Education Commons^™

The Overture! Then Is Here-And-Now: Hindsight Is Twenty, Twenty?, Elena Kydd

Music Therapy Theses

My existence and presence as a Black woman and graduate scholar in music therapy have allowed me to share my experience of racial trauma and oppression in the hallways of GCSU’s music therapy program. Autoethnography is the method I use to write my thesis on the relationships between Blackness, pedagogy, and music therapy. Thus, I perform an evocative autoethnographic study that allows me to share my personal experience of racial trauma and oppression within the culture of music therapy and to critique the larger social structures of whiteness that disenfranchise and dominate me and other Black student music therapists (SMTs). …

Leveraging Community Cultural Wealth Through Counterspaces And Counterstories: A Black Administrator’S Autoethnography, Renee G. Heywood

Doctoral Dissertations

On January 20, 2017, our nation’s leadership changed hands from the first biracial president to a president whose campaign and actions further polarized the United States of America. A part of the story of the US political journey from President Barack Obama to President Donald Trump was the rise of racism as seen in the crude, racist stereotypes of Obama that showed up on signs at Tea Party rallies, and in the mainstreaming of the conspiracy that the country’s first bi-racial president was not born in the United States (Boghani, 2020). Donald Trump’s presidency opened a door for overt racism, …

Implementation Of An Early College Design In A Rural High School: Empowering Place-Conscious Leadership To Affect Change And Overcome Barriers To Innovation, Michael Timko

All Dissertations

This qualitative, improvement science, autoethnograpic case study aims to examine a unique perspective on rural research through the lens of place-conscious leadership. With an identified problem of inequity in advanced-level course offerings, which resulted in lost student opportunities and student attrition to neighboring schools, the leadership at Forest Lakes High School (FLHS) in rural South Carolina began the ambitious journey of reframing their narrative. As a scholarly researcher and administrator at FLHS, I had the unique opportunity to immerse myself fully in all aspects of this study. My dual positionality allowed me to study this process while sharing the lived …

Gendered Leadership And Patriarchy : A Healing Feminist Autoethnography, Necole Jadick

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This healing feminist autoethnography examines my gendered experiences as a school principal during the 2021–2022 school year, centering upon two research questions: How can personal accounts of sexist experiences disrupt gendered norms in educational leadership? And how can I, as a feminist leader, exist authentically and truthfully in patriarchal institutions without placing myself in professional or academic peril? From July of 2021 through June of 2022, I collected 62 journal entries detailing critical encounters, experiences, and reflections and shared them with a critical friend who helped me process them. I then analyzed them within the context of relevant literature to …

My Superintendent Journey From Educator To Activist: An Autoethnography Across Three Decades, Betty Bagley

All Dissertations

Superintendents rise to the highest level of professional educational leadership within local communities. National statistics show increasing turnover in that district-level position. Superintendents come and go, which means their accomplishments fade in time. Superintendents rarely tell their stories of successes, failures, pressures, expectations, challenges, or any experiences within their highly visible role. This gap shows a lack of access to superintendents’ perspectives, and that gap may affect current and aspiring superintendents’ potential.

Given a two-century historical gap in the literature about educational leadership with few accounts from superintendents’ perspectives, my study described my journey through three superintendencies from 1993 to …

Through The Looking Glass: An Autoethnography, Jennifer Pryor Halter

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an autoethnography studying my experiences as a female high school principal in the south. Autoethnography is qualitative research that analyzes personal experiences to understand a particular culture (Ellis et al., 2011). I share my lived experiences in fictionalized composite examples to protect myself and others possibly implicated in the research (Law & Fine, 2004). Through analysis, I use feminist theories and metaphors to understand the school and community and the presence of southern culture in this school’s context. Through research, I found glass metaphors describing women in leadership roles and their obstacles (Simpson & Kurma, 2015). I …

From A Boy To A Leader, Alejandro Zayas

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The following autoethnographic dissertation examines my personal experiences of trauma, abuse, and violence. Drawing on journals, memories, and artifacts from my life, I use self-reflection to illustrate the impacts of trauma on my childhood and adulthood. My traumatic experiences of sexual abuse, childhood violence, and emotional abuse are situated within broader sociocultural contexts of masculinity, Hispanic culture, and social norms. This study illuminates possibilities for healing and transformation for myself and others with shared traumatic backgrounds. It calls for trauma-informed education, masculinity, and resiliency. Evocatively sharing my traumatic life events provides an accessible window into often silenced experiences, bearing witness …

Investigating The Relational Element Of Trust In Teacher-Principal Relationships: An Autoethnographic Case Study, Angela Bradley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This autoethnographic case study was designed to investigate the relational aspect of trust, a characteristic of servant leadership, in the teacher-principal relationship. This trusting bond is an often overlooked, foundational element of a school’s success. I examined the role that trust plays in enhancing a school’s culture and how trust is established and maintained among one principal and teachers under my supervision. In addition, as researcher, I sought to uncover specific indicators that trust was present on a school campus. Finally, I sought to examine trust’s effects on collaboration and organizational commitment.

