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Focus, Drive, and Motivation in Secondary School Populations
Get PDFThis study, Focus, Drive, and Motivation in Secondary Populations, addresses the topic of middle and high school student motivation to succeed in school. The aim was to discover what motivates and inspires student success. In this study, I delved into issues of low levels of student motivation, drive, and focus and the relative effect of these issues on school performance. The central purpose of this research was to find ways to foster greater levels of student focus, drive, and motivation during their middle and high school experience. The context of the study was a medium-sized charter middle school and a small charter high school. The charter school organization was located within a larger independent school district. The study focused predominantly on a Hispanic and Black demographic. The outcomes were reported via a mixed method of data collection that included quantitative and qualitative measurements
Meaning and Uniqueness of Ethics and Ethical Teacher Behaviors in the Teaching Profession
Get PDFThis research aimed to determine ethical teacher behaviors according to the opinions of prospective teachers and teachers. In this qualitatively designed study, the phenomenology design was used, and 30 participants were interviewed. Research results showed that the participants understood the responsibilities of teachers, the respect and importance of the teaching profession, effective teaching, developing healthy relationships with school members, and benefiting students and society from teacher\u27s professional ethics. Almost all of the participants stated that the teaching profession should have unique ethical codes for different reasons. Ethical teacher behavior has emerged within the scope of rights and justice, interest and importance to people and the profession, not to harm or benefit, and the boundary of public and private space. Finally, suggestions for improving professional teaching ethics, which can be evaluated in professional, individual, social, organizational, and political contexts, were put forward in the research. It is believed that the research will make a significant contribution to the literature, as it addresses the issue of ethics by taking the views of teachers both prepared for the profession and within the profession, reveals the specific context in Turkey, and reflects descriptions of real-life experiences
A Descriptive Analysis of Good Teaching and Good Teachers from the Perspective of Preservice Teachers
Get PDFThe primary purpose of the present study was to examine what good teaching is and what characteristics good teachers carry for preservice teachers that were registered to an introductory teaching class during at a land-grant university in Midwest, USA. Participants included 18 teacher candidates. I collected the data by conducting semi-structured interviews with the participants. The findings of the study indicate that good teaching is (1) creative, (2) student-centered, (3) stimulative, (4) relevant, (5) adaptable, and (6) challenging. Similarly, the findings also reveal that good teachers (1) build personal relationships with their students, (2) mentor their students, (3) are enthusiastic, (4) respect their students, and (5) are experts in their field. Based on the findings of the study, I argue that the conception of good teaching and good teachers that emerged from this study is congruent with other teaching frameworks such as culturally relevant teaching
Building Support Systems for High School English Language Learners: A Developmental Program Evaluation
Get PDFThe graduation rate of English Language Learners (ELL) is lagging behind the general school population graduation rate. The purpose of this study is to address the needs of ELL students for improving the graduation rate of ELL students. The context of this inquiry is a high school with a large ELL population located in one of the state’s largest school districts. My study demonstrates outcomes of a lack of a shared vision and attention by the school administrators on addressing the needs of ELL students, ineffective remediation strategies and tools used to guide ELL students, and the potential impact high-stakes state tests have when used as the only way to measure mastery required to graduate
The Effects of Military Leadership and its Implication on Mental Health Stigma and Treatment Seeking Behaviors of Veterans in Garrison and Noncombat Deployment Environments
Get PDFMilitary service members are more likely to endure a significant amount of stress and experience multiple traumatic events than civilians due to the nature of their job. Many studies have focused on the traumatic stressors encountered during combat despite the fact that many service members encounter stressors related to serving in the military. A study conducted by Dursa, Reinhard, Barth, and Schniderman (2014) found that 10.9% of nondeployed veterans screened positive for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the highest prevalence of PTSD (13.8%) amongst nondeployed soldiers. Military mental health stigma is rampant due to the need to be ready for battle, although a minority of service members seek mental health treatment. Service members’ resistance to seeking treatment may be due to perceived stigma from their peers and anticipated stigma from their leaders (Hoge et al., 2004; Vogt, Fox, & DiLeone, 2014). Perception of stigma is a common barrier to care reported by Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans and can be more pronounced due to a more recent service in the military. Tsai, Whealin, and Pietrzak (2014) discussed that personal support from military leaders may help normalize treatment seeking. The military focuses on leadership development because leaders have the ability to influence and motivate their subordinates (Thomas et al., 2010). It is important to understand the impact that leadership behaviors have on subordinates because the military exposes their personnel to numerous stressors, including physical hardship, psychological distress, and physical danger. Considering the number of stressors and traumas associated with the military, it is likely that leaders may indirectly or directly influence their subordinates’ perception of mental health stigma and treatment seeking. Due to these factors, it is hypothesized that leadership behaviors affect mental health stigma and treatment-seeking behaviors
The Impact Of Vicarious Racial Discrimination On African Americans Via Social Media
No full textMuch psychological research has examined the impact of racial discrimination upon those who have personally experienced it. Such research emphasizes personal encounters with racial bias and ethnic discrimination can cause victims considerable mental and emotional injury, manifested as race-based traumatic stress. Far less research has examined the effects of vicarious racism on those who witness it, including those who witness it via online media. Given the growing and significant amount of social media coverage in the United States of America containing images of unarmed African Americans who have been killed in perceived racially motivated encounters, this is a valuable area of investigation.
