Art Therapy In Public Education, Sophie Edelman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review explores the history of art therapy in education. By understanding the history it is clear that art therapy has always been a positive force for students. By learning from the successes and challenges in our history we are better able to plan for future programing and expansion of art therapy programs. Because art therapy was developed in part by educators, the history of art therapy itself is linked with the history of art therapy in schools. In today’s application of art therapy in education there are three models most typically used. The research discusses the strengths and …

Student Wellbeing And Open Studio Process In The School Curriculum, Maria Kim

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study aimed to explore whether Open Studio Process (OSP) increased wellbeing of middle and high school students when facilitated by teachers as a part of the regular art curriculum. It was hypothesized that OSP might increase the sense of wellbeing among middle and high school students as well as facilitating teachers. The research was conducted as a mixed methods study in South Korea where students need preventative interventions for their wellbeing. The researcher trained eight teachers to facilitate OSP and five of them implemented it with their classes for seven sessions. Quantitative data (K-YSR; pre- and posttest) were collected …

From Classroom To Real-World: Preparing Students For The Newsroom, Katherine Allred

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the preparedness of college graduates entering the news field. Employers search for the best possible person with the necessary skills and qualifications required to complete the day-to-day functions of a job. In television news, very specific traits and skills are needed to work in the newsroom environment. Working as a news producer at a small TV station for almost seven years, new employees, specifically reporters, would struggle with some of the basic skills needed for their job. Are universities teaching students everything they need to know? How are they succeeding? If they …

Systemic Racism In Education: Perspectives Of Teachers Of Color, Stephany Vallejo

Education | Master's Theses

Many strides have been made in addressing equity, diversity and social justice in the field of education. However there has remained a gap in the representation of the voices of Teachers of Color. Current literature reveals that there is underlying systemic racism deterring People of Color from pursuing a career in education for a variety of reasons including social, financial, racial and political barriers. Applying Critical Race Theory, critical studies of Whiteness and Microaggressions this study analyzes the experiences of Teachers of Color through their educational career. This research uses a qualitative methods approach with an emphasis on a constructivist …

An Action Research Study On The Use Of Flipped Learning In A Spanish As A Foreign Language Class, Juan Carlos Acevedo Fontecha

Theses and Dissertations

The present action research evaluated the teacher’s perception and the students’ attitudes and practices over the impact of applying a flipped learning model for a basic Spanish course. Unlike previous studies that have evaluated the model considering students’ perceptions and language performance, this study also considered the teacher in a cyclical process of using the flip model. The intervention consisted of four classes that dealt with grammar topics transferred into tutorial videos and in-class activities to practice the content from the videos. To gain a broader spectrum of the teacher’s perception, this study used questionnaires, and field journals designed to …

College Students And Their Political Participation, Emily Williams

Honors Projects

Historically, college students have had a low voter turnout despite having particularly high political engagement. This is a problem because it is instilling a bad habit of not politically engaging to the extent that a productive United States citizen should. By not voting, Americans are losing their rights to representation that reflects their views and beliefs. In this paper I discuss why this low voter turnout is negative and what the United States can do, via the government and educational institutions, to increase voter turnout. In this research, the reader will discover the reasons for low voting rates among college …

Social Studies Teacher Perceptions Of News Source Credibility, Christopher H. Clark, Mardi Schmeichel, H. James Garrett

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Politically tumultuous times have created a problematic space for teachers who include the news in their classrooms. Few studies have explored perceptions of news credibility among secondary social studies teachers, the educators most likely to regularly incorporate news media into their classrooms. We investigated teachers’ operational definitions of credibility and the relationships between political ideology and assessments of news source credibility. Most teachers in this study used either static or dynamic definitions to describe news media sources’ credibility. Further, teachers’ conceptualizations of credibility and perceived ideological differences with news sources were associated with how credible teachers found each source. These …

Intercultural Competence Among Early Childhood Educators, Sara Fanous

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess and develop intercultural competence among birth through kindergarten teachers. Intercultural competence is an integral part of creating a welcoming environment for all students in a classroom. It is not only the acknowledgement of individual differences, but the acceptance and celebration of what makes each person an individual and member of a cultural group. This project assessed the intercultural competence of 24 birth through kindergarten teachers and staff at a child development center in the mid-south. Participants completed the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as pre- and post-assessments. In between assessments, our team conducted …

Student-Centered, Interaction-Based, Community-Driven Language Teaching, Sharon Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that highlights some of the author’s accomplished work while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). Organized into sections that reflect the author’s teaching and research perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and instructor, who taught intensive English reading, writing, and conversation courses for the Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).