Through weekly reflections, I sought to examine my …

Reinventing Identity In Transition From Principal To Professor: A Collaborative Autoethnography, Forrest J. Kaiser, Jennifer Bailey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

School leadership is a fast-paced job where stakeholder feedback is frequent, and decision-making requires quick thinking and strong organization. When school leaders transition from practitioner to scholar, they face a dramatic change in pace and responsibility. Unlike their peers who come from academia, practitioner-scholars experience a unique context and career shift that requires navigating unfamiliar organizational structures and translating existing skills into new contexts. This collaborative autoethnography explores the lived experiences of two junior faculty who recently transitioned from the campus principalship to the tenure track professoriate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a process of individual writing, group reflection, and …

Becoming Culturally Proficient Qualitative Researchers By Crossing Geographic And Methodological Borders, Corinne Brion, Carol Rogers-Shaw

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This article explores how novice researchers develop a scholarly identity as they cross geographic, cultural, institutional, identity, and methodological borders throughout their studies, experiencing insider, outsider, and in-betweener positions. It hypothesizes that researchers become more culturally proficient through their fieldwork and self-study. The autoethnographic narratives address the social justice issues encountered by two early career researchers who increased their cultural proficiency and self-awareness as they moved across multiple cultural contexts. By shifting back and forth between insider, outsider, and in-betweener, the researchers became more culturally proficient, developed their voices as researchers, and practiced inclusivity by amplifying marginalized voices. Their self-reflective …

Using Art Education To Cultivate Self-Efficacy And Divergent Thinking, Julian Flores Rubalcaba

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of an art teacher implementing art education with creative learning principles to cultivate students’ creative self-efficacy and divergent thinking at one middle school in the Inland Empire located in Southern California. The research continues to focus on how self-efficacy and divergent thinking cultivate through the process of art creation through project-based learning (Puente-Díaz & Cavazos-Arroyo, 2017). An art education is not a requirement for students to receive throughout their PK-12 general education in low socioeconomic schools due to an emphasis on the general education curriculum to focus on high-stakes standardized …

Solipsism As A Challenge Of Doing Autoethnographic Inquiry, Chet Nath Panta, Bal Chandra Luitel

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to unpack and critique different forms of solipsism and whether its impacts on autoethnographic inquiry are overly self-referential. This paper offers thoughts on Western and Eastern perspectives on the self. It is argued that autoethnography as a genre and method of inquiry confronts challenges and tensions in terms of epistemology, methodology, and ethical issues, particularly the issues of solipsism as a major challenge. It is often critiqued that autoethnographers are not able to establish a clear theoretical standpoint and the autobiographic texts lack convincing arguments and scholarly rigor. In the meantime, it is not …

Good Intentions Are Not Enough: An Examination Of Service-Learning On A Public Charter High School Campus, Jane Louise Wyche-Jonas

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examines the service-learning program at a charter high school (Austin Charter Academy [ACA]). The two-fold purpose of the study was to: (a) describe and explore the service-learning experience at ACA with attention to the structures of power shaping the program and (b) to examine the role of a White, female administrator in the service-learning program. The research questions for the study were:

• How does one high school charter community describe their experiences in service-learning programs?
• Who is being centered and what logics are being reinforced in service-learning projects?

