Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

The Inventive Work Of The Christian Mind, Jeff Ringer

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Responding to Bizzell’s 2008 JAEPL article, this article argues that the intellectual work of religious minds involves inventing arguments grounded in the religious community’s ethos that advocate for new perspectives within that community. Using Katharine Hayhoe’s evangelical Christian environmentalist rhetoric as an example, this article prompts rhetorical educators to rethink approaches to teaching ethos.

("What if there is intellectual work to be done that can only be done by what [Shannon] Carter calls the “Christian mind”—or Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist mind?" —Patricia Bizzell, Faith-Based World Views as a Challenge to the Believing Game)

Back Matter-Jaepl Volume 25, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Back Matter

Front Matter- Jaepl Volume 25, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Front Matter

The Good Enough Teacher, Natalie Davey

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This paper puts forward a pedagogical model of care for K-12 educators that is specifically focused on alternative classroom educators. In conversation with educational theorists and psychologists, a model of care that is translatable to both teachers and students in non-traditional classrooms is presented. Looking first at Arlie Hochschild’s “emotion work” in the context of alternative classroom teaching, a link is made to Nel Noddings’s “ethics of care” as a pedagogical starting point. The author then riffs on psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott’s notion of the “good enough mother,” the one who “manages a difficult task: initiating the infant into a world …

Invictus: Race And Emotional Labor Of Faculty Of Color At The Urban Community College, Kerri-Ann M. Smith, Kathleen T. Alves, Irvin Weathersby Jr., John D. Yi

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This article shares the counter-stories of four junior faculty members of color, whose lived experiences provide concrete examples of what emotional labor sometimes entails in higher education. Grounded in Critical Race Theory and antiracist methodologies, these academics identify specific ways in which they experience emotional labor: guilt, silence, anger, navigating double-consciousness and liminality, and self-regulating physical and mental health. They seek to buttress their experiences with counternarratives and, consequently, recommendations for how community college leaders may help to alleviate the emotional labor associated with junior faculty members of color through promotion, leadership, mentoring, and recognition of diverse perspectives and contributions …

Seeing Writing Whole: The Revolution We Really Need, Keith Rhodes

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Composition classes have difficulty achieving the aims of the CCCC position statement entitled Students’ Right to Their Own Language, for reasons related to why we have difficulty integrating calls for building rhetorical listening more fully into our curricula. A fundamental assumption that writers alone are responsible for the success of written communication leads to results that sustain privileged discourse and upset any sense that readers, too, have an obligation in any written transaction. A field of Writing, properly constituted, needs to challenge that assumption of readerly privilege overtly so that we can shift toward teaching students better ways to manage …

Stemm-Humanities Co-Teaching And The Humusities Turn, Hella B. Cohen

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Donna Haraway calls for a new Humanities that attends to the role of this traditionally anthropocentric field on a damaged planet. The Humusities, she offers, empower us to teach at the intersections of observation, speculation, and affective reasoning. This article considers co-teaching and interdisciplinary teaching structures as part of the Humusities model. Drawing from interviews and pedagogical materials of professors who have co-taught STEMM-Humanities classes, student feedback from these sections, and current research on interdisciplinary education, I theorize the possibilities and limitations of the interdisciplinary Humusities at the undergraduate level. The article explores how we translate the tenets of Haraway …

Contemplative Wac: Testing A Mindfulness-Based Reflective Writing Assignment, Jared Featherstone

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This qualitative study examines the effects of the Mindfulness Journal Assignment (MJA), a semester-long integration implemented in five different university courses, to understand its potential for teaching and learning. Of particular interest were the patterns found in the reflective writing of students engaging in the MJA and the connection of those patterns to both classroom and Writing Across the Curriculum learning objectives. The most frequent themes occurring in the 111,906-word dataset were metacognitive awareness and self-regulation, both of which are significant for learning transfer and WAC. The findings of this study are promising in that the inclusion of a contemplative …

Connecting: On “Showing Up” In Teaching, Tutoring, And Writing: A Search For Humanity, Christy Wenger, Nicole J. Wilson, Angela Montez, Sara Y. Chung, Christina M. Lavecchia, Cristina D. Ramirez, Patricia D. Pytleski

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The pieces collected in this section of Connecting all exhibit ways of “showing up” in writing. They do so by modeling how we might claim very specific, very material conditions of learning and thinking and speak from the authority of personal experience. They are full of voice. They show up by revealing the presence of their writers and by making intentional space for readers to show up in response, as a writer’s presence begets the readers’. The writing contained within this section also offers practices that might help us think through the dynamics of a pedagogical praxis of “showing up.”

