Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Investing In Connection: Exploring The Online Graduate Student Experience, Michelle Vaughan

Journal of Practitioner Research

Within the context of online learning, there are challenges presented by the virtual medium that may lead to diminished experiences in learning. Without a physical connection or the ability to feel the support from your teacher, online students can be left isolated, and the pedagogy can easily slip into an execution of tasks as opposed to a pedagogy of care. My inquiry into the online graduate student experience began with a survey to understand how online graduate students describe their experiences as an online learner and their relationships with their instructors. A thematic analysis of their responses revealed themes regarding …

Shared Philosophies, Conflict, And Critical Reflection: Developing Productive Teacher Collaboration, Erin Nerlino

Journal of Practitioner Research

As top-down mandates regarding what collaboration should look like continue to evolve from the policy level, it is critical to engage the knowledge of teachers – the ones experiencing the collaboration – to inform teacher learning as well as the conditions within schools that help productive collaboration partnerships to evolve. This article seeks to examine the foundational aspects that underpin a mutually productive collaborative relationship between myself – a full time high school English teacher – and another full-time English teacher at the public, regional school in the Northeast where we taught. Utilizing a participant research design, I drew upon …

Indigenous Pedagogies: Land, Water, And Kinship

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Through My Body And In My Heart: A Primer, Bryan Mckinley Jones Brayboy

Occasional Paper Series

How do we think about Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)? I want to offer here my own thinking about what IKS are. There will certainly be debate about this. These are my views only; they serve as an invitation to others to share their own ways of outlining these crucial ideas. IKS are—for me—fundamentally about the intersections between philosophical ideas and the daily realities of tribal nations, communities, and other entities that comprise the peoples who belong to them, and their lands and waters. Before I discuss this further, let me be clear about what I am NOT engaging here. These …

“It Feels Fake”: Decolonizing Curriculum And Pedagogy In Predominantly White Institutions, Hollie A. Kulago, Paul Guernsey, Wayne Wapeemukwa

Occasional Paper Series

This article describes the processes, tensions, questions, conflicts, and celebrations the three authors experienced while creating and implementing decolonizing and/or Indigenous curriculum and pedagogy for predominantly white university classrooms. The theoretical framework engages Indigenous epistemologies and decolonizing pedagogy to disrupt Western schooling rooted in the ways Indigenous scholars see knowledge as fundamentally relational and community as the primary setting for Indigenous and decolonizing education. Western schooling continues to support the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their/our lands with a “civilizing agenda” that promotes individualization. We seek to re-connect relationships with the land and Indigenous community in our various disciplines. The …

The Significance Of Land Acknowledgements As A Commentary On Indigenous Pedagogies, Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Occasional Paper Series

In my decades of navigating both the academic institutional world and the world of Indigenous Peoples, the emergence of land acknowledgements in academic institutions and in public and government contexts is a fascinating story of how one small element of Indigenous pedagogies has come to be expressed in institutions that have historically reviled Indigenous Peoples. Land acknowledgements are often made as statements at important events within institutions. The land acknowledgement can be a “Welcome to Country” greeting by an elder, often given in Australia, or a formalized statement that is read out by a non-Indigenous official at an occasion such …

A Pedagogy Of Water: Rio Grande/Rio Bravo As Ancestral Waters, Marissa Aki’Nene Munoz

Occasional Paper Series

The purpose of this research project is to facilitate intergenerational teaching and learning of Indigenous knowledge by the frontera communities of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. Our river is our main source of clean water, and is also a militarized, international border between the US and Mexico. I used the stories and teachings of local Indigenous elders to create a Pedagogy of Water that focuses on the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo as part of the sacred, ancestral landscape of south Texas. This project strengthens the community by connecting multiple generations to the land and river where we live, and demonstrates the perseverance …

Building Relationships With Our Island Home: Three Stories From Kindergarten In HawaiʻI, Donna Reid-Hayes

Occasional Paper Series

As early childhood educators, we seek to create authentic and meaningful experiences for the children we learn alongside. We must remember that at its core, “education, in its highest form, liberates human potential through transformational teaching and learning experiences” (Meyer, Maeshiro, & Sumida, 2018, p. 17). As a Native Hawaiian early childhood educator in Hawaiʻi, I feel compelled to nurture the children’s emerging sense of place and self to empower them with a strong sense of connection and identity. Although not all the children in my care are Native Hawaiian by blood, they are being raised within a place and …

