This dissertation is a narrative account of a self-study undertaken with the primary aim of positively influencing the morale of colleagues in my school department. It addresses an area of personal and professional concern where my values were being denied in my practice. As a Head of Department, I was worried that the low morale of my colleagues would negatively impact on the quality of teaching and learning at school, and on their own mental health. Situated within self-efficacy theory, my study reflects the values I attach to human dignity, respect, fairness, honesty perseverance and caring. These values were applied as the living standard by which I judged the quality of my leadership practice. I describe how I used an Action Research methodology as a living transformational process to reflect on my own leadership in terms of how I could influence the development of positive morale in the department. My findings offer new conceptualisations about how teachers can take action to improve the emotional climate of the school. I am claiming that the significance of my research is grounded in my ability to facilitate an improvement in the low morale of myself and my colleagues in order for us to ultimately contribute to self and school improvement.

This qualitative study investigated four monolingual, English-only speaking Caucasian elementary music teachers and their reflections regarding instruction of English language learners (ELL). The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate the teaching practice and curricular decisions of elementary music teachers who instruct Hispanic ELL students. The investigation was conducted during a nine-week period, and data collection included classroom observations, phenomenological interviewing, and teacher audio journals. None of the teachers had prior education or pre-service preparation in teaching music to ELL students. The major theoretical base from which the study was developed was the reflective teaching theory of Donald Schön (1983). The main research question was: "What are the participating teachers' reflections about their curricular and pedagogical decisions when teaching ELL students?" Following a description of the elementary music teachers' reflections on practice with ELL students, the study revealed that the majority of elementary music teachers had a lack of preparation and ELL music curriculum, and negative perceptions of the placement program for ESL students. Despite these factors, the teachers made attempts to include ELL students in all music activities. This study showed that while one teacher accommodated specifically for the ELL students' learning, three out of four teachers did not. This study also suggests that music is a subject by which strong interactions between peers, opportunity for language expansion, and other factors occur which have positive correspondence to recommended ELL instructional strategies. A cross-case analysis revealed that the life history and experience of the elementary music teachers had an influence on the teachers' awareness of ELL students. The analysis suggests a relationship between teacher awareness and accommodation. The study also recognized the need for further inquiry regarding ELL students and issues related to their school placement. This study has implications for music education research including suggestions for music teacher preparation in working with ELL students, ELL music resources and curriculum, and pre-service and in-service ELL music preparation.

The purpose of this project was to determine if there was a correlation between teachers' scores on fractions items on project assessments and the percentage of participation time in professional development activities.

This study tested the hypothesis that the combination of teachers' sense of efficacy, and teacher motivation predicts student participatory behavior, and that teacher behaviors mediate this relationship. This study consists of two parts: surveying community college instructors and observing instructors' lectures and student participation.

No description available.

The significance of the project was to answer the call of California schools in their plight to stop attrition and retain teachers. This project alone or in conjunction with other programs offered by schools/school districts gives them another tool to reach their goal of 100% teacher retention. It is the belief of this project that the problems with retention could be diminished if not eliminated, by giving beginning teachers a handbook.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka lärares inställning till digitala verktyg i läs- och skrivundervisningen. Syftet är också att undersöka hur lärare anser att digitala verktyg kan påverka elevers läs- och skrivutveckling. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare som undervisar i svenskämnet i årskurs 4–6 visar undersökningen att lärares inställning till att använda digitala verktyg i läs- och skrivundervisningen är positiv överlag och framför allt gäller det i skrivundervisningen. Enligt informanterna motiveras eleverna till skrivandet och till att bearbeta sina texter när det görs genom digitala verktyg. Samtidigt finns det också enligt informanterna vissa negativa aspekter med användningen av digitala verktyg såsom att handstilen försämras och att digitala verktyg kan leda till onödig distraktion av olika hemsidor. Sammanfattningsvis visar studien att de intervjuade lärarna inte anser att digitala verktyg. / The aim of this study is to examine teachers’ attitudes towards the use of digital tools in the teaching of reading and writing. The aim is also to find out how teachers perceive the impact of digital tools on pupils’ development in reading and writing. Based on semi-structured interviews with teachers teaching Swedish in year 4-6, the study finds that teachers’ attitudes towards digital tools is positive overall, especially in relation to the teaching of writing. According to the informants, digital tools provide motivation for pupils to write and rework their texts. However, the informants also addressed certain negative aspects of the use of digital tools, such as possible deterioration in pupils’ handwriting and unnecessary distraction of different web pages. To sum up, the study shows that the interviewed teachers do not think that digital tools alone, have any great effect on pupils’ development in reading and writing. Rather, the teachers believe that a varied approach to teaching is necessary and that digital tools can be useful in such an approach.

Whether there is a place for L1 use in the EFL classroom or not is a debated topic. Lately, a slight shift from an English-only approach toward a more accepting attitude toward L1 use can be seen. Additionally, teaching should “as far as possible” be conducted in English, according to the National Agency of Education, Skolverket (2011, p. 53). Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate upper secondary students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward L1 use in the EFL classroom in a Swedish context. Moreover, this study will aim to examine any potential connections between attitudes and societal and motivational factors. Via online questionnaires distributed to schools in Gävleborg county, 373 students and 15 teachers participated in the study. The findings in this study confirm the findings from the majority of previous attitudinal studies; there is a general consensus of a positive attitude toward L1 use among the students and teachers, but English should still be the main language used. Instead, a judicious use of L1 as a tool to facilitate comprehension is suggested. Finally, some factors such as motivation and L1 appear to affect the students’ and teachers’ preferences regarding L1 use in the EFL classroom as well.

In 2010, Oregon Department of Education (ODE) developed a set of rubrics designed to score a state required performance assessment targeting Science Inquiry (SI) and Engineering Design (ED) skills. During the development of the rubrics, ODE invited six panels of teachers to provide feedback on an early draft of the rubrics. This case study analyzed the teachers' feedback and the revisions of the rubrics to identify the types of feedback teachers offered and how ODE used that feedback to develop the rubrics. The results showed the teachers' feedback focused on defining the skills students were asked to demonstrate and distinguishing levels of student performance. There was clear evidence that the teachers' feedback had a substantial impact on the development of the rubrics. These results suggest that teachers can add substantial value during the development of a state issued assessment tool.

A large proportion of youth in foster care receive special education services, and poor educational outcomes are one of the most important difficulties facing these youth. One potential risk affecting the low educational achievements of youth in foster care and special education could be teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments toward them. Teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments could have negative effects on youths' behaviors, school attitudes and school performance. Yet, research on the nature and the impact of teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments remains limited. Based on labeling and attribution theories, this study investigated the nature and impact of teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments on the school performance of 123 youth in foster care and special education. Qualitative analysis of the youths' IEP documents was conducted, along with longitudinal quantitative analysis of the associations of negative and stigmatizing IEP comments and the youths' school attitudes, behavior, and performance. Qualitative findings revealed that almost three-fourths of the IEPs included one or more negative comments, and that a substantial proportion of teachers' negative comments specifically included stigmatizing features that could convey negative attitudes or perceptions about the youth to others, including subjective or judgmental comments, biased reports from other teachers, low expectations, and little attention to context or reason. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that teachers' negative comments indirectly predicted youths' school absences through a mediational effect of youths' problem behaviors, and the relationship between current and future youth absences was partially mediated through a complex mechanism incorporating both direct and indirect pathways involving youths' school attitudes and problem behaviors. The findings highlight the important predictive and potentially protective roles of teachers' negative comments and youths' school attitudes and problem behaviors on youths' absenteeism.