Music participation, specifically in an ensemble setting, is known to promote learning and social skills and to contribute to a well-rounded overall education. With this in mind, this qualitative, constructivist grounded theory study explored the impacts that participating in chorus, band, or orchestra has on students’ overall experience in middle school, with a focus on joy and identity development. The researcher interviewed fifteen students about their personal experiences and feelings about their lives as middle schoolers and musicians. The findings, shared in six theoretical concepts tied to the research question, reveal important facets of these students’ experiences that shed light on the value of music education and ensemble opportunities at the middle school level. The discourse shared by the participants communicates to educators and other stakeholders how critical music is to their individual and school lives, and how different the experience might be without it.

With the implementation of No Child Left Behind legislation and a push for reform curricula, prospective teachers must be prepared to facilitate learning at a conceptual level. To address these concerns, an exploratory mixed methods investigation of twenty-eight prospective middle grades teachers’ mathematics knowledge for teaching geometry and mathematical connection-making was conducted at a large public southeastern university. Participants completed a diagnostic assessment in mathematics with a focus on geometry and measurement (CRMSTD, 2007), a mathematical connections evaluation, and a card sort activity. Mixed methods data analysis revealed prospective middle grades teachers’ mathematics knowledge for teaching geometry was underdeveloped and the mathematical connections made by prospective middle grades teachers were more procedural than conceptual in nature.

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Middle school education is fundamental to the lives of millions of adolescents. It is a time of great opportunity for stimulating cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial growth and development. At the same time, the middle school environment can exacerbate the problems that some students face. To this end, decisions by school administrators to promote nutritional health that positively influence the eating behaviors of students on campus are crucial to the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of school principals and the nutritional environment of middle grade schools through an analysis of the affective, social, and educational factors that may contribute to dietary behavior among students. The research methodology for this study consisted of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative population included all middle grade school principals (N = 40) in Kern County, California. Of that number, 68 percent of the principals responded to the survey. The qualitative interview sample (n = 8) consisted of principals selected from the survey population. An analysis of the findings indicated that the nutritional environment of the middle grade school depends on the quality of leadership employed by the principal. Approximately ninety percent of the principals surveyed felt they had inadequate training in nutritional health to integrate nutrition into the curriculum. Sixty-two percent believe they have minimal input into decisions regarding the sale of convenience foods and beverages on their individual campuses. Therefore, their leadership responsibility in the promotion of nutritional health among students does not go beyond that of an overseer. While most principals believe that school leadership and the promotion of nutritional health are interrelated, many principals allow the sale of convenience foods and beverages on their campuses. Clearly, there is inconsistency between what is believed and what is overtly practiced. The results from this study will enable stakeholders of middle grade school education to modify administrative policies and practices in nutrition health promotion.

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This personal narrative autoethnography of my lived experiences as a middle-school service-learning course teacher has helped me solve a personal mystery and present an important perspective for the K-12 service-learning field. With an eye on revealing a unique service-learning classroom concept to educational leaders, enhancing middle level teacher education, and hopes of providing greater opportunities for advancing research on service learning in K-12 education, this study has also aided me in understanding my professional self and my subjective educational theory through a personal interpretive framework (Kelchtermans, 1993, 1999, 2009). Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004; Ellis & Bochner, 2006) as a method to explore my own experiences as a middle school service-learning teacher and the perceptions of critical friends— colleagues, family members, and friends—who have been significant in my experiences, I am able to present an evocative personal narrative on what it means to be a service-learning teacher. Overarching findings from this study reveal that a middle grades service-learning teacher is a self-authored individual (Baxter Magolda, 1999, 2009; Kegan, 1994) who is committed to community-engaged education (Dewey, 1900, 1933), possesses a strong “I must” (Noddings, 2002b, p. 20) perspective on relational care, and are for development in servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977; Sergiovanni, 1992; Bowman, 2005)

Early adolescence is a critical time for examining academic motivation, specifically motivation to read (Hervey, 2013). In order to support self-determined motivation to read, students’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness must be met within the classroom context (Miller & Faircloth, 2014). Since classroom instructional practices are a key component of adolescents’ daily experiences in the classroom, research which investigates the influence of these practices on students’ self-determined motivation to read is needed. In addition, the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the degree to which classroom instructional practices meet students’ needs as well as the influence of classroom instructional practices on students’ self-determined motivation to read must be considered as the perceptions of these two groups of classroom stakeholders rarely fully converge (Delaney et al., 2014; Wang & Eccles, 2014). However, the field is lacking an established measure of both groups’ perceptions of classroom instructional practices and the degree to which they support students’ needs (i.e., competence, autonomy, relatedness) and self-determined (intrinsic) motivation to read. Therefore, this study sought to address this gap in the literature by developing and validating a measure with parallel teacher and student forms called the Language Arts Reading Practices Survey (LARPS). This measure assessed student and teacher perceptions of the degree to which classroom instructional practices in the language arts classroom support students’ needs for competence, autonomy, relatedness, and students’ self-determined motivation to read. The results of this study provide preliminary support for the validity of the student form of the LARPS, with less support for the teacher form of the measure. By assessing both student and teacher perceptions, the LARPS adds to the general understanding of specific instructional practices and how stakeholder groups view these practices regarding their ability to support students’ needs and motivation.

Middle schools in Georgia and all over the United States face unique obstacles for enhancing the academic accomplishment of an increasingly diverse group of learners. Under pressure to implement innovative research-based teaching practices to overcome these challenges, many schools and teachers adopt differentiated instruction (DI), a teaching approach designed to accommodate different learning styles and levels of ability. This study was grounded in Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences and Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) theory. The research questions investigated in this study were designed (1) to explore the perceptions of science teachers regarding how they apply DI and (2) what obstacles they encountered in their application of DI methods. The data collected were analyzed using occurring themes through individual interviews, observations, and artifacts from 5 regular education science teachers and 2 special service teachers who implemented DI in their classroom. Findings of the study revealed that the teachers experienced successes and difficulties in implementing DI strategies in science. They addressed these difficulties by changing their lessons to coincide with available materials or resources and applying low-preparation DI strategies to meet the needs of each student. Data from this study informed social change by assisting teachers in providing enhanced instruction which promotes student engagement and academic success through the grades. In turn, empowers students to graduate from high school prepared for advanced learning, which leads to productive careers.

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