Hands Back, Hands Forward: Expanding The Circle Of Indigenous Storyworkers, Jo-Ann Archibald

Occasional Paper Series

An Indigenous teaching that has guided my life, both professionally and personally, comes from Tsimilano, Elder Dr. Vincent Stogan of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam). 2 He was a leader, teacher, and mentor to many. At the beginning of our gatherings, we often formed a circle. Tsimilano had us hold our left hand out with the palm facing upward to signal the respectful action of reaching back to receive the teachings—knowledge and values—from the ancestors and those who have traveled on our pathway before us. It is our responsibility to think of ways to put these teachings into our everyday actions. He then …

Indigenous Water Pedagogies: Cultivating Relations Through The Reading Of Water, Forrest Bruce, Megan Bang, Anna Lees, Nikki Mcdaid, Felicia Peters, Jeanette Bushnell

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper we put forth a model of Indigenous pedagogies that cultivate more ethical relations and complex thinking about water. The first dimension of Indigenous water pedagogies is relations with water which involves ethical decision-making involving water and other more-than-human beings that are in relation to water. The second dimension is reading water which involves learning to make sense of complex phenomena to build theories and explanations about water is it exists in the environment. Together, these two dimensions support complex thinking and decision-making about water in a way that is guided with reciprocal relations with water. We discuss …

Indigenous Pedagogies: Land, Water, And Kinship, Anna Lees, Megan Bang

Occasional Paper Series

Indigenous communities, across lands and waters, engage in and build complex knowledge systems emergent from particular values and ways of perceiving and being in the world (Cajete, 1994; Deloria & Wildcat, 2001). Indigenous knowledge systems, values, and ways of being are understood and enacted within socio-ecological systems grounded in reciprocal kin relations. Meaning: for Indigenous peoples, teaching, learning, living, and being in relation with human and more-than-human beings is central to our knowledge systems. In Issue #49 of the Bank Street Occasional Papers, Indigenous Pedagogies: Land, Water and Kinship, we bring together Indigenous educators and researchers to demonstrate how Indigenous …

The Four Protocols Of Engagement And How To Apply Them, Joyce A. Schneider

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In response to concerns as to how to respectfully mobilize Canada's 2015 Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) 94 Calls to Action in our teaching/learning and/or life practices, I developed the Four Protocols of Engagement as a starting point for those ready to authentically engage with First Peoples, their/our lands, and ways of doing, knowing, and valuing. I demonstrate how I apply the Four Protocols in my own work through detailing how each protocol enacted requires preparatory knowledge seeking and actions to make meaningful and impactful Land Acknowledgements. I conclude by reflecting on the content and practices outlined in this example of …

‘How To Be Here?’, Dialoging Into Climate-Change: An Interview With Tim Lilburn, Tim Lilburn, Cary L. Campbell

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This interview with Canadian, poet, philosopher and essayist Tim Lilburn was commissioned for this Special Issue. Lilburn discusses with Cary Campbell, the general dilemma of ‘how to be here’ – both: how to connect to land and place as a member of settler society, as well as; how to inhabit this moment of acute climate crisis – discussing ideas from Lilburn’s (2017) previous book The Larger Conversation: Contemplation and Place, and the forthcoming Interiority & Climate-Change. This interview follows up from an earlier dialogue between Lilburn and Campbell, published by Philosophasters.org in 2019, and republished below with permission.

Examining The Benefits Of Adding Mindfulness-Based Programs In The Curriculum Of Undergraduate And Graduate Social Work Programs: A Review Of Literature, Sarah M. Dickerson

Honors Thesis

Undergraduate and graduate students are often enveloped in an array of stress and anxiety, and it is no surprise that undergraduate and graduate social work students are faced with high amounts of stress due to vicarious trauma as a result of exposure to via coursework and experiential learning. It also comes as no surprise that social work professionals are exposed to numerous stressors causing the burnout rate for social workers to be high. Mindfulness techniques are used in various cultures and religions around the world with the purpose of synching mind and body. Using mindfulness techniques, individuals can be fully …

A Forest In The City: Contemplative Practice For Difficult Times, David Chang

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In this short narrative-essay, David Chang presents what he learned after spending a year in contemplative solitude on a remote off-grid island along the coast of BC, offering “invitations to live the stillness of the forest in the bustle of the city”. Chang makes the case that those blessed with the time and resources to practice contemplative solitude have an (educational) commitment to share these lessons and insights with broader society, arguing that “Contemplation becomes insignificant if it cannot address the pressing problems of our day”.

