The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to identify the primary factors that directly affect teacher efficacy within the classroom in the area of reading for teachers in grades kindergarten through 5. This study examined the role of the administrative team in shaping the teacher’s pedagogy and skill level, as well as identified the implications for leaders. Data gathered to inform the research were derived from teacher surveys, focus groups, and teacher observations. The research examined the relationship between the classroom teacher’s self-efficacy, professional development, instructional delivery, and instructional feedback within the school environment. The benefits of the research are to better understand the importance of instructional support, strategic professional development, and meaningful feedback in elementary education. Lastly, the benefit is to determine a correlation between the professional developer’s resources within the school/district professional training and its effect on the teacher’s instructional strategies. This study took place in an urban school system in Georgia. The surveys, observations, interviews, and focus group were administered at two public elementary school located in Georgia. These schools were located in an urban community and were both Title 1 schools, in which 99% of the student population qualified for free or reduced lunch. The researcher studied the impact that teacher’s efficacy has on the delivery of the Reading Common Core Standards. During the research, the researcher conducted a focus group and further explored the teacher’s perceptions towards their instructional support, professional development, and meaningful feedback. According to Bandura’s (1994) Self-Efficacy Theory, a teacher’s attitude, ability, and cognitive skills comprise what is known as the self-system. The independent variables affect the results are instructional support from administration, teacher feedback, resources, professional development, age, experience and the dependent factor is teacher efficacy in the delivery of Reading Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. In Bandura’s (1994) study, the self-system refers to the behaviors, reactions, and actions concerning the instructional practices and pedagogy of the teacher.

The purpose of this interpretive, qualitative multi-case study (Merriam, 2001; Stake, 1995) was to describe the experiences of three elementary classroom teachers as they integrated literacy and social studies during their literacy instruction. This study was grounded in an interpretivist paradigm and a theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism. The guiding questions were: What are the experiences of three elementary teachers when integrating literacy and social studies instruction? What information do teachers use when making decisions about integrated instruction? How do teachers’ beliefs align with their practices? How do teachers organize, plan for, and provide integrated instruction, including how they use the core English/Language Arts programs and core social studies programs? In what ways, if any, do teachers use disciplinary literacy strategies to support social studies instruction? I collected data from teachers in kindergarten, third grade, and fifth grade classrooms in a K-8 Title One school. Data included audio-recorded one-on-one semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, lesson plans, photographs, and my researcher journal. I began data analysis through inductive coding of each interview and observation, and then coded each through deductive analysis using Cunningham and Allington’s (2011) pillars of effective literacy instruction. I deductively coded the data using the six proven practices for effective civic learning based on the National Center for Learning and Civic Engagement (NCLCE, Guilfoile & Delander, 2014). Data analysis then moved to the crosswalk I created using the pillars of effective literacy instruction and the NCLCE proven practices. Data analysis concluded with the cross-case analysis. During the data analysis, member checks and three meetings with a peer reviewer occurred. Findings from this study indicate teachers continue to experience conflict between their beliefs and practices, often due to state, district, and school mandates. Additionally, the study findings indicate a desire for focused professional development, both face-to-face and through digital tools, on how to effectively integrate literacy and social studies. Moreover, professional development is needed to support teachers in their use of critical literacy. Findings also indicate that the teachers in this study experienced censorship, imposed by others and themselves. The study concluded with my interpretation of the findings based on the reviewed literature, suggestions for future research, and a crosswalk for professional development to support teachers in planning for effective integrated literacy and social studies instruction. Keywords: elementary social studies, censorship, integrated curriculum, professional development, effective instruction.

