This project examines the role of values in a teacher-constructed global education curriculum. Using several strategies, both teacher and student values were made explicit. The teacher's strategy was to pinpoint career events which had impacted on the curriculum that she had designed. These career events were synthesized into several value statements. Action research was used to suggest value positions for the students. The intersection of teacher and student values led to suggestions as to how these intersecting values could be integrated into the teacher-constructed curriculum. Values that did not intersect, and the idea of alienation, a "nonvalue" were also cons1dered as add1tions to the curriculum. The project argues for making the values of all the stakeholders in a teacher-constructed curriculum explicit as a means of continually revitalizing such a document. / Master of Arts (MA)

<p> Without education, many South Sudanese will continue living in poverty. There are numerous factors that limit their educational opportunities including tribal warfare, colonialism, missionary malpractice, civil wars, a high illiteracy rate, low government funding, and threats of war. These factors have left a substantial deficiency in available training for teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the pedagogical needs of the teachers of South Sudan. Within a conceptual framework of participatory action research, this qualitative study examined educators&rsquo; view of the effectiveness of the teacher education that they had received, the pedagogical needs of teachers, and the ideal training models for teachers given the country&rsquo;s current situation. The research design was a case study focusing on 5 primary and secondary schools. The mode of data collection was interviews and observations among 15 K-16 educators and educator leaders selected by snowball sampling. Observations and interviews took place in school classrooms and campuses, best suited for data collection as South Sudanese are, for the most part, a preliterate people who value listening and storytelling. Themes found related to classroom management, lesson planning, differentiated instruction, and motivation to teach. Key results indicated that the teachers had little to no preparation, varied in their motivation to teach, and perceived challenges and needs differently based on their level of education. A 5-day teacher-training project was developed. Social change will be achieved by improving teachers&rsquo; ability to successfully educate the next generation of leaders for South Sudan.</p>

<p> Teacher retention is a concern in all educational sectors in America. It is of special importance to Islamic schools, which tend to lack the resources necessary in recruiting and training new teachers. This dissertation addressed this problem in full-time Islamic schools in New York State by conducting a discrete choice experiment, which reflects an innovative, interdisciplinary, new methodological approach borrowed primarily from the fields of economics, social psychology, and decision theory. This approach re-conceptualized teacher retention as a series of decisions or discrete choices made throughout a teacher's career (as suggested by human capital theory) and has not been employed in this manner previously in educational research on teacher retention. This new approach offered additional insights in this important area of educational research, theory, and practice. This study examined the effects of six position-related characteristics in the discrete choice experiment: (a) opportunities to practice Islam, (b) work environment, (c) amount of work, (d) salary, (e) prestige, and (f) health benefits on the decisions of teachers in Islamic schools to continue teaching in those schools. The study also determined how the subjects&rsquo; characteristics (case-specific attributes) interacted with these position-related characteristics (alternative-specific attributes). All six alternative-specific attributes were found to be important to a certain extent, but their levels of influence varied across three preference profiles. Generally, the single most important factor affecting teacher retention in Islamic schools is the work environment of the school followed by the presence of opportunities to practice the Islamic faith. Contrary to the common belief, salary (and prestige) had the least impact on retaining Islamic school teachers. </p>

<p> This dissertation is a qualitative study in which I, the researcher and public school teacher, seek through writing the self in a narrative and evocative autoethnography to explore three emergent themes: My family&rsquo;s six year and six month circumnavigation, spirituality, and important literature that I have shared with other readers that direct our hearts toward God. Insomuch as the title posits living to remember God, my hope is to make the interior mind visible to my reader as I explore what embracing this position has meant to me; I hope in making myself vulnerable to speak to our human experience of love so that other educators may come to understand the need we have in our American public school classrooms to be guided by agape.</p>

