Digital Commons Network^™

Quetzalcoatl In Aisle 5 And Other Poemas, Cesar Leonardo De Leon

Theses and Dissertations

This project is a collection of poems based on my experiences working in the retail industry along the Texas/Mexico border for over 15 years. While many people take for granted their shopping trips, for those on the inside it is a very different reality. The poems included in this project are grouped into sections that focus on aspects of retail or are inspired by it, from the seemingly insignificant, like encounters with strangers, to more profound subjects like racism, identity, immigration, consumerism, and other social issues. The sections also follow Gloria E. Anzaldúas path of conocimento, a journey from estrangement …

Exploring Experienced Educators' Perspectives On Teacher Professional Development: Potential Implications For English Language Learners, Mary Mann Endress

Theses and Dissertations

Growth in the ELL student population triggers a need for more educators equipped to address the academic and linguistic needs of this growing population. Through a phenomenological case study, this dissertation addresses the following over-arching research question, "What can be learned about the implementation of professional development for teachers of ELLs from the reflections and experiences of former ESL/Bilingual educators?" This dissertation provides a look at PD through the reflective lenses of retired educators who worked directly with ELLs and teachers of ELLs. Data were collected from a questionnaire, interviews and a focus group describes how participants. Through their stories …

My War And What Came After, Jesus Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

My War and What Came After is a memoir that explores my personal experience with modern military life. It is my primary purpose to connect the military world with the world of writing. I am the guy that was willing to put everything on the line, including my life to become an English professor. The memoir is a detailed account of my adult life but also a coming of age experience and a successful ambitious plan to achieve my educational ambitions. It was an extreme and maybe even a crazy decision but calculated enough that it worked. It could have …

In- And Out- Of-School Literacy Practices Of Student Refugees: A Cross-Case Analysis In A South Texas Middle School, Maria L. Mendez

Theses and Dissertations

As the leading U.S. state currently welcoming all kinds of refugees, Texas has a public school system that offers a formal education to refugee students (Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration, 2015). For many student refugees, formal schooling begins in this system. Thus it is important to understand how Texas public schools support the linguistic and academic development of these diverse learners. In order to fill this research gap, this study examines student refugee school-based literacy interactions in the U.S. public school system and how these practices connect or do not connect with the literacy practices these students experience in …

Predicting Academic Success Among Mexican American Learners, Kattie A. Guerrero

Theses and Dissertations

The number of Hispanic students being enrolled in schools have doubled throughout the years. Especially in the Rio Grande Valley where the majority of the population are Mexican American. Previous studies have looked into the risk factors associated with academic failure, but they hardly look into factors that lead to a child’s school success. This study will investigate what contributes to a child’s academic success. The sample of the study was 115 students, grades 5th to 7th grade, all classified as Hispanic. The findings will state a) what variables were significantly correlated to each other b) what variables differed by …

Early Childhood Teachers' Perception Of Their Principal's Leadership And The Relationship On Their Own Job Satisfaction And Self-Efficacy, Maria F. Rincon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a correlation exists between Early Childhood teachers’ sense of job satisfaction and their sense of self-efficacy. Teachers in this study participated voluntarily and answered a set of questionnaires that collected data regarding their current opinions and perceptions of their school principal’s leadership, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy beliefs.

Teaching And Living In La Frontera: Teacher Perceptions Of Mexican Immigrant Students' Lived Experiences With Border Violence, Edith Trevino

Theses and Dissertations

This research is grounded in the truth of my own lived experience with border violence in La Frontera. Gloria Anzaldua (1987), describes the U.S. Mexico border (La Frontera) as an “open wound where the Third World grates against the First World and bleeds”(p. 3). Border violence in La Frontera is discussed in this research through four lenses which create a nexus of intertwined connections within curriculum and education. I use the lens of a grieving displaced daughter, a desperate mother trying to find support for her traumatized child in a failing educational system, a teacher who tries to honor her …

