Julie Beth Rosslee - Student Research and Creativity Forum - Hofstra University

SchoolLeadership’sRoleinShaping

Parents’andRetiredTeachers’PerspectivesofSharedReading

JulieBethRosslee HofstraUniversity

Introduction

Problem:

Leadership’sroleinsupportingemergentreaders’exposureto readingpracticescanimpactchildren’spresentandfutureattitudes towardsreadingaswellastheiracademicsuccesses.

Purpose:

Thefindingsoftheseresearchquestionscanhelpeducatorstobetter understand,motivate,support,andeducatechildrenasreadersand learnersthroughtheattitudestheyexhibittowardsreading,asthose whoexhibitpositiveattitudesandoutlookstowardsreadingaremore likelytocontinuetoengagewithreadingmaterialswhilethosewhodo notaremorelikelytobereluctanttoengageinthereadingprocess.

Leadersmustnotonlyidentifywaystoclosetheachievementgaps betweenlearners;theymustalsoseektodevelopanappreciationof readinginalllearners,nomatterthepastreadingexperiencesof childrenasemergentreaders.

ParticipantsandFieldSettings

Participants(IdentifiedThroughPurposefulSelection):

Twoadultandchildreadingdyadswhoresideinthecasestudy schooldistrict

Threeteacherswhoretiredfromthecasestudyschooldistrict FieldSettings:

Eachsharedreadingdyad’shomeforobservationsandinterviews

GoogleMeetforretiredteachers’focusgroup

DataAnalysis

Conductedtheobservationandinterviewsandmoderatedthefocus group

Conductedfirstcyclecoding(analyzeddata;focusedontheresearch questions;createdaprioricodesinahierarchyscheme)

Conductedsecondcyclecoding(color-codeddatainthedatatableto identifyquotesthataligned;lookedatthedata’scolor-codedscheme andcollapsedsimilarcodesfromtheoriginalcodinghierarchy; extractedinformationandcreatedindividualtabswithintheExcel workbooktoidentifyportionsofdatathatrelatedtothesamecodes; remergedalltheinformationintoanewtab,listingeachpieceof informationthatrelatedtoagivencodeinorderunderthatcode; organizedchunksofdata;determinedthethemesthateachcode presentedandidentifiedthemeaningofthesethemesastheyrelated totheresearchquestions)

1.AcademicImplicationsofStudentsParticipatinginSharedReading

ResearchQuestions

Whataretheadultreadingpartner’sperceptionsoftheeffectsofshared readingexperiencesonthechildparticipant?

Howdoestheadultreadingpartner’sperceptionofthechild’sresponseto thissharedreadingexperienceinfluencetheadultparticipant’swillingness anddesiretoengageinfuturesharereadingexperiences?

Howaretheadultparticipant’sperspectivesofsharedreadingshapedbythe schoolleadership?

Howhaveretiredteachers’perspectivesofsharedreadingbeenshapedby theschoolleadership?

ConceptualFramework

Conclusion

Adultsrecognizetheacademicbenefitsofsharedreading(Evansetal.,2011; Merga,2017).

Verballyactivechildrenenableadultstoestablishsomecontextsthrough whichthechildrenspeakduringsharedreadingactivities(Torr,2020).

Teachers’perspectiveswithrespecttotheimpactplayhasondeveloping literacyskillsimpactshowtheysetuptheirclassroomcenters,thetypesof playtheyencourageintheirclassroom,andthesupportandengagement theyprovideinteacher-directedplay(Pyleetal.,2017).

Theenvironmentofhomemayinfluencechildren’semergentliteracyskills whentheyengageinsharedreading(Huttonetal.,2017).

Sharedbookreadingbeginningatsixmonthsofageforthechildcanhave positiveeffectsontheparent-childrelationship(Canfieldetal.,2020).

Parentsenjoytheopportunitytohaveprotectedtimewiththeirchildren, whichincludesthetimeandabilitytotalk(Levyetal.,2018).

Parentswhohavepoorpersonalrelationshipswithreadingcandevelop positiverelationshipswithreadingthroughengaginginsharedreading activities(Levyetal.,2018).

Observations:

DataCollectionMethods

Eachofthetwoobservationsincludedanadultandchilddyadengagedin asharedreadingactivity

Interviews:

Eachinterviewincludedtheadultreadingpartneroftheobservation,as thispersonbothhadaccesstoachildandcouldcompletetheobserved sharedreadingactivitypriortobeinginterviewed

FocusGroup:

Threeretiredteachersfromthecasestudyschooldistrict

Artifacts:

Documents,websitepostings,summerreadinginitiatives,socialmedia posts,andonlinecurriculumlistingsfromtheschooldistrictofthiscase studythatsupportedat-homereadingpartnerinitiatives,suchasPIR (PartnersinReading)andWorldReadAloudDay.

Websiteofthetownlibraryofthecasestudyschooldistrict

Discussion

Parentsinthisstudyindicatedmaintainingroutinesharedreading practicestohelpexpandtheirchildren’sacademicunderstandings.

Throughverbalinteractions,thechildrenconnectedwiththeadult readersandencouragedtheadultstocontinueparticipatingintheshared readingactivities.

Interactionssharedbetweenanadultparticipantandchildwhenengaged insharedreadingpositivelyimpactedtheadultparticipant’sperceptions ofthechild’sresponsestothesharedreadingexperience,thereby influencingfuturesharedreadingpracticesofthepair.

Theretiredteachersexplainedthatthecasestudy’sadministration promotedtheParentsasReadingPartnersprogramwithineachofthe district’selementaryschools,yetparentsinthisstudywereunawareof thedistrictleadership’sroleinsupportingsharedreadinginitiatives.

Findings:ThemesEvidentThroughDataAnalysis

Positivemodeling

Learningopportunitiesforchildren

Opportunitiesforchildrentoconnectwithadults InfluencesonAdults’Perceptions:

Physicalandemotionalresponses

Childinvolvement

Valuetheadultplacesonconsistencyofengaginginsharedreading

SchoolLeadership’sInfluenceonAdultReadingParticipants:

Classroominitiatives

Programs

SchoolLeadership’sInfluenceonRetiredTeachers: Programs