<p> This study examined the effects of a 2-day professional development for special education teachers of students who have Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). The professional development included general knowledge of ASDs and teaching strategies that could be used in the classroom to assist children with ASDs. This study also ascertained teachers&rsquo; perceptions and knowledge gains as a result of participating in professional development opportunities on ASD. </p><p> The overarching research question addressed in this study was: Does a professional development on ASDs for special education teachers increase their knowledge of ASD and their knowledge and ability to implement strategies in the classroom? The specific research questions were: 1. Does the professional development change teachers&rsquo; perceptions of students with ASD? 2. Does the professional development increase the special education teachers&rsquo; knowledge of ASD? 3. Does the professional development provide specific teaching strategies directly related to students with ASDs&rsquo; success? </p><p> The researcher employed a mixed methods approach for this research study. The researcher collected data using the ASD Inventory (pre and post assessment). The study measured participants&rsquo; perceptions and knowledge of ASD, provided evidence-based practices to the participants, and assessed the participants&rsquo; comfort levels teaching students with ASD. The inventory assessments were analyzed using paired-samples t-test to obtain the final results. </p><p> The overall goal of this study was to learn about how to create effective professional development experiences for special education teachers in the area of ASDs. The goal was to enhance teachers&rsquo; perceptions of teaching students with ASD, increase their technical knowledge of ASD, and improve their knowledge of strategies to use when teaching students with ASD, as assessed by the ASD Inventory. </p><p> The major findings in this study were that after a 2-day professional development on ASD, there was a significant change in teachers&rsquo; perceptions of students with ASD, as well as a significant increase in teachers&rsquo; knowledge of ASD. Evidence of teaching strategies provided by the professional development was indicated through the assessment and teacher participation. Therefore, teachers learned strategies to meet the needs of students with ASDs.</p>

<p> The research for this qualitative ethnographic study included interviews with nine general education, middle-school teachers in an urban school district. The purpose of this study was to explore how inconsistencies in teacher-based referrals describe disproportionality in special education. Through the development of themes from participant responses, the results of the study indicated that teachers had deeply rooted opinions of appropriate classroom behavior and academic achievement. Teachers were more likely to recommend special education services if the student did not align with the teacher&rsquo;s personal experiences of appropriate behavior and academic achievement. In the majority of the sample, teachers recommended that the student be referred for special education services. </p>

<p>Esta investigacion tuvo como proposito estudiar como los estudiantes aprenden cuando se exponen a nuevas practicas educativas de solucion de situaciones en contexto, a traves de treinta estudiantes del nivel superior del Departamento de Educacion de Puerto Rico (DEPR) que toman un curso de Trigonometria. Las mismas estuvieron apoyadas en la estrategia pedagogica de Aprendizaje Basado en Proyecto. La idea de exponer a los estudiantes a resolver situaciones en contexto surgio al estudiar la teoria de aprendizaje de la Matematica en Contexto. Desde un paradigma cualitativo con un dise?o en investigacion en accion se exploro como los estudiantes en los grados superiores resuelven situaciones dentro de su entorno. Se le dio enfasis en como ellos analizan a traves de situaciones en contexto, y como construyen conocimiento a traves de la busqueda de una posible solucion al problema a traves de la estrategia de Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos. Los resultados revelaron que los estudiantes se sintieron parte de la situacion dentro de su entorno y conocian los factores causantes de la misma. Sus impresiones fueron motivacion para desarrollar el Proyecto Escolar que titularon: Rescatando el Huerto Escolar: Sembrando Conciencia. Como parte del proyecto utilizaron sus conocimientos de ciencia y matematica para ir resolviendo la situacion. De esta manera, aprendieron conceptos matematicos que son parte de la base del curso de Trigonometria y que se miden en las pruebas de aprovechamiento academico llamadas Metas PR, antes conocidas como Pruebas Puertorrique?as de Aprovechamiento Academico (PPAA). Proclamaron la colaboracion y organizacion para desarrollar posibles soluciones al problema convirtiendose ellos en una sociedad dedicada a buscar alternativas. Este estudio es una aportacion al mejoramiento y transformacion de la practica social y educativa, a la vez que procura una mejor comprension de dicha praxis. Se desarrollaron dos propuestas curriculares enmarcadas en dos modelos sobre la base de Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos: 1) Modelo de instrumentos esenciales para alcanzar la estrategia de Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos; 2) Modelo de extensiones en la creacion de proyectos escolares. Estas propuestas son recomendadas para los maestros y maestras que imparten cursos de matematicas y quieren introducir a sus estudiantes en nuevas practicas para aprender matematica.

