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Full-Text Articles in Education
Teachers Of Color And American Indian Teachers In Suburban Schools: Retaining Through Resilience And Community Cultural Wealth, Dua Yang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The capstone question in this paper was: How can a Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) Model be used to develop the resilience, resistance, and retention of Teachers of Color and American Indian Teachers (TOCAITs) in suburban school districts? The paper addressed the contextual challenges in the suburban school districts and ways to retain Teachers of Color and American Indian Teachers (TOCAITs) in this context. The literature reviewed how suburban school districts responded to demographic shifts. It highlighted issues around systems and practices that were colorblind and inequitable to the diverse learners it served. In addition, these contextual problems were connected to …
Antiracist Praxis In The Adult English Classroom, Cydnee Sanders
Antiracist Praxis In The Adult English Classroom, Cydnee Sanders
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question for this capstone was: How can educators of adult English learners utilize antiracist praxis like translanguaging to more deeply value learners’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds and experiences? As the field of teaching English to adults grows, educators need to be aware of the colonial history of English learning that is harmful to learners (Motha, 2014). Through colonizing ideologies of monolingualism and standardization, adult learners of English constantly get messages of inferiority towards their linguistic and cultural identities. As educators, it is our responsibility to combat these racist practices in our classroom and community with antiracist praxis. Kendi …
Systems Thinking Teaching Strategies Using The Un Sustainable Development Goals To Help Best Prepare Students To Be Future Ready, Elizabeth Hickey
Systems Thinking Teaching Strategies Using The Un Sustainable Development Goals To Help Best Prepare Students To Be Future Ready, Elizabeth Hickey
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The United Nations has outlined seventeen sustainable development goals that high school students will have to tackle to have a sustainable future. Schools must take meaningful action in teaching their students systems thinking strategies to best prepare them to be empathic, self-aware, innovative, resilient communicators that are equipped to be sustainable global citizens. This capstone project takes ninth grade students through a student-choice inquiry project to tackle the challenges of how their school’s sustainable initiatives can become more sustainable in order to answer the question, How can I best integrate the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals into my Understanding By …
How Can Restorative Justice Practices Be Utilized To Create A Positive Classroom Climate In A K-2 Setting?, Ella Brown
How Can Restorative Justice Practices Be Utilized To Create A Positive Classroom Climate In A K-2 Setting?, Ella Brown
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Students have the right to feel safe, loved, and valued in every school. Schools worldwide are shifting their approaches to discipline and classroom management by forgoing zero-tolerance policies and exclusionary practices. Restorative Justice in Education (RJE) is a growing movement taking the place of traditional forms of discipline. Restorative justice is more than just a buzzword. It is a way to transform learning communities, relationships, and classrooms. From personal experiences in the classroom and throughout my research, the author was encouraged to provide more teachers with resources to implement restorative justice practices into their classrooms. The question, How can Restorative …
Culturally Sustaining Social Studies: Practical Applications To A High School Elective Course, Emily Thomas
Culturally Sustaining Social Studies: Practical Applications To A High School Elective Course, Emily Thomas
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Scholars including Delpit, Ladson-Billings, Chandler, Paris and Alim remind us that schools must be a place where students’ cultures are validated, centered, and sustained. Social studies classrooms are optimally positioned to allow students to explore issues around race, class, gender, and other forms of (in)justice. Yet while many social studies teachers wish to teach in alignment with the theory of culturally sustaining pedagogy, powerful factors make its tenets difficult to enact in the classroom. This project embedded culturally sustaining pedagogy into curriculum design for a high school Environmental History elective. Using Tomlinson and McTighe’s (2006) Understanding by Design + Differentiated …
Critical Race Theory: Measuring Anti-Black Sentiment In South Korean English Education, Kenya Nelson
Critical Race Theory: Measuring Anti-Black Sentiment In South Korean English Education, Kenya Nelson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This research study examines how anti-Black sentiment influences Black teachers’ experiences in South Korea, using the critical race theory (CRT) framework to analyze various forms of anti-Black sentiment (ABS) and explore correlations between major tenets of CRT and types of ABS. Previous research has concluded that Black teachers continue to face overt racism in South Korea. Also, there continues to be a lack of empathy or disinterest in discussing racism in Korea. Unfortunately, the amount of research that focuses on the experiences of Black teachers teaching English in East Asia, primarily South Korea, is scarce. This study will add to …
