Abstract This research investigated the influence of the childhood literacy learning experiences of 6 beginning elementary teachers on their literacy teaching practice. This qualitative case study employed 5 interviews and classroom observations of each participant over the first 3 years of his or her teaching. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants’ early literacy experiences shaped their identity as students. The participants’ images of themselves as students, in turn, influenced their images of themselves as teachers. Second, the participants’ early literacy learning experiences influenced the types of literacy environments and literacy activities that they provided for their students. Participants employed teaching approaches that had worked for them, or that they believed would have worked for them as students. Third, participants’ early literacy experiences influenced how they understood their students’ learning. The participants who had struggled as students were more focused on detecting and addressing the needs of their students who struggled. Implications for school literacy teaching include understanding and valuing the literacy knowledge and skills that young children bring to school and systematically addressing the needs of students who struggle with school literacy. Implications for preservice teacher education in literacy include an increased focus on supporting student teachers to reflect on how their early literacy learning affects their attitudes and assumptions about learning and teaching, more instruction on how to address the needs of struggling literacy learners, and the provision of a coherent teacher education program that combines theory and practice more effectively. Implications for in-service teacher education in literacy include providing induction programs that are tailored to meet the needs of individual beginning teachers, an expanded range of professional development options, and ongoing opportunities to engage in effective reflective practice. Implications for further research include investigations of the influence of early literacy learning on student achievement and on literacy teacher educators’ practice.

Abstract This research investigated the influence of the childhood literacy learning experiences of 6 beginning elementary teachers on their literacy teaching practice. This qualitative case study employed 5 interviews and classroom observations of each participant over the first 3 years of his or her teaching. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants’ early literacy experiences shaped their identity as students. The participants’ images of themselves as students, in turn, influenced their images of themselves as teachers. Second, the participants’ early literacy learning experiences influenced the types of literacy environments and literacy activities that they provided for their students. Participants employed teaching approaches that had worked for them, or that they believed would have worked for them as students. Third, participants’ early literacy experiences influenced how they understood their students’ learning. The participants who had struggled as students were more focused on detecting and addressing the needs of their students who struggled. Implications for school literacy teaching include understanding and valuing the literacy knowledge and skills that young children bring to school and systematically addressing the needs of students who struggle with school literacy. Implications for preservice teacher education in literacy include an increased focus on supporting student teachers to reflect on how their early literacy learning affects their attitudes and assumptions about learning and teaching, more instruction on how to address the needs of struggling literacy learners, and the provision of a coherent teacher education program that combines theory and practice more effectively. Implications for in-service teacher education in literacy include providing induction programs that are tailored to meet the needs of individual beginning teachers, an expanded range of professional development options, and ongoing opportunities to engage in effective reflective practice. Implications for further research include investigations of the influence of early literacy learning on student achievement and on literacy teacher educators’ practice.

This longitudinal case study followed a beginning teacher from the first semester of her teacher education program into her fifth year of teaching. Using situated learning theory, this dissertation reports the influences on her journey in becoming a literacy teacher before, during, and after her teacher education program. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and documents that were collected over six and a half years and across multiple contexts (e.g., tutoring, student teaching, community-based learning, coursework, two elementary schools). Using constant comparative (Glaser & Strauss, 2009) and longitudinal coding methods (Saldaña, 2009), the analysis suggests that the participant developed the following understandings over time and across contexts: she intends to be a lifelong learner; she values and validates students’ interests, histories, and contributions; she is committed to teaching for social justice; and she believes a safe, trusting, and flexible community is essential to learning. Findings indicated that her ability to enact these understandings in practice, even in difficult school contexts, was made possible by her reflective stance and her commitment to surrounding herself with communities of like-minded people to support her in similar ways as had been the case in her teacher education program. The results of this study provide evidence that over time the understandings developed in a teacher education program have the potential to fully emerge in practice inside teachers’ classrooms. This study has implications for how we prepare teachers, how teacher education programs can continue to support their graduates, the types of school communities that seem to support beginning teachers, and how policy makers might direct future funding towards responsible teacher education. / text

