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Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how middle school teachers perceived, expressed, and described their experiences with teaching via a cross-curricular literacy project. A secondary purpose was to explore how teachers perceived middle school students experienced life skills such as responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and integrity/honesty which may have emerged during the cross-curricular literacy project. A qualitative approach, constructivist epistemology, and case study design were used to discover the perspectives of teachers who participated in the project. Data collection involved information obtained through face-to-face retrospective interviews of seven teachers. Thematic analysis illustrated themes related to the study and included communications regarding implementation of the project, outcomes of the project, and emergence of life skills through the project. Thus, thematic analysis targeted literacy, cross-curricular instruction, and life skills.Analysis of teacher perspectives resulted in three findings of this study. First, participants viewed instructional time as compromised by a focus on assessment/testing. In addition, participants expressed the need for teacher buy-in before and during the implementation of projects. Last, participants perceived literacy and life skills as credible targets of cross-curricular instruction. As teachers participated through the interviews they were able to reflect on the implications of literacy, cross-curricular instruction, and life skills in their professions.