In the first section, teaching perspectives, the author describes her desired professional environment, shares her personal teaching philosophy statement, and accounts for her professional development through classroom observations. In the second section, research perspectives, two research papers and …

Teacher Expectations, Self-Efficacy, And Collective Efficacy In Three Tennessee Literacy Networks, Amanda Tinker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a significant difference in the dependent variables- teacher expectations, self-efficacy, and collective efficacy among the three levels of the independent variable- membership in one three literacy networks in Tennessee- Leading Innovation for Tennessee (LIFT), Read to Be Ready Coaching Network (RTBR), and Tennessee Early Literacy Network (TELN)- and if significant correlations existed between the dependent variables for each network. The population consisted of 161 K-3 Tennessee teachers who had been involved in the work of one of the three networks. Participants responded to an online survey via Google …

Teacher Turnover And Teacher Retirement, Dillon Fuchsman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have an important impact on students in the short- and long-term, but only teachers’ experience consistently predicts high teacher quality. This dissertation, divided into three chapters, investigates two topics that are related to teachers’ experience levels: turnover and retirement.

The first chapter studies the relationship between voluntary beginning teacher turnover and teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. It uses the data from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study and the effort that teachers put on a survey taken during their first year in the profession as a proxy for teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. The results of this chapter indicate that teachers putting …

Attrition In A Holistic Job Skills Training Program: A Qualitative Study, Jeaniece Silas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today thousands of individuals and families are unemployed or underemployed and are seeking ways to combat poverty and become employed. One way that individuals seek to gain employment is by attending job skills training and adult education programs. However, there are barriers that hinder those individuals from successfully completing the programs. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of applicants of a nonprofit job skills training program called FaithWorks and explore the reasons why applicants were not able to continue and, or complete the program. This study was conducted, through qualitative interviewing of four participants (N=4) utilizing …

Misunderstanding Child-Centeredness: The Case Of “Child 2.0” And Media Education, Pekka Mertala

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This qualitative study demonstrates the kinds of pedagogical pitfalls that are included in simplistic understandings of child-centeredness in the context of media education, an emerging field of early childhood teacher education with only a little empirical research done so far. Course diaries from 15 preservice teachers were analyzed to find answers to the question: How do preservice teachers approach child-centered education in the context of media education? The main findings can be summarized as follows. First, preservice teachers approached child-centeredness as an all-encompassing principle that guides early childhood education. Second, media education-related issues - beliefs about children and media, ambiguity …

Text Messaging Between School Counselors And Students: An Exploratory Study, Nicholas R. Gilly

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

This exploratory case study examines the impact of text messaging on mentoring relationships when used as an outreach between school counselors and high school students, where established relationships are lacking. An SMS gateway was used to mediate communication between school counselors (N=2) and students (N=5) over a three-month timeframe. The SMS gateway converted email, sent from counselors, to text messages, which were received on mobile devices of students and allowed students to respond back to counselors. Findings indicate that the use of text messaging may ease scheduling of face-to-face meetings between counselors and students, but evidence does not support any …

Identity And Advocacy: The Missing Components In Promoting Social-Emotional Health And Self-Regulation For Multiply Marginalized Girls, Jovonne Tabb, Temple S. Lovelace, Mary Comis, Olajumoke Oshokoya