Yo Soy Mi Idioma: Latinx Bilinguals’ Journeys To Two-Way Immersion Education, José Becerra-Cárdenas
Yo Soy Mi Idioma: Latinx Bilinguals’ Journeys To Two-Way Immersion Education, José Becerra-Cárdenas
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This study examined how the lived experiences of Latinx bilingual teachers influenced their path toward two-way immersion (TWI) programs and informed the development of their beliefs about education. This research was designed as a qualitative multiple case study, with triangulated data points including surveys, dialogues, and journals. The results were analyzed using pattern matching and cross-case analysis. Underpinned by Critical Race Theory (CRT), both LatCrit and Counter-Storytelling were utilized to add dimension to the Latinx experience, which not only takes into consideration experiences of migration, immigration status, language, and ethnic identities, but also rejects the notion that there is a …
Media Literacy For Political Engagement: A Curricular Unit Design, Adam Bolling
Media Literacy For Political Engagement: A Curricular Unit Design, Adam Bolling
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The question that guided this research was: How can critical media literacy skill development increase students’ ability and willingness to politically engage? Research shows that despite the fact that most Americans view social media use as just a distraction, young people are using the participatory tools and technologies found on social media platforms to engage with political ideas online. Media literacy education frequently focuses on teaching and learning consumption-centered skills like analysis and evaluation; but a media literacy curricular unit that encourages meaningful political engagement would acknowledge the new, production-centered reality that students inhabit. This curricular unit design for a …
Deepening Student Thinking About A Text: Effective Critical Literacy Strategies In The Elementary Classroom, Kelly Jordahl
Deepening Student Thinking About A Text: Effective Critical Literacy Strategies In The Elementary Classroom, Kelly Jordahl
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
While at a critical crossroads of a social movement to end systemic racism, and with schools simultaneously pushing for cultural competency training and practices in the classroom, educators are being asked to take on the task of bringing diversified texts to students in the classroom and deepening student understanding of those texts. While there are many strategies for implementation, one research-based strategy is utilizing critical literacy strategies to expand student view and analysis of said diversified texts. This capstone explores deepened questioning strategies, critical literacy strategies, and frameworks for implementation as support for educators to help answer the research question, …
Dangerous Teaching: An Approach To Difficult Learning In The Theatre Classroom, Tei Ellgen
Dangerous Teaching: An Approach To Difficult Learning In The Theatre Classroom, Tei Ellgen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Over time, social justice theatre has been used to create dialogues surrounding socially relevant issues both specific to the time and prevalent across time. Tectonic Theater Project is a theatre company that focuses on developing works that address such issues, using a method of devising that deconstructs theatre to its bare elements. This process, known as moment work, allows players to create theatre in stages, elaborating on narrative as they work through each element. Tectonic Theater Project’s process for devising using moment work has been implemented in classrooms with students and educators in order to expand understandings about what theatre …
Facing Race: A Project For Talking About Race In A Classroom Setting, Erin Sutliff
Facing Race: A Project For Talking About Race In A Classroom Setting, Erin Sutliff
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research shows that racism is alive and well in American school systems. From achievement gaps, to attendance, to behavior referrals and beyond, it is clear that Black and Brown students are not getting the equitable education they deserve. Educators need to step up and face race in order to truly address the inequities and white supremacy that plague our education system. They need to do their own reflection to check their privilege, do some learning, and take the important step of inviting critical conversations in their classrooms. When educators invite students to talk about race, they are centering student experiences, …
More Than White Boys And Their Dogs: Diversity In Children’S Literature Professional Development, Britt Johnson
More Than White Boys And Their Dogs: Diversity In Children’S Literature Professional Development, Britt Johnson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The creation of this professional development was based upon the research question: What is the best way to decenter whiteness and decolonize elementary literature, while empowering teachers and students to use literature as a tool for social justice? This professional development involves an exploration of the current diversity in children’s literature. It then focuses on developing an understanding of social identities and social justice. Participants will complete a social identity wheel and use their newfound knowledge of social identities to examine their own personal privilege. With this understanding, educators will learn how to assess their classroom library and begin to …
The Case For Culturally Affirming Systems Of Education: Exploring How Professional Development Impacts Culturally Relevant And Critical Literacy Teaching Practices, Carey Seeley Dzierzak
