The personal literacy experiences English Language Arts (ELA) teachers have are an important factor in shaping their pedagogical thinking about literacy. More research is needed, however, on the relationship between literacy experiences and pedagogical thinking for preservice teachers implementing new literacies such as transmedia stories. Transmedia stories are an emerging twenty-first century storytelling form in which a narrative is told over multiple texts and media platforms and is often extended further by reader contributions. Theoretical research has suggested that transmedia stories can be used in the ELA classroom to teach both traditional literacies and 21st century literacies. While researchers, scholars, and educators have begun to theorize about how such stories might benefit literacy and ELA education, little empirical research exists as to how these narratives are perceived by teachers and how this new literacy might actually be implemented in a classroom. Research is needed on how preservice ELA teachers engage with transmedia stories and how this relates to their perceptions of teaching this new literacy. The current study addressed this research need by investigating how preservice ELA teachers perceived, read, and created transmedia stories and how they saw implementing these texts in an ELA classroom. Specifically, this study asked: 1) In what ways does engaging with a transmedia story influence how preservice ELA teachers perceive transmedia stories?; 2) In what ways does reading a transmedia story influence how preservice ELA teachers perceive implementing transmedia stories in the classroom?; and 3) In what ways does creating a transmedia extension text influence how preservice ELA teachers perceive implementing transmedia stories in the classroom? To investigate these questions, the study used Hawley-Turner and Hicks’ (2015) Connected Reading Model as a theoretical framework to conceptualize transmedia stories as a new literacy that encourages different ways of encountering, engaging with, and evaluating texts. An exploratory case study design was used, and data were collected from ten preservice ELA teachers in a purposefully selected course on adolescent literacy and young adult literature through a pre-and post-survey, reading logs, a reflection, a participant-created transmedia extension text, a visual map of reading, an individual interview, and a focus group. The data sources were analyzed through inductive, deductive, and focused coding. From this analysis, the study found that the preservice teachers perceived transmedia stories as enjoyable, immersive, interactive, creative, and social and saw implementing these stories in an ELA classroom to: engage students; develop technological and media literacy; scaffold to canonical literature; and develop comprehension, literary analysis, and writing skills. While the preservice teachers experienced transmedia story engagement as a new literacy and were optimistic about the new possibilities afforded by such engagement, these results suggest that the preservice teachers most often perceived implementing these texts as tools to scaffold to the standards and goals of a traditional ELA curriculum and were less likely to integrate transmedia storytelling as a transformative new literacy defined by the new ethos elements they experienced and identified. These findings reflect research on how teachers often leverage new literacies to teach a traditional curriculum. The findings also suggest that preservice teachers negotiate between experience and ideology when implementing new literacies, sifting through their personal literacy experiences for where these experiences align with their existing education ideologies when thinking about how to implement new literacies. Building on such research, the study aims to contribute to transmedia studies research, teacher education research, and the field of English Education by investigating how the sample of preservice ELA teachers engaged with and perceived teaching transmedia stories and by paving the way for future empirical research on transmedia stories, new literacy implementation, and preservice teacher education. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / August 31, 2017. / english education, new literacies, preservice teachers, teacher education, transmedia stories / Includes bibliographical references. / Shelbie Witte, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Sherry Southerland, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Don Latham, University Representative; John Myers, Committee Member; Melissa Gross, Committee Member.

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Orientador: Solange Vera Nunes de Lima D' Água / Banca: Humberto Perinelli Neto / Banca: Vlademir Marim / Resumo: O Programa de Ensino Integral (PEI) se constitui em um modelo escolar lançado como política pública no Estado de São Paulo, em 2012, para tentar atender às demandas da etapa do Ensino Médio, relacionadas especialmente ao acesso, formação e permanência dos estudantes na escola e, para tanto, propõe mudanças na abordagem pedagógica, no tempo destinado ao ensino e, sobretudo, na carreira e atuação do professor na unidade escolar. Dessa forma, apresenta uma especificidade de formação docente, dada como premissa fundamental do Programa, com vistas a possibilitar a melhora no processo de ensino e de aprendizagem e, com isso, valorizar a educação dos jovens de 15 a 17 anos. Diante disso, esse estudo analisou o referido processo formativo, com o objetivo de identificar potencialidades e desafios no que se refere à conquista de uma proposta formativa de efeito real para a atuação do professor e sua prática educativa, no sentido de tentar atender às expectativas de aprendizagem para esse nível de ensino. Assim, foi realizado um estudo de abordagem qualitativa, envolvendo a discussão e análise de conhecimentos específicos, baseado em procedimentos bibliográficos e documentais, para verificar em que medida a proposta formativa docente específica do PEI favorece a formação dos professores para o trabalho nessa modalidade educacional, especialmente no Ensino Médio. Nessa perspectiva, o trabalho discutiu a trajetória desse nível de ensino ao longo dos anos, para entender suas características... / Abstract: The Integral Education Program (PEI) is a school model launched as a public policy in São Paulo State, in 2012, to try to meet the demands of the High School stage, especially related to access, training and permanence of students in school and, to this end, proposes changes in the pedagogical approach, in the time devoted to teaching and, above all, in the career and performance of the teacher in the school unit. So, it presents a specificity of teacher education, given as a fundamental premise of the Program, to improve the teaching and learning process and, with this, to value the education of young people aged 15 to 17 years old. Therefore, this study analyzed the aforementioned formative process, aiming to identify potentialities and challenges regarding to the achievement of a formative proposal of real effect for the teacher's performance and his educational practice, in the sense of trying to meet the expectations of learning for this level of education. Thus, a qualitative study was carried out, involving the discussion and analysis of specific knowledge, based on bibliographic and documental procedures, to verify in what extent the specific educational proposal of PEI favors the teachers training for the work in this educational modality, especially in high school. In this perspective, this essay discussed the trajectory of this level of education over the years, in order to understand its current characteristics and needs, taking as its basis the concept of ... / Mestre