Quem eram os mestres de primeiras letras no Brasil oitocentista? Que caminhos percorreram para se tornarem professores? Como exerceram o magistério? Partindo destas questões, este estudo apresenta interpretações possíveis sobre a experiência docente numa região circunscrita do Império brasileiro: a vilas (cidades após 1842) de Paranaguá e Curitiba na 5ª Comarca da Província de São Paulo a Província do Paraná após 1853. Em uma perspectiva micro-histórica, trajetórias individuais de professores são analisadas em narrativas que buscam captar aspectos não visíveis e formas inventadas pelos sujeitos em suas experiências, na trama das relações. Para acessar a heterogeneidade das práticas educativas do Brasil oitocentista recorri a fontes de diferentes naturezas: mapas de frequência de alunos e ofícios da Instrução Pública, legislação educacional, genealogia e dicionário biográfico, livros de memórias históricas das localidades, ofícios diversos, registro de batismo e de casamento, inventário e imprensa. Os capítulos são narrativas construídas a partir da trajetória de um ou dois sujeitos. Comecei tomando as séries de mapas de frequência de dois professores de primeiras letras de Paranaguá como fonte e objeto de pesquisa para análise da prática escriturística escolar. No cumprimento da tarefa de feitura e remissão dos mapas, os professores eram instados a elaborar a própria prática, nomeá-la, discernir suas diferentes dimensões: pedagógica, administrativa, disciplinar. E, neste fazer, constituíam os contornos do exercício docente. No segundo capítulo, fragmentos sobre a escolarização de um padre-mestre de Paranaguá permitiram uma interpretação de como os espaços escolares e os modelos de docência foram constitutivos de um caminho de formação possível. A presença de uma associação religiosa leiga foi aventada como um dos possíveis espaços de formação naquele contexto. Por fim, o terceiro capítulo traz a trajetória de um professor de primeiras letras com ampla circulação em espaços político-administrativos, cujo repertório diversificado permitiu acompanhar as táticas e estratégias de ação desse sujeito. O trabalho ajudou a dar coloratura à figura do mestre de primeiras letras no interior das práticas educativas heterogêneas que marcam o Oitocentos. / Who were literacy educators in the nineteenth century in Brazil? How did they become teachers? How did they practice the mastership? From these questions, this study presents possible interpretations about teaching experience at a circumscribed region in the Brazilian imperial government era: the villages (which became towns later in 1842) of Paranaguá and Curitiba in the 5th district of São Paulo Province (renamed Paraná Province in 1853). At a micro-historical perspective, teachers individual paths are analyzed through narratives that seek unseen aspects, in the tapestry of relationships invented by the subjects as a result of their experiences. In order to have access to the heterogeneity of educational practices in the nineteenth-century Brazil, I resort to several kinds of sources: pupils frequency maps, Public Instruction official letters, education legislation, lineage and biography dictionary, towns historical memory books, other official letters and reports, registration of marriage and baptism, inventory and press documents. Narratives constructed from the trajectory of one or two subjects constitute the chapters. I started by taking the series of pupils frequency maps of two literacy educators in Paranaguá as source and object of research for the school writing production analysis. When obeying the task of making and reporting maps, teachers were urged to formulate their own practice, name it, and discern its different dimensions: pedagogical, administrative, and disciplinary. By doing so, they constituted the outlines of the teaching exercise. In the second chapter, fragments of a priest-educator schooling in Paranaguá allowed a better understanding about how school spaces and teaching patterns constituted a way of possible shaping. The presence of a laic religious association was suggested as a possible teachers shaping space in that context. Finally, the third chapter brings the path of a literacy educator with wide circulation in political and administrative areas, whose diverse repertoire allowed monitoring his subject tactics and action strategies. This study helped to delineate the figure of the literacy educator within the heterogeneous educational practices that mark the nineteenth century.

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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.

