Education Commons^™

“Every Man Must Play A Part”: A Character-Centered Approach To The Merchant Of Venice, Megan Moore

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Born Into Expectations, Lyndah N. Wasike

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Lgbtq Literature In The High School English Language Arts Classroom: A Rationale For A Unit Plan On Giovanni’S Room By James Baldwin, Jenivieve D'Andrea

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The inclusion of LGBTQ literature in the high school English Language Arts classroom is a necessary step that secondary schools should take to promote culturally responsive teaching that represents the growing number of adolescents identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer in American public schools. According to a study conducted by the Williams Institute School of Law (2020), information from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that about 1,994,000 of adolescents ages thirteen to seventeen identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Of this national count, about 39,000 adolescents in Massachusetts identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. …

Read This Book!: Defending Multicultural Literature From Recent Censorship, Chloe Devine

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The aim of this research is to highlight the importance of multicultural children’s literature in the field of education as it relates to the call for a more multicultural approach to education, as well as through the consideration of the recent uptick in book censorship across the country. Specifically, I will turn my attention towards children’s literature that features Black characters and experiences, which are often featured within the multicultural realm. Despite the fact that research has consistently shown that multicultural children’s literature has benefits for Black children as well as creating an engaging reading experience for all readers, efforts …

The Evolution Of The Child Character With Learning Differences, Mary Viera

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In this paper, I will analyze the various representations of learning disabilities in selected children’s literature from the early twentieth century to recent literature published in the last decade. In the typical American classroom specific learning disabilities account for about 20% of students. It is the largest classified group to receive services in special education, and also the broadest: “Learning disabilities are disorders that affect the ability to understand or use spoken or written language, do mathematical calculations, coordinate movements or direct attention” (NIH, 2022). I will use the term “learning differences” as it encompasses all children who learn differently …

Teaching Accurate And Age-Appropriate History To Elementary Students: Teaching Third Graders About Historic Thanksgiving, Ashley Schepis

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This educational and historical research is based on teaching accurate and age-appropriate history to elementary students. Unfortunately, instead of true history elementary schoolers are often taught myths, to avoid teaching children about the embarrassing and gruesome parts of United States history. When history is not taught truthfully, it can perpetuate stereotypes and leave students confused when they reach secondary and higher education and discover that some of what they know is incorrect. The purpose of this project is to investigate what really happened at the 1621 Harvest Feast and its evolution into the holiday that is celebrated today, assess how …

Practical Femininity: The Student Development Of Legally Blonde’S Elle Woods, Elizabeth S. Rodericks

The Graduate Review

College experiences often involve challenges that can provide the impetus for personal and professional growth. Likewise, Elle Woods of the film Legally Blonde undergoes multiple significant changes in her sense of identity, morality, and ability to take charge of her own life after she is forced to radically change her perspective and priorities. This paper covers her development as a law student and individual according to the student development theories of Chickering’s Seven Vectors of Identity Development, Gilligan’s Theory of Women’s Moral Development, and Baxter Magolda’s Self-Authorship Theory. As a result of her growth, Elle Woods flourishes into a confident, …

La Carranga Como Identidad Cultural Local Y Regional Del Departamento De Cundinamarca Y Boyacá– Colombia, Karen L. López

Honors Program Theses and Projects

“Somos hablares, historias copla, canto y poesías, eso es lo que les traemos, eso es la carranguerita, sinfónicamente hablando, un canto hermoso a la vida”. Estas son las palabras con las que inicia algunas de sus presentaciones en público Jorge Velosa, el hombre más influyente y reconocido de la música carranguera. Este ritmo musical es muy importante porque por medio de su letra expresa ideas, valores, y lazos de identidad únicos de la comunidad campesina. También, es un estilo de música colombiana que busca la sonrisa de la gente, muestra cómo convivir en paz con la naturaleza, y es la …

Lolita In The Contemporary American Classroom: Pedagogical And Learning Approaches, Jasmine Revels

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study is to discover effective collegiate-level teaching and learning strategies for Vladimir Nabokov’s 1958 novel Lolita in the midst of the current American political and social climate. Some of the factors of the current political and social climate in the United States thought to have an effect on the teaching of Lolita, and were thus considered for further inquiry, were cancel culture, the Me Too Movement, and trigger warnings. Primary research was collected from college students and English college professors. To obtain this research and the opinions of respondents regarding this topic, a combination of both …

Factors That Impact Efl Acquisition In Cape Verde, William Patrick Rezende Moreno

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that impact English as a foreign language acquisition in Cape Verde. While in Cape Verde students are taught English as a foreign language (EFL from now on) for many years, upon graduation many of them are unable to have basic conversations in English. As a result, many students in Cape Verde lose the opportunity to get a better job inside and outside Cape Verde or potential scholarships to study in an English-speaking country. This study intended to explore the students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards EFL in Cape Verde. The main …

Silver Girls: A Modern Retelling Of Little Women, Jessica A. Rinker

Honors Program Theses and Projects

When one thinks of a “reader” they might picture a person with large wire-rimmed glasses, their nose buried deep into the binding of a thick book, perhaps with a cat curled up next to them and maybe a mug of tea. If one had to guess what such a literary person was reading, one would assume something very old and wise like Tolstoy or Wordsworth or Austin. What about the twelve-year-old hanging upside down on his bean bag chair devouring James Dashner’s Maze Runner or the fifteen-year-old laying across her bed, lost in the plot of Elizabeth Acevedo’s Poet X? …

Social-Emotional Learning In The Elementary School Music Class

The Graduate Review

No abstract provided.

