TITLE:
A Pastiche of Outcomes for a Teacher-Student Pair: Experiences within a Reading Cluster Group
AUTHORS:
Angie L. Miller, Amanda O. Latz, Sarah C. W. Jenkins, Cheryll M. Adams
KEYWORDS:
Cluster Grouping; Reading Motivation; Gifted Education; Classroom Management
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.3 No.1,
February
21,
2012
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of two individuals involved in Project CLUE (Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity), a university-school collaboration. One former third grade teacher (T) and one of her former students (S) participated in this study. A phenomenological case study design was used. T and S were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. The research question that drove the present study was: What are the impacts of a gifted reading curriculum on students within a gifted cluster inside a regular classroom? Three salient themes from an analysis of the interview transcripts emerged. They were: 1) social and affective outcomes, 2) bidirectional motivation for deep learning and exploration, and 3) obstacles to implementation.