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Girlhood has been a topic of great interest in the last decade. As individuals have examined the lack of girls in STEM or the increase of bullying in girls, there has been a push to understanding the differential experiences along gender-based lines. In this study, the researchers highlight the results of the successful implementation of a group-based curriculum that utilized identity and advocacy as critical components in a treatment package focused on self-regulation. Using a pretest-posttest design, the researchers found a statistically significant difference in several key areas that are of key importance when supporting the needs of adolescent girls. …

Adjusting The Late Policy: Using Smaller Intervals For Grading Deductions, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Most late policies involve some type of initial large deduction when an assignment is late, followed by subsequent deductions around a certain interval. In many cases, instructors will select 24 hours as their interval. While this type of late policy is common, it can be criticized for being too punitive. Moreover, large intervals can encourage students to hold on to their assignments longer than necessary, increasing the possibility that students receive a second large deduction. To address some of these issues, I share my experience of using one-point deductions for each hour an assignment is late.

Public-School Systems Are Criminalizing Our Young People: Giving Voice To The Marganilized, Carrie Stoltzfus

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

A phenomenological qualitative study using Critical Race Theory and counter-storytelling was completed to investigate what K-12 public schools should be doing to keep young people out of the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). This study took place in a large city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Interviews were completed with former students of the researcher who were previously incarcerated, educational professionals, and justice system professionals. Additionally, observations of the court systems and document reviews were completed in order to triangulate findings. Themes emerged around factors that lead to incarceration and the preferred practices to support young people to avoid …

Art As Meditation: A Mindful Inquiry Into Educator Well-Being, Rachael Crowder, Jennifer Lock, Evelyn Hickey, Mairi Mcdermott, Marlon Simmons, Katrina Wilson, Rebecca Leong, Noeleen De Silva

The Qualitative Report

Being prepared for the intensity and complexities that educators face in their work means building strategies for managing well-being. This qualitative study explored educators’ conceptualizations about their well-being using an arts-based, community-based participatory research (AB-CBPR) methodology. After a brief mindfulness meditation and contemplation of prompting questions, educators were invited to participate in drawing and writing reflections. The artifacts were coded to determine themes. Themes suggested the importance of human connectedness and interconnection, self care and nurturance, the healing qualities of the natural word, and the recognition that institutions need to provide space and resources to support educator well-being. The mindfulness-based …

Determining Human Development Competency Training Needs Of Fcs Extension Professionals, Alligrace Story, Alisha M. Hardman, Marina D. Denny, Geoff Denny

Southeastern Council on Family Relations Conference [2018-2020]

Extension agents with Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) programmatic responsibilities come from a variety of backgrounds but are expected to implement educational programs across FCS knowledge areas. This study examined [state] University Extension personnel’s perceived importance of and perceived ability related to human development competencies. There was a significant difference between how specialists (state-level) and agents (county-level) perceived the importance of three of the five human development concepts. Most agents’ perceived their ability across the human development competencies to be average or just above average. Using the perceived importance and perceived ability data from the agents, next steps include piloting …

Digital Development: What It Means For Teachers, Amy Lightfoot

Teacher India

Technology can be leveraged for teachers’ professional development. Amy Lightfoot explains how.

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Of The Development And Implementation Of A Comprehensive School Safety Plan, Rachina Holman Heron

Dissertations

Abstract The problem addressed within this qualitative study involved exploring the limited research regarding kindergarten through fifth grade teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of the school’s Comprehensive School Safety Plan (CSSP). The purpose of this study was to explore six kindergarten through fifth grade teachers’ perspectives of their school’s safety plan. First, the study described how elementary teachers perceived the professional development or training received in preparation for implementing their school’s safety plan. Second, the study explored six elementary teachers’ perceptions of their ability to implement their school’s safety plan using semi-structured interviews. Finally, areas where elementary teachers perceive they …

The Drive To Advise: A Study Of Law Students At A Pro Bono Brief Advice Project, Linda F. Smith

