachers had in the childcare industry was found to be negatively correlated to PLAI2 subscale scores. Findings are discussed relative to the literature on professional development.

African American male students (AAMSs) can benefit from literacy instruction that is student-based and geared towards using higher-level thinking skills. The conceptual framework was guided by Dewey's constructivism theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore whether high school English language arts (ELA) teachers in an urban-suburban Midwest region of the United States have sufficient knowledge and skills to incorporate higher order thinking skills (HOT) instruction for AAMSs. Five ELA teachers from a low-performing, urban-suburban high school in the Midwest region of the United States participated in semistructured interviews; observations were conducted in the classroom, and lesson plans were reviewed. Patterns, categories, and themes emerged through using the coding process by breaking down the data into units and then grouped according to their characteristics. According to the findings, participants from this study suggested that problem- solving was the main higher level thinking skill for AAMSs. These local ELA teachers also used the Socratic questioning method as their primary instructional strategy but limited constructivist activities for AAMSs to engage during the instructional process. The findings from the data collection support the development of a professional training program. The professional development program could help teachers engage AAMSs in increasing their academic endeavors. ELA teachers can participate in professional learning communities by communicating concerns about AAMSs, using HOT skills to increase AAMSs literacy performance, become change agents, and promote a positive social change by using constructivist practices into school curriculum and instructions for AAMSs, eventually closing the achievement gap.

Prior studies based on data in the United States demonstrate that parental reading beliefs are significantly influenced by demographic characteristics, and their beliefs are significant predictors of home literacy practices and children's literacy development. Based on these findings, a model of parental reading beliefs was developed and tested. This study examined whether components within this model based on prior research findings in the United States would generalize to a sample of families in China. The study employed quantitative research methods, and parental reading beliefs, home literacy practices, children's reading interests, children's literacy development and literacy development served as variables. Instruments used to measure these five variables had been used in prior studies, and were adopted, modified, and translated into Chinese. The social-economic status (SES) of the family, gender and employment status of parents were controlled throughout the study. The sample for this study consisted of 795 parents of three- to four-year-old children attending Level A preschools in Shanghai. Participants were recruited through teachers in preschools, and data were collected via an online surveytool (SurveyMonkey ® ). Multiple regression analysis was used as the main statistical method to examine the associations between parental reading beliefs, home literacy practices, children's reading interest, and children's literacy and cognitive development, while incorporating control variables. Research findings demonstrated that demographic characteristics like socioeconomic status( SES), parents' gender and employment influenced parental reading beliefs significantly (p < .001); home literacy environments, children's reading interests, children's development both in literacy and cognition were closely related with parental reading beliefs (p < .001); although both parents' beliefs influence home literacy practices, mothers' beliefs played a more significant role in creating home literacy environments; the association of parental reading beliefs with children's reading interests and between parental reading beliefs and literacy development were mediated by home literacy practices; and the associations of parental reading beliefs with children's literacy and between cognition were mediated by children's reading interest. The present study demonstrated that the many parts of the model of parental reading beliefs may be generalized to a Chinese sample.

No description available.

The curriculum for social studies is designed in a way where knowledge is assessed through the students’ expressive language skills. Much of the knowledge is also expected to be gained through reading. The purpose of this study is to examine what types of scaffolding teachers can create for students reading social studies nonfiction texts in grades 4–5. The study is based on observations and interviews with three teachers. The material was subsequently analysed based on characteristics in language development methods, showing that teachers do not emphasise the importance of language for learning when teaching. The results also show that students, to a small extent, are used as supporting resources for one another and that teachers themselves take up much of the talking space in the classroom. During structured oral text instruction teachers request short answers, that are evaluable rather than allowing time for interrogative and reflective discussions. The effect of the teacher centered teaching is that the students are passivate instead of challenged with cognitively demanding tasks where scaffolding can enable a potentially higher learning level.