Education Commons^™

Transformative Social Emotional Learning: A Call To Heal The Effects Of Racial Trauma On Identity And Self-Efficacy, Elizabeth Trostle

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Growing up I was never a child that loved school. I fell in love with learning in environments that did not look or feel like classrooms. And in 2005 I learned that I had a passion for learning about pedagogy. I entered the classroom again this time as a teacher, ready to engage students in learning. What I was offered was curriculum and learning standards that left little room for experiences. Despite my efforts, and after a decade of experience, I was still baffled by the resistance to learning.

I wanted to understand this because I saw that education—when you …

Blinded By Whiteness: Middle-Class White Teachers’ Explorations Of Identity And Deficit Discourse At The Intersection Of Race, Class, And Perceived Ability, Tracy Driehaus

Education Doctorate Dissertations

A legacy of placing children of color and poverty at the center of the “problem” of race and class in education has left us in a holding pattern marked by a prevailing deficit discourse and problematizing of students. Scholars agree that the predominantly white, middle class, female teaching force who occupy US public school classrooms embody and perpetuate these inequitable educational practices endemic within this system. In this study, a small population of White, middle class teachers--including the researcher--organized within a Professional Learning Community (PLC) explored identity and deficit discourse at the intersection of race, class, and perceived ability. Grounded …

Reframing The Pedagogical Underpinnings Of To Kill A Mockingbird: Queering A High School Text, Hovsep Hovannesian

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Given the current climate for social and political change in relation to identity and being, traditional high school texts like To Kill A Mockingbird are being rejected as degrading, out of touch, and even regressive and are being taken off the pedagogical shelf. This article pushes back on this outlook by suggesting that a more critical approach to such texts can make them not only useful but enlightening for the high school population asked to read them. Specifically, by proposing that high school pedagogy apply the foundations and frameworks of critical, identity-focused theories, like queer theory, to traditional high school …

Changed Agents: Cultivating Students’ Civic Identity Through Participation In A Social Justice-Themed Book Club As A Subversive Approach To Critical Literacy In Education, Elizabeth Schucker

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Through an embedded social justice-themed book club and approach to subversive critical literacy experiences, students gain the necessary skills-based knowledge, which cultivate civic awareness, identity, and civic agency, inviting them to develop perspective of real-world issues and concerns. Transformative teaching practices engage teachers and students in the joy of the partnership model as social justice-themed texts provide the opportunity for liberation and synthesis. The students who participate in the social justice-themed book club acknowledge and welcome the discourse as co-investigators in the real-world inquiry. While engaging in twelve authentic literacy-based subversive experiences, students challenge their own opinions and cultivate a …

Escapando Las Trampas: Teacher Preparation For Mexicanas, Larissa Perez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Developing Maestras face and overcome linguistic, academic and cultural forms of gatekeeping while trying to navigate through our current education system. For this Capstone Project, the impact that gatekeeping has on developing Maestras and how it affects their academic and professional aspirations was investigated. This is an important issue for developing Maestras, the University of Gringolandia as well as for the education system of Nepantla county. The success of developing Maestras Mexicanas closes the racial gap and directly impacts the student success rate within Nepantla county. The literature and data results analysis indicate that the gatekeeping practices that keep Mexicanas …

An Examined Life Of A Language Teacher Of Chinese: An Autoethnographic Investigation Into Agency, Ying Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a paucity of research about and done by L2 Chinese educators regarding the theoretical construct of agency. It is also noted that the qualitative inquiry is marginalized in L2 Chinese research field, let alone the narrative study of the agency of experienced by L2 Chinese-teachers. In this dissertation research, I aim at filling in the gap by conducting a longitudinal autoethnography which captures over a decade (1997-2017) of my personal and professional development with an agency perspective. The highly personalized autoethnographic accounts open up my personal and professional life as an experienced, college-level, transnational, early 40’s female native …

Percepciones Identitarias Lasallistas En La Institución Educativa Distrital Juan Luis Londoño, Lizeth Valeria Martínez Castro