Lie Detesters: Promoting Rhetorical Responsibility In The Classroom

The Graduate Review

No abstract provided.

Reviving Reading Through Student Choice In The High School English Classroom

The Graduate Review

No abstract provided.

Flipgrid And Second Language Acquisition Using Flipgrid To Promote Speaking Skills For English Language Learners, Annelise Difilippantonio-Pen

Master’s Theses and Projects

Integrating twenty-first century skills within the classroom has become a global driving force within the educational field. While schools have adopted models of one-to-one technology or digital formats for native English speakers, addressing the twenty-first century skills for English language learners have been absent. Given that the present global society is driven on bilingualism and multilingualism, English language learners need to be given the equitable digital opportunity to build their twenty-first century skills. The purpose of this mixed methods research study is to explore the influence and use of the digital application, Flipgrid, on the oral, English development for foundational, …

Shuji Isawa And Bridgewater State Normal School, 1875-1878, Charles C. Cox Iii

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

The Comment, November 7, 2019, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

The Comment, October 24, 2019, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

The Comment, October 10, 2019, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

The Comment, September 30, 2019, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

It’S Kind Of A Curious Incident In The Bell Jar: Using Literature And Discussion To Advocate For Mental Health Education In The High School English Classroom, Margaret Keefe

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Literature has served as an outlet for those who have both written and read it, powerfully describing all aspects of the human condition—even the mental disorders we suffer from. Language Arts classrooms provide students with the ability to access and critically analyze this unique outlet for expression and understanding. Given the high rate of mental disorders among young adults and students, this often stigmatized issue cannot be ignored inside or outside the classroom. The purpose of this project is to analyze how texts which discuss mental disorders might be taught in the high school English classroom. This will include not …

Teaching Note: Cultural Immersion And Student Perceptions Of Jordan, Sarah Thomas, Christy Lyons Graham

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Connected: An Artist’S Investigation Into Digital Communication, Brenda Roveda

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of my thesis was to develop a body of utilitarian ceramic pottery, which examines the internal conflict I have with digital communication and its impact on social interactions. I draw inspiration from historic ceramic artworks for my wheel-thrown and hand-built forms. My traditionally inspired utilitarian forms are ornamented with surface decorations that represent contemporary symbols of the digital age. By doing this I intend to create artworks that allow the viewer to contemplate the evolution of human communication and their own reliance on technological devices.

My studio investigations incorporate scholarly research of historic artworks and time periods combined …

Collecting Thoughts, Leonid Heretz

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

An Archival Study Of Grammar Instruction: Looking To The Past For Future Best Practices In Writing Instruction, Hannah Patriquin

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Cracking The Code: Redefining Text Complexity, Complicating Reading Pedagogy, Creating Lifelong Readers And Learners, Sarah Bruns

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

On The Cover: Artist's Statement For Portrait Of Mental Illness, Kristin Donato

The Graduate Review

This body of artwork uses 3D forms to visualize the impact of mental illness. Altered forms of cast heads and personal stories depicted through artist books examines how mental illness affects those suffering from an illness, as well as those acting as support systems.

A Portrait Of Mental Illness: Artist Notebook I, Kristin Donato

The Graduate Review

This body of artwork uses 3D forms to visualize the impact of mental illness. Altered forms of cast heads and personal stories depicted through artist books examines how mental illness affects those suffering from an illness, as well as those acting as support systems.

"The Only Reason I Read" And Other Apologies: A Roadmap For Increased Pleasure Reading In The High School, Anne Smith

The Graduate Review

Recent trends in adolescents’ reading habits suggest that as students enter middle and high school, their interest as well as their engagement in pleasure reading decreases. Educators and administrators alike are concerned by the statistics, which suggest that readers are lost early in their formal education. Many studies correlate low levels of reading to lower performance on academic tasks as well as decreased economic success in adulthood. Conversely, studies correlate higher levels of reading, especially daily reading, to substantial academic gains as well as increased economic success. Many educators have attacked the problem of losing readers during their adolescent years …

A Dangerous Game: The Dehumanization Of Children In Massachusetts Testing And Data Discourse, Gregory Shea

The Graduate Review

A great deal has been written about the ills of standardized testing, most of which focuses on their lack of validity and negative impacts on students. One topic that has not been explored in depth is the ways in which the discourse around testing can dehumanize public school students. This paper turns its attention to utterances of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, Mitchell Chester, along with the utterances of the superintendents of two large urban districts in Massachusetts. The thesis of this discourse analysis is that the words of these administrators betray an unconscious but troubling ideology of dehumanization. The …