The Case For Culturally Affirming Systems Of Education: Exploring How Professional Development Impacts Culturally Relevant And Critical Literacy Teaching Practices, Carey Seeley Dzierzak
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This case study based on a qualitative paradigm utilized grounded theory to analyze teacher interviews, focus groups and elite interviews focused on culturally relevant and critical literacy practices. This case study focuses on a small group of teachers and facilitators in a large urban school district in Minnesota. This dissertation focused on the impact of culturally relevant and critical literacy professional development on teachers' mindsets and practices. The theoretical concepts that emerged from this case study are the importance of culturally affirming systems. The data collected from this project support the need for creating culturally affirming classrooms, diverse literature, and …
Mitigating Climate Change: Understanding How Teachers Integrate Social Justice Themes In Environmental Education, Gregory Simons,
Mitigating Climate Change: Understanding How Teachers Integrate Social Justice Themes In Environmental Education, Gregory Simons,
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
Climate change is an increasingly severe global issue with devastating repercussions for marginalized, poor, and vulnerable people. As a result, environmental education has evolved over the years to build upon outdoor nature study and ecological concepts to incorporate fundamental principles of social and environmental justices while addressing climate change. This qualitative research study employed both an online survey and semi-structured interviews to address two research questions grounded in the environmental justice movement to determine how social justice intersects with pressing global issues commonly found in environmental science curriculum. First, how do environmental science educators integrate social justice themes in their …
Need Not Apply: A Systematic Literature Review Re-Evaluating English Prestige And Its Retribution On Foreign English Language Leaders And Their Learners’ Identity, Jessica Ibarra-Gambrill
Need Not Apply: A Systematic Literature Review Re-Evaluating English Prestige And Its Retribution On Foreign English Language Leaders And Their Learners’ Identity, Jessica Ibarra-Gambrill
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This comprehensive literature review aims to progress the dialogue on the influence of English prestige in the ESL field related to hiring practices, pedagogical practices, and consideration for how it impacts learner success. Traditional interpretations of cultural capital from Bourdieuean theory form a deficit view of Communities of Color with an extension to immigrant families and those for whom English is not the first language. Further to that, Bourdieu's concept of linguistic capital measures against the knowledge of the ability to speak the official language. The English language has served as a gatekeeper worldwide as the demand for English language …
How To Be An Antiracist Educator, Veronica Myers
How To Be An Antiracist Educator, Veronica Myers
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Every educator should be antiracist. Racism, both overt and inadvertent, in the classroom leads to students entering the school to prison pipeline, the widening of the opportunity gap, and lack of support for English language learners. This capstone project works to answer the research question: How can educators be antiracist and incorporate antiracist practices into teaching elementary students? Antiracist strategies in the classroom include developing strong and positive relationships with all students, using culturally relevant pedagogy in the classroom, and providing ESL students with language support. This project also provides educators with the opportunity to engage in a series of …
Teaching Through A Social Justice Lens: A Unit Of Study Designed For Second-Year Heritage Spanish Students, Ellen Chirhart
Teaching Through A Social Justice Lens: A Unit Of Study Designed For Second-Year Heritage Spanish Students, Ellen Chirhart
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Chirhart, E. (2021). Teaching through a social justice lens: A unit of study designed for second-year heritage Spanish students. Research has demonstrated a positive relationship between social justice education and heritage Spanish students’ pride in their identities. The idea for this project originated from the need for a curriculum that honors heritage student knowledge and experiences while inspiring students to be advocates against injustice. The unit of study designed for this project addresses the research question: “How does teaching through a social justice lens impact heritage Spanish students?” Social justice standards and essential components of social justice education are implemented …
Asset-Based Kindergarten Readiness For Black Children In Preschool And The Implications For Racial Equity, Jocelyn Mcquirter
Asset-Based Kindergarten Readiness For Black Children In Preschool And The Implications For Racial Equity, Jocelyn Mcquirter
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Early childhood education represents both a significant and formative moment in a child’s entry into the K-12 education system. While preschool children learn from well-meaning educators, inequities persist in kindergarten readiness outcomes for Black children. Some of the most saliently known disparities include the preschool to prison pipeline (i.e., discipline and suspension practices), poverty, and literacy rates. The Capstone Project sought to answer the research question: How might teacher preparation utilize an asset-based approach to reduce bias in Kindergarten readiness for Black children in lower socioeconomic status households? Explored were effective instructional and curriculum practices to increase learner engagement, empowerment, …
