Education Commons^™

How Hugging Mom Teaches Me The Meaning Of Love And Perhaps Beyond, Ethan Trinh

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Hugging mom is unconventional in a traditional Vietnamese family. I write this piece to articulate my thoughts to describe different ways to look at the meanings of hugging. During my writing process, I use a walking meditation as a Buddhist practice to calm my mind so that I can see my true self and a clearer picture of different layers of the act of hugging. I believe hegemonic gender roles and patriarchy happen everywhere in the world, not particularly in Vietnam. I do not plan to devalue my home country’s cultural values in this paper. This is not the purpose …

Homeless Adults, Technology And Literacy Practices, Ewa Mcgrail, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Tisha Lewis Ellison, Nicoloe Dukes, Kathleen Walsh Zackery

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Some research has explored perspectives held by the homeless on technology use (Borchard, 2010; Eyrich-Garg, 2010, 2011; Harpin, Davis, Low, & Gilroy, 2016; Hersberger, 2002/2003; Pollio, Batey, Bender, Ferguson, & Thompson, 2013). Few studies have however focused on understanding this population’s use of technology for literacy purposes (Hendry, 2011; Muggleton & Ruthven, 2012), as distinct from their more general technology use, such as acquiring the skills to improve their station in life or to enhance their health, or utilize social services. Employing symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969) as a conceptual framework and using semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study examines technology use …

More Than A Feeling: Tracing The Progressive Era Origins Of Historical Empathy In The Social Studies Curriculum, 1890–1940s, Katherine A. Perrotta, Chara H. Bohan

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Understanding historical empathy is a bourgeoning subfield of social studies education research. Students demonstrate historical empathy by analyzing sources 1) to determine historical context, 2) identify perspectives of historical figures, and 3) make affective connections to historical content. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine primary sources from educational leaders and organizations during the Progressive Era in American public school education in order to trace the origins of historical empathy as an implicit goal in the social studies curriculum. Our guiding research question is “How does the work of Progressive Era organizations and educational leaders impact how Americans …

In Search Of Defining Ethics In (Mathematics) Education Research?, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Learning Language And Vocabulary In Dialogue With The Real Audience: Exploring Young Writers’ Authentic Writing And Language Learning Experiences, Ewa Mcgrail, J. Patrick Mcgrail, Alicja Rieger

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Purpose: To explore the potential of conversations with an authentic audience through blogging for enriching in the young writers the understanding of the communicative function of writing, specifically language and vocabulary use.

Design: We situate our work in a language acquisition model of language learning where learners develop linguistic competence in the process of speaking and using the language (Krashen, 1988; Tomasello, 2005). We also believe that language learning benefits from formal instruction (Krashen, 1988). As such, in our work, we likened engaging in blogging to learning a language (here, more broadly conceived as learning to write) through both natural …

Performing And Performative Arts As Powerful Ways For Exploring Human Interaction, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gender And Feminist Scholarship: A Dynamic Theoretical Framework Living On The Edges, Chara H. Bohan

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Theory In Mathematics Education: Intra-Action And (Re)Configuration, Susan Ophelia Cannon

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Using (post) qualitative methodology located within a critical postmodern theoretical frame, I will examine the intersection(s) and borders of the field of mathematics education and the posts (post-structural, new materialist, post-humanist, post-qualitative). The “field” in this research will be considered a fluid space that shifts and responds as “new” research is brought into it. The research questions that guide this study are: 1. What are the taken for granted, expectations and norms of these spaces? 2. How are post theories being used/taken up within mathematics education? 3. How are the borders and boundaries of the field of mathematics education shifting …

Researching Race Without Researching White Supremacy In Mathematics Education Research: A Strategic Discursive Practice, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this essay, through reviewing three “equity” articles over the span of nearly 30 years, the author argues that researching race in mathematics education research has become a strategic discursive practice. But what about racism? What happens when racism is opened up –theoretically and methodologically– as an object of inquiry in mathematics teaching and learning? Doesn’t researching racism require an examination of the pervasiveness of White supremacy? That is to say, can we (ethically) examine racism without examining White supremacy? After all, aren’t racism and White supremacy two sides of the same coin?

