The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of secondary English language arts teachers implementing personalized learning in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Teachers who personalize learning must currently determine their own method of doing so without adequate research about the process to inform…

Knowledge development, application, and refinement are essential parts of students' reading. One way to observe how students use their knowledge as they read is through talk. Studies routinely indicate that though reading is a social endeavor, teachers spend most of the allotted instructional time talking or using discourse patterns that do not…

This qualitative study explored high school students' engagement with a unit where video games and video game materials were incorporated into an English Language Arts classroom. Over several weeks, students engaged with video game content and composed their own video games using the free online platform, Scratch. The purpose of the study was to…

The problem addressed in this study is that multicultural literature is not being used consistently to address the needs of the growing diverse population in the local middle school language arts classroom. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore middle school teachers' perceptions of using multicultural literature to teach…

Recognizing the need to center equity-oriented practices within professional learning--and the challenges of doing so in traditional approaches to professional development--this study traced the experiences of teacher participants in a reimagined design of a teacher learning space. Drawing from narrative inquiry and case study methodologies, this…

This qualitative teacher -- research study investigates how secondary students in English classes might use art materials and the construction of abstract artworks to explore, develop, and express their responses to and interpretations of literary works. The study was guided by the following research questions: 1. What happens when students are…

In this qualitative case study, I examined how teacher instructional practices and beliefs around teaching literature were impacted after self-selecting into a sustained professional development opportunity called Bard Core. Specifically, I ask, 1. What are the perspectives of secondary ELA teachers as to how a self-selected, year-long,…

The aims of this qualitative study were (1) to understand the experiences of two middle school English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) teachers as they planned and implemented critical literacy into a unit in their existing curriculum and (2) to understand the experiences of students as they engaged in a curriculum embedded with critical…

Previous research (Johnson, Veletsianos, & Seaman, 2020) has highlighted that the abrupt shift from traditional in-person to online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic caught many educators off guard, distinguishing it from the well-planned approach to online education before the pandemic. The disparities between well-planned pre-COVID…

The concept of place is more than where people reside. Places are important in shaping the identity and experiences of people. Exploring the idea of relationships with place creates a context that ignites transformative thoughts and actions. "Place' is formed out of the particular set of social relations which interact at a particular…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how teachers who teach 6th, 7th, or 8th grade English language arts in a virtual charter school environment describe the gamification process to support student engagement in the classroom. The overarching research question was: How do teachers who teach 6th, 7th, or 8th grade…

Secondary ELA teachers use a variety of methods to engage, motivate, and teach their students literacy. Some methods include an emphasis on arts integration. One method of arts integration that has not been studied often in high school is the use of drama-based pedagogies (DBP). DBP are an innovative avenue to improving meaning-making and other…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of using instructional technology in the English language arts classroom. The study focused on kindergarten to eighth- grade general education settings. Teachers' perceptions of innovation, or new practice, impact the implementation of that practice. The study's goal is to better…

The purpose of this quantitative methods study was to determine a relationship between instructional reading strategies and standardized test performance for third-grade students in Phoenix, Arizona, and counties in Arizona school districts. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015…

What does it mean to listen--and how can works of literature teach us about listening? Of the four modes of language--reading, writing, speaking, and listening--that together constitute the "language arts" as a curriculum area in secondary English education, "listening" is relatively undertheorized--and conspicuously so, given…