Inner Work: Foundational To Contemplative And Holistic Education, Avraham Cohen, Thomas Falkenberg

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In this interview (conducted by Heesoon Bai), Avraham Cohen and Thomas Falkenberg speak about the origin and practice of their respective inner work and about the need for and ways of bringing more inner work into the world.

2023 Great Expectations Spring Faculty Conference: Education For Humanity, Academic Affairs

Spring Great Expectation Faculty Conference

The 2023 Great Expectations Spring Faculty Conference featured a speech by keynote speaker, Tamara Bilous, Professor of English, Rivne State University, Ukraine.

Professor Tamara Bilous is Educator in Residence at Otterbein University for spring semester (2023). While affiliated with Otterbein, she has engaged in professional development opportunities in the areas of multicultural education and ESL instruction with support from Professor Diane Ross and Erin Johnson.

She joins Otterbein while continuing her teaching and research responsibilities as a Professor of English at Rivne State University of the Humanities, in Rivne, Ukraine. Dr. Bilous is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, and …

Curriculum, Instruction, And Leadership As A Practice Of Reflexivity In World Language Education: A Systematic Review Of Literature, Jerry L. Parker

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This article presents the findings of a systemic review of research published by Robert C. Lafayette. Lafayette was a French teacher and teacher educator who worked to revolutionize the teaching of world languages through his articles, books, textbooks, grants, conference presentations, and other scholarly work. To uncover the value of his work in today’s language schooling, this study examined 17 of his articles and book chapters. Using content analysis methodology, the findings of this study concluded that his work contributed mainly to our understanding of curriculum, instruction, and leadership in world language education. His scholarship also provides world language teachers, …

The Impact Of Closed Captioning And Student Lexile Reading Levels, Jim L. Pruitt

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This experimental mixed-methods study explores what happens to student Lexile scores when they use closed captioning. The quantitative data analysis procedures involved in this experimental study consisted of utilizing two-sample t-tests to compare the iReady Lexile scores of the participants [n=38] to that of the researched district students [n=810] that were not using closed captioning in this study. The researcher required participants to complete a baseline iReady test to determine their preexisting Lexile levels. Then after the study, participants both in the researched district and in the study, itself were required to complete an iReady post-test to determine their …

Where Does The Buck Stop? A Framework Analysis Of Systematic Barriers And Supports To Effective Literacy Instructional Practices, Jennifer Barrett-Tatum, Courtney Shimek, Jennifer Manak, Chelsey M. Bahlmann Bollinger, Debra K. Wellman

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Many claim that elementary school teachers fail to teach children to adequately read, but few ask teachers why this problem persists. This study illuminates the voices of the teachers as they shared their perceptions of which factors supported or hindered their best practices in literacy instruction. Forty-four elementary school teachers across the United States responded to an open-ended questionnaire detailing the people, structures, political, and fiscal supports and barriers to what they perceived as a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction. Using diagnostic and prognostic frames to structure teachers' responses, findings from this study provide direct implications for administration at the …

Relational Leadership: Reconceptualizing How School Districts Address Teacher Attrition, Nila J. Burt, Joseph R. Jones

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

American education is in crisis. Teacher attrition rates are astronomical and continue to rise post-pandemic. In his executive summary, Pelfrey (2020), a policy and research analyst in the Georgia governor's office, revealed that new teachers are abandoning their careers at steadily increasing rates within the first five years of service. As such, we must further examine teacher retention and the influence of school administrators. In this capacity, this study utilized a qualitative methodology to examine teacher attrition in a high school in Georgia. Specifically, narrative inquiry provided the framework to examine the lived experiences of teachers in this southern school. …

How School Leaders Can Directly Support School And Classroom Conditions To Improve Student Outcomes, Goldy Brown Iii

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

There is a dearth of research on how school leaders can directly affect classroom and school conditions that lead to increased student outcomes. This study presents a descriptive single case study on a school leader and identifies supports they provided to improve classroom and school conditions, which may have led to the increased student outcomes they saw over a seven-year period. Qualitative methods were used. Data were collected through interviews and document analysis. This study is unique in that it collects and examines data through the Perspectives on Learning Environment Framework discussed in Bransford et al.’s book How People Learn …

