American Studies Commons^™

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Effects Of A Statewide Mandatory Grade Retention Policy And Student Academic Achievement, Larry J. Porter Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literacy skills of students have become a significant concern among legislators and educators. The federal government has responded to this by enacting legislation that increases state accountability to provide evidence-based interventions to struggling readers. In response, the State of Florida has mandated mandatory retention for third-grade students who are at risk for reading failure. Third-grade students who do not pass the Florida comprehensive Assessment Test-Reading (FCAT) are retained. Students who score at Level 1 are retained, and students who scored at Levels 2 through 5 are promoted.

Research has indicated that retention has been an ineffective intervention to improve …

African American Literature: Books To Stoke Dreams, Jane M. Gangi, Aimee Ferguson

Education Faculty Publications

In addition to market forces, unconsciously damaging trends in many textbooks for teacher education have resulted in classroom trade book collections that represent children who are primarily white and middle class. While all children—whether from Argentina, Afghanistan, or Algeria—deserve to see themselves and their families in books, the focus of this article is on new publications that depict African Americans.

Teachers who are committed to learning all they can about multicultural literature and culturally and gender relevant pedagogy become agents of change.

Includes significant bibliography of Resources and list of Children’s Literature That Picture Children of African Descent.

Unlv Magazine, Erin O'Donnell, Gillian Silver, Lori Bachand, Regina Barcolas, Tony Allen, Gian Galassi, Suzan Dibella, Diane Russell, Doug Mcinnis, Cate Weeks, Jennifer Robison, Holly Ivy De Vore

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

The German And American Educational Systems Compared (1985-2004), Christian Becker

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

On Bill Brown's A Sense Of Things And Things, Alan Clinton

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

If he were not already well-established within the academic world (George M. Pullman Professor of English at the University of Chicago, co-editor of Critical Inquiry), Bill Brown’s 2003 and 2004 might begin to look like Jacques Derrida’s 1967. A Sense of Things comes equipped with jacket praise from Simon During of Johns Hopkins, Alan Trachtenberg of Yale University, Julia Stern of Northwestern University, and Michael Taussig of Columbia University. Not surprisingly, two of these individuals (in addition to Bill) appear in the edited volume Things, based on a Critical Inquiry special issue devoted to the topic. …

Beyond 'Hot Lips' And 'Big Nurse': Creative Writing And Nursing, Sandra Young

English Faculty Publications

This essay describes a special topics creative writing course designed for nursing students, and argues that creative writing strategies work to improve nurses' compositional skills. Also discussed are other potential benefits from creatively writing patients' lives, notably, the blending of arts and sciences, and the ways in which medical schools are encouraging their students to study the humanities, especially literature and creative writing. The essay includes student creative writing samples.

The essay also discusses the depiction of nurses in popular culture. M*A*S*H*, Richard Hooker’s black comedy about the antics of doctors and nurses during the Korean War, gave us “Hot …

Cultural Studies At R.I.T./U.S.A: Of Visual Culture And Pedagogical Interventions, Amit Ray

Articles

Abstract:

This paper examines the role of Cultural Studies in addressing the limitations of American visual culture through pedagogical interventions at Rochester Institute of Technology. Ray argues that despite globalization's potential to enhance international understanding, American visual media remains largely ethnocentric and resistant to representing the complex realities of global interconnectedness. Using the recent Iraq War as an example, he demonstrates how media coverage systematically obscured cultural, historical, and linguistic contexts while promoting martial nationalism. The author proposes using popular animated television programs like The Simpsons and South Park as pedagogical tools to expose the contradictory nature of contemporary media …

The American College Novel: An Annotated Bibliography, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Research

Kramer's revision of his 1981 bibliography (CH, Dec'81) of novels set at American colleges adds 209 citations with annotations for novels published 1981-2002 and condenses annotations for novels carried over from the first edition for a total of 648.

The Nuts And Bolts Of College Writing, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Research

Unusual for a style handbook, Nuts and Bolts embeds writing advice in essays that identify rhetorical structures as tools for "shaping your ideas, questions and convictions to share with others." While it offers suggestions that will help writers fine-tune their sentences and paragraphs, it has a lot to say about the machinery of college writing on a grander scale--the switches, transformers, and fans which must function well before a unit can be bolted together.