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study is inserted in the Education, Knowledge and Professional Development research area in the Post-Graduation Program Masters in Education from the Federal University of Santa Maria. Based on the theoretical branches which involve studies such as Vigotsky (2003, 2005), Leontiev (1988, 1989, 1984), Pereira (2000), Bolzan (2001, 2002a), Isaia (2003a, 2005), Bolzan & Isaia (2004, 2005, 2006), Tardif (2002) among others, we aimed to understand the processes engendered in the constitution of literacy teaching practice. Therefore, we opted to work with the socio-cultural qualitative research approach (Vygotsky:1994, Baktin:1992, Freitas:2002, Bolzan:2002,2006), based on the analysis of the narratives of four literacy teachers from Santa Maria Public System of Municipal Education. Towards this, the reflection about the educational trajectory of those teachers allows us to affirm that the process of literacy teaching constitution is seen as a movement originated from the activity of producing oneself as a teacher, that is, it is resulted from the organization and reorganization of actions and operations in the teaching exercise, which characterizes as a transforming action of the teaching activity in an activity which is oriented to literacy teaching practice. In such transformation process we identified the configuration of three movements: initially, a backwardness movement perpassed by resistance actions and insecurities generated by the consciousness of the lack of competence to accomplish what is presented as necessary, as well as the predominance of the reproductive dimension in the literacy teaching activity that is characterized by the repetition of something which already exists because of the lack of elements/ experiences which could enable them to face the demands that are constituted beyond the non-critical reproduction of socially instituted models of literacy teaching; a second movement named reorganization movement, which is characterized by the a manifestation of a more self-reliant posture of the teachers, in which we notice the configuration of actions and operations directed to the production of a difference, based on the emergency of the creative dimension of the activity of produce oneself as a teacher, allowing us to characterize the configuration of an activity directed to the literacy teaching practice reaching the third, which was named as the production of a difference, characterized by the transformations in the teachers literacy teaching action. The manifestation of such movements came to be in different intensities for each of the teachers that were participants of this study, which allowed us to indicate that the development process of the literacy teaching is linked to the rebuilding process of the experiences lived by the teachers on their educational trajectory, assuming a preponderant role to the mobilization of the subject towards the amplification of his experiential field based on the exchange of ideas, knowledge and literacy teaching deed, making possible the emergency of the creative dimension of the activity of producing oneself as a literacy teacher and, thus, the development of an activity oriented to the literacy teaching practice. / Este estudo insere-se na linha de pesquisa Formação, Saberes e Desenvolvimento Profissional do Programa de Pós-graduação, Mestrado em Educação da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. A partir de fios teóricos que contemplam estudos de Vygotski (2003, 2005), Leontiev (1988, 1989, 1984), Pereira (2000); Bolzan (2001, 2002a) Isaia (2003a, 2005) Bolzan & Isaia (2004, 2005, 2006), Tardif (2002) entre outros, buscamos compreender os processos engendrados na constituição da professoralidade alfabetizadora. Para tanto, optamos por trabalhar com a abordagem qualitativa de pesquisa de cunho sociocultural Vygotski (1994); Bakthin (1992); Freitas (2002); Bolzan (2002, 2006) a partir da análise das narrativas de quatro professoras alfabetizadoras do Sistema Público Municipal de Educação de Santa Maria. Na análise dos percursos formativos das professoras identificamos processos que foram compreendidos como orientadores da atividade de produzir-se professor e processos de produção, propriamente ditos, da professoralidade alfabetizadora. Os processos de orientação emergiram dos percursos iniciais e das experiências prévias a docência alfabetizadora, possibilitando-nos destacar as experiências de socialização e escolarização iniciais como elementos mobilizadores ao desenvolvimento da atividade de produzir-se professor. Com relação ao ingresso na docência alfabetizadora evidenciamos a preponderância das exigências institucionais no direcionamento para tal