This qualitative study was designed to examine the influences of language, culture, and power on teacher instructional decision-making with high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms. The research questions were crafted to address how language, culture, and power influenced: (1) teachers' instructional planning when working with high-achieving African American students in the secondary English classrooms as they use literary and informational texts to support literacy development; (2) teachers' understanding of how language, culture, and power impact instructional decision-making when planning for literacy development with high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms, and (3) teachers' understanding of how language, culture, and power influence learning and achievement for high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms. The framework for this study was grounded in several intersectional theories related to; (a) schools as communities of practice (Wenger, 1998); (b) language as identity shaper and inseparable from culture (Delpit, 2002;Gee, 2005; Labov, 1972; Lee, 2007; Nieto, 2010; Smitherman, 1977; and Thornborrow, 1999); (c) culture as emergent due to human interaction (Carrithers, 1992); (d) power is a force in all relationships and interactions, which creates imbalances and determine the degree to which the language variations and cultures interact freely and equitably (Burbules, 1986; Freire, 1921/1970; Giroux, 1992; Nyberg, 1981; Shrigley, 1986); (e) race is a social construct and racism is normal infiltrating every aspect of US society including the education of marginalized groups (Delgado and Stefancic, 2012; Ford, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995); (f) secondary students acquire, develop, and engage with literacy differently from their elementary counterparts and require teachers to deepen their knowledge about the ways adolescents engage with texts (Alexander, 2003; Chall, 1983; Goldman and Snow, 2015; Idrisano and Chall, 1995; McConachie and Petrosky, 2009; Moje, 1996/2002; Piercy and Piercy, 2010; Schoenbach, Greenleaf, and Murphy, 2012; Shanahan and Shanahan, 2008). Participant interviews, lesson plans, and field notes generated data to address the research questions. Findings demonstrated language, culture, and power are intersectional and influence every aspect of the instructional decision-making process. This study provides insight into teacher's thinking about their planning and how the inquiry constructs influence that planning. / Ph. D. / This study was designed to gain insight into the influences of language, culture, and power on teacher instructional decision-making with high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms. Three research questions were crafted to address how language, culture, and power influenced: (1) teachers’ instructional planning when working with high-achieving African American students in the secondary English classrooms as they use literary and informational texts to support literacy development; (2) teachers’ understanding of how language, culture, and power impact instructional decision-making when planning for literacy development with high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms, and (3) teachers’ understanding of how language, culture, and power influence learning and achievement for high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms. Several interconnected theories formed the basis of this inquiry and were related to (a) schools as communities of practice (Wenger, 1998); (b) language as identity shaper and inseparable from culture (Delpit, 2002;Gee, 2005; Labov, 1972; Lee, 2007; Nieto, 2010; Smitherman, 1977; & Thornborrow, 1999); (c) culture develops as humans interact (Carrithers, 1992); (d) power is present in all relationships and interactions; it creates imbalances and determines how varieties of language variations and cultures freely and equitably interact (Burbules, 1986; Freire, 1921/1970; Giroux, 1992; Nyberg, 1981; Shrigley, 1986); (e) race is a social construct and racism is normal infiltrating every aspect of US society including the education of marginalized groups (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Ford, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995); (f) secondary students acquire, develop, and engage with literacy differently from their elementary counterparts and require teachers to increase their knowledge about how adolescents engage with texts (Alexander, 2003; Chall, 1983; Goldman & Snow, 2015; Idrisano & Chall, 1995; McConachie & Petrosky, 2009; Moje, 1996/2002; Piercy & Piercy, 2010; Schoenbach, Greenleaf, & Murphy, 2012; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Participant interviews, lesson plans, and field notes generated data to address the research questions. Findings showed language, culture, and power are intersectional and influence every aspect of the instructional decision-making process. This study provides insight into teacher’s thinking about their planning and how the inquiry constructs influence that planning.

Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / There is limited research on the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. While successful teaching is often defined through test scores, good teaching encompasses the moral elements of teaching (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). This study, building on the work of Mitescu, Cochran-Smith, Pedulla, Cannady, and Jong (2011), is a secondary analysis examining the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. A subsample of 4th and 5th grade English/language arts (ELA) teachers (n=107) and students (n=2587) was taken from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2013). Classroom videos were coded using the Teaching for Social Justice Observation Scale (TSJOS) of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol-Plus (RTOP+) (Mitescu et al.) to measure socially just teaching practices. Unadjusted linear regression analyses indicated a positive significant correlation between teachers’ mean TSJOS score and the class averages on standardized state ELA exams and the class average on an assessment of higher-order thinking skills. This relationship was also found when the same analysis was conducted on 4th grade classrooms as well as 5th grade classrooms. A hierarchical multiple linear regression found a positive significant relationship between TSJOS scores and student achievement after accounting for location, teacher, and student predictor variables. The relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement for subgroups of students is discussed. The study analyzed the significance and magnitude of the relationship between socially just teaching practices after two widely used classroom observation protocols, the Framework for Teaching (FfT) and the Protocol for Language Arts Observation Scale (PLATO), were entered into the model. Teacher mean TSJOS scores were found to explain a significant and unique proportion of the variation in state assessment scores after accounting for average FfT ELA observation scores and teacher average PLATO observation scores, separately. This study adds to the literature on the connection between socially just teaching practices and student achievement, in that it provides compelling evidence that socially just teaching practices are not only related to the good, or moral, side of teaching, but also have a positive and significant relationship with increased student achievement for all students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Students with moderate/severe intellectual disabilities/autism have been underexposed to grade aligned ELA content. This session highlights research to guide participants practice in implementing meaningful grade aligned ELA content such as opinion writing, comprehension of fiction and nonfiction text, and student led research via technology for students with low incidence disabilities.

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A researched and standards-based program for secondary students learning language arts skills Product Features: Complements Teaching to Standards: English Language Arts Includes eight pieces of adapted literature with read-aloud function Features age-appropriate literature likeHoles and Number the Stars Provides vocabulary, prediction, and reading activity for each story Incorporates progress monitoring, constant time-delay procedure, and least intrusive prompting Also available as the Access Language Arts Software

We will combine hands-on science investigations with supporting literacy activities to help students conduct original research on animal behaviors and communicate their findings.

We will combine hands-on science investigations with supporting literacy activities to help students build conceptual models of photosynthesis.

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The ways in which teachers and students speak to each other in middle and secondary English language arts classrooms is integral to the type of learning that occurs there. Ways of engaging in “classroom talk” can be characterized as teacher-centered or student-centered. Teacher-centered classroom talk typically unfolds as a sequence of three steps – a teacher asks a question with a predetermined answer, a student responds, and the teacher evaluates the response. In contrast, student-centered classroom talk is engaging, collaborative, and reciprocal – in these scenarios, teachers and students both ask questions that have multiple answers, students talk to other students, and the discussions grow organically. Working with students in the student-centered way is called dialogic teaching, and while we know dialogic teaching is beneficial to student learning, we also know engaging in this type of teaching is fraught with difficulties. This study sought to explore these difficulties by examining the lived experience of dialogic teaching through the perspectives of six middle and secondary English language arts teachers. The study offers portraits of each teacher’s respective experiences as well as themes that cut across all the teachers’ experiences. Insights are offered about dialogic teaching in terms of lesson planning and attitudes toward students; these insights are termed dialogic by design and dialogic by disposition, respectively.