Paul Laurence Who? Invisibility And Misrepresentation In Children's Literature And Language Arts Textbooks, Mary Jackson Scroggins, Jane M. Gangi

Education Faculty Publications

This article is a call-and-response-type conversation between two women—educators, mothers, lovers of words—on the representation of books about children of color in literature and language arts textbooks for preservice teachers. Scroggins shares anecdotes on the experience and real-life effects of invisibility, misrepresentation, and underrepresentation; her comments are italicized. Gangi reviews select textbooks and booklists. Both comment on the state of multiculturalism in children's literature.

Parts of this article were presented at the conference "Color, Hair, and Bone: The Persistence of Race into the 21st Century," held at Bucknell University on September 27, 2002. Other parts are adapted from Encountering Children's …

Mrs. Rose Jackson On Employment, Hamida Suja

Quotes

Mrs. Rose Jackson Full Interview

Rose Jackson was born in Louisville, Mississippi, to Willie O Clayton Hathorne and Bertha Ophelia (Young) Hathorne; she had three sisters and three brothers. She left school at fifteen to marry her first husband, with whom she had five children; after his death, she married John Jackson, with whom she had another daughter. She worked as a cleaner and hairdresser, and received her diploma from Portland High night school. At the time of this interview, she had been living in Maine 40 years; her family moved here because she had a brother-in-law who had been …

Reverend Albert Jackson And Mrs. Clemmie Jackson On Education, Maureen Elgersman-Lee

Quotes

Reverend Albert Jackson and Mrs. Clemmie Jackson Full Interview

Rev. Albert Jackson was born in Slabfork, West Virginia, in 1942. At the time of this interview, he had been living in the Lewiston Auburn area for around forty three years. Clemmie Jackson, Rev. Jackson’s wife, was born in Marengo County, Alabama, in 1948; at the time of this interview, she had been living in Lewiston Auburn for around three years. The couple had three sons. Rev. Jackson graduated from high school in Lewiston Auburn; Mrs. Jackson graduated high school in Alabama, and received a degree in sociology with a minor …

Reverend Albert Jackson And Mrs. Clemmie Jackson On Employment, Maureen Elgersman-Lee

Quotes

Reverend Albert Jackson and Mrs. Clemmie Jackson Full Interview

(Clemmie not pictured)

Rev. Albert Jackson was born in Slabfork, West Virginia, in 1942. At the time of this interview, he had been living in the Lewiston Auburn area for around forty three years. Clemmie Jackson, Rev. Jackson’s wife, was born in Marengo County, Alabama, in 1948; at the time of this interview, she had been living in Lewiston Auburn for around three years. The couple had three sons. Rev. Jackson graduated from high school in Lewiston Auburn; Mrs. Jackson graduated high school in Alabama, and received a degree in …

Emma Jackson On Employment, Maureen Elgersman-Lee

Quotes

Emma Jackson Full Interview

Emma Jackson was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1941. She and her husband John Isaac Jackson had three children, and at the time of the interview she had been living in the Lewiston-Auburn area for forty five years. She spent the first ten years of her life in Maine doing domestic work, and then worked in the nursing field for thirty years, at a number of different facilities owned by Central Maine Medical Center. She discusses her life in Lewiston, challenges in finding housing she and her husband faced when they first moved to the area, …

Mr. Richard Terrence On Education And Employment, Rachel Talbot Ross

Quotes

Mr. Richard Terrence Full Interview

Richard Tarrence was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1945, the second-oldest of seven siblings. His parents moved to Ohio from the South in the 1930s; his maternal grandfather was a bishop in the AME church, and his paternal grandfather was a sharecropper. He was drafted in 1965 and spent four years in the Air Force, including time in Vietnam. He married his ex-wife, Loretta Wilson, who was from Maine, and they moved to Portland in 1975. He completed a degree in Criminal Justice at USM in 1979, and spent twenty-two years working for Allstate Insurance. …

Expanding Horizons, Alisa Solomon

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Happy New Year! Welcome to the new semester! Welcome to CLAGS's second decade! Such greetings would be heartfelt under any circumstances, but the artifices of the calendar seem especially useful now as we seek new beginnings after the trauma of the Fall.

