Education Commons^™

Making Then Meaning, Ben Denzer

Masters Theses

This is an artist talk contained within a book. It is 816 pages and 49 minutes long. Closed captions run across the spreads. A video of this talk can be watched on bendenzer.com/making-then-meaning

At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.

I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.

I think meaning comes from …

Speaking Silence Fluently: Encouraging Student Understanding Of Counterhegemonic Strategies In African American Literature, Kathleen S. Decker

Masters Theses

This thesis suggests that while mainstream multicultural education claims to promote both diversity and equality, it fails to adequately address, let alone improve, the living conditions of minority students. It further suggests that when teachers help students read through the lenses of critical multiculturalism and critical whiteness studies, students can better see that both canonical and non-canonical African American authors deliberately employ nuanced strategies to resist white supremacy. Specifically through the use of purposeful and discreet silences, these authors serve to promote new and actively counterhegemonic ways of thinking in the classroom.

Each chapter pairs two texts--one canonical and one …

Selective Methods Of Teaching Secondary English: The Scarlet Letter: A Study And Application Of The Collaborative And Mastery Learning Methods, Janine M. Kardas

Masters Theses

This study is about the relationship of content in teaching to the process in teaching for the purpose of helping students to become better readers of literature. This study investigates two selected teaching strategies supported by research to be effective, and applies them to the teaching of a canonical piece of literature, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This study employs literary theory in the development of the objectives and applies both cooperative learning and mastery learning methods to the teaching of this novel. Two sets of lesson plans are developed from the objectives and subsequently analyzed for their effectiveness …