Department of Curriculum and Instruction

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Browsing Department of Curriculum and Instruction by Author "Atkinson, Becky M."

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    The conceptualizations of interest, reading engagement, and motivation in high school English teachers' literature instruction
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Davis, Ashley Lane; Coleman, Julianne M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate the literature instruction practices of two high school English teachers. Furthermore, this study sought to explore how the participants' conceptualizations of interest, reading engagement, and motivation were reflected in their literature instructional practices. Using various qualitative methods of data collection, such as interviews and observations, the researcher utilized emerged open and focused codes to interpret findings revealed through the data. Five focused codes emerged from the data analysis: 1) Selecting Literature and Identifying a Purpose for Reading, 2) Planning for Instruction, 3) Strategic Teaching, 4) Role of Literary Criticism, and 5) Engaging Students in Reading. In the cross case analysis, five themes emerged across the two cases: 1) The Constraints and Freedoms of the Educational Climate, 2) The Influence of Each Teacher's Education Preparation on Their Teaching Methodologies, 3) How Teaching to One's Strengths Affects Instructional Planning and Implementation, 4) The Role of Situational and Individual Interest During in Class Activities, and 5) The Role That Student Autonomy and Teacher Support Play in Students' Engagement with Texts and Motivation to Read. The findings of this case study suggest that the two participants could clearly discuss their conceptualizations of interest, reading engagement, and motivation as well as the ways in which they planned and carried out literature instruction. However, the results indicated that these teachers were unable to demonstrate a cognizance of how their conceptualizations of these concepts affected the methodologies they utilized as they selected literature and carried out instruction.
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    The effects of different mathematics course progressions on student mathematics achievement throughout the high school transition: a mixed methods study
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Richey, Ginger; Zelkowski, Jeremy S.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This study applies life course theory (Elder, 1998) to understand the effect of different mathematics course progressions throughout the high school transition period. The purpose of the study was two-fold: to investigate the effectiveness of two different high school’s mathematics course progressions by examining mathematics achievement throughout the high school transition; and to relate students’ experiences of their mathematics trajectory, formed by their mathematics course progression, to their transition to high school and throughout high school. Using mixed methods, achievement data from eighth to eleventh grade was evaluated from two Alabama high schools in the same school district. Independent samples t-tests, linear regression models, ANOVA, and ANCOVA were performed followed by interviews of three students from each school. Findings from this study indicate that there were significant differences in achievement at the two high schools at the beginning of the transition period and no significant differences in achievement at the end of the transition period. Significant predictors of achievement include prior achievement and the number of courses students took during the transition period. Furthermore, through student interviews factors that influenced student achievement were exposed. This study connects high school transition research with high school mathematics achievement research, and contributes to the lack of qualitative research of the high school transition.
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    Engaging the disengaged: detracking English education for 9th and 10th grade students
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Kusta, Charly Porter; Johnson, Latrise P.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This critical ethnographic qualitative case study uses a critical theory lens to discover the implications of academic tracking in a southeastern secondary school and to explore detracking English education for historically underserved students with critical literacy practices and multi-year placement. The purpose of the study was to determine the ways in which academic tracking affects standard and advanced classrooms, and to discover how detracking with critical literacy practices and multi-year placement might alter student engagement. In Vivo coding was used to analyze the data that included observations, field notes, interviews, and student artifacts, and was collected from 2015-2017. The findings indicated the district's academic tracking practices structure inequality and division in the school system; and, detracking 9th and 10th grade English education with critical literacy practices and multi-year placement engages historically underserved students. These findings support Freire’s notion of critical theory (1970), that argues for the amelioration of the oppressed through liberating practices aimed toward transforming the oppressive state. While similar studies have analyzed tracking, detracking, and critical literacy practices, they have not analyzed all three components in one study, from the teacher-researcher’s point of view, and in conjunction with the implementation of multi-year placement. This research provides insight into 1) a multi-year teaching approach in a secondary setting; often the studies focus on primary levels; 2) practical classroom applications of critical literacy practices from the teacher-researcher's point of view; often the studies explore theoretical assumptions; and, finally, 3) the entire detracking process. While many studies offer suggestions for detracking, very few explore what happens during or after classrooms are detracked.
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    Experience as knowledge: teacher belief and purpose as pedagogical content knowledge
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2016) Hayes, Jeffrey; Kuntz, Aaron M.; Sunal, Cynthia S.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The literature reviewed in this study indicates that evaluating teacher belief and purpose as factors that can develop pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) may be useful in broadening the assessment of teacher knowledge. This broadening encompasses training through daily classroom teaching. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to contribute to a larger, ongoing conversation about the possible factors that contribute to a teacher’s PCK. Using phenomenology as a theoretical lens, this study explores how experience shapes and refines the PCK of five first year Secondary Education Language Arts teachers. Employing the qualitative measure of interviewing and transcription, followed by inductive analysis by marking passages and phrases of interest, this study illuminates the insight and questions that come from examining multiple individual experiences and how experience is important in evaluating teacher knowledge. The findings of this study suggest that continual research into expanding ideas about evaluating teacher knowledge and the methods for conducting teacher evaluations needs to be ongoing.