Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts

ABSTRACT Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts This thesis chronicles my journey as a kindergarten teacher-researcher as I apply the arts to inform early literacy skills. It is the teacher’s role to drive the curriculum and it is his or her past ex...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McCann, Lauren A.
Format: Others
Published: 2014
Online Access:http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978567/1/McCann_PhD_S2014_pdfa.pdf
McCann, Lauren A. <http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/view/creators/McCann=3ALauren_A=2E=3A=3A.html> (2014) Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts. PhD thesis, Concordia University.
id ndltd-LACETR-oai-collectionscanada.gc.ca-QMG.978567
record_format oai_dc
spelling ndltd-LACETR-oai-collectionscanada.gc.ca-QMG.9785672014-07-04T04:42:00Z Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts McCann, Lauren A. ABSTRACT Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts This thesis chronicles my journey as a kindergarten teacher-researcher as I apply the arts to inform early literacy skills. It is the teacher’s role to drive the curriculum and it is his or her past experiences that will determine its delivery. After researching into my past, and gaining insight into my teaching philosophy, I discovered my passion for educating through the arts. To improve my teaching practice, and uncover the impact of my art driven curriculum, I recorded my actions, wrote daily field notes and collected the works of my students in order to discover the impact my lessons had on their self-perceptions as they became readers. Using the method of reflective practice, I question how teaching through the arts can support my students in visualizing themselves as readers while learning to read. The dissertation focuses on my daily reflections in regards to art activities intended to teach early literacy skills according to the International Reading Associations’ three reading standards. Reflections from these lessons are examined in parallel to the bi-monthly reading-self-portraits created by the students. Themes such as home and school emerge and, as the school year progresses, personal connections to reading are made as the children mature. Their reading-self-portraits evolve to illustrate lessons learned in class and conclusively depict independent reading. By expanding the definition of “literacy” to include new literacies and multimodality, and by validating the views of a reflective practitioner, I connect my teaching methods to my students’ improvement. Through reflective practice, I discover the key ingredient of a successful academic curriculum – joy. 2014-02 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978567/1/McCann_PhD_S2014_pdfa.pdf McCann, Lauren A. <http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/view/creators/McCann=3ALauren_A=2E=3A=3A.html> (2014) Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts. PhD thesis, Concordia University. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978567/
collection NDLTD
format Others
sources NDLTD
description ABSTRACT Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts This thesis chronicles my journey as a kindergarten teacher-researcher as I apply the arts to inform early literacy skills. It is the teacher’s role to drive the curriculum and it is his or her past experiences that will determine its delivery. After researching into my past, and gaining insight into my teaching philosophy, I discovered my passion for educating through the arts. To improve my teaching practice, and uncover the impact of my art driven curriculum, I recorded my actions, wrote daily field notes and collected the works of my students in order to discover the impact my lessons had on their self-perceptions as they became readers. Using the method of reflective practice, I question how teaching through the arts can support my students in visualizing themselves as readers while learning to read. The dissertation focuses on my daily reflections in regards to art activities intended to teach early literacy skills according to the International Reading Associations’ three reading standards. Reflections from these lessons are examined in parallel to the bi-monthly reading-self-portraits created by the students. Themes such as home and school emerge and, as the school year progresses, personal connections to reading are made as the children mature. Their reading-self-portraits evolve to illustrate lessons learned in class and conclusively depict independent reading. By expanding the definition of “literacy” to include new literacies and multimodality, and by validating the views of a reflective practitioner, I connect my teaching methods to my students’ improvement. Through reflective practice, I discover the key ingredient of a successful academic curriculum – joy.
author McCann, Lauren A.
spellingShingle McCann, Lauren A.
Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts
author_facet McCann, Lauren A.
author_sort McCann, Lauren A.
title Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts
title_short Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts
title_full Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts
title_fullStr Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts
title_full_unstemmed Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts
title_sort not without joy: a reflective practice journey to encouraging literacy through the arts
publishDate 2014
url http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978567/1/McCann_PhD_S2014_pdfa.pdf
McCann, Lauren A. <http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/view/creators/McCann=3ALauren_A=2E=3A=3A.html> (2014) Not Without Joy: A Reflective Practice Journey To Encouraging Literacy Through The Arts. PhD thesis, Concordia University.
work_keys_str_mv AT mccannlaurena notwithoutjoyareflectivepracticejourneytoencouragingliteracythroughthearts
_version_ 1716706761926246400