Accordingly, this current study focuses on the relationship between witnessing perceived racial discrimination of African Americans via media and trauma symptoms, public regard and cultural mistrust among African Americans. Survey data was collected from 329 participants recruited through email, social media platforms, listservs, message boards and text messaging. Participants completed the Perceived Online Racism Scale (PORS), the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS), the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), and the Cultural Mistrust Inventory (CMI). Correlational analysis was performed to determine the relationships between witnessing perceived racial discrimination against via media and trauma symptoms, public regard and cultural mistrust among African Americans. It was found that the more racial discrimination an individual witnessed, the lower their level of trauma, the higher their public regard score and the lower their sense of cultural mistrust. Some differences by gender and educational achievement were observed. Recommendations for future avenues of research and policymaking are made in the current study
Radical Inclusion: An Engagement Model for Accountability Redesign
Get PDFTo ensure that Chicago Public Schools’ school accountability policy is equitable and representative of the insights and perspectives of those most impacted, this study advocates for CPS to enact a Radically Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement (RISE) policy to enforce a more inclusive policy redesign process. This policy advocacy document examines the history of school accountability through five intersecting domains: education, economics, social context, political context and moral/ethical considerations. Reflecting on my experience as a third-generation CPS student, a CPS parent, former teacher and school leader, I challenge the reader to consider the intention and impact of school accountability on Chicago’s students and to confront the beliefs and practices that have enabled inequity to persist.
Throughout this study I advocate for an inclusive policy redesign process that will work to open the system and promote collaboration to ensure stakeholders are able to bring critical and necessary perspectives into the policy proactively. Making the school system more accessible by implementing an inclusive stakeholder engagement process will require CPS to build the infrastructure to engage stakeholders about the policy and its implications to mitigate unintended and harmful consequences. Here I propose a policy and outline an implementation plan that helps the district move its principles and values of equity and inclusion into practice
They’ve Walked Through Fire to be Themselves: How Volunteers Can Help LGBTQ Youth
Get PDFLGBTQ youth make up a staggering percentage of the homeless youth population in the United States, and yet the services available to them as compared to their heterosexual/cisgendered counterparts are sorely lacking. This paper examines the Youth Services Program at The Center where LGBTQ youth are offered education/GED tutoring, mental health counseling, vocational training, and much more. The authors describe their experiences as volunteers where, alongside preparing meals, they were fortunate enough to make connections with the youth and discover ways the entire community can become involved to help LGBTQ youth
Teachers’ Impressions on an Innovation Configuration for Vocabulary Instruction
Get PDFAs part of a mixed-methods reconnaissance action research study, the impressions teachers had on using an innovation configuration for vocabulary instruction at an English education center in China was assessed. The quantitative data strand consisted of lesson artifacts and documents. The qualitative data strand consisted of semi-structured interviews with two English as a foreign language teachers. Integrating both the quantitative and qualitative strands of data illuminated (1) teachers had a positive impression on using the innovation configuration to address what they should cover for vocabulary instruction, (2) they used the innovation configurations to identify strengths and areas for improvement, and (3) they rethought how to structure their lessons to better engage students. These findings will be used to inform subsequent cycles of this action research project. These initial results, though, indicate that providing appropriate resources to stimulate teachers may prove beneficial in expanding their pedagogic knowledge
School Principals\u27 Instructional Leadership as a Predictor of Teacher Motivation
Get PDFThis study examined the school principals\u27 instructional leadership as the predictor of teachers\u27 motivation. The sample included 306 elementary school teachers. The study took place in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey. Data collection tools included two instruments: The Instructional Leadership Scale” (ILS) and The Teacher Motivation Scale” (TMS). Correlation analyses was employed to examine the relationship between school principals\u27 instructional leadership and teacher motivation. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the predictive role of instructional leadership in teacher motivation. The findings of this study demonstrate significant relationships between instructional leadership and teacher motivation. Ultimately, instructional leadership can serve as predictor of teacher motivation