Browsing by Subject "Early Childhood"
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Item Does the Use of Conscious Discipline in Early Childhood Special Education Provide Emotional Support to the Teachers and Instructional Staff, as well as the Students?(2020-05-08) Drake, Erica Lynn; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to determine if the implementation of Conscious Discipline in an early childhood special education program provided positive social emotional support to the teachers and instructional staff as well as students. The measurement tool, a survey using a Likert scale was, distributed to 20 staff members at a separate public school in Baltimore County, Maryland; 16 surveys were returned. This researcher reviewed the findings to determine if Conscious Discipline had an impact on staff members social-emotional well-being and their feeling of connectedness with students. The results indicated that implementing Conscious Discipline does have a positive effect on staff members as only responses of Strongly Agree, Agree, and Neutral were reported. Responses also targeted specific tenants of Conscious Discipline and how it supported a feeling of connectedness to students, staff members as only responses of Strongly Agree, Agree, and Neutral were reported. Further research needs to be conducted to examine specifically how implementing Conscious Discipline supports the social-emotional well-being of staff members and how that relates to connectedness with students in an early childhood special education program.Item An Exploration of Mathematical Mindset of Female Novice Early Childhood Teachers(2020-04-20) Swire, Katherine; Cuddapah, Jennifer L. Ed.D.; Education; Organizational LeadershipBeliefs about mathematical ability and skills in learning mathematics are sparked from students’ earliest school experiences. Early childhood teachers need to feel confident about their skills in teaching mathematics in order to improve student achievement as well as serve as role models for the next generation of elementary teachers. This qualitative study examined the connections between mathematical mindset and self-efficacy of nine female early childhood teachers and their mathematics instruction and students’ mathematics achievement. Novice teachers’ responses to interviews, a survey, their journal entries, and participation in a focus group were examined to understand their perceptions and beliefs about mathematics instruction and abilities. Student achievement data for mathematics were also analyzed for each teacher participant. Individual and cross participant analysis resulted in four salient findings: (1) Novice teachers wanted to give their students a different mathematics experience than the one they had; (2) A variety of factors impacted novice teachers’ instructional experiences and influenced their mindset; (3) Novice teachers held an unconscious bias related to gender and mathematics; and (4) Although novice teachers stated they have a growth mindset, their actual mindset is not indicative of being fully growth-oriented. Implications for future practice and research include considering the path to growth mindset as being one that evolves over time, and novice teachers require induction and other professional development supports to build capacity. Growth mindset, particularly in mathematics, has an impact on the self-efficacy of teachers who, in turn, impact their students.Item The Contributions of Instructional Practices, Teacher Beliefs, and Classroom Quality on Head Start Children's Vocabulary(2020-01-01) Dowling, Rebecca; Sonnenschein , Susan; Psychology; PsychologyThe National Reading Panel (2000) identified vocabulary as one of the five skills with the most robust influence on reading ability. Early differences in vocabulary drive enduring individual differences in reading performance. High quality early childhood educational experience can have lasting positive effects on vocabulary development. This dissertations conducted a secondary data analysis of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) to understand the associations between classroom quality, process and structural quality, and vocabulary development in Head Start classrooms. The study included three indicators of process quality: instructional quality, frequency of instructional practices, and teacher's beliefs, and three indicators of structural quality: class size, teacher-child ratios, and teacher pre-service qualifications. There were three notable findings. First, teacher-child ratio was the only structural feature that shared a direct association with vocabulary outcomes. Second, the effects of teacher-child ratio and teacher education on receptive vocabulary were mediated by frequency of instructional practices. Finally, Concept Development mediated the associations between class size, teacher degree, and children's expressive, but not receptive, vocabulary performance. Future directions and implications are discussed.