abstract: This dissertation presents reflective teaching practices that draw from an object-oriented rhetorical framework. In it, practices are offered that prompt teachers and students to account for the interdependent relationships between objects and writers. These practices aid in re-envisioning writing as materially situated and leads to more thoughtful collaborations between writers and objects. Through these practices, students gain a more sophisticated understanding of their own writing processes, teachers gain a more nuanced understanding of the outcomes of their pedagogical choices, and administrators gain a clearer vision of how the classroom itself affects curriculum design and implementation. This argument is pursued in several chapters, each presenting a different method for inciting reflection through the consideration of human/object interaction. The first chapter reviews the literature of object oriented rhetorical theory and reflective teaching practice. The second chapter adapts a methodology from the field of Organizational Science called Narrative Network Analysis (NNA) and leads students through a process of identifying and describing human/object interaction within narratives and asks students to represent these relationships visually. As students undertake this task they can more objectively examine their own writing processes. In the third chapter, video ethnographic methodologies are used to observe object oriented rhetoric theory in practice through the interactions of humans and objects in the writing classroom. Through three video essays, clips of footage taken of a writing classroom and its writing objects are selected and juxtaposed to highlight the agency and influence of objects. In chapter four, a tool developed using freely available cloud-based web applications is presented which is termed the “Fitness Tracker for Teaching.” This tool is used to regularly collect, store, and analyze data that students self-report through a daily class survey about their work efforts, their work environment, and their feelings of confidence, productivity, and self-efficacy. The data gathered through this tool provides a more complete understanding of student effort and affect than could be provided by the teacher’s and students’ own memories or perceptions. Together these chapters provide a set of reflective practices that reinforce teaching writing as a process that is affective and embodied and acknowledges and accounts for the rhetorical agency of objects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Chapter 3 Video Presentation / Doctoral Dissertation English 2017

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / According to the PCN Health is a transversal theme, that is, should permeate all curriculum subjects, in this case the teachers of the discipline of physics must also do everything possible to include the Health Education in their classes. This research presents and discusses the construction, implementation and evaluation of teaching modules that correlate to the Health with Physics. This link was made from the Structurer Theme of PCN+ "Matter and Radiation", within which was chosen specifically the subject "Ultraviolet Radiation" and, within this topic was conducted the integration with the theme Health. The beginning of the study was given through studies and reading of articles on the themes "Science Education" and "Health Education". There was the search for articles on the integration of the discipline of physics with the Health in periodicals and journals of Teaching Physics and Science Education , showing the reduced number of publications using his interterface. The second stage of research was the development and implementation, in the classroom, of teaching modules where the main subject was "The Ultraviolet Radiation and Health Consequences" integrating content with Modern Physics and biological effects in the human body. The teaching modules have been developed and implemented in a class of second year of high school a private school in Rosario do Sul RS. During and after the implementation, teaching modules were evaluated by a reflective teaching practice, where the weak points were analyzed with a view to redesigning and restructuring activities.The prospects for continued work are the improvement of educational materials produced, expanding the list of issues with the Health and Physics. / Segundo os PCN a Saúde é um tema transversal, isto é, deve permear todas as disciplinas do currículo, nesse caso os profesores da disciplina de Física também devem fazer o possível para inserir a Educação em Saúde em suas aulas. Esta pesquisa apresenta e discute a construção, implementação e avaliação de módulos didáticos que relacionam a Física com a Saúde. Esta relação foi feita a partir do Tema Estruturador dos PCN + Matéria e Radiação , dentro do qual foi escolhido especificamente o assunto Radiações Ultravioleta e, no espaço deste assunto, foi realizada a integração com o tema Saúde. O início da pesquisa deu-se por meio de estudos e leituras de artigos acerca dos temas Educação em Ciências e Educação em Saúde . Houve a busca de artigos, sobre a integração da disciplina de Física com a Saúde, em periódicos e revistas da área de Ensino de Física e Educação em Ciências, comprovando o número reduzido de publicações com essa interface. A segunda etapa da pesquisa foi a elaboração e implementação em sala de aula de módulos didáticos onde o assunto principal era As Radiações Ultravioleta e as Consequências para a Saúde integrando conteúdos de Física Moderna com efeitos biológicos no corpo humano. Os módulos didáticos, foram desenvolvidos em 16h/aula e implementados em uma turma do segundo ano do Ensino Médio de uma escola particular de Rosário do Sul RS. Durante e após sua implementação, os módulos didáticos foram avaliados por uma prática docente reflexiva, onde os pontos fracos foram analisados com vistas a reelaboração e reestruturação das atividades. As perspectivas de continuidade do trabalho estão no aprimoramento dos materiais didáticos produzidos, expandindo-se a relação de temas de Física com a Saúde.

