Date of Award

2018-01-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Teaching , Learning and Culture

Advisor(s)

Alyse Hachey

Second Advisor

Alberto Esquinca

Abstract

This study explores the beliefs about teaching approaches and classroom practices of public school-based early childhood pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers on the U.S. -Mexico border. Additionally, introduced in this work is a new framework for making visible the belief and practices of classroom teachers, as well as theories and approaches to Early Childhood Education, called the process-product continuum. This naturalist multi-case study utilized semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, artifact collection, and construction of visual timelines from three participants; participant narratives are presented, classroom practices and belief statements are analyzed, and mapped on the process-product continuum. Findings indicate that in addition to teacher beliefs, Early Childhood Education teaching practices may additionally depend on previous experiences, students teaching and other personal life factors such as parenthood and in particular, may be heavily influenced by systemic restrictions. Further, result shows that all participants in the study employed teaching practices that spanned the entire process-product continuum, suggesting that this framework may be a valuable alternative to current dichotomous models for teacher reflection in the Early Childhood Education field. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

198 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Jessica D. Slade

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