This thesis addresses a series of disconcerting moments that emerged during a research study with seven fourth and fifth grade students who participated in an after-school Technology Think Tank and their classroom teachers at a Midwestern elementary school. These moments were marked by heightened power, identity performances, and emotions and were disturbing not only as they occurred, but remained bothersome upon reflection in the days and weeks afterwards. In this research I call them ‘haunting moments.' The primary data sources for this research were audio and video files that I initially analyzed for volume. This process verified my premise that the haunting moments were linked to an increase in speaking volume that differentiated them from other discourse. Then I employed a two-fold coding approach including interpretive phenomenological analysis which generated a comprehensive list of codes including textual and social functions of technologies. My analysis led to a pursuit for a framework for understanding the haunting moments in the Think Tank and classrooms. I contextualized them within a theoretical matrix which included the dialectical relationship of standardization and resistance and the inextricable role of power, identities, and emotions with that dialectic. Standardization was accomplished through mechanisms of control that I identified as discursive positioning and surveillance. These mechanisms were resisted by mechanisms of agency. I also described the important role of technology-- which mediated the mechanisms of control and agency that were used in the service of standardization and resistance. Theorizing and framing haunting moments leads to a more complex understanding of literacy learning. This research describes how standardization and resistance, along with the emergence of moves of power, identities, and emotions are an inevitable outcome of participation in discourse communities, however this inescapability does not signify inevitability or preclude agency through improvisation or authorship.

Research about preservice teachers' beliefs indicates that the educational beliefs they have developed over time will have an impact on not only how they respond to the various experiences they have while enrolled in a teacher education program, but also their receptiveness to future professional development opportunities. I investigated the developing and emerging beliefs regarding reading and its instruction of four preservice elementary teachers during their participation in two university reading methods courses and the accompanying field-based experiences in the elementary teacher education program that was the site of my study. Two purposes framed the qualitative, longitudinal design of my study. One purpose was to examine the participants' prior, university-, and field-based experiences with reading and its instruction and the meaning they attached to these experiences. The second purpose was to learn how the participants incorporated into their developing belief systems as teachers of reading the various conceptions regarding reading development and its instruction they brought to and encountered during their university coursework and field experiences. Data sources included interviews, archival documents from the courses (reading philosophies, belief survey and autobiographical reading histories), reading expert surveys, reflexive philosophies and personal pedagogies. Results, presented in portraits for each participant, indicated that the participants created fictive images of the teachers they wanted to be that served as the lenses through which they interpreted both their university- and field-based experiences that were the focus of my study. When discussing their action agendas for teaching reading in the future, each participant relied on the fictive image she had created of herself as a teacher of reading. Consistent with existing research in this area, prior and field-based experiences with reading and its instruction seemed more influential in the development of these preservice teachers' beliefs than were the reading "methods of teaching" courses or instructors. A key implication, consistent with the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction (2003, 2007) recommendations, is for teacher educators to operate from and enact a clear vision of what reading instruction consists of across the elementary grade levels and content areas.

This research explores the relationship between mindsets and divergent thinking skills. Specifically, the research questions sought to answer whether there was a positive association between a higher presence of divergent thinking skills and a creative growth mindset, as well as the impact environment has on creative growth. A total of 184 second and sixth grade students from a larger urban school district were surveyed. Data collection included: student surveys, two divergent thinking assessments, direct observation of the students and teacher notes. Results indicate most students identify with a creative growth mindset, but are lacking specific strategies to demonstrate creative growth. In addition, reflective survey results revealed the impact environment can have in helping students recognize and apply the specific strategies and characteristics highly creative people possess.

In this qualitative research study, I examine the literacy practices of five families who resided in a homeless shelter with attention to the complexity of literacy as it is taken up for fulfilling cultural and social goals within families, neighborhoods, and communities. Literacy is complicated through the lens of literacy sponsorship (Brandt, 2001) to suggest the differential access people have to literacy and the power sponsors have to sanction particular forms of literacy while dismissing existing literacies that families use in their everyday lives, but are undervalued in schools and the marketplace. Data collected from parent interviews and a family literacy program at the shelter shape the counterportraits (Meyer, 2010) intended to challenge the official portrait of homelessness. The analytical tool of dialogical narrative analysis (Frank, 2012) aided my identification of stories in the interviews that illustrated how parents perceived their lives before coming to the shelter, at the shelter, and how their lives would change beyond their stay at the shelter. The notion of "capital D" Discourses (Gee, 2005) supported my examination of how the parents engaged in overlapping Discourses that allowed them to contest deficit perspectives pervasive in the official portrait. The resulting counterportraits suggest that the official portrait is largely dismissive of the social problems associated with stark inequality in U.S. society. Complicating the role of literacy within this larger context of inequality is necessary to understand the wide gulf between the official portrait and the counterportraits represented in this report.

