Debby Zambo

Action Research in an Undergraduate Teacher Education Program: What Promises Does It Hold?.

Abstract The benefits of action research for practicing teachers have been widely documented. This survey study examined the beliefs of preservice teachers at 2 levels of their preparation about the benefits of action research for them. Participants were 2 groups of students in the second and final semesters of a 2-year teacher preparation program. Students in the earlier phase were more positive about action research regarding their professional growth and teaching efficacy. Both groups thought that their mentor teachers were not supportive. Our thoughts about the underlying reasons for these results are provided.

EMOTION AND COGNITION IN STUDENTS WHO STRUGGLE TO READ: NEW INSIGHTS AND IDEAS

As educators, we need to change the way we think about cognition and emotion, especially for children who struggle to read. Emotion and cognition work in parallel in subtle and powerful ways. In this article, we explore the relationship between emotion and cognition in a group of children with reading disabilities in grades five through nine. We investigate their emotional reactions to reading and the influence of emotions on their cognition, mood, and self-schemas. We present our results in themes that arose from our conversations with the students and their teachers. From our themes, we designed a Checklist of Emotional Distress Related to Reading that teachers and parents can use to determine the impact of emotions on the children in their lives. We present suggestions at the end that teachers and others can use to better understand and assist children identified by the checklist.

Using Picture Books to Provide Archetypes to Young Boys: Extending the Ideas of William Brozo

In his book To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy, William Brozo suggested that many adolescent boys have become mentally and academically detached from school. While Brozo acknowledges that a solution to these problems is multifaceted, he asserts that engaging boys in literature that makes use of archetypes can contribute to their resolution. This article extends Brozos ideas to boys in the years before adolescence. If educators wait until the middle grades to engage boys in literacy and books, they risk losing many to the detachment Brozo describes. Boys can and should be introduced to archetypes earlier, and this can be accomplished with picture books. The author presents a list of picture books arranged by archetype, along with strategies for creating boy-friendly classrooms.

Graduates Respond to an Innovative Educational Doctorate Program

Dispute about professional doctoral programs in education has increased, with much hinging on the design of educational doctorate (EdD) programs. In this study, the first cohort of graduates responded to a new, innovative EdD program designed to develop them as leaders, scholars, and practitioners. Twenty graduates completed an exit survey, and a content analysis of their dissertations was performed. Both were done to improve the program. Graduates valued curricular and instructional features, engaged in actions to improve their local settings, endorsed a sense of community that developed, and reported changes in their professional identities. Their dissertation work validated these ideas.

Lessons Learned by a Faculty Member Working in an Education Doctorate Program with Students Performing Action Research.

This manuscript provides insight into a new education doctorate program where action research is taught in core courses and used as signature pedagogy and capstone experience. To contextualize action research in this program, a brief introduction as to how it fits into its mission, goals, and needs is provided. Although this fit carries promises, it also carries tensions and insights for faculty working in higher education. Conclusions have the potential to help faculty address potential roadblocks and understand how action research can be used to create school leaders and agents of change.

Using the Picture Book Thank You, Mr. Falker to Understand Struggling Readers

Using picture books in teacher education courses allows instructors to set theory in context, create a visual representation of it, and make theory come alive. The benefit of picture books does not stop at the college door, because when students graduate and have classrooms of their own they can use the stories and pictures to remember and apply theories in their classrooms. Teachers who understand theory develop new ways of thinking and possess better problem-solving skills, and are better prepared to assist struggling adolescent readers who need cognitive, social, and emotional support. In this article, Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco is used to demonstrate the power of picture books when professors use them in their classrooms and when teachers, in turn, use them in theirs. Ideas for sparking discussion in the college classroom are provided, along with nonthreatening activities that teachers of adolescents can use. Activities are designed to enliven domains of knowledge like history, current affairs, and writing and to enhance social and emotional skills. The ideas presented can build resilience in struggling readers and empathy and moral reasoning in their peers. Ten additional picture books are presented as extensions and enrichment of ideas.

Uncovering the identities of students and graduates in a CPED-influenced EdD program

The educational doctorate (EdD) is being re-envisioned as a distinct professional degree. Todays EdD graduates are envisioned as scholarly practitioners. Given this it may be reasoned these individuals have unique identities comprised of several layers. In this study, we examined how 18 entering students and 17 graduating students from an EdD program viewed themselves as learners, leaders, and action researchers. Data were obtained using a questionnaire with closed- and open-ended items, follow-up interviews were conducted with 12 incoming students and 12 graduates, and dissertations were also examined. Data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative procedures. Questionnaire results indicated no significant differences between groups, but qualitative results showed students new to the program held strong identities as learners and leaders, but not as action researchers. Graduates held stronger views of each layer and their views were aligned to the programs vision. From these findings implications are provided for program developers and students.

Identifying Girls With the Inattentive Type

Understanding attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has come a long way since its early description as a moral and behavioral deficit. ADHD has various subtypes, each with comorbid disabilities. Despite these advances, gaps remain in identifying and understanding girls with ADHD, especially when they have the inattentive-type ADHD. This article synthesizes what is known about girls with ADHD, and it is directed toward teachers, counselors, and psychologists who work with girls in school settings. To accomplish this goal, ADHD is examined with a low-resolution lens, then from two higher resolution lenses. The low-resolution lens uses identification criteria per the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. The first high-resolution lens looks at how girls with ADHD differ from boys with ADHD; the second high-resolution lens looks at how girls with ADHD differ from their nonidentified female peers. A case is made for using the two finer-grained lenses to identify and intervene with girls.

Action Research and the Educational Doctorate : New Promises and Visions

This case study reveals the development and action research work of a student in a newly designed educational doctorate aimed at preparing scholarly and influential practitioners. Data were gathered from a research journal, field notes, email correspondence, observation, and dissertation work, and analyzed with a constant comparative approach. Results tell the story of leadership development and action research that discovered the failure of professional development, the importance of teacher efficacy, and ways to build efficacy with knowledge and feedback. Findings from this case have implications for program developers and doctoral students wishing to become action researchers and agents of change.

Developing researching professionals in an EdD program: From learners and leaders to scholarly and influential practitioners

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how entering students and graduating students from an education doctorate (EdD) program viewed themselves as learners, leaders, and action researchers. Further, the paper examines differences in the identity trajectories between the two groups. Finally, the paper suggested a new identity status – scholarly and influential practitioners (SaIP) emerged from melding the three identity statuses. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed a mixed method design. Findings – Results indicated students new to the program held strong identities as learners and leaders, but not as action researchers; whereas graduates held stronger views of each type of identity, especially as researchers. Program features such as cycles of action research (CAR), and leader-scholar communities were instrumental in influencing graduates’ identities as researching professionals. Research limitations/implications – SaIP emerge when doctoral programs enhance the learner and leader ...