Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Monster Mash: A Monster Studies Approach To Literature In The University Classroom, Megan L. Bowen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Monster Mash is a course proposal for an upper-division undergraduate literature course focused on exploring monsters in literature and building connections between classic and more contemporary texts using high-impact practices (HIPs) with student success in mind. I build on previous work in the field of Monster Studies and introduce my own original monster pattern that prompts students to interpret monsters as they trek through Origin, Separation, Power, Threat, and Diminishment. This pattern highlights commonalities when it comes to the representation of monsters and their stories, allowing students to identify them across texts. I also divide monsters into three categories …

Comparison Of Traditional To Hybrid Modality Of Instruction, Paul Michael Spadaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption in education across the United States. Prior to the pandemic, students in third grade struggled with low reading proficiency, a difficulty that predicts persistent academic struggles, school dropout, and even delinquency. Districts in South Carolina and around the United States adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways, and among these strategies were a traditional learning modality, where students attended school only in-person and when possible, and a hybrid learning modality, where students alternatively attended in-person and remotely. It is important to understand the potential impacts of these scheduling decisions on …

Rewriting Writing As Transmodal And Translingual: Tranßcribing Japanese., Alex Way

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the use of different scripts in Japanese writing practices to disrupt English-language and Western-centric approaches to multimodal composition. Early chapters establish a brief history of the Japanese writing system (JWS) and explore its functionality. I trace the JWS’s development from borrowed Chinese characters (kanji), which were adapted to the Japanese language through the translation process of kundoku, to the contemporary system which utilizes the supplemental phonetic scripts of hiragana and katakana, in part, to represent Japanese syntax. Building on this historical context, I demonstrate how the use of the Japanese multi-scripts (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) in conventional …

“This Rigid Curricular Way”: Evaluating Expectations In Collegiate Music Education, Sophie Ailsa Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conversations surrounding curricular reform are abound in music education today. Much of the literature on this topic explores how professors can adapt their teaching practices to the presumed needs of students in the classroom, but student voices are infrequently centered in these discussions.

This thesis examines the study of music in the collegiate setting from the student perspective. Using a survey which I designed and interviews that I conducted, I examine the disconnect between student values and those of the institutions they attend. I then put these student perspectives in conversation with existing literature.

I discovered that student experiences revolve …

Music Theory Pedagogy For The Violin: Cognitive Philosophy And Three Model Curricula, Morganne J. Mcintyre

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Violin playing promotes a connection between mind and body that allows the performer to internalize, or embody, tactile features of the instrument, such as the distance between strings, the feeling of the fingertips on the fingerboard, the interval size between notes, and many other aspects. This thesis designs a pedagogy that employs the violin’s physical attributes to provide the beginning through advanced player with a deeper understanding of music theory. The thesis suggests pairing of physical learning and musical theory at each stage of a violinist’s musical education. Chapter 1 surveys embodied cognition and cognitive artifacts. Chapter 2 applies these …

Social Work, Social Justice, And The Causes To Which We Are Called: Attitudes, Ally Behavior, And Activism, Brittanie Atteberry Ash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a profession, social work has codified within its ethical guidance and educational policies a commitment to social justice. While social justice is enumerated in several guiding documents, social work continues to lack consensus on both the meaning and merit of social justice (Abramovitz, 1993; Funge, 2011; Hong & Hodge, 2009; Specht & Courtney, 1995; Van Soest & Garcia, 2003). Due to the lack of agreement within the profession about the centrality and meaning of social justice, many educational practices, attitudes, and actions of those working within the profession may not align with socially just ideals that are codified in …

Character Arcs: Mapping Creative Writers' Trajectories Into The Composition Classroom., Jon Udelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops a theoretical and empirical approach to the study of professional creative writers and teachers. Specifically, it examines how these writers developed their knowledge of creative writing and writing pedagogy and how that knowledge informs their work as instructors of composition. Despite the common practice across writing programs of hiring formally-trained creative writers (M.A., M.F.A, Ph.D.) to teach first-year composition and related courses, little scholarship in the field of rhetoric and composition or writing studies more broadly specifically focuses on the disciplinary and professional development of these writer-teachers. Through case studies of graduate students, contingent faculty, lecturers, and …

Wounds And Writing : Building Trauma-Informed Approaches To Writing Pedagogy., Michelle L. Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation builds a trauma-informed approach to writing pedagogy informed by writing studies scholarship about trauma and inclusive pedagogy, clinical social work literature on trauma-informed care, and interviews with nine current University of Louisville writing faculty about their experiences academically supporting distressed students. I identify three central touchstones—“students are coddled,” “teacher’s aren’t therapists,” and “institutions don’t support trauma-informed teaching”—in scholarly and public debates regarding what to do about student trauma/distress in higher education. After exploring the valid concerns and misconceptions underpinning these touchstones, I illustrate how clinical research offers a way forward to help writing instructors develop more complex understandings …

Breathing Instruction Of Successful High School Marching Band Directors., Michael A. Alsop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The breath is considered one of the most important factors of playing a wind instrument because it affects nearly every aspect of playing. The purpose of this study was to examine the breathing instruction of successful high school marching band directors. The researcher sought to learn about how often proper breathing is taught, what methods are most commonly used, perceived benefits for the marching members, and potential negative aspects or consequences of breathing instruction. Two-hundred-and-thirteen successful marching band directors were invited to complete a survey consisting of multiple choice, Likert scale, and open-ended questions. Seventy-six directors completed the survey. It …