The ongoing debate about the capacity of distance learning (DL) to assist in the development of teaching skills and to improve teaching practice is the focus of many inquiries in the field of teacher education. The practice-based nature of Foundation Phase teaching poses unique challenges for professional development of teachers through DL programmes. In order to address inadequacies identified in the literature and previous research, a practical component was designed and included in the revised version of the Advanced Certificate: Education - Foundation Phase, as part of a bursary project. In 2011 the Northern Cape Department of Education (NCDoE) enrolled 50 practising Foundation Phase teachers for this distance learning programme as the first of three cohorts in the bursary project. A learning portfolio and audio-visual resources, designed according to principles derived from previous research and related literature, formed part of this practical component. The aim was to support teacher applied competence through developing pedagogical content knowledge, self-directedness, and a professional attitude, and through guiding the application of new knowledge and skills in practice. The completed portfolios further served as an instrument for the assessment of teacher performance with regard to applied competence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of the practical component of the revised Foundation Phase ACE programme delivered by the NWU via distance learning with specific focus on the way this component facilitates the development of applied competence and the way the portfolio provides for the assessment of professional classroom competencies of practising Foundation Phase teachers. The study further aimed to put forward a model for the development of applied practice based on the findings of the study. In order to attain the aims of the study, the literature was explored to firstly determine the elements which contribute to applied competence in effective teacher professional development programmes. The literature was further explored to determine what the body of scholarship indicates with respect to programme design features that support applied competence in DL programmes for teacher professional development. An implementation evaluation study was then conducted on the programme by collecting data from 50 Foundation Phase teachers as the first of three cohorts enrolled for the bursary project. Data were primarily collected through multiple qualitative methods including a focus-group interview, individual interviews, written expectations as well as open ended questions of questionnaires. Descriptive data were also collected through semi-structured questionnaires. Qualitative data were analysed through content analysis to determine the theoretical and conceptual implications of the profile and teaching context of the Northern Cape Foundation Phase teacher enrolled for the DL Foundation Phase ACE programme, the expectations of these teachers regarding the way the practical component would support their applied competence in their contexts, and the teachers’ experiences of the way the programme component supported the development of their applied competence. The study further determined the extent to which the learning portfolios interrogate the elements of applied competence. Quantitative data collected through semi-structured questionnaires were statistically analysed and served to support the interpretation of qualitative data. The investigation was approached from a constructivist paradigm; an approach that falls under an interpretivist philosophical orientation. Although quantitative methods were used to gather descriptive statistical data in support of the qualitative data, the study is grounded in qualitative research methodology where the concern is with the formative evaluation of the DL programme component The findings strongly confirm the value of such a practical component as part of a DL programme to support the elements of applied competence. However, the way the programme accommodates teacher profiles and teaching contexts will greatly influence the sustainability of the programme outcomes in practice. The findings further show that the portfolio as instrument for the assessment of applied competence requires careful planning and should provide strong guidance in the reflective process to support sustained outcomes of the programme in practice. A suggested model for a DL programme for the professional development of Foundation Phase teachers is based on the findings of the study. / PhD (Curriculum Development Innovation and Evaluation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The ongoing debate about the capacity of distance learning (DL) to assist in the development of teaching skills and to improve teaching practice is the focus of many inquiries in the field of teacher education. The practice-based nature of Foundation Phase teaching poses unique challenges for professional development of teachers through DL programmes. In order to address inadequacies identified in the literature and previous research, a practical component was designed and included in the revised version of the Advanced Certificate: Education - Foundation Phase, as part of a bursary project. In 2011 the Northern Cape Department of Education (NCDoE) enrolled 50 practising Foundation Phase teachers for this distance learning programme as the first of three cohorts in the bursary project. A learning portfolio and audio-visual resources, designed according to principles derived from previous research and related literature, formed part of this practical component. The aim was to support teacher applied competence through developing pedagogical content knowledge, self-directedness, and a professional attitude, and through guiding the application of new knowledge and skills in practice. The completed portfolios further served as an instrument for the assessment of teacher performance with regard to applied competence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of the practical component of the revised Foundation Phase ACE programme delivered by the NWU via distance learning with specific focus on the way this component facilitates the development of applied competence and the way the portfolio provides for the assessment of professional classroom competencies of practising Foundation Phase teachers. The study further aimed to put forward a model for the development of applied practice based on the findings of the study. In order to attain the aims of the study, the literature was explored to firstly determine the elements which contribute to applied competence in effective teacher professional development programmes. The literature was further explored to determine what the body of scholarship indicates with respect to programme design features that support applied competence in DL programmes for teacher professional development. An implementation evaluation study was then conducted on the programme by collecting data from 50 Foundation Phase teachers as the first of three cohorts enrolled for the bursary project. Data were primarily collected through multiple qualitative methods including a focus-group interview, individual interviews, written expectations as well as open ended questions of questionnaires. Descriptive data were also collected through semi-structured questionnaires. Qualitative data were analysed through content analysis to determine the theoretical and conceptual implications of the profile and teaching context of the Northern Cape Foundation Phase teacher enrolled for the DL Foundation Phase ACE programme, the expectations of these teachers regarding the way the practical component would support their applied competence in their contexts, and the teachers’ experiences of the way the programme component supported the development of their applied competence. The study further determined the extent to which the learning portfolios interrogate the elements of applied competence. Quantitative data collected through semi-structured questionnaires were statistically analysed and served to support the interpretation of qualitative data. The investigation was approached from a constructivist paradigm; an approach that falls under an interpretivist philosophical orientation. Although quantitative methods were used to gather descriptive statistical data in support of the qualitative data, the study is grounded in qualitative research methodology where the concern is with the formative evaluation of the DL programme component The findings strongly confirm the value of such a practical component as part of a DL programme to support the elements of applied competence. However, the way the programme accommodates teacher profiles and teaching contexts will greatly influence the sustainability of the programme outcomes in practice. The findings further show that the portfolio as instrument for the assessment of applied competence requires careful planning and should provide strong guidance in the reflective process to support sustained outcomes of the programme in practice. A suggested model for a DL programme for the professional development of Foundation Phase teachers is based on the findings of the study. / PhD (Curriculum Development Innovation and Evaluation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015