This study explored the educational journey of a Mexican immigrant teacher from a resiliency perspective by taking a particularized look at how the participant overcame the challenges she faced during recertification processes in the United States. Researchers adopted narrative inquiry methods, collected qualitative data including interviews,…

Background/Context: Mentors play a central role in preparing new teachers. This is multifaceted and demanding work, for which they rarely receive training, instead often relying on their own intuition or past experiences to guide their practice. As a result, most mentoring assumes the format of observation followed by feedback, emphasizing…

School improvement ultimately rests in the hands of teachers, and the balance of teaching and evaluation of learning is the method for sustained success. In his 2009 book, "Visible Learning (VL)," John Hattie acknowledges this statement and contends that the majority of teachers know what works due to reflexive teaching praxis. Many…

School improvement ultimately rests in the hands of teachers, and the balance of teaching and evaluation of learning is the method for sustained success. In his 2009 book, "Visible Learning (VL)," John Hattie acknowledges this statement and contends that the majority of teachers know what works due to reflexive teaching praxis. Many…

This qualitative case study sought to understand how final round candidates for the honor of "Teacher of the Year" in a Midwestern region of the United States described and exhibited the use of affective behaviors and performance techniques to engage students in learning. Seventeen secondary-level educators who possessed teaching…

Entering the teaching profession can be an overwhelming experience for new educators. Like many states, Massachusetts requires school districts to develop and implement induction programming for beginning teachers. The terms "induction" and "mentoring" tend to be used interchangeably by districts and schools resulting in the…

This study focuses on pre-service teachers' experiences and beliefs about critical literacy, the importance of critical literacy, and the lack of explicit practices known about how to teach critical literacy in pre-service teacher education. Data were collected for eight weeks using the Critical Literacy Beliefs Survey (CLBS-1). A sample (N=405)…

Given the deleterious effects on students and teachers caused by ever-expanding neoliberal approaches to K-16 English Language Arts and literacy education policy, this dissertation argues effective policy advocacy and reform absolutely depends on collaborations among secondary ELA and postsecondary composition and English education…

As students enter middle school, many lack literacy skills, especially English language learners (ELLs). The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine what supports middle school teachers perceived they needed to be effective using response to intervention (RTI) strategies with ELLs. This basic qualitative study was framed by the RTI…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and examine the technology-based instructional strategies and digital tools being used by teachers in grades 3-5 that engage children in problem-solving learning opportunities. The study included 11 purposely sampled participants from a school district in East Tennessee who…

We report on the lived experiences of faculty members during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the broader experiences of faculty members as individuals living multifaceted lives whose homes became their offices, their students scattered geographically and their home lives upended. Using a phenomenological approach for data…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore middle school teachers' experiences of incivility within the school environment. In recent years, research has shown that there has been an increase in cases of workplace incivility in school settings across the country. Incivility has been associated with various negative outcomes among…

In the past the turnover rate among teachers had been relatively high, the attention of researchers shifted to factors culminating the high turnover rate among teachers. It was not known to what extent, if any, the predictor variables of mentoring modality and length of employment explained the variance in the criterion variable, teacher turnover…

This study aimed to learn more about what contributes to experienced special education teachers staying committed to the field, rather than focus on a deficit model of why educators leave. Five participants were interviewed about the development of their teaching and personal identities over time and their interactions across ecological systems…

Based on Vygotsky's (1978) Sociocultural Theory, this multicase study explored the ways in which engagement in mentored research activities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) influenced the academic and professional aspirations of five Native Hawaiian undergraduate mentees and their persistence in higher education. The…