Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

Changing My Language And Understanding: An Autoethnography Of My Dumb-Upness, Eric Hogan

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

Education, in its many forms, is an institution that mirrors the society around it, including its patterns of privilege and marginalization (Marx, et al., 2017). The purpose of this article is to provide a reflection of my experiences while working alongside four interns from an alternative school hired to work for an agricultural internship. I highlight my shifting perspectives through an autoethnography. Autoethnographic projects use selfhood, subjectivity, and personal experience (“auto”) to describe, interpret, and represent (“graphy”) beliefs, practices, and identities of a group or culture (“ethno”). (Adams and Herrmann 2020). After working with four interns, I was confronted with …

A Different World: The Experiences Of Black Women At A Southern Predominantly White Institution, Latoya Stackhouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the lived experiences of Black women on a predominantly White institution (PWI) campus in the South as they relate to the core themes of Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought (BFT). The core themes of BFT that were the focus of the research were Self-Definition/Empowerment, Safe Space, Controlling Images, Invisibility/Sense of Belonging. Sista circle methodology was used as the form of inquiry with two 60-minute sessions over a two-month span. This methodology was chosen because its focus centers the lived narratives of Black women within a safe space unlike traditional focus groups. Findings from the sista …

Speculative Essays On Neoliberalism In Education: Dreams Of Resistance And Action For A More Socially Just Future, Lindsey Crumley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The way in which teachers are educated has wide reaching impacts on the ways students in their classrooms are educated. When test scores are regarded as the sole marker of a good teacher, then critical pedagogies and theories are left out of teacher education spaces. This dissertation aims to discuss a multitude of issues, both structural and day-to-day, that plague both education as a whole and teacher education specifically. Additionally, this dissertation aims to show ways in which communities, teacher educators, students, and schools are acting in resistance to the forms of control seen in education. This dissertation will use …

Integrating Video Evidence In Mixed Methods Research: Innovations, Benefits, And Challenges For Research Exploring How Beliefs Shape Actions, Tashane K. Haynes-Brown, Peggy Shannon-Baker

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the benefits of using video evidence as a catalyst for innovative integration in mixed methods research. We illustrate how video data were used in the elicitation interviews of three teachers to understand their interpretations of how their beliefs align with their observed practices and how they attempted to reduce cognitive dissonance that became apparent during the video elicitation interviews. This article draws from the mixed methods case study phase of a larger explanatory sequential mixed methods study conducted in Jamaica with 248 secondary school teachers. A subsample of eight teachers participated …

The Youth Gun Violence And Voice Survey: The Classroom Experience, Diana Santangelo

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Community violence affects a variety of developmental outcomes, including social-emotional, behavioral, physical, and cognitive domains. Adolescents who are exposed to continual community violence can respond with aggression, anxiety, behavioral issues, academic problems, and truancy. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey instrument that measures the youth perspective of the classroom experience following the loss of a schoolmate due to homicide by firearm to inform instruction and policy.

Myth, Power, And Justice: The Danger Of A Single Story, Christen H. Clougherty

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

If we hear only a single story about a group, we risk a critical misunderstanding. In this session, learn to critically analyze assumptions of single stories and dominant narratives about community partners. Engage in hands-on activities to explore this issue as it relates to race, poverty, and social justice. Leave with classroom activities to take back to your classroom.

Chapter 116 Queering Mixed Methods Research, Peggy A. Shannon-Baker

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

Article published in Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education.

Mothering Through Our Pain: Single Black Mothers’ Narratives, Yolanda E. Surrency

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black women’s voices and historical contributions have been dismissed, and even excluded, making it difficult for their cultural knowledge to be transmitted to future generations. Black women battle with an unsettled consciousness from subscribing to the normalization of what dominant culture defines as good mothering. This study uses Black feminism to examine single Black mothers who navigate the negative images of the welfare queen and the matriarch. This narrative study uses Black feminism to examine the stories of single, Black mothers and their daughters. The purpose is to investigate Black mothers’ lived experiences to understand their struggles and resistance. Purposeful …

Southern Ways: One Girl’S Experience With Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, And Neglect, Merry Trammell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This autobiographical inquiry will explore my own experiences with physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Using the method of currere as a lead theory. The four-step process – regressive, progressive, analytical, synthetic – helped me work towards understanding the parts of myself affected by these traumas. Investigation of my own family’s generations of abuse as well as reflecting on these experiences helped me deconstruct my own story as I search for my own meaning and purpose. This study utilized aesthetics, depth psychology, and place as central themes in this work. I learned the valued of active imagination and the role …

