“Let Me Talk My Shit”: Exploring Raciocultural Trauma Through Embodied Arts, Andrew Brian Torres

Doctoral Dissertations

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This dissertation focuses on a qualitative study drawing on critical ethnography in conjunction with the self-reflective components of autoethnography, the critical race methodology of racial and counter-storytelling (Johnson, 2017; Solorzano & Yosso, 2002), and youth-centering components of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) (Cammarota & Fine, 2010; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008; Torre et al., 2012). The purpose of this study was to explore the complex relationship between trauma, the lived realities of racially minoritized youth, and the arts. As theory-building research, this study sought to expand trauma theory toward raciocultural perspectives of trauma while expanding performance arts theory into an embodied …

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Developing Musicianship And 21st Century Learning Skills Using The Lisk “Creative Director” Series, Thomas Reynolds

Doctoral Dissertations

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ABSTRACT

DEVELOPING MUSICIANSHIP AND 21^st CENTURY LEARNING SKILLS USING THE LISK “CREATIVE DIRECTOR” SERIES SEPTEMBER 2018 THOMAS E. REYNOLDS, B.M.E., NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC M.M.E. ITHACA COLLEGE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Sara K. Jones The Edward S. Lisk “Creative Director” pedagogical techniques have been found to be invaluable in the instrumental music classroom for teaching overall musicianship skills. As educators address the teaching of 21^st century learning skills through all of the academic disciplines, many of the Lisk techniques for teaching overall musicianship skills also foster the teaching of 21^st century learning …

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The Experience Of Chinese Students Enrolled In Graduate Music Education Degree Programs In The United States, Kailimi Li

Doctoral Dissertations

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The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of Chinese graduate students enrolled in music education master’s and doctoral degree programs in the United States. Specifically, it explored participants’ perceptions of (a) their educational experiences (past and present), (b) the challenges they faced, (c) their strategies for success, (d) the benefits they experienced as international graduate students in the United State, (e) the effect of this experience on their thinking, self-perception, and behavior, and (f) how they planned to move forward or move on following this experience. Participants were six native Chinese graduate students enrolled at the time …

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Papelitos: The Visual Testimonios Of Undocumented College Students, Olivia Munoz

Doctoral Dissertations

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This study investigated the role art played in the lives of nine undocumented college students at different universities in Northern California. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to examine how undocumented college students use art as a mechanism of resistance and activation of the political self related to their immigration status. This scholarship comes at the heels of the first year in office of the 45th president of the United States, who ran on a platform, in part, of anti-immigrant rhetoric. Much of the activism around undocumented immigrant rights has used art as a mechanism for collective action, allyship, …

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Slavery On Their Minds: Representing The Institution In Children's Picture Books, Raphael E. Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations

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This study examines how slavery is represented in contemporary children’s picture books. Given that many primary and secondary school teachers are committed to using picture book fiction to teach students about slavery, it is necessary to explore how slavery is depicted in these texts. One of the goals of this study is to contribute to the discussion about how the featured picture books engage with and respond to the early historiography of slavery, which asserted that Black slave were content and docile and that slave owners were kind and paternalistic. This study seeks to analyze how the picture books that …

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Speaking Back To Structure: Critical Multimodal Media Literacy & The Politics Of School Reform, Kate Way

Doctoral Dissertations

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This study explores the development of critical multimodal and media literacy skills in high school aged students against the backdrop of current state and national education policy. Following the progress of students in a semester-long writing course that focuses on critical multimodal and media literacy, the study examines how critical literacy skills develop within different modes and mediums – particularly those enabled by new media and digital technologies – and considers the implications of critical multimodal and media literacy skills for student engagement, agency, and achievement. The study further analyzes the impact at the institutional level of educational reforms incentivized …

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An Investigation Of The Influence Of Fixed-Do And Movable-Do Solfège Systems On Sight-Singing Pitch Accuracy For Various Levels Of Diatonic And Chromatic Complexity, Jou-Lu Hung

Doctoral Dissertations

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Sight-singing, recognized as an essential music skill, remains one of the weakest components in music education. Past studies investigating the most effective of the two most common sight-singing systems--the fixed-do and movable-do solfège systems--provide inconclusive results for music with medium to high levels of diatonic and chromatic complexity.

The purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to investigate the influence of diatonic and chromatic complexity on sight-singing pitch accuracy for college music major students in a Northern California urban area who have trained in either the fixed-do or movable-do solfège systems, and who had piano experience before or …

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"This Is A Public Record": Teaching Human Rights Through The Performing Arts, Andrea Mcevoy Spero

Doctoral Dissertations

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Urban youth in the United States often experience daily human rights violations such as racism and violence. Therefore, Human Rights Education (HRE) can strengthen their understanding of these issues and unleash their power to act toward positive change. This qualitative study attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the use of performance arts to teach human rights in an urban high school setting.

The following meta-question guided this research: "Is it possible for HRE which integrates the performing arts as a pedagogical tool to provide a transformative educational experience for students?" To address this question, the study explored: 1) how …

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Imagication = Imagination + Education: What Fifth Graders Think About Arts Integration In Public Elementary Schools, Lisa Edsall Giglio

Doctoral Dissertations

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During the 2011-12 school year, a fifth grade class in a diverse San Francisco public elementary school collaborated with the Arts Resources In Action (ARIA) program of the San Francisco Opera's Education Department to create a teacher-guided opera. The students wrote the story, music and lyrics as well as designed and built the sets, props and costumes based on the American Revolution. The classroom teacher chose the topic of the American Revolution, and the students researched this historic event using literary, historical, visual, musical and theatrical methods of exploration and data gathering. Through the medium of opera, the program connected …

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The Effects Of Instruction Utilizing The Arts On The Academic Achievement Of Fourth-Grade Students, Elizabeth Fallin Manning

Doctoral Dissertations

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In this day of accountability, members of state government agencies are looking for ways to increase student achievement, especially in the area of high stakes testing. Louisiana's accountability program has yielded state curriculum standards which identify the content that should be taught by specific grade levels. Teachers are now charged with the responsibility of finding methods to teach these standards. With all of the attention to these academic standards, what is the role of the arts? The Louisiana Institute for Education in the Arts (LAIEA) suggests that the arts are the tools with which to teach these academic standards. This …

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Making Meaning Transformative Art Education For Middle School, Julia Marshall

Doctoral Dissertations

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The problems this study addresses are the purpose and the methodology of contemporary art education in middle school. The research explores art-making as a potent teaching/learning process when used in critical pedagogy and participatory research. The study seeks to inquire into the world of the young adolescent, identifying the needs, issues and problems specific to middle school age students. It does this through using personal and communal life as the subject of art-making and reflection. Specifically, the study looks at what students discover about themselves and each other and the strategies that facilitate that discovery. The study examines how art …

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