oficio, possibilitando-nos afirmar que o processo de constituição da docência alfabetizadora configura-se como um movimento originado da atividade de produzir-se professor, ou seja, resultante da organização e reorganização das ações e operações que se fazem necessárias à assunção do ofício docente. Caracterizando-se como uma ação transformadora da atividade docente numa atividade orientada a professoralidade alfabetizadora. Neste processo de transformação identificamos a configuração de movimentos de produção: inicialmente por um movimento de recuo permeado por ações de resistência e de insegurança geradas pela consciência do despreparo para dar conta do que se apresenta como necessário, assim como, a predominância da dimensão reprodutora na atividade docente alfabetizadora, caracterizada pela repetição de algo já existente, decorrente da ausência de elementos experiências que lhes possibilitasse o enfrentamento das demandas constituídas para além da reprodução acrítica de modelos instituídos socialmente de alfabetização; um segundo movimento denominado de reorganização, caracterizado pela manifestação de uma postura mais arrojada das professoras, na qual se evidenciou a configuração de ações e operações direcionadas a produção de uma diferença, a partir da emergência da dimensão criadora da atividade de produzir-se professor, possibilitando-nos caracterizar a configuração de uma atividade direcionada a professoralidade alfabetizadora, culminando no terceiro que foi denominado como a produção de uma diferença, caracterizado pelas transformações na ação alfabetizadora das professoras. As manifestações destes movimentos se deram com diferentes intensidades para cada uma das professoras participantes deste estudo, possibilitando-nos indicar que o processo de desenvolvimento da docência alfabetizadora está relacionado ao processo de reelaboração das experiências vivenciadas pelas professoras em seus percursos formativos, assumindo um papel preponderante a mobilização do sujeito, na direção de ampliar seu campo experiencial a partir do compartilhamento de idéias, saberes e fazeres da ação alfabetizadora, viabilizando a emergência da dimensão criadora da atividade de produzir-se professor alfabetizador e, portanto, o desenvolvimento de uma atividade orientada para a professoralidade alfabetizadora.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:36:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MariaJPA_TESE.pdf: 20666761 bytes, checksum: 4b1f1d3fcfd6b7deb23b57798495afcd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte / In recent years, in Brazil, researches in the area of education have been focused on the study of the necessities of formation, by the practice of necessity analysis, to subside the continued teacher formation programs. This research on the necessity of the formation of literacy teachers in the initial years of primary education originated in our discussions in academia, regarding the issues of retention and evasion related to basic literacy teaching in Brazilian public schools. We defined as a goal: to know the necessities of the formation of literacy teachers from Odila Leite Municipal Elementary School, Natal/RN, which focuses on the literacy teaching on that level of education and in Adult and Youth Education. The object is the necessities in these teachers formation. The thesis is that the literacy teacher reveals/constructs formation necessities when speaking of her practice, when exerting said practice or even when producing teaching materials which subside that practice; in other words, when making the theoretical/practical relation related to literacy teaching. The approach is qualitative, according to which the natural environment is the source for data collection; the focus of interest is the process of knowledge construction, and fundamental importance is given to the meanings constructed by the subjects. We comprehended that necessity is a socially constructed subjective phenomenon, and that necessity analysis allows the revelation of formation objectives. We used the case study as a methodological strategy which permits: studying a well-defined entity, [ ] as well as an academic institution; the global comprehension of the phenomenon of interest; discovering what is most essential and characteristic in the object. We counted with 17 teachers, 3 of which had their teaching practices observed. We observed the school routine, analyzed the main class documents and plans and interviewed the 17 teachers. We triangulated the data obtained by the routine observation, the observation of the three teachers practices and by the document analysis, next, we triangulated this data with the data from the analyzing the interviews with the 17 teachers. Such procedures reveal formation necessities in those teachers , such as: studying child cognitive development; reviewing the concepts of literacy teaching; reviewing fundaments of written language psychogenesis; reflecting on reading practices and literature; reflecting on the practice of daily planning; reflecting on the school s material conditions and the family/school relation. We concluded that researches of this nature contribute to the orientation of teacher formation programs / Nos ?ltimos anos, aqui no Brasil, as pesquisas na ?rea de educa??o t?m se voltado para o estudo de necessidades de forma??o, pelas pr?ticas de an?lise de necessidades, para subsidiar os programas de forma??o continuada do professor. Esta