Volume 25 Of The Journal Of The Assembly For Expanded Perspectives On Learning, Wendy Ryden, Peter H. Khost

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL), an official assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English, is open to all those interested in extending the frontiers of teaching and learning beyond the traditional disciplines and methodologies. JAEPL is especially interested in helping those teachers who experiment with new strategies for learning to share their practices and confirm their validity through publication in professional journals.

Book Reviews, Irene Papoulis, Nate Mickelson, Paul Pucccio, Erin L. Frymire, Tracy Lassiter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

All of this year’s books circle around issues of healing, a richly faceted subject always dear to members of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning. Nate Mickelson reviews Burt Bradley’s After Following, in which the poet takes solace in writing his own meditations on the work of other poets; Paul Puccio responds to Peter Khost’s Rhetor Response: A Theory and Practice of Literary Affordance, which explores the potential connections to life that literature could provide readers in our classrooms and beyond; Erin Frymire addresses Jessica Restaino’s Surrender: Feminist Rhetoric and Ethics in Love and Illness, which combines rhetorical analysis …

Complaint As ‘Sticky Data’ For The Woman Wpa: The Intellectual Work Of A Wpa’S Emotional And Embodied Labor, Anna Sicari

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

There is rich scholarship on emotions in writing program administration, and the labor this work requires from WPAs (Holt; Micciche; McKinney et. al; Ratcliffe and Rickley; Vidali) and on the feminized nature of writing programs and the way gender informs this type of emotional work (Enos; Flynn; Miller; Schell). Many WPA scholars advocate that our administrative work is intellectual work, yet little attention has been given to the emotional and embodied labor of WPA work as intellectual and as defining components of WPA work. Drawing from Sara Ahmed’s recent work on complaint and data I collected from thirty interviews with …

Fyc Students’ Emotional Labor In The Feedback Cycle, Kelly Blewett

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay explores the emotions first-year composition students experience when receiving feedback on their writing. Culling data from 32 hours of interviews with students, as well as two different data streams students provided regarding their emotional reactions to feedback, I argue that students undergo what Arlie Hochschild calls transmutation as they process feedback on their writing. Two implications are suggested: first, that future studies should utilize non-alphabetic tools for capturing emotion; second, that teachers wishing to assist student reception of feedback should be attentive to building rapport in the classroom. Finally, the essay calls for additional study of the impact …

The Toil Of Feeling: Education As Emotional Labor - Teaching At The End Of Empire, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The editor's introduction to the Special Section, The Toil of Feeling: Education as Emotional Labor.

“So, That’S Sort Of Wonderful”: The Ideology Of Commitment And The Labor Of Contingency, Sarah V. Seeley

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This article explores the emotional outcomes related to language commodification within an organizational context: the first-year writing program at Binghamton University, which is a public research university in upstate New York. In this setting, the meanings of effective writing instruction are discursively constructed in terms of a multi-faceted commitment to ‘the process.’ This entails an ideological commitment to both recursive process writing and the process of collaboratively evaluating the product that derives from it. I first offer an overview of the Binghamton context, including the details of collaborative portfolio assessment. I then analyze a specific sociolinguistic strategy: pep talking. I …

Rhetoric And Emotion Save Science: Lessons From Student Eco-Activists, Jesse Priest

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay is a qualitative study of the experience of undergraduate students learning how to teach issues of sustainability to their campus communities through an innovative outreach program at a large northeastern research university, while at the same time learning to navigate complex emotional labor required by their outreach and activist work. While most previous work on science writing and rhetoric focuses on disciplinary, publishing, or genre practices, I examine the holistic student experience by placing outreach, writing, and the classroom in conversation with each other, illuminating how discourses can cross institutional and contextual borders. Additionally, while most previous work …