Gen Ms 13 Kenneth T. H. Brooks Finding Aid, John D. Knowlton

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

Kenneth T. H. Brooks received his undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire and Masters and Doctoral degrees from Boston University. He served as President of Gorham State Teacher’s College from 1960-68, then continued as President of the University of Maine at Gorham from 1968-1970. He stepped down when Gorham merged with the University of Maine at Portland. He wrote See the Green and White Advancing: A History of Gorham Normal School, Teachers College, and State College 1878-1970, which was published in 1995. Kenneth Brooks died December 4, 1995. This small miscellaneous group of papers focuses on Brooks …

Gen Ms 12 Luther I. Bonney Papers Finding Aid, John D. Knowlton

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

Luther I. Bonney was born in Turner, Maine in 1884. After graduating from Bates College in 1906, Bonney was involved in education for the rest of his life. He was a Professor of Mathematics at Middlebury College, Vermont from 1907-1927, and Dean of Portland Junior College, one of USM’s progenitor schools, from 1933 until 1958. The Papers consist of histories he wrote, poetry, WWII letters from former students, honorary degrees, and a taped 1974 interview of Bonney.

Date Range:

1933-1974

Size of Collection:

0.5 ft.

Gen Ms 08 Walter E. Russell Papers Finding Aid, John D. Knowlton

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

Dr. Walter E. Russell Papers span the period 1874-1945, the bulk of them 1870s-1880s, consisting of writings on education and allied topics as well as his sermons. There are a small number of printed items and a photograph of the1928 School Summer Session. Russell often used printed material as scrap paper, so forms usually found in the office of an education administrator of the time occur in these Papers.

Date Range:

1874-1945

Size of Collection:

2 ft.

Mr. Edgar Anderson On Education, Amber Panzella

Quotes

Mr. Edgar Anderson Full Interview

Edgar Anderson was born in Chicago in 1950, the second-oldest of six children. On his mother’s side, he has black, German, and Cree Native American ancestry; on his father’s side, he is descended from sharecroppers and former slaves from Mississippi. He attended high school in Chicago, and then went to the Military Academy at West Point in 1968, where he was one of ten black cadets in his class of 1200. He spent time in the Army as a basic training officer, and then received a graduate degree from Yale in business management and human …

Mr. Edgar Anderson On Employment, Amber Panzella

Quotes

Mr. Edgar Anderson Full Interview

Edgar Anderson was born in Chicago in 1950, the second-oldest of six children. On his mother’s side, he has black, German, and Cree Native American ancestry; on his father’s side, he is descended from sharecroppers and former slaves from Mississippi. He attended high school in Chicago, and then went to the Military Academy at West Point in 1968, where he was one of ten black cadets in his class of 1200. He spent time in the Army as a basic training officer, and then received a graduate degree from Yale in business management and human …

Mrs. Rose Jackson On Education, Hamida Suja

Quotes

Mrs. Rose Jackson Full Interview

Rose Jackson was born in Louisville, Mississippi, to Willie O Clayton Hathorne and Bertha Ophelia (Young) Hathorne; she had three sisters and three brothers. She left school at fifteen to marry her first husband, with whom she had five children; after his death, she married John Jackson, with whom she had another daughter. She worked as a cleaner and hairdresser, and received her diploma from Portland High night school. At the time of this interview, she had been living in Maine 40 years; her family moved here because she had a brother-in-law who had been …

Mrs. June Mckenzie On Education And Employment, Aretha Williams

Quotes

Mrs. June McKenzie Full Interview

June McKenzie, a fifth-generation Mainer, was born in Portland, Maine, in 1929, one of twelve children. Her mother, Florence Eastman Williams, was a Portland native; her father, a truck driver, was a graduate of Tuskegee Institute. She graduated from Portland High School in 1947; she attended Northeastern Business College for one year, and took several classes at the American Institute of Banking while employed at People’s Heritage Bank, where she worked for twenty-two years. She married and had eight children, and at the time of this interview had two grandchildren. She is a longtime member …