<p> This study inquires into the peak experience of educators arising within educational encounters with students. It indicates a particular trend in education away from authoritarian modes of teacher behavior toward dialogic, empathetic relationships cultivated by teachers with their students. Also indicated is the potential for teachers to transform themselves morally, thereby creating conditions necessary for students to develop moral attitudes and behavior. By developing capacities for meditation, contemplation, and self-reflection, by developing intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, teachers enter on a path of development and actualize a truly human individuality. When self-actualization becomes a modus operando, peak experiences may give self-reflecting teachers knowledge of their own development. </p><p> A mixed-methods approach to the project was used that employed a questionnaire to: (a) establish the demographics of the sample; and (b) survey the types of peak experience that occurred within teachers resulting from educational encounters with children. The questionnaire also requested that the participant give a narrative of a peak experience. From the pool of 46 respondents, seven were chosen for interviews that ultimately clarified and enabled a deeper understanding of the narratives. The interview data and narratives were analyzed using a 3 step process proposed by Ricoeur (1986) and employed by Lindseth and Norberg (2004). The data revealed that teachers working with Steiner pedagogy have a multitude of peak experiences. These teachers use contemplative practice and self-reflection to cultivate intrinsic qualities of empathy, love, and dialogic competence. The findings also affirm that the kinds of peak experience reported by James (1901/2008), Bucke (1905/2006), Maslow (1970), and Csikszentmihalyi (1990) are definitely and extensively in evidence in the sample surveyed. Particular aspects of experience reported also included: dreaming as a mode of cognition, the prescient nature of some experiences, the prevalence of self-reflective and contemplative practices as precursors to peak and transpersonal experiences, the importance of the encounter as a condition for the emergence of such experiences within teachers.</p>

The study reported in this thesis investigates the phenomenon of ‘presence' in teaching. Past research suggests that the relationship between the teacher and student is the “keystone in student achievement, motivation and engagement and in their capacity to trust what they know” (Midgley et al, 1989; Pianta, 1999; Roeser et al, 2000; cited in Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006: 266). Despite this, a comprehensive review of the literature has revealed that the notion of ‘presence', offering a holistic, relational, situated and dynamic lens through which to explore the essential elements of classroom interaction, has been strangely neglected to date in the educational research domain (Kornelsen, 2006; Meijer et al 2009; Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006). Moreover, in many teaching milieus, despite there being so little clarity about what the notion of 'presence' means in teaching terms, it appears as an observational criterion in both initial and developmental teacher education programmes, where it can be used to make judgements about teachers at different stages of their careers. Contextualised within an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) school over a nine month period on site, this phenomenological study employs individual and focus group interviews with teachers, teacher educators and students, alongside classroom observations and post-observation discussions. Findings generated by the study offer a new depth of understanding about the multi-dimensionality and complexity inherent in the notion of 'presence' in teaching and allow a critical interrogation of the ways in which it is currently being used in a school context. This highlights the potential power it has as a pedagogic construct and reveals a paradoxical duality, intrinsic to the ways in which it was construed; making it more suitable for developmental than assessment purposes. In short, this study offers a valuable holistic and existential contribution to understanding the nature of teaching, by augmenting the ways in which teachers and teaching have been construed to date. In addition, by illuminating the inherent ambiguity and paradoxes in the complex, dynamic and multi-layered meaning of ‘Presence in Teaching’, the findings have strong implications for teaching practice, teacher education programmes and in particular for the practice of teacher observation in respect of observer awareness, understanding and development; all of which are discussed in the final chapter of the thesis.

<p> The purpose of this dissertation is to describe and understand how teachers describe the changes in their practices as a result of ten years participation in a one-to-one environment. This research study focuses on one successful middle school&rsquo;s adoption of laptops to support teaching and learning. A qualitative study using interviews of key participants was undertaken with teachers and administrators. The Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was used in conjunction with Rogers&rsquo; Diffusion of Innovation framework to understand from the participants&rsquo; perspective changes to their practice. The results indicate teachers underwent changes in their use of technology to support teaching and learning, showing increasing overlap between the domains of technological and pedagogical knowledge. The changes resulted in an increase in the transparency of the teaching and learning process for other teachers, students, administrators, and parent. These changes were supported by four school-wide factors; the adoption of a common software suite, robust social networks, modeling by leadership and the professional development model used. The findings were discussed in relation to participants&rsquo; position on the adoption spectrum of Rogers&rsquo; Diffusion of Innovation theory.</p>