The Benefits Of Racial Representation In The Middle School Science Classroom, Samantha Karnes
The Benefits Of Racial Representation In The Middle School Science Classroom, Samantha Karnes
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has made evident the importance of representation within the classroom, not only for students of color but also for white students. For the means of this project, representation refers to racial representation. There are many methods of increasing representation, such as ensuring staff reflect school demographics and planning more inclusive lessons. An effective method to bring representation into the classroom is by modifying the curriculum that is taught. The curriculum designed for this project is a three-week-long unit developed for the middle school science classroom. This unit is designed to challenge students’ preconceived notions of the scientific community. This …
How Can Educators Use Multicultural Materials To Create A More Inclusive Classroom Community?, Jenna Urick
How Can Educators Use Multicultural Materials To Create A More Inclusive Classroom Community?, Jenna Urick
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
A common goal among educators is to create a classroom environment where students feel welcomed, seen, and heard. This Capstone Project provides a resource guide of multicultural materials that teachers can use in order to create a more inclusive learning environment. The resource guide includes literature, games, technology, and community resources. The project and review of literature helped to answer the research question: How can educators use multicultural materials to create a more inclusive classroom community? Research concludes that students are more engaged and more likely to be successful at school if they feel they are represented in their curriculum.
The School To Prison Pipeline And The Importance Of Its Recognition And Understanding By Professional Educators, Ericka Yang
The School To Prison Pipeline And The Importance Of Its Recognition And Understanding By Professional Educators, Ericka Yang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The school to prison pipeline is an important topic in the field of education and has been an up and coming topic for discussion. A problem that the school to prison pipeline has created is the influx of students being funneled into the mass incarceration system. Researchers have found that students with certain demographic characteristics, such as race, disability, socio-economic status, may pose a greater risk for becoming victims to the school to prison pipeline. There has not been as much effort into understanding how educators can mitigate the issue of the school to prison pipeline. The purpose of this …
Creating A Nonprofit Organization To Reduce And Eliminate Disparate Access To Quality Environmental Education To Students That Are Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color And To Increase Overall Access To Education On Environmental Justice, Nicholas Leonard
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have a disparate access to quality environmental education (EE) in proportion to their white peers. (Bell, 2016; Taylor, 2014). Furthermore, BIPOC also experienced a disproportionate share of the effects of environmental degradation and destruction. (NEEF, 2015). This capstone addresses the following question: How can a nonprofit organization reduce and eliminate disparate access to quality EE to students who are BIPOC and increase overall access to education on environmental justice? The capstone proposes an organizational plan to specifically address this question. The organization will create programming and curriculum of high-quality EE designed to engage …
Creating Environmental Education Programming And Access To Diverse Students, Heidi Hanson
Creating Environmental Education Programming And Access To Diverse Students, Heidi Hanson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The racial diversity of students in environmental education (EE) is minimal for a myriad of reasons. Factors that environmental educators can control in welcoming students to programming is content and teaching. Research on racial diversity, past and present environmental education, students’ land histories and different pedagogies that incorporate culture and address discrimination and justice inform educators how what and how to optimally teach racially diverse students to maintain engagement. Research finds that incorporating students’ cultures into teaching, representing diverse people in lessons, understanding systems of racism, how that impacts people’s actions along with finding ways to change and or confront …
Shifting Literacy Methods And Teaching Practices To Improve Equity In Schools For Black Girls, Danae Ross
Shifting Literacy Methods And Teaching Practices To Improve Equity In Schools For Black Girls, Danae Ross
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Throughout the United States’ history, Black girls and women have found themselves as one of America’s most oppressed groups due to the systemic discrimination of both their race and gender. This problem still persists today and has made schools a place for oppression against Black girls from the time they enter the school system in kindergarten, creating low self-esteem, a feeling of alienation, and a disdain for the school system. Using an intersectional lens, this capstone explores the oppression of Black girls from the past to the present, beginning with slavery and ending with criminalization and the school-to-prison pipeline. This …