From Without To Within: Inner Transformation As A Pedagogy For Social Activism, Jinting Wu

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Change has become the urgency of our time, as the harrowing Anthropocene and ongoing socio-political crises are challenging the future of humanity and our planet. While systemic structural forces are often (and rightfully so) the target to blame, social activism is as much about our own path of inner change as it is about attempting to create a better world externally. This aspect of social activism can easily become misunderstood as inertia, while more traditional forms of resistance aimed at subverting macro-structures are favored. In this essay, I draw from literature on spirituality and consciousness, new biology, quantum sciences, as …

Teacher Preparedness For Integrating Dyslexia Interventions In The General Education Classroom, Eleanor Perkins

Honors Theses

This thesis features a review of the body of literature surrounding teacher knowledge dyslexia and its interventions. Several studies show teachers (both preservice and inservice) do not have a strong understanding of neither the learning disability nor effective interventions for dyslexia. Students with dyslexia benefit from explicit and systematic teaching. The following lesson plans demonstrate how to lead both large- and small-groups using dyslexia-centered strategies as a general education teacher. The ten-day unit and accompanying intervention plans are designed to specifically accommodate the needs of students with dyslexia, though even students without dyslexia are known to benefit from systematic and …

The Condensed Stem Survey As A Tool For Extension Educators, Jafeth E. Sanchez

Journal of Extension

One Extension Specialist implemented a STEM pilot robotics program across three middle school settings. A program evaluation to provide guidance and recommendations for future development, implementation, and continued evaluation was conducted as part of a larger study. This process led to the development of a condensed STEM survey that can be used by Extension professionals on STEM dispositions among middle school youth.

Lecture Transcripts And Closed-Captioning: Addressing Ada And Udl At Rowan-Virtua Som, Steve Garwood, Dawn Shell, Jackie Giacobbe

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

At the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine (SOM), recordings of all live lectures are available to students via the Echo360 Lecture Capture system. To improve the accessibility, usability, and usefulness of the recordings, beginning in the 2022-2023 Academic Year, we incorporated automated speech recognition (ASR) to create a transcript and closed-captioning for lecture recordings in the Synergistic Guided Learning (SGL) curriculum. For quality control, work-study medical students and volunteers reviewed and edited the transcripts and released updated versions for student use. Use and perceived impact were measured using a survey administered via Qualtrics. Eighty-eight percent of respondents indicated that adding …

From Factory Schooling To Nai Taleem: A Paradigm Shift In Education, Manish Jain

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The article invites readers to question and reflect on the purpose of modern education and narratives of a good life, success and happiness. Modern, capitalistic, industrialized, urbanized and colonial (and colonizing) ways of living and being have created numerous global challenges. In light of these challenges, we need to re-examine our educational systems. I explore the potential of nai taleem as a philosophy of learning, living, and being; one that decolonizes education, our monoculture mindsets, and our notions of a good life. In an increasingly globalized, albeit disconnected, world I call for nai taleem as a means for building meaningful …

Culturally Responsive Strategies To Support Multilingual Learners, Liz Shanks, Mackenzie Weakland

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Teachers must develop pedagogical practices to meet the needs of the growing number of multilingual learners in K-12 classrooms. Our inquiry- based research study analyzed ways that teachers can implement pedagogical strategies that are culturally responsive to multilingual learners. Thematic analysis of recent academic studies, class observations, and an interview with a language specialist affirm a set of culturally responsive instructional practices in the classroom that lead to the academic success of multilingual learners. These practices included teacher attitudes, translanguaging, and thinking routines to assist in English language acquisition. K-12 teachers, administrators, and community leaders working with multilingual learners can …

Holistic Learning Theory: More Than A Philosophy, Andrew Johnson

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Abstract. An educational philosophy identifies and clarifies a set of values and understandings with respect to education that are based on a set of beliefs. A theory is a way to explain a set of facts and understand phenomena. Philosophies are conceptual. Theories are practical. Holistic education is a philosophy of education; however, it is also a robust theory of learning that should be included with the other theories of learning. This article describes holistic education as an educational theory.

Spring 2023 Showcase Program, Jamey Burns

Project InTERSECT Materials

The Inquiry Showcase Programs illustrate the areas of inquiry that teachers selected and what the teachers learned about STEM instruction as they studied their STEM practice within their own classrooms.