pesquisa sobre necessidades de forma??o de professoras alfabetizadoras dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental teve origem nas nossas discuss?es na academia, sobre os problemas da repet?ncia e evas?o relacionados ? alfabetiza??o na escola p?blica brasileira. Definimos como objetivo: conhecer necessidades de forma??o de professoras alfabetizadoras da Escola Municipal Odila Leite, Natal/RN, cujo foco ? alfabetiza??o nesse n?vel de ensino e na Educa??o de Jovens e Adultos. O objeto s?o as necessidades de forma??o dessas professoras. A tese ? a de que a professora alfabetizadora revela/constr?i necessidades de forma??o ao falar de sua pr?tica, ao exercer esta pr?tica ou mesmo ao produzir materiais did?ticos que subsidiam essa pr?tica, ou seja, ao fazer a rela??o teoria/pr?tica concernente ? alfabetiza??o. A abordagem ? qualitativa, segundo a qual o ambiente natural ? a fonte da coleta de dados; o processo de constru??o do conhecimento ? o foco de interesse e aos significados constru?dos pelos sujeitos ? atribu?da fundamental import?ncia. Compreendemos que necessidade ? um fen?meno subjetivo, socialmente constru?do, e que a an?lise de necessidades permite a revela??o de objetivos de forma??o. Usamos o estudo de caso como estrat?gia metodol?gica que permite: estudar uma entidade bem definida, [...] como uma institui??o escolar; a compreens?o global do fen?meno de interesse; descobrir o que h? de mais essencial e caracter?stico no objeto. Contamos com 17 professoras, das quais 3 tiveram suas pr?ticas pedag?gicas observadas. Observamos o cotidiano escolar, analisamos os principais documentos e roteiros de aula e entrevistamos as 17 professoras. Triangulamos os dados obtidos pelas observa??es do cotidiano, pelas observa??es da pr?tica das tr?s professoras e pelas an?lises dos documentos, em seguida, triangulamos esses dados com os dados da an?lise das entrevistas das 17 professoras. Tais procedimentos revelam necessidades de forma??o dessas professoras, como de: estudar o desenvolvimento cognitivo da crian?a; revisar os conceitos de alfabetiza??o e letramento; revisar fundamentos da psicog?nese da l?ngua escrita; refletir sobre as pr?ticas de leitura e literatura; refletir sobre a pr?tica de planejamento di?rio; refletir sobre as condi??es materiais da escola e sobre a rela??o fam?lia/escola. Conclu?mos que pesquisas dessa natureza contribuem para orienta??o de programas de forma??o do professor

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The objective of the dissertation was to assess the suitability of the scientific literacy development by using learning tasks in chemistry classes for ISCED 2. By comparing the learning tasks types in commercial workbooks and in the international assessment PISA, a significant difference in their structure was found out. Although the Czech Republic has undertaken to participate in the PISA project, Czech teachers have a different type of teaching tasks commonly available in their workbooks than the pupils afterwards solve in the PISA project. PISA's released and author's learning tasks were compiled into authentic workbooks. They were used in chemistry classes during the school year 2016/2017. Based on the pupils' results in the final assignments, all groups of grammar school pupils from experimental groups achieved better results in solving multicomponent learning tasks than the control group. However, the results of elementary schools pupils were significantly worse at final test scores than at initial ones, which was explained by the entire loss of their motivation to study. Pupils rated motivation to work with multicomponent tasks above average. They were fully aware of the importance and usefulness of solving multicomponent learning tasks, and, therefore, they solved them with proper...

The aim of the study is to examine the teachers’ working methods for reading and writing development among adult learners who are at the beginning of their literacy development, as the methods for reading and writing development can vary depending on research, activities and teachers. Semi-structured interviews and observations are used to answer the research questions, and the data that emerges is processed with a thematic analysis method. The results show that repetition and support, both by teachers as well as students, are integrated parts of study path 1. According to the findings, study part 1’s primary goal is to help students become functionally literate, which calls for a basic understanding of reading and writing. At the same time, methods for reading and writing development such as the sound method, the Witting method, the whole word method and visual support (which is compared to the Bornholm model in this study) are useful for the study path’s goal. Following this, the results based on the research methodologies are compared to the theoretical foundations and the prior research before being further analyzed from a critical perspective. In conclusion, it is possible to notice a degree of agreement amongst the interviewed teachers and how their methods and strategies are practiced during the observations with the aim of enhancing the reading and writing development among adult learners who are at the beginning of their literacy development. Song and imagery are employed as a tool to contextualize the sounds and the new words, whereas the sound method, the Witting method and the whole word method are recurring and more well-established techniques.