Amused Teachers And Public Readers : Empathy And Derision In "Student Blooper" Collections., Jessica Winck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the long-standing tradition in education of sharing and publishing students’ unintentionally amusing mistakes. Often called “bloopers,” “boners,” and “howlers,” students’ writing mistakes have been published in print since at least the early 20^th century and more recently online. Using theories of reading student writing, academic discourse, ethics, and humor, this project analyzes the misconceptions that teachers and public audiences have of students, re-reads student writing for its potential, and explores the ethical implications of sharing student work with public audiences. The first two chapters ground the reader in the historical, social, and cultural contexts in which …

Dewey Meets Bluegrass: Progressive Educational Theory In The Establishment Of Traditional Music Programs In Higher Education, John C. Goad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study focuses on connections between the Progressive era educational theories of John Dewey and present-day bluegrass and traditional music programs in higher education in order to explore a pedagogical basis for such programs. The research specifically examines Dewey’s beliefs in experiential learning, individualization, and vocational education and their current applications in traditional music education. The study included two major components: historical research into Dewey’s writings and primary and secondary sources regarding traditional music education in the United States, and interviews of faculty members in college and university bluegrass and traditional music programs. The thesis of this study is that …

An Analysis Of Undergraduate Creative Writing Students'writing Processes: Gauging The Workshop Models' Effectiveness Through The Lens Of Genre Theories, John Chrisman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current approaches to teaching creative writers the ways to success in creative writing courses consist largely of workshop style classes. While workshops often vary from class to class in style, generally a workshop will consist of a group of writers, led by a mentor/instructor, who exchange drafts and provide reader and writer focused feedback to the author. Yet because the workshop approach has not been the subject of close empirical study, it is unclear whether it is an effective pedagogy. This thesis serves two purposes. First, it presents an argument for new research into creative writing pedagogy and creative writers' …

“That’S The Way I’Ve Always Learned”: The Transmission Of Traditional Music In Higher Education, Alexandra Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the establishment of degree programs in traditional music in institutions of higher education. It defines traditional music and discusses the history of traditional and folk music programs at universities and conservatories in the United States, Finland, Scotland, and England. The institutionalization of American traditional music is compared to the institutionalization of jazz music in the United States. This thesis focuses on the Bluegrass, Old- Time, and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State University and features original ethnographic interviews with lecturers from the program. Two similar programs in Tennessee and Kentucky are also discussed. Some of …

Female Bias In Technical Communication And An Exploration Of Pedagogical Strategies For Reversing The Bias, Rebecca Beeson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores technical communication and seeks to establish that females outnumber males in the field while also holder more high-level positions. It further seeks to show why a field does not benefit from having one sex outnumber the other. The benefits of having an equal number of females and males contributing to the growth and expansion of the field are discussed. Finally, this thesis discusses potential pedagogical strategies which could be employed at the college level as a means of attracting more young men to the field and allowing for maximum growth of technical communication as a field of …

Pedagogy And Identity In "The Night Lessons" Of Finnegans Wake, Zachary Paul Smola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores chapter II.ii of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939)—commonly called "The Night Lessons"—and its peculiar use of the conventions of the textbook as a form. In the midst of the Wake's abstraction, Joyce uses the textbook to undertake a rigorous exploration of epistemology and education. By looking at the specific expectations of and ambitions for textbooks in 19th century Irish national schools, this thesis aims to provide a more specific historical context for what textbooks might mean as they appear in Finnegans Wake. As instruments of cultural conditioning, Irish textbooks were fraught with tension arising from their investment …

The Many Pedagogies Of Memoir: A Study Of The Promise Of Teaching Memoir In College Composition, Melissa Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the promise and problems of memoir in the pedagogy and practices of teaching memoir in college composition. I interviewed three University of Central Florida instructors who value memoir in composition, and who at the time of this study, were mandated to teach memoir in their composition courses. The interviews focus on three main points of interest: (1) the instructors’ motivations behind their teaching of memoir, (2) how these instructors see memoir functioning in their classes, and (3) what these instructors hope their students will gain in the process of writing the memoir essay. By analyzing these interviews, …

The Road Less Taken: A Qualitative Inquiry Of Christian Homeschooling In Taiwan, Wei-Chen Tung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to examine how Christian homeschooling works in Taiwan by investigating the intentions, implementation, challenges and implications of homeschooling practice. With regard to homeschooling as an increasingly popular educational option in Taiwan, particularly among Christian families, the following research questions are used to guide this study: (1) What are the reasons and goals of Christian parents in Taiwan to choose homeschooling for their children? (2)What does their homeschooling look like in practice? (3) What do the Christian homeschoolers perceive to be the advantages and challenges of homeschooling in Taiwan? (4) What are the implications …

Perceptions Of Cuteness And Beauty, Danielle Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Upbringing and psychological make-up inspire individual norms for beauty and cuteness. The mannerist approach in my work is a product of the figural liberties found in cartooning, illustration and art history. By altering facial and bodily features, I relate the proportions of an infant to cuteness and innocence. However, I tailor the photographs to empower the subjects all the while mirroring trends in contemporary pop culture. I'm interested in themes of everyday life, vitality and emotion placed in obscure, imaginary or exaggerated venues. I fictionalize subjects of my reality to compel viewers to identify with and fancy emotions, circumstances, moods …

Engendering Agency: Literacies, Social Action, And Wangari Maathai S Green Belt Movement, Cassandra Marie Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the life and work of Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, one of the foremost African woman rhetors of our time. Wangari Maathai--founder of Kenya's Green Belt Movement (GBM), Member of Parliament, and activist for democracy, sustainable development, and human rights--has cultivated a multidimensional literacy that has allowed her to truly understand and address the problems that post-colonial Kenyans face. Her strong solution-oriented approach has allowed her to develop and refine operation of the GBM, which began simply planting trees, to produce a worldwide organization that works for sustainable development, human rights, and environmental conservation/restoration (among many others) …