The "lived-in" moment: the aesthetic potential of nonfiction literature in a third grade classroom

Despite the fact that "emphasis on nonfiction literature in the development of literacy understandings, content knowledge, and literacy abilities is not new" (Möller, 2013, p. 59) at the university level, having been advocated by literacy scholars across all decades since the 1970s, research has documented across two decades that elementary students have received and continue to receive only minimal exposure to nonfiction texts in classrooms and schools (Duke, 2000; Jeong, Gaffney, & Choi, 2002; Ness, 2011; Pappas, 1991). Given the requirements in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which call for 50 percent of classroom reading to be nonfiction by fourth grade, there is a need to investigate how students respond to different formats of nonfiction literature. The dissertation investigates the selection and use of nonfiction literature in a third grade class as well as students' responses to different formats of nonfiction. This project explores the nonfiction literature selections of the teacher, the responses of the students, and the link between the two. In a four-month qualitative study of a third-grade teacher and five focal students I highlight the complex web that links the teacher's instruction with the evocation of an aesthetic response by the students. The main research questions that guided this study are: How and why do teachers select nonfiction literature for classroom use? In what ways are teachers including nonfiction literature in their classroom instruction? What do students notice and discuss about different formats of nonfiction literature? How do specific types/formats of nonfiction literature invite students to take and develop personally meaningful stances (aesthetic, efferent, mixed or shifting stances) when reading? Data sources for this study come from the perspective of a third-grade teacher through interviews and classroom literacy observations. In addition, this study presents the "lived-through" response of five focal students as I observed their response to reading nonfiction literature and engagement in literature discussion groups. Analysis of the data unravels a complex web of classroom practice, social reading context, and personal preference that shaped the responses that students evoked when reading nonfiction literature. In sum, this study demonstrates the potential for third grade students to evoke an aesthetic response when reading different formats of nonfiction literature

Trouble with the edTPA: Sliding from Teaching to Preparing for the Test

This paper was written by a group of instructors responsible for preparing 100 elementary/middle school licensure students for the edTPA portfolio assessment. It is an analysis of our experiences doing so in the pilot year. The edTPA is a performance assessment required for teacher licensure. We considered this assessment to have significant advantages over a multiple choice test and we debated for a year how best to implement it. Our plan was to integrate what they needed to know into our courses rather than to prepare them directly for the test. We approached this with a positive attitude but emerged with a skeptical one. We gradually slid from preparing students to be teachers, to preparing them for the test. Using a narrative self-study, we chronicle and analyze this unexpected trajectory

Ungrading General Education: Preliminary Results from a Pilot Study

A group of faculty members representing more than 20 courses listed in the Eastern Kentucky University General Education curriculum participated in a pilot program to test and measure the effectiveness of “ungraded” pedagogy. “Ungrading,” as defined by the group, can be any conscious effort to move student emphasis away from grades and onto learning. Given this definition, ungrading took many forms in the pilot: gradeless classrooms, grading contracts, and greater choice of assignments by students, to name a few. At the end of the semester, quantitative and qualitative data was gathered from student course evaluations; DFW and retention rates were considered; and focus groups comprised of students in ungraded classes were convened. This piece provides preliminary results from the pilot and in an effort to begin a larger conversation about the widespread adoption of ungraded pedagogies

Ungrading Across the Disciplines: Reflections of a Professional Learning Community

A group of interdisciplinary scholars formed a Professional Learning Community (PLC) in the spring 2020 semester. Their topic of consideration was “ungrading,” defined by the group as any pedagogical practice that moves a student’s focus away from grades and toward learning and growth. This essay provides an account of each instructor’s experience as a member of the PLC, highlighting both practical and theoretical considerations for instructors interested in incorporating ungrading in their courses. It also provides perspectives of students who experienced ungraded approaches first-hand

Teacher Candidate Tensions with the edTPA: A Neoliberal Policy Analysis

The edTPA, a recent example of a teacher candidate assessment, has influenced how teacher education classes are taught and how teacher candidates are learning. We describe three tensions present in candidate narratives during two separate years of edTPA implementation: attention to the edTPA rubrics vs. the student teachers’ real teaching, a focus on Pearson vs. the teacher education program, and candidates’ feelings of being monitored during the process rather than mentored