Kristen Ferguson

• Doctor of Philosophy, Education, York University, Canada
• Professor at Nipissing University

Purpose: COVID-19 has disrupted the daily routines of many Canadian families. In Ontario, provincially mandated public health measures have resulted in significant changes to school policies, including those related to food. The impact of COVID-19 related school food policies on parental lunch packing habits is unknown; therefore, this study invest...

The literature reports high levels of occupational stress for teachers, exacerbated by heavy loads of emotional labour in the classroom. We know less, however, about teacher mental health concerns as they relate to leaves of absences and returns to work, and the role gender may play related to leaves of absences and returns to work. Our pilot study...

Teacher mental health continues to be of concern in elementary and secondary schools; however, supporting teacher wellbeing is understudied (Parker et al., 2012; Roffey, 2012), particularly from a gender perspective (Bourgeault et al., 2021). Among professionals, teachers exhibit one of the highest levels of job stress and burnout on the job. (Haka...

BACKGROUND Research indicates home‐packed school lunches are lower in nutritional value compared with school‐provided meals. Due to the lack of a school lunch program, most of what Canadian children consume during the school day is determined by parents and caregivers through packed lunches. Despite this, little research has focused on the school l...

Most research on common book programs focuses on student outcomes. This paper presents a study about the impact of a common book program on teaching and learning practices at a small mainly undergraduate university. This study consists of two phases. In Phase 1, we surveyed faculty members (N= 32, a response rate of 21.3%), about the influence of t...

Students in a small university in Ontario, Canada were surveyed about the lasting impact of the common book program from three years previous. Results indicate that the common book had a small impact on critical thinking and essay writing skills. The book program, however, had little to no lasting impact on them as readers, listeners, or speakers,...

In this paper, we explore how the frequency of utilization of social supports is related to teacher demographics, stress factors, job satisfaction, career intent, career commitment, and the perception of a stigma attached to teacher stress. Using data from self-report questionnaires (N= 264) from teachers in northern Ontario, we found that teachers...

This article explores the sharing of writing through a coffee house–style poetry reading. Although this article focuses on a workshop and share activity used in a preservice teacher language arts and literacy course, it contains tips and ideas for implementing poetry coffee houses with elementary and secondary school students and preservice and ins...

Simulations are an underpinning pedagogy and tradition in some professional fields, such as medicine, yet are seldom used in education. In this study, the author reports on the findings of a reading assessment situation activity that she did with preservice early grade (kindergarten to grade 6) teachers. In addition to giving preservice teachers pr...

Teaching financial literacy is important at all stages of life, but is often neglected with elementary students. In this article, the authors describe a strategy for teaching financial literacy using the books about Max and Ruby by Rosemary Wells. These books can help introduce the five key concepts of financial literacy: scarcity, exchange, money,...

Literacy: Reading, Writing, and Children's Literature is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to balanced literacy instruction and learning for pre-service and in-service teachers. Tailored for Canadians, this practical and current text provides a theoretical foundation alongside real-world classroom examples for teaching the foundational sk...

A part of the best-selling Making Sense series, Making Sense in Education is an indispensable guide for students preparing to become teachers. This revised edition includes more education-specific examples throughout, a new appendix with online resources for educators, and an expanded glossary to help students throughout their academic and teaching...

This paper presents the results of study about an urban high school in Ontario that performed a stage play that portrayed the legacy of the Indian residential schools in Canada. We wanted to know the impact this arts-based response had on teachers and students. From the data that we obtained from focus groups, we identify four learning outcomes of...

This paper explores teacher peer coaching, a current popular model of professional development in schools. Teacher peer coaching meets many of the criteria required for effective professional development as outlined in the literature. In addition, the characteristics of peer coaching also coincide with the literature on how teachers learn. There ar...

While shadowing is known in disciplines such as Organizational Studies, there is little reference to shadowing as a qualitative research technique in Education or other social science fields. This paper explores shadowing in the research literature and my experience collecting data using shadowing. Using my researcher journal and reflections, I pre...

In this qualitative study, we outline the process through which a book was selected for a university common reading program. By observing committee meetings and interviewing committee members, we identified five issues and tensions that arose when selecting a book: academic rigor vs. student engagement; increasing student involvement in the process...

Many post-secondary common book programs purport to increase a sense of community on campus. This study explored whether a common book program at a Canadian university was able to create a sense of community among students. Results indicate that in-class discussions about the book, liking the Facebook page, attending the author lecture, and watchin...

This paper explores the role of literacy coaches in Ontario schools. This case study uses qualitative research methods to provide a picture of what literacy coaching looks like in practice in three schools. The literacy coaches had three main roles: to act as school literacy organizers, literacy leaders, and to provide support to teachers and princ...

This article reports on student surveys and faculty interviews with regard to a university pilot project of a common book program for first year students. We found that a minority of students read the book and the book was integrated into only some faculty members’ courses. First-year students varied in their perceptions of the impact the project...

This article reports on student surveys and faculty interviews with regard to a university pilot project of a common book program for first-year students. We found that a minority of students read the book and the book 15 was integrated into only some faculty members’ courses. First-year students varied in their perceptions of the impact the projec...

This study investigates predictors of anxiety, depression, and job satisfaction in teachers in northern Ontario. Using data from self-report questionnaires, factor analysis and multiple linear regression were performed to determine which sources of stress predict stress-related symptoms among teachers and to explore job satisfaction as predicted by...

In this study, we examined the perceptions of Ontario elementary (primary K - 3 and junior 4 - 6) literacy coaches to determine their roles, beliefs, and practices. We interviewed thirteen literacy coaches working in one Ontario school board about their literacy coaching. All coaches interviewed were teachers with specialized experience working in...