Education Commons^™

Recalibrating Our Moral Compass: How America's Narrowing Value System Is Erasing Lgbtq+ People In Schools, Andrew Levalley

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis bridges the effects of society—meaning politics, policies, norms, and values—and school on LGBTQ+ students. Paramount educational philosophers, namely Dewey, Freire, Berliner, and Illich, understood that schools are a reflection of the communities they serve. I apply this common philosophy to the LGBTQ+ community to uncover the systems of inequalities that have negative effects on LGBTQ+ youth in order to promote better systems that include both LGBTQ+ youth and the larger LGBTQ+ community. To illustrate the effects of society and school on the LGBTQ+ community and youth, I use traditional peer reviewed researched data, current events that showcase America’s …

From There, To Here, Now Where? My Journey Of Vulnerability Toward Interdisciplinary Teaching, Jennifer Lyn Way

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Few words have the power to make people both cringe in fear and lean forward, fascinated to know more. This thesis focuses on one such word: vulnerability. Through the Scholarly Personal Narrative writing format, I explore what vulnerability means to me and how my understanding has changed. I examine how vulnerability in my life helped refine me into a wiser, more compassionate, teacher.

Teaching requires vulnerability, a willingness to risk failure and accept mistakes for what they really are: lessons to create a connection among other humans. This thesis portrays how I have come to understand and accept vulnerability as …