Tidigare forskning om elevers läs- och skrivinlärning belyser lärares åsikter av ämnet samt de faktorer som är viktiga för en gynnsam läs- och skrivutveckling, dock saknas elevernas perspektiv och upplevelser gällande sin inlärning. Syftet med studien var att undersöka elevers upplevelser av sin läs- och skrivutveckling och deras tankar kring betydelsen av att lära sig läsa och skriva. Med syftet som utgångspunkt kommer följande frågor att besvaras: Hur beskriver elever betydelsen av att lära sig läsa och skriva? Hur beskriver elever sin egen läs- och skrivutveckling? Hur skiljer sig upplevelser och erfarenheter åt mellan olika elever, som enligt läraren har haft olika individuella förutsättningar i den tidiga läs- och skrivinlärningen? Studien bygger på sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med elever i en årskurs 2, samt en intervju med elevernas klasslärare. Den hermeneutiska teorin och tillvägagångssättet ligger till grund för studien. Resultatet visar att elevers upplevelser och tankar är av stor betydelse, för att lärare ska  ha möjlighet att förstå hur elever upplever sin läs- och skrivutveckling. Det framkommer vissa skillnader i elevernas upplevelser, som kan ha sin grund i deras varierande förutsättningar då läs- och skrivinlärningen påbörjades. Vissa elever menar att vikten av att lära sig läsa och skriva är för att det krävs i det vuxna livet och andra elever anser att det är betydande när de ska läsa eller skriva i skolan, för att ha möjlighet att klara av skolarbetet. Fyra av sex elever har upplevt viss problematik i sin läs- och skrivutveckling och menar att det varit svårt med att stava, skriva långa ord och att läsa mycket text. / Previous research on students' reading and writing learning highlights the teachers' opinions about the subject and the factors that are important for a favorable reading and writing, but is missing the students' perspectives and experiences regarding their learning. The aim of the study was to investigate the students' perceptions of their literacy development and their thoughts on the importance of learning to read and write. With this aim as a starting point the following questions will be answered: How do the students describe the importance of learning to read and write? How do the students describe their own reading and writing development? How do the perceptions and experiences differ between students who, according to the teacher, have had various individual conditions in the early reading and writing process? The study is based on six semi-structured interviews with students in second grade, and an interview with the students' teacher. The base for the study is the hermeneutic theory and approach. The results show that the students' experiences and thoughts are of great importance for teachers to be able to understand how students feel about their reading and writing skills. It reveals some differences in the students' experiences, which may be due to their varying conditions at the beginning of their reading and writing process. Some students believe that the importance of learning to read and write is because it is required in adult life while other students believe that it is significant to be able to cope with school work. Four of the six students have experienced some problems in their literacy development in spelling, writing long words and reading a lot of text.

Professional growth is a complex process that requires thoughtful planning, persistence in execution, collaboration, and a common goal if it is to be successful. Classroom teachers have many opportunities to participate in professional development, but experiences vary and it is important to determine which have the greatest effect. The purpose of this comparative study was to examine the strengths and differences of three models of professional learning communities involved in a three-year project to improve writing instruction in kindergarten to Grade 3 classrooms. Based on the work of Routman (2008a), professional staffs at treatment schools were involved in a multi-year, inter-divisional, professional learning community. Teachers and principals in the project participated in one of three experiences of varying intensity. Results are compared to a control group of schools. The study design takes a pragmatic worldview and utilizes mixed methodology to conduct an ex post facto, quasi-experimental analysis. Artifacts collected from 2009 to 2012 include questionnaires, written self-evaluations, and samples of student writing, that were examined to determine the degree and nature of change in principals’ increased perceptiveness of the school literacy team, teachers’ increased sense of efficacy in writing instruction, and significant changes in student writing. These are compared to samples from a control group of schools that were not involved in the experience. Several aspects of this multi-year project bring to light three critical observations. First, real-time, live experiences with an expert facilitator have a dramatic effect on teacher learning. Second, students in the first four years at school are capable of much more sophistication in writing than is generally expected. Third, principals’ involvement as educational leaders is critical to enduring teacher change and ongoing student improvement. / February 2017