Middle School Algebra As A College And Career Readiness Indicator, Carrie M. Renfroe

Dissertations

A goal of historic and current educational policy in American public schools has been to increase middle school student completion of Algebra I. The purpose of this study was to investigate equitable strategies for mathematics acceleration of diverse populations of middle school students. The context of this inquiry was a mid-sized school district that offers accelerated mathematics pathways to select middle school students throughout the district. My study demonstrated outcomes that align with current college and career readiness literature and support school-wide implementation of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) system.

Understanding The Lived Experiences Of African American Males In A Middle School: What Makes Them Achieve, Augustina Bryan

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to allow students to make meaning of and understand their positionality within an academic setting while providing teachers and instructional staff with insight into personal experiences of African American middle school male students within the context of eligibility. Student voice was the primary form of description for this research. Each individual had a different perspective based on class, culture, age, religion, and environment, among other factors. The individual differences impacted the students’ and my own construction of meaning. The paper is organized as follows: (a) Chapter One: Introduction; (b) Chapter Two: Review of the …

A Plan For Democratic Public Schooling, Diana Concepcion

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project addresses concerns within inner-city public schools while restructuring how we facilitate learning in our school buildings. It provides an overview of continued research on challenges faced in public schools including reform policy (testing and curricular changes), privatization, day-to-day structures and how they impact the academic and social-emotional development of our students. By examining our current designs and policies, we are able to identify why and how these systems have not been beneficial to our students, and we are able to find basic solutions in supporting the holistic needs of our students. This project proposes a school plan which …

Missing Narratives: Racial Inequities In Social Studies Curriculum, Amanda Pomerleau

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Pomerleau, A. (2020) Missing Narratives: Racial Inequities in Social Studies Curriculum

The education system in the United States, like the government, is built on inequitable systems, where those in charge of the narratives, policies, and institutions are overwhelmingly White. Traditional textbooks and instructional materials are also White-centric, telling the histories of White men and the systems they created. However, this White-centric education does not support the increasingly diverse set of students in schools today. With this in mind, the research was framed by this question: As a White educator, how can I provide learning opportunities for students to explore alternative …

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Of The “Public Displays Of History” Debate, Benjamin R. Wellenreiter, Monica Noraian

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

We examined how the preservice history and social science teachers (n=84) with whom we worked conceptualized debates regarding Public Displays of History (PDH) such as monuments and building names. Participants described PDH as important venues for learning history but viewed them as incomplete, often biased, sources of information. When determining whether removal or alteration is appropriate, the preservice teachers stressed comparison of the PDH to current societal norms, original overt and tacit intent of the creators of the PDH, the actions or deeds of the subject through a historical accuracy lens, and whether removal changes understanding of the subject of …

Research-Based Course Re-Design For Human Relations In A Multicultural Society, Academic Years 2010-2012, Elizabeth J. Sandell

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Intercultural competence is one way to describe how individuals and groups understand and adapt their behavior to cultural differences. University students can increase their intercultural competence by understanding behaviors and by experiencing cultural differences. One way to do this is by participating in a course, such as Human Relations in a Multicultural Society. The course's objective was to help students in understanding their own cultural roots, as well as those of other culture groups. This study responded to questions about the impact of multicultural education on intercultural competence among undergraduates. The data set included more than 130 students who took …

Stories Of Community Practice, Artistic Ambivalence, And Emergent Pedagogies, Rebecca Bourgault

International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education

The reflections and questions discussed in the paper emerged from a teaching artist experience in community-art that led to the examination of the contrasting values between the disciplinary paradigms of social practices, community-based and participatory arts and that of the contemporary artworld aesthetics. As goals of art for social justice often contradict the perception of artistic merit based on aesthetic quality, working at the intersection of artistic creation and community development demands a shift in perspectives. The position demands going beyond one’s artistic ambivalences, to include participants in a reciprocal relationship, attentive to the fact that any goals of empowerment …