Licenciatura en Español y Lenguas Extranjeras

Este proyecto de investigación, busca indagar sobre ¿Qué miradas ideologías y percepciones constituyen el proceso de aprendizaje y enseñanza dentro de la filosofía lasallista en la institución Distrital Juan Luis Londoño? La finalidad que busca exponer esta investigación, se consolida en el hallazgo significativo de las relaciones interpersonales entre los actores (profesores- estudiantes) dentro del proceso de aprendizaje y enseñanza, los cuales permitirían inferir en qué aspectos tanto externo como internos favorecen en dicho proceso. Conjuntamente se rastrea sobre las huellas que fundamentan la formación académica de la institución, a través de la identidad de la Salle. El eje metodológico …

Education Is Transformation: The Impact Of Attitudes, Robert Decaul

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What truly informs success? Is it one’s education, career type, and socioeconomic status? I believe that more than ever before these three criteria appear to define our understanding of what success is. However, the development and transformation of education in the United States, which is marred by racism, has historically disadvantaged segments of our population especially in cities with a predominantly black population. New Orleans being a perfect example. Hurricane Katrina put the spotlight on education in New Orleans as the storm’s devastation of the city exposed the myriad of problems education was facing. This thesis is an exploration of …

Creating A Multiracial Lesson Plan, Clayton Davis

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this project is to teach students about multiracial identity issues. Multiracial populations in the U.S. continue to grow and it’s important for educators to address the needs of these students. A 5-E multiracial literature lesson plan was created for second grade that incorporates KWL and Text-to-World teaching strategies. A second grade class were read two children’s picture books, each featuring a biracial protagonist, and were asked to discuss and evaluate the content and commonalities of these stories. Students recorded what they learned in this lesson in their KWL’s. The results reveal that some students understood the problems …

Final Ma Portfolio, Rebecca L. Sims

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio consists of four projects I selected from various courses I took while completing my Master of Arts in the field of English. The first piece featured in my portfolio is titled “I’m Not Being “Short” With You: Providing Effective Feedback Efficiently Using a Computer Program.” I completed this piece in English 6200: Teaching Writing with Dr. Lee Nickoson. In this essay, I explore the role that feedback plays in the English classroom from both a student and faculty perspective. The second piece in my portfolio is a project I wrote for Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing …

Investigating The Impact Of Reflexive Practices On College Students In A Science Laboratory Course, Chandrani Mishra

Dissertations

Emphasis on professional practices to develop students’ professionalism is currently a major focus of higher education. Studies have shown the benefits of reflexive practices in classroom to facilitate the development of students’ professional attitude or identity in some fields. Reflexive practices involve students in self-reflection where he/she reflects on his/her own actions. Little investigation about the benefits of reflexive practices in the development of students’ scientific identity in a science class led to my investigation. Development of a scientific identity of students and their overall interest and motivation in science is deemed essential for retaining students in STEM fields.

My …

Addressing The Past, Embracing The Future: An Analysis Of How Historic Inequality Has Created Current Obstacles To Learning English In Brazil And A Proposal For A New Community-Based Approach, Aja C. Bryant

MA TESOL Collection

This paper contextualizes current challenges to English learning in Brazil within the educational history of the country. It explores the ways in which language, both native literacy and foreign, has been used to set apart and advantage the elite class, while educational policy and approaches have served to pacify and control the majority. This history has left psychological, cultural, and economic legacies which inhibit learning today. Nevertheless, modern globalization is placing increasing pressure on Brazilians to achieve fluency in English and other languages. This paper briefly outlines the new and complex intellectual and social skills needed to participate in a …

The Invisible Composition Classroom: The Reciprocity Of Face, Identity, And Politeness, Pennie L. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of face and identity as they arise in a first year composition classroom. Using the illuminating theoretical framework of linguistic politeness theory, new understandings of the social interactions in the composition classroom are unveiled. Specifically, through an analysis of the politeness strategies that students use during the peer review process, it becomes clear that students prefer to temper their critique of others' work rather than openly criticize that work. Additionally, students offer far more positive feedback than their peers' work perhaps merits, minimize the revision work they suggest, and downplay their own authority over each …