Eyes That Shut Forever, Jonathan Solis

Theses and Dissertations

For my thesis, I want to explore a part of society which is often not explored due to some controversial views while incorporating my own love and fascination with science-fiction and human nature. Imbued in each of my stories are complex characters, all of which suffer from a pronounced illness or one that is dormant. While having no connection to each other, every short story I am writing for the thesis will share a similar theme. All center on the struggle for normalcy and conformity vs. biases views and prejudism. As a writer, I am able to walk in the …

An Autoethnographic Exploration Of The Professional And The Person: A Life's Journey Of A Hispanic Superintendent In South Texas, Gonzalo Salazar

Theses and Dissertations

Leadership effectiveness is often defined in terms of, a leader’s ability to motivate followers towards a collective goal, mission or vision (Knippenberg, Knippenberg, Cremer & Hogg, 2004). However, a leaders’ understanding of their own identity; how education, culture, upbringing, values and morals helped shape the self (Leary, & Tangney, 2002; Anzaldua, 2015; and Guajardo & Guajardo, 2017) and how the leader functions as a contributing member of the organization (Knippenberg & Hogg, 2003) is critically important.

Demographers have long held that by the year 2050, our nation will be increasingly more diverse and that there will be no racial or …

Speech-Language Pathologist's Perspectives On The Efficacy Of Bilingual Education Programs In South Texas Public Schools For English As A Second Language Learners, Alexandra Rosas

Theses and Dissertations

Current research in regard to the assessment and treatment of ESLs is limited. Other problems found within the school setting, is that fact that SLPs have very limited resources and large caseloads. Hence, the fact that previous studies have found that SLPS working the school setting do not feel competent in serving ESL students.

The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of bilingual programs and explore the factors that impact English as a second language learners (ESLs), in public schools across the Rio Grande Valley. School based speech-language pathologists were surveyed for information concerning their perceptions and …

Client-Driven Creation & Professional Patterns In Modern Design: A Case Study Of One Vanderbilt Avenue, Joshua J. Schmitz

Theses and Dissertations

Design, though intricately tied to art through craft, concept and media, is the base converse of art. That is to say, Design is externally motivated by a client’s needs. This case study focuses on my professional work with the companies of S.L. Green and Firespring on the New York City skyscraper One Vanderbilt Avenue (OVA) and demonstrates how a creative concept can be altered through external factors, namely client input. My research will explain why a modern designer must occupy a production-oriented role and continuously leverage insight from an interdisciplinary team in a modern creative firm. The exhibition stemming from …

An Examination Of The Queer, The Macho, And The Ambiguous Male In Arturo Islas's The Rain God, Delilah Marie Farias

Theses and Dissertations

Mexican-American males are shaped by their cultural values, history, religion, and family values. They are measured by the standard set forth in machismo and are expected to act accordingly. Machismo is a concept that is deeply rooted in Catholicism, the Aztec culture, the Mexican-American nuclear family, and it is handed down in the upbringing of men and women. In Arturo Islas’s novel, The Rain God, he creates a representation of the three different identities that men are subjugated to. He creates the machista within the patriarchal character of Miguel Grande, the ambiguous male in his son Miguel Chico, and …

The Effects Of Dance Therapy On Voice In Patients With Parkinson's Disease In A Multicultural Population, Ivon N. Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

Current literature suggests that dance therapy in individuals with Parkinson’s disease shows noticeable improvement in motor functions, for example gait and balance improvement. Additionally, patients with Parkinson’s disease who participate in dance therapy may perceive positive benefits on their quality of life. Therefore, it is believed that increases in core support and improvements in posture, as a result of dance therapy, will have effects on the voice in patients with PD.