The study employed a decolonizing, critical community-based service-learning …

A Journey Towards Cultural Proficiency: Lessons Learned From Africa, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This autoethnography tells my story as a French American woman who lives in the United States and worked with hundreds of school leaders in five African countries over a period of six years. Using a cultural proficiency continuum, I illustrate my learning and changing frames of references pertaining to cultural differences. Movement along the continuum indicates an alteration in thinking that progresses from marginalization to inclusivity. My experiences, mistakes, and lessons learned contribute to the discourse on cultural difference. For six years, I spent more time on the African continent than in my American home. These extended stays allowed me …

"Whiteness Is In The Way Of Seeing:" Narrativizing Middle School Students' Intersectional Perceptions Of Whiteness In Literacy Instruction, Scott L. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Structured by the theoretical framework of intersectionality, this comparative case study traced perceptions of Whiteness in literacy instruction by three queer, transgender or gender expansive (TGE), or cisgender female, Black and/or Latinx middle school students. The study addresses significant gaps in research, which has rarely explored the valence of all aspects of the intersectional identities of this population of middle school literacy learners and tends to perpetuate erasure by adopting single- or multiple-axis lenses to students’ identities. The study was structured by a transferable curriculum crafted around questions, arts-based expressions, and narrative inquiry to support participants’ narrativizing about their intersectional …

Student Self-Harm: The Impact On An Elementary School Principal's Leadership, Jason Daniel Rose

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Research on self-harm and children tends to focus on adolescent children (12 years of age and above). There is limited available information about self-harm in children ages 11 years and younger. This study utilized autoethnography as the methodology to provide a rich description of the professional experiences and practices of an elementary school principal who worked with self-harming primary-aged students. Based on an autoethnographical analysis, this study proposes future research and makes recommendations for school leaders implementing trauma-informed practices, educators working with self-harming students, and districts committed to proactive support.

Campbell’S Chicken Noodle Soup™ And Saltine Crackers: A Milpero’S Autoethnographic Study Of Struggle And Success In Life And In Education, Ernesto Cantu

Theses and Dissertations

The state of Texas has close to 3,000 colonias, with most of them found along the Texas/Mexico border (“Colonias in Texas,” n.d.) and the most citizens of any state living in colonias. I grew up in a colonia in South Texas called Las Milpas, located in Pharr, Texas. Colonia children are often stigmatized and marginalized. This autoethnographic study is a look into my life as an educator and the social and cultural factors that have contributed to my survival and success. As a child, I lost both my mother and father. I was fortunate that my oldest …

A Research Tapestry: Stories Woven Into Stories, Laura Colket

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnography highlights the subjective nature of narrative research and illustrates the ways in which both micro and macro forces impact the research process. Through this article, I present a research tapestry in which the experiences, perspectives and stories of the participants weave together with my own experiences, perspectives and stories. I draw from my dissertation research, a narrative inquiry focused on the experiences of Haitian educational leaders working to create systemic change after the 2010 earthquake.

Caregiving For A Child With Multiple Disabilities: A Mother's Story, Shana Cole

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Multiple disabilities does not just affect the individual, it affects caregivers as well. Once a child and parent receives the diagnosis of multiple disabilities they find themselves in a new territory, a new mindset. This study is a longitudinal autoethnographic personal narrative of a mother of a child with multiple disabilities using an intimate inquiry framework. Intimate inquiry allowed me as the researcher to explore my experiences as a reflection of the culture of caregivers of children with multiple disabilities. The purpose of this research was to attempt to understand what it means to raise a child with multiple disabilities …

Life After Death: An Autoethnography Of A Teacher’S Journey Through Personal Grief And Loss, Kimberlyn Oliver

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This study sought to understand how grief and loss affected me on a personal and professional level. Additionally, the process of grief and loss and its effects on teacher performance was examined. The death of a loved one often leaves a person feeling a great deal of emotions. As an educator, it is incredibly difficult to process grief and loss at work due to the demands of working with students all day. Nine participants were recruited for this study and I used semi-structured interviews to discover more about the experiences of these educators while they dealt with the loss of …

From Midterms To Naptime: An Autoethnography Of The Affects Of Intersectionality Of An African American Single Parent College Student, Jovon Willis

Dissertations

Abstract

According to United States Census (2016), Women in female-headed households with no spouse experienced higher rates of poverty (35.6 percent) than women in married-couple families (6.6 percent) and men in male-headed households. Having an education would significantly increase their chances of obtaining suitable employment which would also grant them income and benefits that could improve the overall quality of life for their families.

