The Impact of Teachers' Knowledge and Professional Development Experiences on the Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices they Implement in Literacy

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Kavel, R. (2017). The Impact of Teachers' Knowledge and Professional Development Experiences on the Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices they Implement in Literacy. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

ABSTRACT With substantial demographic shifts in the U.S. student population, today’s teachers educate growing numbers of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (Kena, Aud, & Johnson, 2010). While these students bring an abundance of different cultures and languages from their families and communities, these dynamic shifts add to the instructional intricacy faced by teachers in providing reading instruction for diverse learners (Bui & Fagan, 2013). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore elementary school teachers’ perceptions of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) practices and to examine how professional development impacts teachers’ implementation of CRT practices. This study explored instructional practices teachers used, examined teachers’ familiarity and knowledge of CRT, specifically the impact of professional development, and how this collectively translated into literacy instruction. The study took place at an elementary school site in a rural school district of North Carolina. Three participants were interviewed at the start of the study and once again after observations were completed in their classrooms. I observed each participant six times over the course of seven weeks during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 2016-2017 school year. In addition to interviews and observations, documents such as lesson plans and professional development agendas were collected. Data were coded and the following five major themes surfaced: multicultural literature, acceptance of others, cooperative work, technology, and lack of resources.

Details
Author

Kavel, Rebecca

Title

The Impact of Teachers' Knowledge and Professional Development Experiences on the Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices they Implement in Literacy

Physical Description

1 online resource (173 pages) : PDF

Date

2017

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

ABSTRACT With substantial demographic shifts in the U.S. student population, today’s teachers educate growing numbers of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (Kena, Aud, & Johnson, 2010). While these students bring an abundance of different cultures and languages from their families and communities, these dynamic shifts add to the instructional intricacy faced by teachers in providing reading instruction for diverse learners (Bui & Fagan, 2013). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore elementary school teachers’ perceptions of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) practices and to examine how professional development impacts teachers’ implementation of CRT practices. This study explored instructional practices teachers used, examined teachers’ familiarity and knowledge of CRT, specifically the impact of professional development, and how this collectively translated into literacy instruction. The study took place at an elementary school site in a rural school district of North Carolina. Three participants were interviewed at the start of the study and once again after observations were completed in their classrooms. I observed each participant six times over the course of seven weeks during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 2016-2017 school year. In addition to interviews and observations, documents such as lesson plans and professional development agendas were collected. Data were coded and the following five major themes surfaced: multicultural literature, acceptance of others, cooperative work, technology, and lack of resources.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Education
Education, Elementary
Reading

Degree

D.Ed.

Keywords

Acceptance of Others
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Literacy Instruction
Multicultural Literature
Professional Development
Resources

Subject Area

Curriculum & Instruction

Advisor(s)

Mraz, Maryann

Committee Members

Kissel, Brian
Lim, Jae Hoon
Anderson, Kelly

Degree Note

Thesis (D.Ed.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2017.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Kavel_uncc_0694D_11337

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:418