Education Commons^™

Critical Affects: Laughter As Inquiry In First-Year Writing Courses, Nicholas James Learned

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

CRITICAL AFFECTS: LAUGHTER AS INQUIRY IN FIRST-YEAR WRITING COURSES

by

Nicholas J. Learned

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015

Under the Supervision of Professor Dennis Lynch

In this dissertation, I work to rethink our current approaches to teaching critical thinking and writing in attempt to collapse the distance between the critical/rhetorical methods we teach in Rhetoric and Composition and the ways students interact rhetorically in their everyday lives. I am prompted to this line of inquiry by a problem I note in both theory and practice: the critical methods we teach in our writing courses rarely translate to real-world behaviors, …

Examining Whether School Finances And Academic Achievement Predict The Quality Of Reading Intervention Implementation In Response-To-Intervention, Joshua Anderw Looser

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how financial capacity and reading achievement contribute to the implementation of high-quality reading interventions in the context of RtI. As a secondary research interest, the relationship between reading achievement and intervention intensity was examined. Financial capacity was operationalized in terms of per-pupil expenditure, while achievement was examined based on performance on the state standardized test. The quality of reading interventions was defined by four indicators: 1) evidence-based reading interventions, 2) psychometrically sound progress monitoring, 3) treatment integrity measures, and 4) interventionist training. Data regarding these four indicators and intervention intensity were obtained …

Materiality, Craft, Identity, And Embodiment: Reworking Digital Writing Pedagogy, Kristin Prins

Theses and Dissertations

Too often in Rhetoric and Composition, multimodal writing (an expansive practice of opening up the media and modes with which writers might work) is reduced to digital writing. “Reworking Digital Writing” argues that the opportunities and insights of digital writing should encourage us to turn our attention to all kinds of nondigital materials that have not traditionally been considered part of composing—including the materials that are already familiar to crafters and do-it-yourselfers (DIYers). Further, I argue that the material, technical, rhetorical, economic, and social dimensions of DIY craft provide a coherent framework for teaching multimodal writing in ways that encourage …

Teaching Discomfort: Students' And Teachers' Descriptions Of Discomfort In First-Year Writing Classes, Andrew G. Anastasia

Theses and Dissertations

“Teaching Discomfort: Students’ and Teachers’ Descriptions of Discomfort in First-Year Writing Classes” uses qualitative research in first-year composition classes to argue that the experiences of first-year writing students and teachers complicate composition’s paradoxical reliance upon and avoidance of psychological discomfort in composition classrooms. Students’ and teachers’ values regarding critical inquiry evince a complex link between the potential for discomfort to generate knowledge and unintended emotional consequences that are further complicated by long histories of the value of reason over emotion. Students’ perspectives, in particular, and the challenges they pose, can help the field rethink the role and value of discomfort …

Ways In Which Teachers Structure Reading Instruction For Bilingual Students With Disabilities: A Case Study Analysis, Nikki Phyllis Logan

Theses and Dissertations

In partial fulfillment of candidacy for Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, this research study uses a single case study design to answer the question, How do teachers structure reading instruction for bilingual students with disabilities in urban elementary settings? Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory and critical race theory guided the study design and data analysis of interviews, observations, and documents to determine that teachers of bilingual students with disabilities experience unique challenges. Findings of the study include the topics of disability blindfolding; disjointed delivery; improper instruction due to assessment and progress monitoring; spatial implications; definitions impact instruction; and teachers’ …

Forgotten Feminine Foundations: Content Analysis Of Secondary World History Textbooks' Inclusion Of Female Agency In The Rise Of Judaism, Christianity, And Islam, Erica M. Southworth

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated women’s agency in the emergence accounts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in nine twenty-first century United States’ world history textbooks through a feminist lens. The collected data were analyzed via critical discourse analysis and content analysis to determine if traditional patterns of female marginalization in content and imagery existed. The quantitative and qualitative findings in both text and imagery indicated that all textbooks in this sample supported a traditional content structure on both an individual and collective whole basis. This study then concluded that these gender-imbalanced accounts of world religions may serve as an avenue in which …

Pedagogy And Materials For Teaching Piano To Children In China And The United States, Linxi Yang

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study compared the pedagogical teaching practices and piano materials used by five Chinese and two U.S. piano teachers. The teacher interviews were conducted in China and the United States based on semi-structured questions and then transcribed, translated as needed and interpreted for common themes. Interviews revealed details about specific pedagogical practices that are different based on the age of piano students, individual teacher ideas about selection of materials, and the impact of developing relationships and motivation for students. The piano materials revealed a lack of different material in the books published in the United States and China. The …