Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Reading Through The Eyes Of Faith: Introducing A Catholic Literary Lens To The English Language Arts Classroom, Julia French, Michael Macaluso

Journal of Catholic Education

Despite the proliferation and use of literary lenses in English Language Arts classrooms, one lens still seems to be missing from theorization, formulation, and thus practical implementation: religion. This absence is well-noted in the field, as positive depictions of Christian themes in books are rare and religion is rarely discussed as an identity marker that fosters growth and development. This article attempts to address that absence in two ways: first by conceptualizing and developing a Catholic literary lens that could be used in middle and secondary classrooms and second by offering practical suggestions for using this Catholic lens in ELA …

Documenting Teaching Excellence: Applying Universal Design For Learning (Udl) In Communication Courses, Shihua Brazill

Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Articles

This chapter begins by defining UDL and explaining how it serves both as a guide for course design and a framework for documenting teaching excellence. These sections are organized around the three core UDL principles: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action/expression. The chapter then explores how each principle can be implemented in communication courses. Drawing from examples across face-to-face and asynchronous online formats, it demonstrates how UDL supports student success and fosters equity. Finally, it addresses implementation challenges and discusses the broader implications of UDL for rethinking effective student-centered pedagogy across disciplines.

Religious Bias And Texas’S Bluebonnet Learning English Language Arts Lessons, Mark Chancey

Religious Studies Research

In November 2024, after months of heated public debate, Texas approved new English language arts reading lessons for public elementary schools (kindergarten through fifth grade) that devote notably more attention to the Bible than to other religious texts and to the Christian tradition than to other religions. This article describes the controversy over these lessons and provides examples of the various ways in which they privilege Christianity over other traditions.

Voices Of High School Writers: Exploring Perceptions And Experiences In Secondary Writing Education, Emily Wisniewski

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This study explores how high school writers develop their writing identities and how their writing identities impact students' writing self-efficacy. This study emphasized how high school writers’ experiences with academic and creative writing, teacher and peer feedback, and personal beliefs about writing shape how they view themselves as writers and their abilities to create and complete a writing task. Utilizing a hybrid methodology through hermeneutic phenomenology and social cognitive theory, this study examines the lived experiences of eight participants in southeastern Pennsylvania. Through journals, interviews, and artifact collection, this study identified key themes such as writing identity development, influences in …

Should Students Pull The Plug?: How Ai Redefines Creativity In The Classroom, Labiba Hassan

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines how artificial intelligence (AI) tools, specifically ChatGPT as a tutor for students (ChatGPTt), reshapes creativity in the classroom. Does AI undermine or enrich creativity by altering its relational and self-disclosive dimensions? Engaging with Lindsay Brainard’s critique that AI erodes creativity by disrupting human connection and self-expression, I argue for a redefinition of creativity as a dynamic process sustained by emotion, intention, novelty, risk, and spontaneity — conditions adaptable to AI-mediated contexts. The paper challenges the premise that creativity depends on interpersonal connection, showing that self-disclosure can emerge through meaningful engagement with external systems, such as ChatGPTt. By …

Occupied Lands, Occupied Histories: Activist-Historians And The Red Power Movement, Elena Rose Paz Thompson

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay.............................4

II. Primary Document Collection......25

III. Textbook Critique........................37

IV. New Textbook Writing.................42

The 1920s Klan, More Than Just The South: A Historiographical And Pedagogical Assessment, Nicolas Soucy

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay..............................3

II. Primary Source Documents.........16

III. Textbook Critique.........................28

IV. Textbook Rewrite.........................31

The Third Revolution: How The Haitian Revolution Redefined The Age Of Revolution, Cedric Rule-Becker

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay.................................2

II. Primary Source Documents............15

III. Textbook Critique...........................25

IV. New Textbook Entry.......................28

Truth, Reconciliation, And Neoliberalism: Remembering And Forgetting Pinochet’S Chile, Aimee Leigh Gallagher

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………..................4

III. Primary Documents and Headnotes.....26

IV. Textbook Critique……………….............36

V. Textbook Entry…………………………....42

Tracing The Dry Line: A Historiographical And Pedagogical Inquiry To American Prohibition And The Politics Of Belonging, Abigail Carney

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay ................................…………...7

II. Primary Sources with Headnotes………………29

III. Textbook Critique………………………………..41

IV. New Textbook Entry…………………………….45

Averting "Death By Powerpoint", Nora Xinyi Cai

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson empowers students to design presentation slides that effectively communicate their ideas to unfamiliar audiences. The lesson emphasizes the key guiding principle for slide design, one message per slide, along with four steps to implement it. Students will develop the vocabulary to assess the quality of others' presentation slides and apply these four steps in creating their own. The lesson seeks to cultivate a dynamic, collaborative, and creative learning environment by design.