This purpose of this single case study was to describe the discursive practices of an ELL teacher and a general education teaching in a co-teaching PLC setting. With the increased use of co-teaching as an approach to English language development supports, it is vital to gain a better understanding of how teachers plan to support the academic learning of English learners, and what language they use in these interactions. This study implemented a qualitative research design based in grounded theory and positioning theory. The results of this study found that the discursive practices of co-teachers were based in the content of topics, the method of discursive interactions, and their previous experiences in co-teaching that formed their interactions.

Administrators in a school district in north central Kansas implemented the Teacher Expectation and Student Achievement (TESA) professional development program (PD) to address ineffective instructional practices of K-12 teachers. TESA PD was designed to build and promote teacher-student interactions, enhance students' academic performance, teach students self-discipline, and improve the class environment so that students can work and study in diverse settings. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the classroom experiences and perceptions of 10 teachers who integrated teaching interactions from the TESA program into their daily lessons. Brophy and Good's expectation theory holds that teacher interactions with students are impacted by exchanges between teacher and student and served as the conceptual framework. Qualitative data were gleaned from in-depth interviews, observations, and questionnaires and were analyzed using open coding and category construction for patterns, relationships, and themes. Findings indicated that TESA PD assisted these 10 teachers in how to build relationships with their students; how relationship building impacted teacher-student relationships; and how teacher expectations of students, regardless of students' achievement level and diverse backgrounds, impacted student academic performance. To improve relationship building of teachers and students, it is recommended that the TESA PD program be ongoing. Implementing the TESA interactions may contribute to positive social change by allowing students to connect to and communicate with the teacher; accept direction and praise from the teacher;, and trust the teacher, which, ultimately may lead to higher levels of academic success.

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.

Classroom teachers are provided instructional recommendations for teaching reading from their adopted core reading programs (CRPs). Explicit instruction elements or what is also called instructional moves, including direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, independent practice, discussion, feedback, and monitoring, were examined within CRP reading lessons. This study sought to answer the question: What elements of explicit instruction or instructional moves are included in the five most widely published CRP teachers’ edition lessons across five essential components of reading instruction? A content analysis of reading lessons in first, third, and fifth grades within current (copyright 2005-2010), widely used CRPs was conducted to determine the number and types of explicit instruction elements or instructional moves recommended within reading lessons for the following essential components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Findings offer several implications for publishers of CRPs and educators. First, guided practice was recommended most often in CRP lessons. Second, all five publishers were more similar than different in the number and types of explicit instruction elements or instructional move recommendations. All publishers rarely recommended the use of the explicit instruction elements of feedback and monitoring. Conversely, the explicit instruction elements or instructional moves of discussion and questioning were used almost to the exclusion of other elements of explicit instruction for comprehension lessons. It was also found that the recommendations to use elements of explicit instruction diminished from the lower to the upper grades—offering intermediate-grade teachers fewer explicit instruction recommendations.

In the past 8 years, at least 4 lone wolf terrorists have targeted military bases or recruiting centers in the United States and research suggests attack on the US military are increasing globally. The problem was that research had not addressed the lived experiences of survivors of lone wolf attacks or how they could inform procedures regarding a sense of security for military men and women. The purpose of this research was to establish a need to address threats to the security of the military from these attacks, to provide a rich description of survivors' experiences of the attack at Fort Hood, and to identify suggestions for improving military personnel's sense of security while on base. Using the community based approach to public health, the central research question asked how the lived experiences of survivors of the attack at Fort Hood could lead to an increased sense of security on base. This phenomenological research provided a detailed description of survivors' experiences and their reflections on improving military personnel's sense of security. The population consisted of the 31 soldiers injured in the attack. A purposeful sample was used to recruit 5 participants for researcher-constructed interviews. I analyzed data and used NVivo 11 for organization. The study revealed high levels of stress, hyperawareness, and significant negative changes in the lives of these soldiers. The finding suggest an increased show of force by police throughout the base, a designated office to anonymously report suspicious activity, and more training to help soldiers cope with the experiences of combat related trauma. The implications for social change include an increased sense of security for military personnel, better training for dealing with combat related trauma, and deterrents for future lone wolf attacks.

Elementary teachers at a school in the southeastern United States received iPads and iPad training to improve teaching and learning in the content subject areas. Despite the iPad training provided by district technology personnel, teachers expressed a need for more content-specific training. Teachers need adequate and appropriate professional development to assist in preparing integrated computer-based technology instruction to increase student academic achievement. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to explore the descriptions of 10 purposely selected 4th and 5th grade teachers who used iPads in content subjects and 1 instructional technology facilitator who provided district iPad training regarding the district's iPad professional development and implementation in instruction. The theoretical support for this study was the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework that provided an interaction among technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews and lesson plans. Inductive analysis was used with hand coding to discover themes. Teachers recognized the need for ongoing professional development and collaboration with colleagues to create content-specific iPad integrated lessons. Based on these findings, a project was designed to provide teachers with a 3-day professional development to include modeled lessons, collaboration with colleagues, a shared Google Drive folder, and a schedule for ongoing professional development. These endeavors may promote positive social change by providing ongoing content-specific iPad professional development for elementary teachers that could improve computer-based technology instruction and student learning in content subject areas.