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This study examines the evolution of my understanding of critical pedagogy as I work alongside my students to co-construct the curriculum in our social studies teacher education course. As a critical pedagogue, I seek to challenge traditional structures of power and control in the classroom and problematize the ideas and discourses that define our ability to act (and be acted upon) within the context of higher education. I embrace Paulo Freire's vision of education as dialogue between students-teachers and teacher-student. Yet, my pedagogy is not enacted in a vacuum. My classes are bound within the institutional mandates of higher education and governed by state standards concerning teacher certification. Teachers and students are caught up in the context of schooling and the normative power that represents. My attempts to redefine asymmetrical classroom power relations are challenged by Foucault's argument that individuals assume responsibility for the constraints of power and become the principle of their own subjugation. Herein lies the crux of my dilemma as a critical social studies teacher educator: inhabiting the space between my commitment to Freirean critical pedagogy and my recognition of Foucauldian power relations. This study uses an autoethnographic lens to examine my evolution as a critical social studies teacher educator. I employ creative nonfiction and narrative vignettes to invite the reader to share in my experiences as a teacher educator and engage in a dialogue about the implications of the text. Teacher educators, teachers, and students grapple with issues of classroom power and control on a daily basis. This study opens a space for these readers to rethink their own pedagogical commitments and furthers the discussion of what it means to be a critical pedagogue. My understanding of authority and my conception of what it means to be a teacher educator continue to evolve as I work alongside students in a co-constructed social studies teacher education course. My discomfort with my institutional authority has given way to an acceptance of the authority that emerges from knowledge itself. I have come to recognize a difference between authoritarian pedagogy and pedagogical authority. These understandings continue to develop, for I am (and will always be) in my beginnings as a teacher educator.

A key to achieving academic success in science is providing students with meaningful experiences and skills to negotiate how these experiences affect them and the society in which they live. Although students strive for academic success, a challenge that faces many urban science students and their teachers is finding ways to promote student engagement in the science classroom. In order to support students in urban settings and to better identify the ways in which students may better learn science concepts and develop a sense of belonging or affiliation to science, this qualitative research study explores the development of a classroom group identity (CGI) based on the frameworks of social identity theory, interaction ritual chain theory, and communities of practice. The interactions and experiences of eighteen student participants in a Bronx high school chemistry class were studied over the course of a full school year. Using a conceptual lens of classroom group identity, a model construct and definition were built identifying four stages of CGI development. At the culmination of the study, a positive change in perceptions, attitudes, leadership skills, and classroom behaviors in learning science was primarily observed by two students developing a CGI. The study has implications for the teaching and learning of high school sciences.

Despite the ubiquitous presence of children in society, the dominant discourse of childhood does not admit room for much of the complexity that the condition of children presents. This project shows that reading for childhood in philosophy and literature makes space for re-imagining childhood as a complex and valuable concept that impacts both the experience of children and their relationships with others and the world. This project situates childhood as a magnified time of growth and development, a unique aspect of human life. At the same time childhood cultivates an interest in and with others, it is also a constructed concept. This inquiry engages this complexity by a reading of rich descriptions and inquiries of childhood in texts of philosophy and literature. These foundational texts are: Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile, John Dewey's Democracy and Education, Simone De Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, Virginia Woolf's The Waves, Vivian Paley's The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Helicopter, and Harriet Cuffaro's Experimenting with the World. Childhood in the texts functions to complicate and reframe conventional and historical interpretations of childhood. The readings in the project challenge a conventional rendering of childhood that serves to distance childhood from its wider community. Childhood is reframed as a concept of inclusion of the other, particularly the adult educator. The project expands scholarship examining how adult interactions with childhood manifest changes in conceptual understandings or practices. The project concludes that cultivating habits of reading for the concept of childhood assists educators in engaging their teaching practice meaningfully. Uncovering the complexity of the concept of childhood invites educators to uncover such ethical aspects of the educational relationship as responsibility, recognition, acceptance of difference, acknowledgement of power dynamics, freedom, and growth. In this context childhood functions as an ethical construct - a guiding value - in education. Multiple ways of viewing and reflecting on the concept of childhood illuminate possibilities for renewing and reengaging these ethical aspects within an educational context.