Expanding Education Skills: Case Study And Content Creation For Theatre Educators At Um, Ren E. Shepherd

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

A love of theatre does not spring into the hearts of people from thin air. It is not something given by the universe, but something cultivated through years of going to performances, researching late at night, and the guidance of theatre educators. Despite the influence of Theatre Educators, they are largely overlooked when considering theatre professionals and their training. This lack of oversight is a nation-wide issue, but by focusing on just the University of Montana, there is a chance for greater understanding and change at a local community level. By employing academic research, surveys of UM faculty and students, …

Wildful (2024) By Kengo Kurimoto, Maughn Gregory

Middle Grades Books

Kengo Kurimoto’s graphic novel Wildful explores the transformative power of nature and deep attention. Poppy is struggling with her mother’s depression after her grandmother’s passing. Initially absorbed in digital distractions, Poppy is drawn into the wilderness when her dog, Pepper, chases a fox. She meets Rob, a boy who teaches her to observe nature with curiosity and respect—tracking animals, noticing patterns, and sitting in silence. Poppy learns that being in nature can assuage generational grief through a renewed sense of wonder and connection.

The Rescue Of Wahutedew’Á And The Epistemological Reforestation: An Analysis Of Time In A Terra Dos Mil Povos, By Kaká Werá Jecupé, Ivo Cruz

The Coastal Review

It is estimated that in 1500, the year the Portuguese arrived in America, there was a population of 2,431,000 inhabitants, according to historian John Hemming (1978), who occupied the lands that we now know as Brazil. These peoples had their own culture whose cosmology was destroyed and erased over time by a violent process of colonization. Even though entire groups were decimated, much of their influence is still alive in Brazilian culture. This influence can be found in vocabulary, cuisine, and even religious practices. With the aim of rescuing ancestral narratives and knowledge of various native peoples, Kaká Werá Jecupé …

Light And Darkness For Aesthetic Pleasure: An Exploration Of J.M.G. Le Clézio’S Early Writings And Jun’Ichiro Tanizaki’S In Praise Of Shadows, Kenichiro Otani

The Coastal Review

Building upon comparative principles, this semantic reading of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay In Praise of Shadows and J.M.G. Le Clézio’s early writings illustrates how both the Franco-Mauritian author and the Japanese writer problematize modern Western perception laden with concepts stifling flexible imagination through the mysterious worldview of light/darkness. They also simultaneously express the hope that another way of life leading to liberation is possible. Delving into the spiritual confinement of the subject, they demonstrate how keeping rich creativity within one’s heart can be an escape from a stagnant society. Albeit in very different mediums, Tanizaki and Le Clézio assert that the …

Teaching Cuba In Georgia Today, Eric Kartchner

The Coastal Review

This essay details a college professor's approach to teaching a course on Cuban history and culture. The professor's pedagogical choices were influenced by Ada Ferrer's book, Cuba: An American History, and José Antonio Bowen's work on fostering independent thinking. The syllabus covered pre-Columbian Cuba, Spanish rule, the wars of independence, the Castro era, and significant cultural aspects like music and religion. The course emphasized multiple perspectives and encouraged student-led research, challenging preconceived notions about Cuba's complex relationship with the United States. The professor aimed to promote critical thinking and understanding through student-driven inquiry.

