Reading and Language Arts
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Browsing Reading and Language Arts by Author "mcmillon@oakland.edu"
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Item Humanizing Literacy Coaching(2023-11-15) Caylor, Emily; Thompson McMillon, Gwendolyn; mcmillon@oakland.eduThe Humanity of Literacy Coaching Literacy coaching has the potential to center humanizing professional learning pedagogies–promoting equity, disrupting oppression, and recognizing the complex humanity of teachers. This potential can be realized through the use of deep reflection to support teachers’ awareness of what guides their behavior and further strengthened by complex supportive relationships with literacy coaches. These humanizing coaching practices not only re-humanize teachers but can influence changes to literacy instruction. Yet, humanizing approaches are often overtaken by more behavioristic approaches in literacy coaching models and the urgency of pandemic-related acceleration pervading schools. In this article, I share the findings of a case study in which I, as a literacy coach, explored the relationship between elements of a humanizing model of literacy coaching, including complex relational and reflective work, and a teacher’s willingness to change her literacy instruction. Implications are shared on the potential of utilizing a conceptual framework guided by Maslow’s (1943) theory of humanism and Korthagen's (2004) onion model could influence teachers' willingness to change and humanize professional learning. The Collaborative Literacy Coaching Framework for Transformation Literacy coaching is professional learning designed to provide teachers with supportive partnerships as they enhance their instruction (L’Allier et al., 2010). However, this enhancement requires teachers to make changes to long-standing practices. To prepare for change, teachers must have the psychological safety and time to explore their beliefs, values, and identities and how these factors influence their willingness to change (Dewey, 1933). Literacy coaches can prepare teachers for this work by using The Collaborative Literacy Coaching Framework for Transformation, which focuses on the cultivation of relationships, the examination of intrapersonal factors, the acknowledgment of their instructional impact, and the need to plan for change. I will share the framework and the stories of three teachers who were better prepared for change while working within it.Item Teacher Characteristics and Effective Implementation of the Accelerated Reader program, as reported by Teachers of African American students(2017-11-08) Johnson, Debra; McMillon, Gwendolyn; ; mcmillon@oakland.eduHow are teacher characteristics related to teaching practices in reading instruction? Melton, Smothers, Anderson, Fulton, Replogue, & Thomas (2004) maintained teachers are the most powerful dynamic in the classroom. African American students often attain lower reading scores than other students. It is important to determine which teacher characteristics may be affecting the reading achievement of African American students when the Accelerated Reading (AR) program is utilized in the classroom. This study examined teacher characteristics and compared them to elements of the Accelerated Reader program and teaching approaches the participants may have used with their African American students to increase their reading achievement scores. The study is necessary to the field of literacy because no study exists that considers the actions of the teachers when they utilize the AR program with their African American students to increase their reading achievement scores. This study reported responses and comments of 25 teacher participants from three different elementary-middle schools. The use of quantitative data from the research-based online SurveyMonkey Pro survey and written comments from participants were considered the most effective methods of data collection and provided a logical approach to gathering information and maintaining the validity of the data. The 42-question survey instrument included multiple choice and free-response answers regarding how the participants implemented the AR program. The hypothesis predicted that the teacher characteristics would be related to all eight elements and all ten approaches. The data analysis was completed with IBM’s SSPS Statistics software, Version 22, to determine statistically significant relationships. The results of the study indicated five teacher characteristics, specifically the participants’ educational level, the participants’ total years of teaching experience, the participants’ years of using AR in the classroom, the years the participants had been teaching the current grade, and the number of school or district AR workshops the participants attended positively correlated with multiple elements of the AR program and many of the teaching approaches the participants used with their African American students to increase their reading achievement scores.