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oai:keep.lib.asu.edu:node-2011202025-05-05T15:53:02Zoai_pmh:alloai_pmh:repo_items

201120 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.201120 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2025 125 pages Doctoral Dissertation Academic theses en Bock, James Patrick Buss, Ray Coudret, Dude Berman, Sheldon Arizona State University Partial requirement for: Ed.D., Arizona State University, 2025 Field of study: Educational Psychology ABSTRACTTeachers have been leaving the profession at alarming rates. Attrition has been particularly prevalent among teachers in their first, five years who reported feeling of being demoralized, overwhelmed, stressed, and burned out. Moreover, the pandemic has exacerbated those feelings of stress. New teachers have been plagued with these and added challenges such as managing classrooms, learning new curriculum, and working with students with diverse needs academically, behaviorally, and social-emotionally. In this action research study, I focused on building self-awareness, self-management, and relationship building skills in new teachers to foster prosocial and safe learning classroom environments. The setting for this study was a rural elementary school district in Casa Grande, Arizona. Participants were teachers new to the profession with experience ranging between zero to two years. The intervention consisted of four, one-and-one-half-hour, in-person workshops focusing on social-emotional (SE) competencies including self-awareness, self-management, and relationship building skills. In the workshops, participants took part in a welcoming activities designed to foster psychological safety, followed by skill-building exercises promoting SE competencies through activities, shared experiences, and meaningful discourse. Additionally, they maintained a journal to reflect on various prompts related to the workshop's themes. A mixed-method action research approach was used in this study to evaluate participants' perceptions of their skills and self-efficacy related to self-awareness, self-management, and building relationships. I gathered quantitative and qualitative data by using post-intervention and retrospective, pre-intervention surveys, reflective journaling, semi-structured interviews, and reflective zines. Quantitative results indicated an increase in perceived skills and self-efficacy related to the areas of self-awareness, self-management, and building relationships. Moreover during interviews, participants shared the workshops fostered positive outcomes with respect to self-awareness, self-management, and building relationships in their personal and professional lives. In the discussion, I highlighted the complementary nature of the quantitative and qualitative data in the areas of awareness of emotions, management of emotions, and relationship building, specifically with regard to using cultural competence in the latter area. Finally, I discuss how outcomes are connected to and explained by theoretical perspectives, study limitations, implications for practice, and implications for research. Teacher Education Social Sciences Education Attrition Burnout demoralization New teachers Shortage Social-Emotional Learning The Prosocial Classroom: Fostering Social-Emotional Competencies for New Teachers