Addressing Issues Surrounding Food Insecurity And Promote Environmentalism In Urban Settings Using Community Gardens, Tucker Jensen
Addressing Issues Surrounding Food Insecurity And Promote Environmentalism In Urban Settings Using Community Gardens, Tucker Jensen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone project reviews the effect community gardens have on the low-income, urban population. After reviewing the history of racism in America, disproportionalities of food insecurity, how poverty correlates to health, and various environmental impacts specific to urban communities, this project was an effort to expand on that research and provide a solution. Food deserts exist in many of today’s American cities, which lead to food insecurity and negative health outcomes. A community garden is a low-cost, effective way to obtain healthy food and simultaneously benefit the environment. This five-day unit of study takes place at an established community garden. …
The Role Of Restorative Practices In Building Community, Increasing Student Learning And Reducing Racially Disparate Discipline In Secondary Schools, Lawrence Koszewski
The Role Of Restorative Practices In Building Community, Increasing Student Learning And Reducing Racially Disparate Discipline In Secondary Schools, Lawrence Koszewski
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The highly negative outcomes of persistent racially disparate discipline for students and communities of color are well documented and wide-ranging. In response many districts are instituting Restorative Practices in order to reduce the racial discipline gap and mediate negative outcomes for communities. Research of these districts shows a reduction in suspension rates for all students although a racial gap persists. In order to maximize the potential positive benefits of Restorative Practices teachers, administrators and facilitators must fully and properly implement Restorative Practices. To do so will require support through clear, personalized and tangible Restorative resources. This project involved the production …
Trauma, Trust, And Academic Achievement Stories Shared By High School Dropouts, Vicci Una Johnson
Trauma, Trust, And Academic Achievement Stories Shared By High School Dropouts, Vicci Una Johnson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This qualitative research study is based on interviews with twelve adults who dropped out of high school before earning their diploma. Participants were asked several semi-structured open-ended questions. The Primary research question is: How do adults earning their high school diploma describe what stopped them from graduating on time? The participants shared stories of family trauma. The Secondary research question is: Who did you trust in your family or at school to ask for advice or help with any issue? Nine of the twelve participants responded they would not trust a parent, teacher, counselor, or school social worker to advise …
Redefining Maine: Grade 3 Maine Studies Curricular Unit, Margaret Hutchison
Redefining Maine: Grade 3 Maine Studies Curricular Unit, Margaret Hutchison
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Social Studies is considered an essential element of American public education as an academic discipline that cultivates essential knowledge and skills for meaningful participation in democratic society but has become marginalized in recent decades at the elementary level. The current-day state of Maine passed LD291 in 2001 to require K-12 teachers to include Maine Native Americans in all Social Studies instruction. The full implementation of this vision has not yet been achieved due to various barriers and limitations. Yet this work is more critical than ever in current-day Maine, the Whitest state in the nation and a place where the …
Implementing Student-Centered Learning Strategies For Multilingual Learners Through A Social Justice Lens, Erik Reynolds
Implementing Student-Centered Learning Strategies For Multilingual Learners Through A Social Justice Lens, Erik Reynolds
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project answers the question, How can we create an equitable student-centered environment through project and problem based learning? The research focuses on student centered learning, specifically project and problem based instruction, while creating an equitable learning environment, along with supporting learnings through differentiated instruction. The project creates a curriculum for a 7th grade Social Studies unit of study of the Foundations of Systems of Power in the United States from 1787 - 1800. Application of this curriculum is a tool that teachers can use to create a safe and equitable learning environment for all of their students.
Effective And Engaging Ways Of Teaching The Civil Rights Movement To K-2 Students By Sarah Westad, Sarah Westad
Effective And Engaging Ways Of Teaching The Civil Rights Movement To K-2 Students By Sarah Westad, Sarah Westad
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project is, what are the most effective and engaging ways to teach K-2 students about the Civil Rights Movement while fostering meaningful connections to history? It documents the research and creation of a curriculum unit discussing the Civil Rights Movement as it existed in the past as well as in the 21st century. The curriculum unit developed in this capstone covers eleven instructional days beginning with slavery and ending with current events discussions. The capstone chapters address issues like master narrative myths, incorporating student experiences and interest, and research based practices. It looks at …