Teachers play a large role in determining whether or not the classroom climate experienced by students is positive, especially through their visible emotional behaviors (i.e., neutral, positive, and negative emotional expressions). Research suggests that teachers make specific contributions to the classroom emotional climate in actions such as…

This Dissertation in Practice (DIP) utilizes Action Research methods to answer the question of: What is the impact of utilizing an authentic study of an author's life and literary works to increase students' motivation to read in a third grade gifted and talented classroom? Through intentional questioning and inquiry, the following Chapters…

Within the vast research base on struggling readers, very few studies address the nature of struggling readers from their own perspectives; that is, how struggling readers experience reading instruction. The purpose of this qualitative case study research was to gain a deeper understanding of how three third-grade struggling readers viewed…