Secondary Education and Teaching Commons^™

"It Teaches Them To Have A Conversation In The Real World" : An Analysis Of How Identity Performances Shape Classroom Discussions., Ashley Lauren Shelton Arnold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although discussion has long played a role in classroom learning, recent focus on moving discussion away from the evaluative and toward the dialogic is key to understanding how discussion can be driven by multiple, shared understandings. Adopting a sociocultural perspective, this dissertation explores the ways in which identity performances shape one teacher and his students’ participation in classroom discussions. The theoretical framework guiding this study draws on the relationship between discourse and identities construction, with further attention given to improvisations of identities, figured worlds, and the ways in which power shapes discourse. This dissertation argues that performed identities shape the …

Asking The Tough Questions: Teaching Literature And Nonfiction Through Critical Literacy To Recapture Our Voices, Agency, And Mission, Elsie L. Olan, Wendy Farkas, Kia Jane Richmond

Conference Presentations

Exploding the Myth of Mental Illness

Disrupting Notions Of Stigma While Empowering Voices: Examining Language Identity, Mental Illness, And Disability Through Young Adult Literature, Elsie L. Olan, Wendy Farkas, Kia Jane Richmond

Conference Presentations

Presenter Two will share new research on young adult literature which features characters with mental illness. She will describe strategies for using texts such as Your Voice is All I Hear (2015), Thirteen Reasons Why (2007), and The Impossible Knife of Memory (2014) to analyze and critique representations of mental illness in young adult literature. Drawing on research by Koss & Teale (2009) and Richmond (2014), this presenter will help session attendees interrogate “the power of language choices” and “become empowered to confront the stigma associated with mental illness and confront bullying” (p. 24).

A Case Study Of Literacy Curricula In A Canadian Offshore School In China, Wanjing Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This single case study is embedded in a multiple case study conducted in Canadian offshore schools in China. In response to the scant literature on literacy curriculum in transnational education contexts, particularly in secondary schools, this study reports findings regarding literacy curricula implementation in a secondary Sino-Canadian school.

The theoretical tools of the study include theories on curriculum, multiliteracies, and multimodality. Data presented in this paper emerges from observations of 46 periods of Mandarin and English literacy classes, interviews with two Chinese and two foreign literacy teachers regarding curricula actualization, and related curriculum documents.

Findings relate how Chinese and Canadian …

"Resisting From Within": (Re)Imagining A Critical Translingual English Classroom, Kate Anna Seltzer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This ethnographic case study of an urban, linguistically diverse English classroom explores what happened when space was made for students both to voice their experiences living amidst ideologies that marginalize their language practices and identities and to resist such ideologies through writing that pushed monoglossic boundaries. Intensive one-on-one work with a high school English teacher led to the creation of a year-long curriculum that emphasized metalinguistic inquiry and discussion, linked language, power, and identity, and modeled the ways that writers and other artists take linguistic risks in order to critique monoglossic language ideologies.

Over the course of the year, students …

Embodying Rhythm Nation: Multimodal Hip Hop Dance As A Site For Adolescent Social-Emotional And Political Development, Lauren M. Roygardner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This exploratory study employed qualitative methodology, specifically values analysis, to learn more about how being involved within Hip hop dance communities positively relates to adolescent development. Adolescence was defined herein as ages 13-23. The study investigated Hip hop dance communities in terms of cultural expertise (i.e. novice, intermediate and advanced/expert) to look specifically at dance narratives (i.e. peak experience narratives and “I dance because” essays) and hip hop dance performances. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to (1) explore how adolescents use multimodal Hip hop dance discourse for social-emotional development and critical consciousness, and to (2) understand how values …

The International Baccalaureate Learner Profile: A Social Justice Framework In The English Language Arts Classroom, Kristin Sovis, Sarah Pancost

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

“The International Baccalaureate Learner Profile: A Social Justice Framework in the English Language Arts Classroom," highlights the story of an expert secondary ELA teacher as she navigates the political climate in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. Through narrative, classroom anecdote, and pedagogical reflection, this story offers readers an authentic portrait of the complex decisions that face teachers as we navigate tenuous political terrain in our classrooms. Central to this story is the International Baccalaureate (IB) Learner Profile (LP), which is the framework from which this teacher operates: the IB LP serves as both the anchor and guide for …

Claim, Evidence, And Reasoning: Evaluation Of The Use Of Scientific Inquiry To Support Argumentative Writing In The Middle School Science Classroom, Gabriela Mastro

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

In light of the essential science and engineering practices identified by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this study focuses on the specific science and engineering practice, "engage in argument from evidence," and how classroom practices can serve to strengthen this skill (National Research Council, 2012, p. 71). The NGSS focus on inquiry necessitates students’ use of argument, particularly in writing, to communicate their knowledge and scientific findings and to develop an understanding of scientific practice. The purpose of this teacher action research study is to evaluate the influence of inquiry-based argumentative writing exercises, based on the Argument Driven Inquiry …

Applying Encoding And Retrieval Techniques To Chinese Rhyme Reading In Advanced Placement Chinese Instruction, Nan Wang

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Learning Chinese as a foreign language is increasingly prevalent in public school districts in the U.S. As ACTFL (2011) reported, an increasing number of enrollments of Advanced Placement Chinese courses indicate a growing demand for Chinese language courses in U.S. public school districts (ACTFL, 2011; ACTFL, 2017). AP foreign language exams indicate that students from the mainstream culture in the U.S. do not perform as well as racial minority test takers (Brown & Thompson, 2016). Therefore, implementing appropriate teaching strategies in a student-centered foreign language environment is a desperate need. This is a pragmatic instructional design proposal, which emphasizes the …

Storying Our Journey: Conversations About The Literary Canon And Course Development In Secondary English Education., Elsie L. Olan, Kia Jane Richmond

Journal Articles

Olan and Richmond present preservice English teachers’ stories about having little experience with canonical texts they are asked to teach in their field experiences.

Teaching In A Mixed Secondary Spanish Classroom: A Case Study Of Strategies And Successes Of Minnesota Teachers, Meredith Gunderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The population of Spanish heritage language learners is increasing throughout the state of Minnesota. This change in demographics impacts schools in a variety of ways; one such consequence is the creation of classes for Spanish for Native Speakers in locations with high Latino populations. However, in most locations, such programs currently do not exist, resulting in Spanish heritage language learners enrolling in Spanish foreign language classes. These classrooms, called mixed classes due to the combination of second language learners and Spanish heritage language learners in the same classroom, pose a unique challenge to the foreign language instructors. This qualitative multiple …

(Mis)Reading The Classroom: A Two-Act “Play” On The Conflicting Roles In Student Teaching, Christi U. Edge

Journal Articles

This case study examined concentric and reciprocal notions of reading—that of high school students, a pre-service teacher, and a teacher educator. An intern charged with teaching students to read, interact with, and compose texts in an English/language arts classroom constructed her role in the classroom based on her reading the “text” of her internship experiences, relationships, and responsibilities. Using interviews and observations, a teacher educator read and interpreted the classroom “text” the pre-service teacher “composed” during her internship and then constructed a two-act “play” which details the conflict in the intern’s enacting the dual role of student-teacher and her subsequent …