Transnationalism: Competing Definitions, Individual Agency In An Age Of Globalization, And Research Trends, G. Sue Kasun

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

“Theory At The Crossroads”: Mapping Moments Of Mathematics Education Research Onto Paradigms Of Inquiry, David W. Stinson, Margaret Walshaw

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this essay, traveling through the past half-century, the authors illustrate how mathematics education research shifted, theoretical, beyond its psychological and mathematical roots. Mapping four historical moments of mathematics education research onto broader paradigms of inquiry, the authors make a case for the field to take up a theoretical “identity” that refutes closure and keeps the possibilities of mathematics teaching and learning open to multiple and uncertain interpretations and analyses.

Seeking The Comprehensive Gestalt In Student Identities: A Means To Social Justice Realizations, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Reflection, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Multimodal K-12 Assessment Frameworks And The Interactive Audience: An Exploratory Analysis Of Existing Frameworks, Ewa Mcgrail, Nadia Behizadeh

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Multimodal writing often occurs through membership in an online, participatory culture; thus, the audience for student writers potentially can shift from imagined readers to actual, accessible readers and responders. In this article, we thoroughly review the idea of audience and then report results from an exploratory review of K-12 assessment frameworks and analyze how key frameworks address the need for consideration of an interactive audience. We found that multimodal composition is being defined consistently across all frameworks as composition that includes multiple ways of communicating, but the majority of multimodal composition examples were texts that were non-interactive composition types (as …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions About The Effectiveness Of The Toon Comic Books In Their Guided Reading Instruction, Ewa Mcgrail, Alicja Rieger, Gina M. Doepker

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Recently, education and literacy researchers have acknowledged educational merit in guided reading that incorporates interactive and authentic reading texts, such as graphic novels, which meet the needs of today’s predominantly multimodal learners (Jennings, Rule, & Zanden, 2014; Kist & Pytash, 2015). This qualitative study explores through interviews and a questionnaire the perceptions of pre-service teachers about the effectiveness of the comic book series known as TOON comics in guided reading with struggling readers and writers, from kindergarten through fifth grade. Pre-service teachers have expressed positive views concerning the use of these comic books in guided reading instruction with their struggling …

Math Is In The Title (Un)Learning The Subject In Qualitative And Post Qualitative Inquiry, Kayla Myers, Susan Ophelia Cannon, Sarah Bridges-Rhoads

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

An ongoing experiment in (un)learning the humanist subject in qualitative and post qualitative inquiry, this writing-reading-thinking explores the tensions that two doctoral students and an assistant professor grapple with through an undirected/directed reading course and beyond. The paper takes up and troubles conventional academic writing practices that aim to present knowledge as finished and neatly packaged for consumption, pushing against the stable academic subject. We intend for the reader to experiment and play in the manuscript and to think with multiple fragments together. We hold a persistent wondering about how to teach and learn to think differently—how to ‘‘untrain’’ researchers …

Deep Understandings And Thick Descriptions: Tackling Questions About Race, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Rachel Grant, Shelley Wong

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this article, three professors of color speak out in response to the continuation of White police killings of Black people in the United States. We contend that there is a strong need for everyone, professors and educators in particular, to be proactive in confronting racism by tackling not avoiding, difficult questions and conversations. We propose that through the enactment of deep understandings and thick descriptions in our classrooms at all levels we may encourage a critical humanitarian response to the challenges of not knowing the diverse “Other.” We present real experiences from our teaching to illustrate the kinds of …

Beyond The Box: Rethinking Gender In Mathematics Education Research – Proposal For A Symposium, Margaret Walshaw, Anna Chronaki, Luis A. Leyva, David W. Stinson, Kathy T. Nolan, Heather Mendick