Teaching With Passion And Compassion In Challenging Times: A Narrative Inquiry Into Elementary Teachers' Experiences In Georgia, Erin Scroggs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how teachers maintain their passion and compassion for teaching in spite of the impact of work-related challenges and subsequent obstacles upon their personal and professional lives. While much research has been conducted into teacher stress, very little has been done to connect the effects of stress on teachers’ health and passions for teaching. Abby, Nick, Passion, and Anna, four elementary school teachers from different areas, counties, schools, and school districts in the State of Georgia, participated in the study. Theoretically, I draw upon an array of works such as teaching towards freedom (Ayers, 2004, 2010, 2016), teachers …

Deschooling Schooled Minds: Speculative Essays, Kelly Graziano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation is a collection of speculative essays (Schubert, 1991) that explore the "why" of schooling and possible alternative educational arrangements (Illich, 1970/2002; Reimer, 1971; Goodman, 1962; Holt, 1972; Gatto, 1992/2017; Giroux, 2000). As one who has been schooled (in "educational" institutions and those like it, e.g. abusive relationships), I have developed a passion to bring awareness to the destructiveness of schooling and to learning from the world rather than what others want us to know and believe about it. Incorporated with autobiographical narrative, I trace both the historical and current reasons behind the establishment and maintenance of mass …

How Do Special Education Teachers View The Phenomenon Of Black Male Overrepresentation In Special Education?, Lelon B. Jeffers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the student population in many U.S. public schools grows increasingly more diverse, the need to assess the educational practices utilized in public schools grows as well. It is imperative for educators to make a concerted effort to ensure the rights and needs of minority students are being addressed in public schools. It is the duty of educators and policy makers to protect those students who are most marginalized by society. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the phenomenon of Black male overrepresentation in special education, and to ascertain the views and perspectives of special education teachers …

The Devil Is In Your Closet: 48 Square Feet Can Change Everything, Tracey G. Keim

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Using a "real" grocery list, cash money, and an unexpected situation, attendees put themselves in the shoes (or socks) of the children-at-risk and families who need support in a hands on, solution centered workshop. Workshop participants walk away with culturally relevant materials that will allow them to find funding for a 6'x8' corner of hope--at little or no cash cost. But that makes all the difference in the world.

Instructional Scaffolding Of The Acrl Framework For Information Literacy For Developmental Learners., Fabio Montella

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Information literacy has become a necessary set of abilities for community college students to possess in this age of digital distribution. The plethora of information that is generated at an almost instantaneous rate has brought about the need for an information-literate student body with the ability to both decipher and utilize viable and valid information. However, the attainment of such abilities requires the comprehension of information literacy core concepts. These concepts, while instrumental, may be difficult to grasp without a foundation of practical familiarity, especially for students in developmental education courses.

In this presentation, Fabio Montella, Assistant Professor of Library …

Rey-Ifying A New Heroine: Interrogating The Curriculum Of Femininity In Star Wars Films, Rebekah S. Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Star Wars film trilogies are a cross-generational phenomenon. Due to its powerful and pervasive nature, the messages within Star War’s films must be problematized. As a cultural artifact, Star Wars was used to explore the representations of women across time and three generations. Using a conceptual framework based on cultural curriculum studies and feminist theory, this study explored the significance of Star Wars as gender text by interrogating the representations of women in the Star Wars film saga and what these representations teach about gender and femininity. By focusing on the themes of agency, empowerment, and identity, this work …

The Rose Who Grew From Concrete: A Black Female Administrator's Perspective Of The Public School Experience For Black Girls Who Attend A Predominantly White Middle School In Southeast Georgia, Latashia S. Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the educational experiences of Black girls who attended a predominantly White school in Southeast Georgia from the perspective of a Black female administrator. Using Critical Race Theory (e.g. Bell, 1987, 1992, 1995; Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001) and Black Feminist Thought (e.g. Hill Collins, 2000; hooks, 1984/2000) as theoretical frameworks and memoir (Angelou, 1969/2009; Hurston, 1996) and fiction (Bell, 1992; Morrison, 1970/1993) as methodology, I explore ways in which Black girls are oppressed when they attend majority White public schools.

Six meanings emerged from this inquiry: (1) Writing my memoir has allowed me to …

Strengthening Middle School Students’ Commitment To Social Justice Issues: Building Connections With Teacher Education Candidates, Anne Katz

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

This article was published in Dragon Lode.