Responding to current concerns about the quality of public education, in this dissertation I look at teacher development. Specifically, I take up the question: how do we promote teacher flourishing? Though the "we" refers to anyone with a vested interest in education, my primary audience is teachers, administrators, and teacher educators. From this lens I investigate questions of how the teaching life can connect the teacher to the good life. I address this from two perspectives. More broadly, I ask: How can we support the teacher in a manner that contributes to his or her achievement of the good life? Focusing on more specific practices: How can we support the teacher to achieve success in the role of teacher? I assert that teaching is complex work that requires a professional who knows the content taught, has a deep understanding of individual students, and utilizes a host of methods for conveying information and creating community within a classroom. I will argue that the successful teacher depends on what has been defined as practical wisdom--knowing what knowledge to apply to a given situation and how best to apply it. Having argued the relevance of practical wisdom in teaching, the remaining chapters will look more closely at how those concerned with teacher education might help teachers develop it. Specifically, I will first explore: * How can practical wisdom be cultivated in teachers? (Chapter 2) * How does narrative promote practical wisdom? (Chapter 3) * How do narratives about teaching referred to as Reflective Teacher Narratives in particular promote practical wisdom? (Chapter 4) Reflective Teacher Narratives are first person narratives written by teachers about their classrooms. The texts focus on individual students, follow a plot, and highlight the teacher's strengths and areas of difficulty. Ultimately, I will conclude that reading Reflective Teacher Narratives support teacher flourishing by providing a means of looking closely at both teachers' practices and thinking. Reflective Teacher Narratives also provide the scaffolding for a means of talking with teachers that supports development and affirms the teacher.

Technology has long been viewed an important tool in education and instructional software offers unique affordances that when designed well can help improve teaching and learning. However, for software to effectively impact education, teachers must be prepared to effectively incorporate it into the classroom. This is a task that involves many factors, three of which explored in this study include the abilities to integrate, find, and evaluate quality of educational software. With the increasing support for the use of educational software with young children, it is imperative to understand the unique challenges early childhood teachers face and how teacher education programs are preparing them to meet the demands of an evolving 21st century education system. Contrary to their colleagues who teach older students, extensive research on this population and topic is largely absent. Given that little research has been done to evaluate how prepared pre-service teachers are to enter the early childhood classroom and integrate educational software, the main goals of this study were to offer preliminary insight on their experiences using and preparing to use educational software with young children; how they approach evaluating quality of educational software; and beliefs on how well their teacher education programs have prepared them. Results from this study have important implications for the design of teacher education programs and in-service professional development on the integration of educational software at the early childhood grade levels. This paper provides initial evidence that pre-service early childhood teachers may be under-prepared to enter the classroom ready to effectively integrate educational software and demonstrates a clear need for more research on how teacher education programs prepare their students to integrate, find, and evaluate quality of educational software in the classroom setting. Furthermore, results also offer school administrators insight on how prepared first year teachers are meet classroom expectations. For educational technology to significantly impact teaching and learning, targeted in-service professional development opportunities and enhanced teacher education may be necessary, even for the generations of teachers who grew up during the technological explosion.

Next Generation Science Standards and the Framework for K-12 Science Education encourage teachers to not only change the content of their teaching, but also the way that they deliver it. In order to promote these modern teaching practices, professional development (PD) experiences for teachers need to develop new approaches that enhance the transfer of the PD context into the teachers’ classroom practice. In this research study, professional learning communities (PLCs), defined as collaborative groups of teachers who make their practice visible within their professional learning, are analyzed in a formally instituted series of teacher professional education offerings. Moreover, the setting included a professional learning community composed of teacher-facilitators who were actively engaged as facilitators of other PLCs. The goal of this design experiment was to both explore PLCs as PD models within science education as well as to begin to develop tools for PD that allow teachers to work from within the context of their own classroom. The sources of evidence used in this study included teacher and student produced artifacts and interviews, and written transcripts of the sessions were also examined. All data were primarily explored using methodology taken from grounded theory. This approach facilitated identification of emergent themes that particularly addressed some of the ways that researchers and teacher leaders can work together in the future to make certain that PD and the teachers’ classroom practices are more coherently connected. The following themes were identified: refining the focus of professional learning communities to allow for investigations of student learning in the classroom, especially with an eye towards supporting transparency of practice through artifacts, and the usefulness of cycles of inquiry as a construct for planning professional learning communities. Furthermore, it became clear that there is a need for explicit norms to frame the classroom around what constitutes acceptable explanations and justifications for productive classroom experiences. Among other findings, it is recommended that borrowing from and adapting the work of scholars in sociomathematical norms around the use of explanations can be the basis for a possible framework for improving future studies of teacher professional practice.