Mrs. June Mckenzie On Education, Aretha Williams

Quotes

Mrs. June McKenzie Full Interview

June McKenzie, a fifth-generation Mainer, was born in Portland, Maine, in 1929, one of twelve children. Her mother, Florence Eastman Williams, was a Portland native; her father, a truck driver, was a graduate of Tuskegee Institute. She graduated from Portland High School in 1947; she attended Northeastern Business College for one year, and took several classes at the American Institute of Banking while employed at People’s Heritage Bank, where she worked for twenty-two years. She married and had eight children, and at the time of this interview had two grandchildren. She is a longtime member …

Mr. James Mathews On Education And Employment, Maureen Elgersman-Lee

Quotes

Mr. James Mathews Full Interview

James Mathews was born at Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine, in 1941. He had four siblings; his father, Oscar Mathews, Jr., was a cook for the railroad that ran between Portland and Boston, and his mother, Llewena Hill Mathews, was one of the first graduates of the Gorham Normal School. His father’s family emigrated from Nova Scotia. As a child, he lived with his aunt and uncle in South Portland; the family moved to another home in South Portland when the state took their home to build I-295. Mathews graduated from Portland High School …

Ms. Lucille Young On Employment, Anah Osman

Quotes

Ms. Lucille Young Full Interview

Lucille Young was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1928. Her father and her five brothers and sisters lived on eight different plantations throughout Mississippi during her childhood; her mother became ill and died when she was an infant. Lucille attended school up to tenth grade, then worked at the Swift Packing Company, a box factory, and as a house cleaner and nanny. She married and had eight children, seventeen grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren.

She moved to Portland, Maine, in 1967, after her eldest daughter got a JobCorps position in the city.

On Employment:

“Well, I'd …

Mr. James Sheppard On Education And Employment, Sanela Zukic

Quotes

You can listen to the full interview and read a transcript HERE.

James Sheppard was born in New York City in 1924, to parents who had just emigrated from Antigua. He was the eldest of four siblings. He graduated high school in 1942, and served in the Army during World War II. He worked as an aviation mechanic after the war; in 1957 he was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration as an inspector, a job he continued until he retired in 1985. He married twice, and had five children and seven grandchildren. His family moved to Westbrook, Maine, …

Ms. Beverly Bowens On Employment, Vanessa Saric

Quotes

Ms. Beverly Bowens. Full Interview

Beverly Bowens was born in Portland, Maine, in 1934, and grew up on Munjoy Hill. She had one older brother. Her father was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin; her mother’s family had been in Portland for generations. She graduated from Portland High School, attended Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, and then moved to New York City to attend Teacher’s College at Columbia University; as of this interview, she had a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in nursing administration, and a master’s degree in institutional education. She married a surgeon and they had one …

Mr. James Mathews On Employment, Maureen Elgersman-Lee

Quotes

Mr. James Mathews Full Interview

James Mathews was born at Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine, in 1941. He had four siblings; his father, Oscar Mathews, Jr., was a cook for the railroad that ran between Portland and Boston, and his mother, Llewena Hill Mathews, was one of the first graduates of the Gorham Normal School. His father’s family emigrated from Nova Scotia. As a child, he lived with his aunt and uncle in South Portland; the family moved to another home in South Portland when the state took their home to build I-295. Mathews graduated from Portland High School …

Mr. James Mathews On Employment, Maureen Elgersman-Lee

Quotes

Mr. James Mathews Full Interview

James Mathews was born at Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine, in 1941. He had four siblings; his father, Oscar Mathews, Jr., was a cook for the railroad that ran between Portland and Boston, and his mother, Llewena Hill Mathews, was one of the first graduates of the Gorham Normal School. His father’s family emigrated from Nova Scotia. As a child, he lived with his aunt and uncle in South Portland; the family moved to another home in South Portland when the state took their home to build I-295. Mathews graduated from Portland High …