With the adoption of the common core state standards, pressure to raise the achievement of young learners was intense. Classroom teachers were scrutinized to teach lessons with high levels of thinking and rigor. Teachers were inclined to eliminate or ignore artsenriched lessons that would benefit students. The reason for this action was associated with the efficacy of the classroom teacher toward music integration in literacy curriculum. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of the Music Literacy Integration Intervention (MLII) on the self-efficacy and proactiveness of teachers at a small elementary school in Florida toward integration of music in reading instruction. There were 3 data-collection instruments. The Teacher Efficacy scale (TES) was used to collect pretest and posttest data for Research Question 1, whereas the Proactiveness Attitude scale (PAS) was used to collect the same type of data for Research Question 2. The Teacher Interview Instrument was used to collect only postimplementation data for Research Question 3. The triangulated data from the 3 instruments were used to respond to Research Question 4. Teacher participants had 272 students in kindergarten-Grade 5. There was a convenience sample of 20 teachers for the survey part of the study. Only 18 teachers returned completed surveys. The sample size for the interviews was 6 teachers randomly selected from 18 teachers. Quantitative data analysis for the Research Questions 1 and 2 was descriptive statistics (i.e., pretest mean, posttest mean, standard deviation, and effect size indicator). The inferential statistical model for the 2 research questions was the t test for paired samples. Qualitative data analysis for Research Question 3 followed a modified version of the constant-comparative, data-analysis procedure. Triangulated survey and interview data were used to respond to Research Question 4. Findings for Research Question 1 indicated the MLII improved teachers’ perceptions on their self-efficacy toward music integration as measured by the TES from pretest to posttest. Results for Research Question 2 suggested the MLII improved teachers’ perceptions of their proactive attitudes toward music integration as measured by the PAS. The increases in scores in both research questions showed large effect sizes. Findings for Research Question 3 indicated teachers perceived that the MLII met its objectives of providing useful strategies that facilitated the integration of music literacy into the reading instruction. Results for Research Question 4 showed the qualitative data from Research Question 3 confirmed the quantitative data from Research Questions 1 and 2. An implication was music had a positive effect on students’ reading abilities and school leaders should reinvest in music integration into the reading curriculum.

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The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the effects of literature instruction using traditional methods to literature instruction using Reading Apprenticeship (RA) to determine if outcomes of attitude and achievement of students enrolled in World Literature courses are changed. Participants included 104 students from 1 junior college in a southeastern state. Of these 104 students, 68 were taught using a traditional method of instruction, and 36 were taught using the RA method of instruction. Students were administered the Rhody Secondary Reading Attitude Survey to determine attitude scores at the beginning of the semester and attitude scores at the end of the semester. In addition, the Accuplacer-Reading Comprehension Test was administered to assess students‘ reading achievement at both the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. To analyze the data, a repeated-measures MANOVA was used to determine if statistically significant differences were present in students‘ attitudes and achievement scores based on instruction type. Also, the repeated measures MANOVA was used to determine if there was an interaction between attitude and achievement scores. After analyzing the data that was collected, the results indicated a statistically significant difference between the attitude scores of students taught literature using traditional instruction and students taught literature using RA instruction. The attitudes of students who were taught World Literature through traditional instructional methods experienced little change, and the attitudes of students who were taught World Literature using the RA method significantly increased. The results of the achievement tests and the interaction were not statistically significant.

This study examined the virtual interactions between novice teachers and their mentor using web-based tools such as blogging and instant messaging. The purpose of the study was to determine the nature of online communication and how web-based tools function in the mentoring process. The mentor/researcher created an online website where novice teachers and their mentor interacted by blogging, instant messaging, and virtually sharing digital resources and ideas for teaching literacy. As the novice teachers interacted on the website, the mentor/researcher conducted an online survey and kept digital records of all blogs and instant message sessions. Later, participants were interviewed and a researcher reflection log was examined to answer additional questions about how web-based tools could be used in the mentoring process. Analysis of the data showed that using web-based tools for virtual interaction provides meaningful mentoring opportunities and creates a platform for authentic discussion. However, the need for face-to-face communication in the mentoring process is still critical and not all novice teachers are comfortable with and interested in using this type of platform for communication. In order to use web-based tools effectively in the mentoring process, mentors must carefully consider their own knowledge of the tools, their time constraints and the interests, knowledge level and motivations of the novice teachers with whom they work.