Title page for ETD etd-04212004-154111

Type of Document

Dissertation

Author

Webb, Nancy Hutchinson

Author's Email Address

nwebb@vt.edu

URN

etd-04212004-154111

Title

Becoming a Teacher is a Journey for a Lifetime: The Biography of a Fourth Grade Writing Teacher

Degree

PhD

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Kelly, Patricia Proudfoot	Committee Chair
Barksdale, Mary Alice	Committee Member
Linkous, Vicki D.	Committee Member
Niles, Jerome A.	Committee Member
Potts, Ann	Committee Member

Keywords

Writers' Workshop
Teacher Development
Teacher Biography

Date of Defense

2004-04-06

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

Becoming a Teacher is a Journey For a Lifetime:
The Biography of a Fourth-Grade Writing Teacher

Nancy H. Webb

(ABSTRACT)

The purpose of this study was to see the lifetime literacy growth of one fourth-grade writing teacher, and to view her teaching from inside her classroom. This study follows the journey of an emerging teacher as she grew and developed into a professional educator. This study continues into her classroom to see her as she taught Writers’ Workshop, inspiring her students to write from their own life experiences. This qualitative study was conducted using participant observation, interviews, and artifacts to gather data. Through qualitative inquiry and thematic analysis, data were interpreted to gain insight into this teacher’s life and her teaching. The researcher’s reflections, review of the literature, and eighteen years of experience as a teacher, brought a knowledgeable perspective that informed interpretation of the data. This study of Ruth’s life and her classroom was an inquiry into the processes of teacher development.
Our view of teachers and their teaching is hidden by the nature of the job they do. Stories of the lives and work of teachers seek to illuminate the professional development of teachers and their teaching (Goodson, 1994; Jalongo & Isenberg, 1995; Schwarz, 2001). By closely studying the path of one teacher’s growth and teaching, the growth and teaching of all teachers are illuminated; by “weav[ing] together the themes throughout one teacher’s lifetime, [we] connect…them to the lives of many different teachers” (Jalongo & Isenberg, 1995, p. 28).
From this study, experiences of one teacher build and layer as years of teaching experience and professional development mingle together to change and enhance her knowledge of teaching and resulting classroom practice. The fourth-grade students in Ruth’s classroom were the recipients of their teacher’s literacy experiences that developed over her lifetime.

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