Leer La Pintura Las Meninas: Niveles B Y C De Español L2, Nydia Jeffers

The Coastal Review

La pintura española Las meninas (1656) de Diego Velázquez ha sido examinada por especialistas de las artes y las ciencias. Esta propuesta didáctica invita a los estudiantes de español de los niveles B y C a practicar la lectura mediante las conexiones curriculares de la obra. Para ilustrar su potencial educativo, se conecta la pintura con más de veinte investigadores de distintas disciplinas. El diseño de las actividades se apoya en teóricos de la adquisición de segundas lenguas y en referentes de artes plásticas del Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes (2007) y abarca las competencias lingüísticas del Marco Común Europeo …

Experiencing The Shift: How Experiential Blended Learning Professional Development Enhances Teacher Self-Efficacy, Shannon N. Tabaldo, Ashley L. Ireland

Journal of Catholic Education

This qualitative study examines how participation in a multi-year, experiential professional development program—the Academy of Blended Learning (ABL)—shaped teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in implementing blended learning. Grounded in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, Bruner’s constructivism, and Knowles’ adult learning principles, the study drew on semi-structured interviews and instructional artifacts from eight teachers in Catholic schools serving historically marginalized communities in California. Findings suggest that ABL participation was associated with increased instructional confidence, a stronger sense of professional purpose, and greater enthusiasm for student-centered, technology-enhanced learning. Teachers attributed these shifts to ABL’s design, which emphasized active participation, collaborative inquiry, differentiated instruction, and development of …

Literary Homeplace As A Site Of Knowing And Healing, Shamonique Hassell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The concept of literary homeplace serves as a locus of rhetorical healing for Black women, emphasizing their lived experiences and creative expressions as forms of resistance and restoration (Collins, 1986; hooks, 1990; Nettles, 2001). The labor of Black women within families, churches, and artistic endeavors contributes to the cultivation of a collective consciousness surrounding oppression and healing (Edwards, 2010; Carey, 2016; Morrison, 1992). Building upon hooks’ (1990) notion of homeplace, this dissertation examines how Black women foster spaces characterized by care, dignity, and resilience (Hersey, 2022; Tate, 1984). Using personal narrative and articulating Black women’s voices, I position homeplace as …

Author-Centered Approaches In Ela Instruction: A Multiple Case Study Of Secondary English Teachers, Jennifer M. Lockhart Mchugh

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Literary authors are often neglected in secondary ELA (English Language Arts) literary instruction. Teachers are unsure how to teach about the author and how much time to spend on establishing the context for the text when the goal is to “cover” a variety of literary texts as part of a planned curriculum during the school year. Acknowledging the role of authors’ intentions as well as their experiences and aesthetic decisions in the production of literature may provide new entry points into literary texts for students. This multiple-case study of secondary English teachers and their high school students in a “bounded …

Restorative Leadership: A Generative Exploration With Women School Leaders, Camille Rénée Pauline Tyson Jacobs

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As schools increasingly adopt restorative practices, a parallel shift in leadership is occurring, challenging traditional leadership models like servant and transformational leadership. While research has largely focused on student outcomes, there is a critical gap in understanding how restorative practices influence school principals’ leadership. Given their central role in sustaining and expanding restorative initiatives, this study aimed to address that gap by developing a definitional framework for restorative leadership, grounded in the experiences of women school leaders in grades 5 to 12. Using sensemaking theory, the research examined how leaders conceptualize and apply restorative values in practice. Key questions included …

Why The Museum Matters To Honors, Mimi Killinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Using classroom displacement and pandemic pivoting during COVID as a touchstone, author presents ways in which museums complement and reinforce pedagogical goals in honors. Community and campus museums offer immediate and innovative teaching opportunities that require minimal technology, present diverse viewpoints and cultural perspectives, and foster visual and cultural literacies. Demonstrating how teaching within a museum aligns with the educational mission of her home institution, author suggests that these spaces can be creative, collaborative, and engaging learning locations for honors colleges and programs throughout the country. Detailed descriptions of curated collections are provided.

Toward A Welcoming Classroom: Assessment Of Student Perceptions Of Writing Education In Introductory Honors College Courses, Hilary K. Snow

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study examines student perceptions of an introductory-level writing program in honors at a large, public R1 university. Author considers the efficacy of pedagogical interventions aimed at identifying gaps in the experience of writing for students from BIPOC and first-generation backgrounds and at developing more inclusive teaching practices. Collective revisions to the program’s writing philosophy, objectives, and rubrics helped instructors gain clarity and consistency across sections. A two-part survey was conducted at the beginning and end of the semester, and metrics were calculated for all respondents (N = 176) and targeted subgroups (n = 37; n = 30). …

Sharing The Stage With The Future: Humans And Robots Together At Last, Donna L. Clevinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay presents a co-curricular collaboration bringing ancient comedy to a modern audience. Students and faculty at a large, public R1 university combine art and engineering to create a STEAM-based approach to theatrical production. The author describes how integrating classical text, creative expression, and transformational technologies demonstrates that collaboration between disciplines can produce gains for each, fostering advancements and human understanding that would be unattainable independently. Script writing, casting, stage production, and outcomes are presented.

