Math Teacher Twitter is considered by some to provide an important example of contemporary professional development that can take place within a virtual participatory media platform. This study investigated the phenomenon of Math Teacher Twitter by analyzing a dataset of 9881 tweets associated with 3133 profiles obtained by querying the Twitter API using a set of four key Math Education Twitter Hashtags (METHs), #mtbos, #iteachmath, #mathchat, and #math. Investigating the discourse features hashtags used, tweet content, discursive style, values expressed, profile content, and engagement, allowed a description of the Twitter discourse associated with Math Teacher Twitter to be developed. Particular patterns of hashtag use, discursive style and value expression were associated with a difference in engagement, topical relevance, and profile descriptions. The elements of this Twitter discourse were further analyzed from the perspectives of two models of situated learning: the affinity spaces and communities of practice. This analysis suggested that while the affinity space model provides helpful descriptions of particular features of Math Teacher Twitter, the critical perspective provided by the communities of practice model remains helpful in understanding the underlying dynamics of this phenomenon. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings for researchers who wish to observe and understand Math Teacher Twitter are discussed, along with some practical implications for its participants.

Principals have an impact on the teaching and learning that takes place in their schools. This research focuses on principal involvement in professional development (PD) to meet policy requirements while developing principals' skills to meet their changing roles to serve as instructional leaders accountable for student academic performance. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the types of PD principals and principal supervisors find most beneficial in developing principals' instructional leadership skills along with the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in PD designed for the principalship role. The secondary purpose was to identify the impact principal PD may have on instructional leadership practices and student achievement. The two research questions were: What types of PD do principals and principal supervisors find most impactful to developing principals' instructional leadership skills? What are the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in virtual, hybrid, and in-person PD specifically designed for the principalship role? A demographic survey and one-on-one, semi-structured interviews were completed with five elementary school principals, four secondary school principals, and three principal supervisors from a rural and suburban school division in Virginia. Deductive coding was used to analyze the data from interviews to determine common themes, patterns, similarities, and differences. Nine findings were discovered, including principals engage in PD focused on instructional leadership skills and perceive that PD has improved instructional practices and student outcomes, principals find value in networking and choice in PD, time is a barrier to participating in PD, and principal supervisors select and support principal PD opportunities. The findings provide principals, principal supervisors, and providers of principal PD with guidance on how to design PD focused on developing instructional leadership skills. Practitioners can utilize the study to guide the design of effective PD sessions that leverage the benefits noted by study participants while overcoming the challenges. Division leaders may consider the findings when developing PD plans for principals based on the literature and perceptions of study participants. These practices will help ensure principals receive the timely, targeted PD they need to become instructional leaders with a positive impact on student achievement. / Doctor of Education / Principals have an impact on the teaching and learning that takes place in their schools. This research focuses on principal involvement in professional development (PD) to meet policy requirements while developing principals' skills to meet their changing roles to serve as instructional leaders accountable for student academic performance. The two research questions were: What types of PD do principals and principal supervisors find most impactful to developing principals' instructional leadership skills? What are the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in virtual, hybrid, and in-person PD specifically designed for the principalship role? One-on-one, semi-structured interviews with five elementary school principals, four secondary school principals, and three principal supervisors from a rural and suburban school division in Virginia were conducted. Findings including, principals engage in PD focused on instructional leadership skills and perceive that PD has improved instructional practices and student outcomes, principals find value in networking and choice in PD, time is a barrier to participating in PD, and principal supervisors select and support principal PD opportunities. The findings might guide how to design PD to focus on developing instructional leadership skills. Practitioners can utilize the findings to guide the design of effective PD sessions that leverage the benefits noted by study participants, while also working to overcome the challenges. Division leaders may consider the findings when developing PD plans for principals. These practices will help ensure principals receive the timely, targeted PD they need to become instructional leaders with a positive impact on student achievement.