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Τhe present symposium is an attempt to rethink gender in mathematics education research beyond the box, and specifically the box of binaries. We consider the importance in contemporary neoliberal times of doing research in mathematics education with and through the perspective of gender and, equally, we advocate ways in which gender could be key towards discerning relations amongst mathematics, science and life. To that end the symposium will address specific questions and issues surrounding gender presently confronting researchers, as well as educators, and policy makers. Organized around presentations in dialogue with reactions, discussion and debate, the symposium is intended not …

Beyond White Privilege: Toward White Supremacy And Settler Colonialism In Mathematics Education [Editorial], David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bringing Worlds Together: China And America Through The Eyes Of Dr. Yali Zhao, John S. Crumb Ii, Chara H. Bohan

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crossing “The Problem Of The Color Line”: White Mathematics Teachers And Black Students, Carla Bidwell, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this paper, the authors explore—within an eclectic theoretical framework of critical theory, critical race theory, and Whiteness studies—the life experiences of four White high school mathematics teachers who were “successful” with Black students. The data were collected through three, semi-structured interviews, conducted over a 5-month time period. Through a cross-case analysis of the data, three commonalities among the teachers were identified as being significant contributors to their success in teaching Black students. Two commonalities the participants themselves felt strongly about, and a third became apparent during the cross-case analysis: (a) forming meaningful relationships with students, (b) engaging students in …

Why Bad Teacher Is A Bad Movie And Where The Real Crisis Is: Implications For Teachers And Teacher Education, J. Patrick Mcgrail, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Radical Reconfiguring(S) For Equity In Urban Mathematics Classrooms: Lines Of Flight In Mathematics And The Body: Material Entanglements In The Classroom, Susan Ophelia Cannon, Kayla Myers

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls? How Many Different Girls In Mathematics?, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dewey, Freire, And Foucault And An Ever-Evolving Philosophy Of (Mathematics) Education, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this essay, the author provides a working definition of philosophy from a cultural point of view, and argues the need for mathematics educators to develop their philosophy of mathematics teaching and learning or, to speak more broadly, their philosophy of education. He then historically situates three scholars—John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Michel Foucault—who have been instrumental in the formulation of his philosophy of education. Next, he shares how the philosophies of these three scholars provide different languages to critique three aspects of education. He concludes with brief discussions on the process of his ever-evolving philosophy of mathematics teaching and …

Breaking The Taboo: What My Mother’S Suicide Might Teach Us In Critical Social Justice And Faith Work, And Perhaps Beyond, G. Sue Kasun

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disrupting Ell Teacher Candidates’ Identities: Indigenizing Teacher Education In One Study Abroad Program, G. Sue Kasun, Cinthya M. Saavedra

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this article, the researchers describe and theorize the challenges and promises of exposing preservice teachers' identities to indigenous, critical second language teaching experiences in one study abroad program in Mexico. The eight teacher candidates who participated in this 4-week program were predominantly white, like the majority of teachers of English language learners in the United States today. By analyzing teacher candidates' self-assessments, course work samples, class discussions, focus group sessions, and ethnographic field notes, the researchers found three main themes of identity shifts: becoming socially aware, becoming empaths, and becoming creators of loving classroom spaces. These tentative changes appear …

Absence Of Diversity In Collegiate Upper-Level Mathematics Classrooms: Perpetuating The “White Male Math Myth”, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Signs Of The Times Around Us And Proposing Alternative Interpretations, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Questions Of Truth: Ethical And Moral Wanderings In Middle Grades Mathematics Classrooms And Research, Susan Ophelia Cannon, Stephanie Behm Cross

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

This paper describes two researchers engagement with two teachers as they taught a middle grades mathematics course, Current Events Math, in a large urban school district. The researchers share bits of data and their ethical entanglements as they entered into the site to find the truth about what works in middle grades mathematics classrooms only to realize that truth cannot be found through research. They then grappled with the question of the purpose of research and their roles as researchers in the school and the academy.