Education Commons^™

Critical Language Awareness In An Ell Urban Language Classroom: Transforming A Latina Teacher’S Language Ideology, Yvonne V. Fariño

Doctoral Dissertations

How can language be re-conceptualized as a tool and resource in contested pedagogies? Vygotsky theory of the mind (1978, 1986, 1998) and Engeström Activity Theory (1987, 1992) document how learning and development are situated within sociocultural contexts (Scribner & Cole, 1981; Tharp & Gillmore, 1988). Vygotsky theory of the mind (1978) central tenet is “understanding everyday activities and of cognitive processes” (Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004: 467), or the process of appropriation itself, as it happens in everyday practices without isolating it from social context or human agency. Even though the goal of activity theory claims to be multi- voiced …

Epistemology, Wisdom, And Social Transformation: Strategies At The Forefront Of The Contemplative Movement In Higher Education, Nicola Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

American society is currently experiencing a surging interest in contemplative practices. The secularization and professionalization of contemplative practices can be seen in the adoption of mindfulness-based approaches in sectors as wide-ranging as technology, nonprofit, and higher education. Amongst all these fields, institutions of higher education play a unique role within the contemplative movement in that the academy lays claim to the powerful social roles of producing and disseminating knowledge and, subsequently, of shaping societal values and behaviors.

In conducting this qualitative study, the researcher analyzed 1) what the academics in the contemplative movement expressed through their speech regarding the activities …

Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke

Doctoral Dissertations

More teachers are experiencing professional development within blended/virtual learning communities, which I consider a fruitful avenue for expansion of new literacies in K-12 classrooms. However, new literacies challenge traditional structures in education even as new rules of corporate-sponsored reform and high-stakes accountability serve to reinforce these structures. Within this context of contradictions, a cohort of teachers from a rural, remote county in the southeast United States participated in a blended learning environment in their final semester of graduate-level coursework in Reading Education. Some of the teacher-learners, whose own attitudes and motivations toward technology were as diverse as the tools themselves, …