Professionalizing Emergency Medical Services (Ems): Still At The Crossroads, B. Jeanine Newton-Riner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this work, I examine the failure of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to professionalize over the course of its existence as an occupation. I consider how popular culture has contributed to a conflicted identity between what the public sees and how EMS providers view themselves. I believe that EMS has been restrained from professionalization due to oppression by physicians in a manner consistent with how two other allied health professions, pharmacy, and physical therapy, once were. I explore the professionalization of these two occupations to identify similarities and differences that may provide insight into next steps needed by EMS providers …

Student's Perceptions Of Smartphone Use At Home And At A High School Regarding A New Smartphone Policy: A Case Study, Ana Zurita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The new generation raised in the digital era continues to present unresolved challenges for both parents and teachers. The purpose of this case study is to analyze students' usage of their smartphones in their lives, and understand the success of a new school policy on smartphone use at an arts school in the U.S. For this qualitative research, I interviewed ten participants from the high school. The literary review informs us that smartphones are potentially addictive, with negative effects for healthy mental, emotional and social child development, as well as a source of misleading information. As a consequence, smartphones in …

A Winning Mindset: How The Infusion Of Mindset Training Can Enhance Scholarly Work, Kevin Leichtman

Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative

Presenter will provide.

Academic Mindset Curriculum: Utilizing Systematic Mindset Training Derived From Athletic Training To Maximize Student Achievement, Kevin Leichtman, Anala Leichtman

Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative

Presenter will provide.

Modeling Technology Integration, Megan Morris

Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative

Presenter will provide.

2019 Conference Program, Cssc

Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative

Conference Program for 2019

Innovation In Preservice Teacher Preparation: Undergraduate Research In Special Education, Kymberly Harris, Meca Williams-Johnson, Dana Sparkman

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

Teacher preparation programs emphasize the connection between student outcomes in achievement and behavior, but the framework of teachers as researchers is rarely presented as a foundational basis of good instruction. Teachers are aware of the need to consider scores and trends and alter their instruction based on the response of the students to their teaching, but the techniques involved are not explicitly taught as research methods in most preparation programs.

The initial purpose of including a research course in the undergraduate program of study was to provide preservice teachers with research skills to enhance their instruction. The long term goal …

Just "Level The Playing Field" And Watch Me Excel!, Baruti K. Kafele, Baruti K. Kafele

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This engaging, interactive, self-reflective session focuses on equity at the classroom level. It challenges teachers to look within themselves relative to how they relate to and engage with their at-risk students of color and other underserved students. It challenges teachers to confront whatever biases they may bring to these students that may be either blatant, subtle, undetected or unacknowledged. It argues that high-performance is an impossibility in classroom environments where equity fails to exist.

Meeting The Needs Of Diverse Gifted Learners, Jackie H. Barone, Karen Gorman, Maranda Thornburg

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Our presentation shares best practices that we have utilized and found success with in regards to scheduling, coursework, and other activities to meet the needs of a wide-variety of gifted learners. Much of our work centers around meeting their social and emotional needs (beyond just utilizing accelerated math and reading content).

Willowcreek Middle School Alternative Program: Successfully Working Through Trauma, Debra B. Ekdahl, Taria Nicole Taylor, Michelle Stewart

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Not your typical Alternative School, Willowcreek Middle School offers trauma informed practices in place of student expulsions. A safe structured environment, reduced class time, academic strategies, mindfulness, yoga, and community service, all help to provide the educational and social/emotional supports necessary to help students at risk reach their potential and eventually transition back to the traditional classroom.

Learning To Listen: Engaging Students In Critical Reflection And Courageous Conversations, Christen H. Clougherty

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

How do we teach democracy when participation was historically limited, and when people are still disenfranchised by the system put in place to give them voice? A challenging part of service-learning is exposing students to the world’s imperfections and then guiding them to be change agents. Learn how to navigate this throughexamples you can take back to your classroom.

The Impact Of Grade Level Flexible Grouping On Math Achievement Scores, Heather Mckeen

Georgia Educational Researcher

Abstract

Flexible grouping aims to divide students into groups according to their strengths and abilities. This will allow teachers to tailor instruction to meet the needs of students, allowing them to thrive within their current environments. Quantitative research was used to investigate whether flexible grouping had a positive effect on student achievement as measured by the mathematics section of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The aggregate scores of students in grades 1 to 4 in a school in a county in Georgia were compared for periods before and after the implementation of flexible grouping. The following study was able to …

A Fiction Of Fragmented Falsehoods: Curriculum Of Unwanted Roads Traveled, Katherine Wyatt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is an inquiry centered on lived ‘otherness’ in different social experiences. Fiction and illustrations are both creative outlets that provide opportunities of curriculum growth by offering the viewer realistic portrayals dealing with truth and factors that make us fundamentally human. “Fiction elicits an interpretation of the world by being itself a worldlike object for interpretation” (Dillard, 1988, p. 155). This study uses fiction and illustrations as vehicles of communication to provide an awareness regarding social issues in everyday lived experiences, exposing the reader to the social, cultural and historical realities persistently impeding the shared constructs of human experiences. Structuring …