Advisor
Athanasiou, Michelle C.
Committee Member
Urbach, Jennifer
Committee Member
Froiland, John Mark
Department
School Psychology
Institution
University of Northern Colorado
Type of Resources
Text
Place of Publication
Greeley (Colo.)
Publisher
University of Northern Colorado
Date Created
5-1-2015
Genre
Thesis
Extent
205 pages
Digital Origin
Born digital
Description
This dissertation focuses on the experience of teaching from the perspective of seven early elementary school teachers instructing written expression. These experiences are examined through a phenomenological approach with a constructivist framework. Each participant completed two audio recorded semi-structured interviews and one classroom observation. Four major themes emerged from the transcripts, observations and artifacts gathered. The teachers reported primarily learning to instruct written expression through personal experience and the experience of colleagues, rather than from teacher training programs. Through this research, teachers described reliance on training while already working as elementary school educators and reliance on same grade-level colleagues to improve their own skills in instructing written expression. Additionally, some participants reported not realizing the limited knowledge that they had regarding written expression until they were already teachers. Furthermore, the participants indicated reliance on cues from their own students to determine the knowledge students have instead of using objective, research based tools. A common thread among teachers was a lack of confidence in teaching writing, which was related to many of the themes developed through the data. Written expression skills are important for early elementary school students in order for them to be able to express themselves, communicate with others, and demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of academic subjects.
Degree type
PhD
Degree Name
Doctoral
Language
English
Local Identifiers
Little_unco_0161D_10400
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by author.
