Taylor, Anna2024-07-242024-07-242024https://hdl.handle.net/11299/264368University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. 2024. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Lori Helman. 1 computer file (PDF); xvi, 182 pages.Middle school serves as an important transitional stage in U.S. educational systems, as the foundational learning of the elementary grades gives way to the specialized, disciplinary studies privileged in secondary and post-secondary schools. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how middle school English Language Arts (ELA) teachers shaped the operational curriculum in their classrooms, in light of disciplinary literacy. Disciplinary literacy has emerged as an important field of research in secondary literacy in the past fifteen years; this study built upon several bodies of literature, including disciplinary literacy, ELA, and studies of educator decision-making. After examining this literature, I created a complex conceptual framework that anchored my study of educator decision-making in middle school ELA classrooms. Research questions examined teacher factors such as training and beliefs, contextual factors such as school and state expectations, and the ways that the operational curriculum in their classrooms reflected these factors.A qualitative, multi-case design was implemented to examine the instructional decision-making of two focal ELA teachers in a single school: Erin, a first-year teacher of eighth grade, and Natasha, a 16th year teacher of seventh grade. Conducting the study in one school enabled careful examination of shared contextual factors, such as school expectations and the absence of official curriculum, as well as unique individual factors, such as teachers’ beliefs, training, and past teaching experiences. Data collected included multiple rounds of interview data, notes from 8-10 classroom observations, artifacts of classroom instruction, and researcher memos and jottings. Data were analyzed through rounds of qualitative coding and analysis, drawing on provisional codes from the study’s conceptual framework. The study showed that educators shape their classrooms’ operational curriculum based on myriad factors. Teacher factors, such as access to materials and personal interest, and contextual factors, such as state standards and school-level expectations for instruction, directly shaped the operational curriculum in each classroom. Literary study, generally viewed as the heart of ELA in traditional and disciplinary literacy paradigms, was evident but not central to instruction in participants’ classrooms. This study indicates the need for additional teacher- and classroom-focused ELA disciplinary literacy research.encurriculumdisciplinary literacyEnglish Language Artsreadingstate standardsteacher decision-makingThesis or Dissertation