Immersive Leadership: Creating An Experiential Curriculum To Build Our Students' Leadership, Kimberly Guzman

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

As a higher education professional, I seek to use creative programming to encourage the exploration of alternative learning opportunities and to enhance student success. My action research project explores the process of creating and implementing an immersive leadership experience for students from start to finish. Through a curriculum based on experiential learning and critical reflection, students explored, learned, and developed a social justice lens and leadership skills. Students also reflected on their engagement with leadership in various spaces such as on the University of San Diego’s campus, their home environments, and the Duncan community in Jamaica, where this immersive leadership …

Examining The Multiple Sites Of Meaning In A Participant Photography Project With Black Male College Students, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Participant photography is a visual method that has been widely used in research to elevate the voices of historically marginalized populations. Although much has been written about the nature of the visual method, including its benefits and challenges, less is known about how meaning is made of the visual images as they move throughout the research process. To this end, this article draws upon data and the methodological notes from a research study examining Black masculinities and employs a critical visual methodology to examine the different sites of meaning-making in a participant photography research project with Black college men. First, …

Through The Lens Of Latinas: The Influences Of An Out-Of-School Time Stem Program, Chaoyi Wang

Theses & Dissertations

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been the foundation for discovery and technological innovation in the United States. The United States considers STEM education as a national priority to compete in the global economy and protect the nation’s innovation ecosystem. The high demand for careers in STEM fields promotes the importance of STEM education. However, Latinos, as the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, face many challenges in STEM education relating to a lack of progress, degree attainment, and participation in STEM professions.

This research aimed to explore the learning experience in an out-of-school (OST) STEM program, called …

First In College: A Qualitative Exploration Of Experiences Of First-Generation Students, Rebecca Evans, Don Stansberry, Kim E. Bullington, Dana Burnett

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate first-generation students’ perceptions of how their lived experiences have impacted their academic and non-academic success. We utilized focus groups consisting of first-generation students who attended a rural community college and a large, public, metropolitan, research university, and compared their lived experiences. Our findings confirmed some past research that found that a lack of social capital, academic preparation, financial resources, and family support challenge this population of students in their transition to college. However, some of our results contradict past findings which have concluded that part-time enrollment increases the risk of first-generation …

Black Teachers’ Collective Wisdom As Social Justice Pedagogy: A Black Feminist Narrative Analysis, Jacqueline Cora Boone

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

In this age, 21st century, where social issues surrounding race and gender are impassioned and escalating, black feminists and Black Feminist Theory are leading the charge in bringing salience through activism and engagement. Doing post structural qualitative research aims to dismantle a myth of scientific knowledge that emphasizes triangulation and transferability of research with the use of multiple representations of experience. This research investigates critical issues in qualitative research, specifically the ontological challenge that researchers commonly encountered in depicting experience and social reality. The turn to experience and lived stories has expanded the modes of qualitative research by hearing marginalized …

Black Drowning Deaths: An Introductory Analysis, Alena Gadberry, James Gadberry

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Black children between the ages of 5 and 14 are 2.6 times more likely to drown than white children. A systematic exclusion from public pools and other forms of water activities over time has led to a lack of cultural capital involving aquatics among black families. Pierre Bourdieu has provided a theoretical foundation in which to understand this issue. The social fields created by generational socialization have made blacks feel like they have no place in the water. It will take a restructuring of the social institutions to set in motion the socialization (or a re-socialization) of new and more …

A Guide For Teacher Sensitivity Of The Homeless Preschooler, Barbara Abdella

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper is intended to exhibit the effects of homelessness on preschool children and to provide anecdotes for the child’s social emotional growth and well-being. This paper provides a statistical analysis of the steady growth of homelessness among preschool children and families residing in New York City, lists some of the causes of homelessness, and identifies barriers that homeless children and their families must face daily, affecting their education and stability. Additionally, it is hoped that this paper will allow the reader to comprehend their ability to utilize their empathic reasoning skills and impartial reasoning in their association with homeless …