Hoberg, Richard A., authorCoke, Pamela, advisorO'Donnell-Allen, Cindy, committee memberThompson, Jesse, committee member2016-08-182017-08-172016http://hdl.handle.net/10217/176643The new Common Core State Standards demand rigorous academic outcomes of public school students. Teachers of English Language Arts has been both strained and invigorated by these demands in recent years, and educational research, particularly on the use of technology for advancing literacy, has proposed some innovative solutions. This qualitative study will compare the implementation of two forms of ELA curricula, one based in recent literature and the other based in traditional instruction, for the purpose of measuring which is capable of better academic outcomes. I will use an action research design to carry out this study. My primary research question is: How does implementing affinity spaces in my 9th-grade ELA class compare to implementing my usual instruction with respect to student improvement on CCSS achievement targets? The outcomes of the study led me to conclude that my implementation of an affinity space curriculum, which is based in recent educational research, achieves better academic outcomes than my usual instruction, which is based in traditional teaching practices.born digitalmasters thesesengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.Text