In the past decade, educational researchers have engaged in research on teacher emotion regulation. However, there has never been an in-depth look at teacher emotion regulation studied from the first person perspective of the teacher. This study seeks to offer just such a perspective. The self-study explored how, across time, I as the teacher participant, teaching in a mid-socioeconomic suburb of Utah, responded emotionally in terms of classroom interactions. Over a 4-month period, I made daily "in the moment" recordings of emotional classrooms situations and at the end of each week, the collection of recordings was reviewed and coded, creating analytic memos that identified patterns of responses. A critical friend then interrogated my analysis to provide me with critique, analysis, and response concerning the patterns and progression she and I identified. This process reveals a pattern of emotional experience (that of a triggering episode eliciting an emotional response, followed by negative or positive reaction) and the subsequent less or more effective coping strategies. As the study progressed, the coping strategies I utilized as emotion regulation in my classroom shifted from less to more effective as I made judgments about whether my responses effectively supported me in terms of emotion regulation, and my goals for the classroom. Reflection shifted my understanding of the underlying reasons for my emotional responses, which enabled me to create new patterns of analysis and response that led me to better regulate my emotion within my classroom. Findings reveal that reflection, coupled with interaction with a critical friend, contributes significantly to my development of emotion regulation as a teacher. Although this study provides an examination into my particular emotion regulation, both teachers and teacher educators can profit from the findings. This study demonstrates the need for a different kind of professional development for supporting teacher emotion regulation, one that incorporates cycles of "in the moment" recording of experience, reflection on experiences, and interaction with a critical friend allowing space to adjust and retry. The findings suggest practical approaches to support teachers in developing more effective emotion regulation.

This dissertation examined different facets of teacher turnover in Southern Arizona by using literature from education, educational psychology, and industrial and organizational psychology. The purpose of synthesizing across research domains was to obtain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. Motivation for the study reflected the teacher shortages faced on a national (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016) and regional level (Educator Retention and Recruitment Task Force, 2015). In order to identify potential strategies for increasing teacher retention, the dissertation project pursued three studies on this topic. Study 1 utilized data from the Schools and Staffing Survey project. Participants were matched across the 2011-2012 Teacher Questionnaire and 2012-2013 Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS) in order to determine whether teachers' beliefs at Time 1 varied by their occupational status at Time 2 (i.e., stayer, leaver, or mover). The study also asked whether teachers' beliefs and attitudes predicted the odds of being a stayer, mover, or leaver at Time 2. Exploratory factor analyses, analyses of variance, and logistic regressions were utilized. Results indicated that there were no differences between teacher groups; and, none of the variables predicted TFS status. Study 2 specifically examined whether teachers differentiated between organizational (school) and occupational (profession) beliefs, particularly in regards to turnover intentions. The study also examined whether specific variables differentially predicted organizational and occupational turnover intentions. The purpose was to identify specific areas that increased both types of retention. Analyses relied on confirmatory factor analyses, analyses of variance, and structural equation modeling. Results indicated that teachers’ beliefs were empirically distinct and that each type of turnover consisted of unique predictors. Study 3 emphasized perceived school goal structure, or school-level goals for teachers, teacher learning, and performance. Mastery school goal structure generally reflected goals for teacher development whereas performance goal structure reflected testing and high performance goals. Both school goal structures were examined in relation to teachers’ occupational turnover intentions, emotion, and coping. Exploratory factor analyses, correlation analyses, and hierarchical linear regression analyses were used in the study. Results indicated that there were two performance school goal structures rather than one anticipated structure: one that emphasized testing and another that emphasized social comparison for teachers. Perceived mastery school goal structure related to lower intentions to leave the profession and more productive coping. Perceived performance-testing school goal structure generally related to more negative affect and ineffective coping; neither performance goal structure related to turnover intentions. Overall, the three studies inform the literature regarding teacher beliefs, motivation, and turnover intentions. The dissertation increases our understanding of teachers' school- and work-related beliefs, and it informs what we know about teachers' turnover intentions. Furthermore, the findings encourage future research on teachers' beliefs and actual turnover, particularly within the current educational context.

No description available.

To maintain a sense of identity and self-confidence, humans rely on cognitive structures that allow individuals to identify similarities between prior experiences and new ones brought about by change. Educators are subjected to work environments that are in a state of constant change brought about by continuous series of new educational policies that teachers are tasked to implement within their classrooms. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how five elementary school teachers experienced and responded to educational policy changes that influenced their instructional practices. This study also investigated the role and influence school sub-cultures had on elementary school teacher's experiences of and responses to educational policy change, and the role school sub-cultures played in teacher-initiated change during periods of policy change. Data were collected through focus groups, interviews, and journal response by teacher-participants. This study was framed by two concepts: communities of practice , by which individuals, who share common concerns or passions, interact with others routinely to learn from one another in a way that improves his or her particular practice, and organizational culture which views organizations as structures that consist of multiple smaller groups or cultures. Following the phenomenological data analysis process described by Creswell and Patten, the primary themes that emerged from the experiences of the five teachers in this study were: 1) Perceived student academic needs , 2) The influence of the principal , 3) Curriculum changes and professional communities , 4) Professional development , 5) Grade level team influences , 6) Teacher identity , and 7) Teacher emotion . Findings of this study provide a deeper understanding of: teacher decision-making as they try to understand and integrate new policies into their instructional practices, the importance of how school principals lead and support teachers during periods of policy change, the inconsistency of professional support provided by their school district, and how changes in professional networks brought about by policy changes create conflict between teachers identities and altered educational environments. The findings of this study provide researchers insights for future research how teacher identities and communities of practice influence teacher responses to educational policy changes.