Year of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Degree Name

Curriculum and Instruction

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Literacy Studies

Department or School/College

School of Education

Committee Co-chair

Kate Brayko, Morgen Alwell

Commitee Members

Rick van den Pol, Julie Bullard, James Caringi

Keywords

coaching, dialogic reading, early childhood, engagement, interactive read aloud, teacher training

Abstract

In the context of a pilot project to implement program-wide change by integrating academic and behavioral supports through an early childhood multi-tiered system of support, one program was challenged to strengthen two process components of its model: 1) the implementation of an evidence-informed approach to shared reading as recommended in their newly adopted curriculum and 2) the provision of effective professional development (PD) in support of practice implementation. The embedded case study describes the impact of a PD model on two teachers' attempts to integrate dialogic reading (Lonigan & Whitehurst, 1998) and related strategies in a whole class setting through a guided interactive shared reading (GISR) routine in each of their classrooms. The PD components included a combination of training, video observation, self-reflection and distance coaching. These components align with recommendations in the literature to: avoid a training only model; maintain a balance between knowledge and practice (Zaslow, Tout, Halle & Starr (2011); and use a relationship based approach to early childhood professional development (Howes, Hamre & Pianta, 2012). The question investigated in this study was: How did the PD effort shape teachers' participation in GISR; and subsequently, how did the effort shape children's participation? I utilize Rogoff's (2003) transformation of participation perspective grounded in sociocultural theory to analyze the changing participation of teachers and children in the GISR sessions, and the changing dynamic of their interactions across the intervention period. Findings suggest the PD model influenced teacher's implementation of GISR with regard to their prompt use and group engagement strategies. Subsequently, the amount and sophistication of children's story related talk changed and the children demonstrated higher levels of engagement.

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© Copyright 2014 Nanci Lynn Waterhouse