This thesis pulls from literature supporting treatment approaches in the field of speech-language pathology for voice patients with Parkinson’s disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the …

Representations Of Mental Health In Young Adult Literature: A Cultural Analysis Of The Three Ps Of Patient, Practitioner And Population, Christine Gonzales Severn

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the representations of mental health in young adult literature by categorizing texts into a new framework established by this thesis as the Three Ps of patient, practitioner and population. Looking at the Three Ps from an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural view recognizes ways in which literature with themes of mental health is progressively changing with the times. In analyzing John Neufeld’s Lisa, Bright and Dark (1969), Emily Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2012), and Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2006), this thesis identifies the changes in mental health visibility and awareness, Sexual Orientation Change Efforts’ …

Front Matter And Toc Vol. 3 No. 1, Crosspol

Crosspol Journal

Cover, Managing Editors/Founders, Social Media Editor, Editorial Board, and Table of Contents with authors' names.

Letter From The Guest Editors, Alyssa G. Cavazos, Randall W. Monty

Crosspol Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue Vol. 3 No. 1, Crosspol

Crosspol Journal

No abstract provided.

Change In Pensamiento, Lesley Chapa

Crosspol Journal

No abstract provided.

Re-Imagining Linguistic Competence And Teaching Towards Communicative Success In Transnational And Translingual Spaces Of Today's Global Reality, Maria Houston

Crosspol Journal

No abstract provided.

Crossing Linguistic Borders: Teaching Writing Skills In Two Languages To Translators-In-Training, Gabriel González Núñez

Crosspol Journal

No abstract provided.

This Is My Story Of Language, Francisco Guajardo

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crossing Linguistic Borders: Teaching Writing Skills In Two Languages To Translators-In-Training, Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

This paper argues that linguistic borders are cultural borders without sharp lines of demarcation. They become a middle space where cultural and linguistic elements from two different cultures meld into an interculture. One of the traits of this interculture as found in Brownsville, Texas, is a high incidence of natural bilingualism. A number of naturally bilingual students walk into translation classes at UTRGV. They have a basic building block for becoming translators, which is their ability to switch back and forth between languages. Other important translator competences include the ability to write professionally in at least two languages. This ability …

This Is My Story Of Language, Francisco Guajardo

Crosspol Journal

No abstract provided.

Effective Assessments For Interpreter Education Programs To Increase Pass Rates For Certification, Rosemary L. Landa, M. Diane Clark

Communication Sciences & Disorders Faculty Publications

In the United States, students enrolled in an American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter Education Program (IEP) are encouraged to achieve interpreter certification upon completion of the program. Obtaining the certification ensures employers they are hiring qualified personnel. A critical examination of assessments used by IEPs may result in formulating strategies that prepare students to pass the state-based assessments by graduation. A review of Program Learning Outcomes (PLO) and the way in which these are assessed should be undertaken in order to ensure that effective Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) are created to parallel appropriate stages of language development. Knowledge of Language …

The Rider (2018-02-26), Jesus Sanchez

The Rider Archives

Vol.3 No.21

We Care About Children, Alexandre Couture Gagnon

Journal of South Texas English Studies

No abstract provided.

Utrgv Undergraduate Catalog 2018-2019, The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley

UTRGV Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Utrgv Graduate Catalog 2018-2019, The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley

UTRGV Catalogs

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Structure Of The Vocational Outcome Expectations Scale With Latina/O Students, Javier Cavazos Vela, Mehmet A. Karaman, Wayne D. Smith, Yvette Hinojosa

Counseling Faculty Publications

In the current study, we investigated the psychometric properties of a meaningful measure of career development among Latina/o students. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate structural validity of the Vocational Outcome Expectations scale. The results supported a modest one-factor structure for the VOE scale. Internal consistency was good as measured by coefficient alpha. Findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the VOE with Latina/o students. A discussion regarding the usefulness of this measure of career development is provided.

One Fragment At A Time: The Literature Of Deborah Miranda And Wendy Rose, Kristin Leonard

Journal of South Texas English Studies

No abstract provided.