Date

11-2019

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Instruction (EdD)

Chair

Rebecca Lunde

Keywords

Gifted, Learning Disabled, Twice Exceptional, Twice Exceptional Pedagogy

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education

Abstract

This transcendental phenomenological study examined the experiences of 10 teachers of twice exceptional students at two high schools in northeast Ohio. The central research question was: What are the shared experiences of general education high school teachers instructing twice-exceptional students in northeast Ohio? Sub-questions explored how participants described their experiences in meeting the educational needs of twice-exceptional learners, how teachers described their self-efficacy in regard to teaching twice-exceptional students, and obstacles they found while teaching these students. Moustakas’ (1994) transcendental model to find the essence of the phenomenon was utilized to collect data through interviewing participants, conducting online focus groups, and collecting responses to essay prompts after which systematic data analysis was employed through coding, peer review, triangulation, and description. Theories that guided this study were the post-modernist constructivist idea of critical pragmatism as espoused by Skrtic (1991) which asks teachers of students with learning disabilities to continually re-examine and evaluate their pedagogy and construction of curriculum in collaboration with their colleagues and Dweck’s (1999) theory of growth mindset focusing teachers on growth of intelligence. Three themes emerged during the study: collegial support, student-teacher relationships and ongoing professional development. Results indicated that although teachers’ knowledge base of specific twice-exceptional instructional strategies was minimal, they relied upon their relationships with their students and colleagues and own feelings of efficacy to improve upon twice-exceptional pedagogy.

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