Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives of Direct Instruction with More Rigorous Mathematics Standards

AbstractMajestic County Schools (pseudonym), a large southeastern school district, has implemented changes in instruction to align with more rigorous state and national mathematics standards. The rigor of the new standards has led to changes in instruction to help students master the standards with evidence from the state-wide standardized test. Although the district has made curricular changes, over one-third of the students in Grades 3-5 at Flint Elementary are not mastering grade-level standards. This basic qualitative study focuses on one elementary school within the district. The purpose was to understand how teachers implement direct instruction (DI) strategies in the classroom to help students master grade level standards. The study was designed to address the research question by explaining how five upper elementary teachers use DI strategies to teach mathematics at Flint Elementary. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Zig Engelmann\u27s theory of direct instruction. The basic qualitative research design was used to collect rich descriptive details through semi-structured interviews. Purposeful sampling ensured that 5 upper elementary mathematics teachers whose instruction prepares students for standardized testing were invited. Inductive analysis was used to code the interview data and to develop themes. The results showed inconsistent use of DI and a need for professional development. The professional development project was designed to help teachers implement the DI curriculum. The implications for positive social change due to this study include opening the minds of stakeholders on ways to improve DI in mathematics and changes in the way DI is used in mathematics by ensuring that the principles of DI are included in lesson planning and school improvement

An exploration of student-centred approaches to making Chinese learnable for beginner learners in Australian schools : a bilingual teacher action research project

This thesis reports an exploration into student-centred approaches to making Chinese learnable for beginning learners in Australian schools, specifically in the Western Sydney Region (WSR). The teacher-researcher was a bilingual volunteer teacher from mainland China who was a participant in the Research Oriented School Engaged Teacher Education (ROSETE) program whereby the students study their own teaching practice as the basis for their thesis. The research question devised to study the teaching assignment was: How can a bilingual volunteer teacher-researcher use action research to develop a student-centred teaching framework to make Chinese learnable to beginning learners in western Sydney schools? The three contributory questions were: 1. How can a bilingual volunteer teacher/ teacher-researcher develop a series of student-centred content, learning materials and resources to support the design of the lessons? 2. How can a bilingual volunteer teacher/ teacher-researcher develop a series of student-centred teaching strategies? 3. How can a bilingual volunteer teacher/ teacher-researcher develop a series of student-centred classroom management practices? The methodology chosen for this research was mixed methods, although the majority of the data collected was qualitative. The findings drawn from the data collected have provided a database of successful student-centred methods related to choosing lesson content, materials and resources, teaching pedagogies and behaviour management for implementation in a student-centred Chinese language classroom