Language Ideologies In Coloniality Contexts: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of Efl Teachers’ Experiences And Perceptions On The Use Of Learners’ Language Repertoire As Assets For Teaching And Learning, Kountiala J. Some

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examined how dominant language ideologies in language politics and policy shape the professional identity development and pedagogical practices of five English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Burkina Faso. The study sought to understand how these ideologies influence teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of multilingual pedagogical approaches, as well as possible pathways for deconstructing them to promote student-centered practices. The participants’ accounts revealed that their academic and professional identities were largely shaped by the belief that home languages hinder proficiency in French and English. They recalled with remorse their elementary school experiences, where speaking native languages …

“Globes" Module (Guiding Learners Towards One Health, Biodiversity, And Environmental Stewardship): Catalyzing Synergies To Advance Leadership And Scholarly Engagement With One Health In Under Graduate Medical Education, Krishna Mohan Surapaneni

Health Professions Education

Background: The concept of One Health addresses the interconnected health of humans, animals, and the environment, offering a critical framework for tackling complex health challenges. However, gaps in the integration of One Health principles into medical education limit the ability of future healthcare providers to operationalize this knowledge in practice. The "GLOBES" module (Guiding Learners towards One health, Biodiversity, and Environmental Stewardship) was designed to bridge these gaps, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3, 13, 14, 15) to promote holistic and interdisciplinary healthcare education. Methods: The "GLOBES" module was developed with 22 competencies across ten categories, incorporating case-based learning, …

Culture Of Disease: A Historiographical Review Of The Black Death, Jack Bamford

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay ………………………………2

II. Document Selection ………………………. 22

III. Textbook Critique…………………………...32

IV. Original Textbook Entry…………………... 36

Harmony Or Discord? A Study On The Alignment Between National Objectives And Reformed Social Studies Textbooks In Egypt, Lina Yehia

Theses and Dissertations

Education systems, in many parts of the world, have served as a channel for communicating national goals to students, and Egypt has not been an exception. This study examines how public textbooks effectively align with equipping future generations of Egyptians to fulfill the nation’s development policy goals set for 2030. Utilizing a qualitative research design, this study employed textbook and document analyses of the published national policy goals of the current administration, along with the most recently reformed social studies textbooks of Grades 4, 5, and 6, a product of EDU 2.0. Based on an analysis of national documents, the …

New Reader Response: An Examination Of Three High-Achieving High School Readers And Their Literacies, Minkyu Kim

Essays in Education

Since its inception, reader response theory has battled misrepresentations. It was reduced to discursive anarchy, perceived as not rigorous, and set apart from important scholarship movements like critical theory. This research argues that by expanding the definition of “reader” in “reader response” to include digital (aka “new”) literacies, the reader-text transaction can be much more inclusive, dynamic, and most importantly, true to our students’ everyday literacies. This article also includes a discussion of why it is so important for teachers to include digital platforms as sites of interrogation in a safe educative setting. By studying the out-of-school literacy behaviors of …

Mastering Russian Case: Learning Challenges, Current Textbook Approaches, And New Perspectives, Olesya Kisselev, Angelina Rubina

Russian Language Journal

Russian case morphology is recognized as a persistent challenge to second (L2) and heritage language (HL) speakers of Russian by researchers and practitioners alike. However, little classroom-based and pedagogy-oriented literature exists on the matter. In this paper, we address this research gap. First, we present a review of the literature that attempts to explain the challenging nature of mastering Russian grammatical cases from the cognitive linguistic, structural, and psycholinguistic perspectives. We then describe the general approaches to teaching and learning Russian cases found in the most commonly used Russian language textbooks in the United States. Finally, we discuss a pedagogical …