In the 1980s and 1990s, publications like A Nation at Risk and Prisoners of Time were highly critical of the American public school system. In response, school administrators reviewed their master schedules to evaluate how time was scheduled and the majority of them chose block scheduling to secure longer, uninterrupted periods of instructional time. Upon implementing block scheduling, schools noted a need for a change in pedagogy. Constructivist teaching, shown to be effective with multiple ages, has become a preferred pedagogy for elementary and middle school teachers during a block period. The review of literature includes a description of the forces behind block scheduling and provides a background of constructivist theory and teaching practices based on the writings of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Combining constructivist teaching with block scheduling creates an environment conducive to young adolescent learning; however, properly preparing teachers through professional development is key to effective implementation. The purpose of this action research study was to facilitate the professional growth of new teachers by providing job embedded professional development opportunities that were grounded in constructivist practices and demonstrated to be effective with young adolescent learners while teaching in a block period. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a teacher professional development program as measured by the extent that participants have continued to use lessons and materials up to three years after the professional development experience. The professional development program was delivered online and structured by five key characteristics of effective professional development. Sixty-five participants of Food, Land, and People (FLP) professional development completed an online survey answering certain demographic variables and indicating the number of lessons and activities they had used from the FLP professional development. An implementation and continued use measurement model was used to create weighted FLP use scores and compare participants within each group. Results suggest that the FLP professional development program was effective in obtaining long-term continued use of materials.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Frances Keller Shafer, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction, presented on October 16, 2008, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: AN INVESTIGATION OF SELECTED FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE MIDDLE-LEVEL TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CHOICES MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Joyce Killian Professional development is defined as methods to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to improve instruction and increase student achievement. However, the availability of and participation in professional development activities often falls short of meeting both the teachers' and students' needs. This study investigated selected factors that influence middle-level teachers' professional development choices. The purpose of this study was to add to the researcher's knowledge about professional development choices made by practicing middle-level educators and to add to the body of knowledge about the factors influencing professional development choices. The research question was To what extent are middle-level teachers' professional development choices associated with selected factors? The factors investigated were as follows: (1) a greater than 50% assigned time curriculum director with responsibilities for coordination of professional development, (2) meeting criteria for designation as a middle school and (3) the availability of and participation in professional development activities at the school level, the district level, and the higher education level. No significant differences at the 0.05 level were found between the selected factors: (1) the presence or absence of a greater than 50% assigned time curriculum director and (2) designation of the site as a middle school. However, the findings indicated there was a significant difference between school, district and higher education levels in participation, F(2,151)=5.94; p=0.003. Teachers' participation in higher education level professional development activities/program was lower than participation in professional development activities at the school and district level.

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Published Article / Literature reveals the crucial influence of school leadership on the creation and maintenance of successful schools. In searching for new foundations to understand leadership, Raelin's leaderful practice model serves as an authentic model to describe a successful South African leadership practice. A qualitative study was used to interpret school leadership in primary schools through the lens of the leaderful practice model. The following observations emerged from the study: "It is passion that makes people succeed in life"; "It isn't my school, it's our school"; and "Development has to be an integral part of education". By sharing the leadership experiences of the principal, this study could serve as a valuable resource and promote the creation of other leaderful practices in South African schools.

Inadequate student-teacher interactions in undergraduate courses have been linked to poor student performance. Researchers have noted that students' perceptions of student-teacher relationships may be an important factor related to student performance. The administration of a Mid-Atlantic community college prioritized increasing undergraduate biology student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between students' biology achievement and their perceptions of interpersonal teaching behaviors and student-teacher interactions in introductory biology courses. Leary's theory on interpersonal communication and the systems communication theory of Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson served as the theoretical foundation. The Wubbel's Likert-scale questionnaire on student-teacher interactions was administered to 318 undergraduate biology students. Non-parametric Spearman's rank correlations revealed a significant direct correlation between students' grades and their perceptions of teachers' interpersonal teaching behaviors. The relationship between student achievement and students' perceptions of student-teacher interactions prompted the recommendation for additional study on the importance of student-teacher interactions in undergraduate programs. A recommendation for local practice included faculty development on strategies for improving student-teacher interactions. The study's implications for positive social change include increased understanding for administrators and instructors on the importance of teacher-student interactions at the community college level.

This study focuses on an arts integration professional development approach for K-12 teachers that is collaborative, long-term, and sustainable. The question that drove this work is: What are the key elements in a professional development model for arts integration in a teacher/teaching artist partnership that best support growth in teacher efficacy and internalization of drama strategies? To answer this question, I modified an arts integration model that was long-term, used drama-based instruction in core subject areas, and involved the teacher in the execution of the lessons in addition to the teaching artist. The model for this project was implemented with two middle school math teachers, data was collected, results were analyzed and recommendations were developed. / text

Inactive lifestyles and poor eating habits are the main culprits of the present increase in childhood obesity, diabetes, heart problems, and cancer. In order to counterbalance this deterioration of children's health, it is imperative that children are educated about good nutritional practices. Unfortunately, parents are not always well-informed about nutrition themselves, leaving teachers to be the necessary link between children and good nutrition.This study investigates what teachers understand about nutrition concepts, as this knowledge would be the necessary precursor to aiding students toward better health. Due to the limited research on nutrition education in the elementary classroom, this study was preceded by three pilot studies that lent themselves to the advancement of the researcher's understanding of nutrition and its place in the elementary school setting. Initially three preservice teachers were interviewed in order to examine the preparation of elementary teachers for teaching nutrition.In order to assess what teachers understand about nutrition it was necessary to create an instrument that would assess teachers' nutritional knowledge. Through several trials a nutrition content survey was created and modified. The final version was administered to three hundred and seventeen teachers. While creating the nutrition content survey, the researcher also compiled a proposed list for the "big ideas" in nutrition. These statements describe the nutritional concepts that elementary students should understand. The "big ideas" were used to create lesson plans that were taught to forty-four fifth graders. These students provided insight into the content of the lessons through pre-post assessments and gave interest feedback using anonymous questionnaires.While the nature of this study was exploratory and descriptive in nature, its quantitative and qualitative data provided insight into teachers' understanding of nutritional concepts. Along with these findings were some preliminary examinations into how preservice teachers are prepared for teaching nutrition, what elementary age students understand about nutrition and what interests them, and how teachers feel about teaching nutrition. This study provides many possible avenues for future research in the area of nutrition education.