Digital Commons Network^™

The Benefits Of Using The Bible As A Historical Reference To Teach History And Literature, Anne Auringer

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this capstone is to examine the benefits of teaching by using the Bible as a reference in both the primary grades in and the public schools. Given the factual evidence about correlations with academic success and Biblical pedagogy, this senior capstone research project brings awareness to educators about the benefits of that the Bible can be a valuable historical reference to teach history and literature to students in the classroom. Through the use of literature review and a case study, the findings revealed that using the Bible to teach history and literature, purely is a great source …

The Hidden History Of Chicanx Literature And The Importance Of Incorporating Chicanx Literature In The Curriculum, Lucia Gonzalez-Gonzalez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This essay will analyze and look into the issue in K-12 education where there is little representation of Chicanx students and a little talk about their culture, history, and novels to which they can relate. This essay will examine why Chicanx writers and books do not remain in the K-12 curriculum and how we can fix this. To answer the following questions and find a solution, I will examine the history of Chicanx students' treatment in the educational system. I will also create a lesson plan catered to middle school/high school Chicanx students in which they will be able to …

Big Community In Little Chinatown: How Asian Americans (Re)Present Their Community Today, Meghan Morrison

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper looks at a series of modern Asian American pieces of media in order to analyze how women and LGBT+ depict and create their community, especially in relation to another marginalized ethnic group. By examining the relationship between these groups within popular media, we can uncover how Asian Americans choose to represent themselves and gain a deeper understanding on how marginalized groups choose to portray themselves.

Finding Identity Through Literature, Darren Bartholomew

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on how upper-grade elementary students view children’s literature and its connection to self identity. The stakeholder perspectives that were obtained include students in upper and lower elementary grades and their teachers. According to the data analysis, younger elementary students desired to read more stories about anthropomorphized characters that are going through similar life situations. Older elementary students exhibited an overall desire to read books about fantastical stories and characters. However, when dealing with pressing issues both groups desired to read stories about characters who were similar to them in gender, age, ethnicity, or …

Cultural Representation In The Classroom, Priscilla R. Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to establish the importance of cultural-representation in schools where the majority of the students identify as Latino. The participants for the Capstone Project included a classroom of third-grade students in a public elementary school located on California’s Central Coast. The supporting literature provides additional information on why incorporating culturally-relevant literature is needed. The issue is what books are available to the students that talk about their culture. By providing culturally-relevant books to students in the classroom in hopes to promote a more positive relationship with reading and a personal relationship with attending school. For …

Experience Bobo Experience, Sara Smith

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Experience Bobo Experience -by Sara Marie Smith (Artist Statements and Images of work)

Spring 2018-CSUMB Undergraduate Capstone Project/ Visual Public Arts Department

My Senior Capstone is about using inspirational wisdom from acknowledged sources to address the quandaries of our human experiences. I have chosen a cognitive clown, named Bobo, to investigate Henry David Thoreau, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Watts. Bobo, my character, goes on a journey of learning. Bobo is a line drawing, rendered in marker, with a circular head, two dot eyes, three puffs of hair with a clown smile and clown clothing. Experience Bobo Experience speaks to …

Moral Commitment And Ethical Action In The Classroom: Integrating Morality, Ethics, And Values Into Curriculum, Joseph Castillo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In this capstone project, I argue for the importance of incorporating the teaching of morals and ethics within the classroom. I ground this argument in a critical analysis of William Ayers’ Teaching Toward Freedom and a curriculum that links Ayers’ thesis with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birmingham Letter. The review of Teaching Toward Freedom is designed to elicit why this is a critical book for the field of teacher education. In particular, the analysis focuses on Ayers’ development of a philosophical argument about the need for public school educators to commit to “moral” and “ethical action” within the …

Implementing Teaching Strategies To Enhance Critical Thinking Through Literature In High School Students, Arcelia P. Velasquez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Critical thinking is when a person makes an inference on a topic through analyzation, and inductive reason. This form of inferences uses a set of prior skills and knowledge to conclude. It is a teacher's job to provide students the tools to enhance their critical thinking. Through use of literature review and surveys with teachers and students, this capstone discusses skills that teachers implement teaching strategies to enhance their students’ critical thinking through freedom of choice of literature for low income high school students. Critical thinking is not just important in the school setting but in the outside world. Students …

Power Lunch : Optimizing Extra-Curricular Reading Groups At Oakside High, Sarah M. Figueroa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

There is a major problem when ninth- and tenth-graders are reading at a fifth grade level. It is more than just an indicator of students’ unwillingness to participate in school – it is a reflection of student disengagement; disengagement being more that just typical teenage rebellion. Teenagers become disengaged for a multitude of reason, but a key feature of engagement is close, trusting, caring relationships with teachers. Within the context of an extra-curricular reading group which met twice a week during student’s lunchtime, culturally relevant literature was used to create teacher-student relationships and boost overall engagement with scholastic material.

Lgbtq : Incorporating It Into The Classroom, Gentry Willcoxson, Abigail Williams

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The LGBTQ community has historically been neglected in a classroom setting because of its controversial nature. Because of this, many students feel uncomfortable fully expressing themselves and are often fearful of bullying and other harassment by students at school. In order to bring this problem to the forefront of schools, Gentry and Abby created a full resource book for Middle School classrooms highlighting the LGBTQ community in order to raise awareness and acceptance of middle school students. A small portion of the book was also implemented into an 8th grade classroom to not only receive feedback on the full resource …