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Building literacy strategies in a freshman English classroom

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An unrelenting need exists to improve literacy instruction in secondary schools in the United States. Reading scores, especially among minority and language minority students, as well as the economically disadvantaged, have not produced significant gains in recent years. The problem of low level reading skills in secondary grades is complicated…

An unrelenting need exists to improve literacy instruction in secondary schools in the United States. Reading scores, especially among minority and language minority students, as well as the economically disadvantaged, have not produced significant gains in recent years. The problem of low level reading skills in secondary grades is complicated to address, however, as many secondary teachers find themselves ill-equipped to deal with the challenges they face. Improving student achievement by integrating reading comprehension strategies into the freshman English curriculum was the ultimate goal of this innovation. A total of 15 freshman English language arts teachers and 30 freshman students participated in this 14 week action research study, which involved teaching explicit pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies during daily lessons at a large, urban high school in the Southwestern United States. Data were collected using a reading diagnostic test, focus group interviews with teachers, individual interviews with teachers and students, and teacher observations. Findings from the data suggest that professional development designed to infuse comprehension strategies through collaborative inquiry among English language arts teachers contributed to assisting students to perform better on reading diagnostic measures. Furthermore, the findings suggest that this method of professional development served to raise teachers' self-efficacy regarding literacy instruction, which, in turn, improved students' efficacy and performance as readers.
ContributorsWilliams, Jeffrey (Author) / Roe, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Weber, Catherine (Committee member) / Allen, Althe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Employing National Board Certification practices with all teachers: the potential of cognitive coaching and mentoring

Description
National Board Certification is an esteemed certification and professional learning and reflective opportunity for teachers. Cognitive coaching is also a method of support many teachers receive over the course of their National Board Certification journey. The certification process involves reflective practices and opportunities for teachers to think differently about their…

National Board Certification is an esteemed certification and professional learning and reflective opportunity for teachers. Cognitive coaching is also a method of support many teachers receive over the course of their National Board Certification journey. The certification process involves reflective practices and opportunities for teachers to think differently about their instructional decisions and overall teaching practice. This project involves teachers who are not affiliated with the National Board Certification process. The researcher provides them with reflective opportunities and components from the certification process. An analysis of qualitative and quantitative data unveil the following results. First, coaching and practices associated with the National Board Certification process benefit all teachers. In addition, qualitative data from the findings reveal that frequent and consistent reflective opportunities provided to teachers impact their awareness of content knowledge and their students' needs. The findings from this study also suggest that when teachers are given reflective opportunities, time to collaborate with others, and consistent and frequent time to work with a coach, then student achievement is positively affected.
ContributorsDiaz, Kirsten Anne (Author) / Roe, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Weber, Catherine (Committee member) / Tankersley, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013