Today women are the majority on college campuses. According to The United States Census Bureau (2011), women make up 56% of college enrollment. Though the percentage of women attending college is increasing, the challenges that they …

Dropped Into Battle: Transitioning To Middle School, Vikki Wandmacher

The Qualitative Report

Early adolescence is the beginning of huge changes that eventually move humans from children to adults. One important transition during this time is moving from elementary into middle school. This paper explores my own memories of transitioning from a two-room elementary to a large three-story middle school and the difficulties I encountered. Through the use of the autoethnographical process, I explore my complex relationship as both a middle school student and a middle school principal to this phase of development. Writing the autoethnography allowed for an assessment of my own transition, while also affording the opportunity to reflect these memories …

So, You Want To Attract And Retain Diverse Faculty???: An Autoethnography, Melva R. Grant

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This is an autoethnography about epistemic injustice (i.e., diminished credibility as a knower) and resilience of an intersectional tenured faculty member who transformed harm into opportunities for rebuilding intellectual confidence and for exercising intellectual courage. Personal stories are used to examine and make explicit epistemic injustice harms by situating them within everyday contexts (Glesne, 2006). The purpose of this essay was to introduce theoretical perspectives with different language for improving discourses about an old challenge, racial bias, and to make explicit the types of harms experienced. Important research questions are posed for consideration by researchers. The stories shared in this …

An Autoethnography Of Culturally Relevant Leadership As Moral Practice: Lived Experiences Through A Scholar-Practitioner Lens, Charles L. Lowery

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnography, I am concerned with cultural relevance as an experience of a scholar-practitioner educational leader. I question my own cultural competence as a teacher and school principal. Turning a reflective gaze on my lived experiences as an educator creates a space in which I attempt to make meaning of the phenomenon of culturally relevant practices in the field of education. As an act of pedagogical and personal meaning-making, this autoethnographic work centers on the value of cultural relevance as informed by scholarly practice.

“…But You Don’T Know Me Like The Sun; You’Ve Never Seen My Horizon” (Bennett, Cole, Segal, And Warner, 2015, Track 3): Exploring The Invisibility Of A Hyper-Visible Black Woman In Education, Janae' Alfred

Dissertations

As a Black woman in the field of education, I feel as if I am not valued or seen as an equal member of the institution. This has been extremely evident as I served as an Instructional Coach in a predominately Black public school district where the teachers and administrators were predominately White. Race has come to the forefront as a prominent barrier for effective Instructional Coaching across the color line. In this dissertation, I reflect on my experiences as an Instructional Coach and analyze them through the lens of Critical Race Theory using autoethnography as a research method. My …

Experiences Of Grade Inflation At An Online University In The United States: An Autoethnography, David Blum

The Qualitative Report

Grade inflation is a problem at universities in the United States. To understand the cultural effect of grade inflation at a regionally accredited online university in the United States, I conducted autoethnographic research as a participant and observer. In this autoethnographic study, the purpose of my research was to explore my experiences being immersed in a grade inflation culture. I addressed a gap of autoethnographic research related to a culture of grade inflation existing at an online university in the United States. I provided seven themes serving as my discoveries related to my observations and participation as a faculty member. …

A Father's Dream: "Mi Hija Va Ser Maestra" An Autoethnographic Study Of The Cultural, Familial And Community Experiences That Informed An Instructional Leader, Eva T. Torres

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an autoethnography which will identify major ethnographic influences that I, as a female Mexican American educational leader, feel have been significant in the course of my career in education. The study will focus on culture, family and community as factors which developed and engendered characteristics, behaviors and experiences that contributed to my development as an educator. These will be relayed through narratives, memoirs, organic artifacts and documents, lived experiences, pláticas, and other forms of text presented here as story, an acceptable autoethnographic method of data collection. I place myself in the center of these narratives in autoethnographic …

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 …

Empowering The Self, The Researcher, And The Leader: A Testimonio Of A Latina In Higher Education, Daria Lisa Cardoza

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation, my testimonio, is a critical self-reflection about my experiences as a Latina in higher education. I write my story with an awareness, a critical consciousness, of who I am as an individual in the shared spaces of my life—as a daughter, a sister, a mother, a student, a researcher, a teacher, a learner, a partner, a lover, a leader, and a work in progress—and an acute desire to be an agent of change. Through my educational journey, I have been able to honor my epistemological, mestiza consciousness, challenge how I view the world, my ontological framework, and understand …

Lived History Of A Transformative Leader With A Disability: An Evocative Autoethnography For Social Justice, Sofia Vergara

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Despite legal advancements recognizing the rights of individuals with disabilities, societal barriers are still arising from the medical model of disability. These obstacles have resulted in marginalizing and isolating practices, in turn leading to the underrepresentation of individuals with disabilities in the workforce and, by extension, in leadership positions.

Grounded in the frameworks of critical pedagogy and critical disability studies, this autoethnographic study examines, using my personal experiences as contextual evidence, the determining factors underlying the struggle for equity and leadership, within the hegemonic society that people with disabilities must navigate. The study further explores the issue of empowerment and …