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Role Of Teacher-Parent Partnerships That Best Benefit Students In A Parochial College Preparatory High School, Sarah H. Gates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Current research on teacher–parent partnerships has increasingly focused on early childhood education. This transcendental phenomenological study expanded and extended the understanding of effective teacher–parent partnerships in secondary education at a parochial college preparatory high school. According to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory (BST), academic growth and development in late adolescents are impacted by the overlapping systems of influence: the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify secondary educators’ perceptions of teacher–parent partnerships that best benefit students. Faculty at a parochial college preparatory high school were asked about their perceptions of parental involvement …

Evaluating The Use Of Alternative Seating With Children At Risk For Emotional Behavioral Disabilities, Corinne E. Bloom Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Characteristics of emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) include learning difficulties that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors and an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. Often, children with EBD have a tendency to have negative experiences in school and engage in challenging behavior in the classroom. This could stem from their lack of desire or motivation to succeed, which is often found in individuals with EBD. One possible antecedent manipulation, alternative seating, may reduce problem behavior and involves exchanging the typical seating and tables in classrooms for different types of seating …

Planning For Student Initiative: Creating A Digital Textbook, Ronald Vaughan Morris

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Undergraduate students enrolled in a university class created an elementary social studies book delivered to computers, personal communication devices, and tablets. Students worked in an interdisciplinary team to create the interactive platform. The students worked with both university and community partners to create the text. The study presented described both the content and the process of student generation of material followed by community member review, and the revision cycle used by the students to create features and components of the text materials. A variety of false starts and marketing challenges reflect the obstacles undergraduate students face when creating marketable products …

Juxtaposing Primary- And Intermediate-Elementary Trade Books’ Historical Representation Of Amelia Earhart, Rachael A. Burkhardt

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Amelia Earhart can be used in the classroom not only to interest students but can also be used to cover Common Core State Standards (CCSS), National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) framework, and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). When teaching Amelia Earhart, textbooks, trade books, and primary sources can be used, however one must be careful with the misrepresentations each resource can portray. To look at what is misrepresented, omitted, and included within primary and intermediate grade level trade books, 32 books were scrutinized. The trade books being analyzed were found to have some historically representative and misrepresentative elements …

Wise-Practice Use Of Visual Primary Sources: Towards A More Interactive Presentation Of Content, Lamont E. Maddox, James B. Howell, Cory Callahan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Modern citizens are often confronted by visual social media seeking to persuade or influence their opinion on public issues. In order for students to develop civic competence, they must be able to evaluate visual data. An interactive slide lecture using four to five strategically-chosen visuals holds promise for developing students’ interpretive skills, but this strategy can be difficult to implement. In this article, we share a collaboratively designed educative primer or teacher scaffold created in response to the challenges experienced by “Amelia” as she implemented an interactive slide lecture with 7^th grade students. Our intent in sharing the primer …

Hello From The Other Side: Social Studies Faculty Teaching Biography Within State History Courses, Aubrey B. Southall Phd, Lauren Y. Bradshaw Phd

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This paper explores the opinions and interests of pre-service social studies students at two universities enrolled in a state history course taught by a socials studies faculty member. Findings include similar motivation for learning state history and opinions on interactive history lessons, while showcasing different interests in historic figures.

“Re/Imagining Culturally Responsive Educational Practices (Crep) And Effectively Implementing Crep To Meet The Needs Of A Diverse Student Population”, Rena' Glass-Dixon, Shelbie Dixon-Brown

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The aim of this interactive workshop for educators and administrators is to promote cultural awareness and reflect on the impact that our own cultural influences have on the teaching and learning process. This interactive session will also allow professional educators and leaders to apply culturally informed practices to foster positive school climate, learning and academic achievement relevant to a widely diverse student population. The workshop strives to encourage dialogue between educators, administrators and interdisciplinary/inter-agency team members through the application of evidence-based practices for the development of a deeper understanding of ourselves and how our views as educators, schools and districts …

Bully, Bullies And Bullying: Pejorative Terminology, Alternative Descriptors, And Ethics-Based Interventions, Tom Clees, Todd J. Stephens

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will present historical perspectives on the use of person-first terminology as related to the impact of contemporary pejorative terminology, including the terms associated with "bullying." Functional alternatives in assessing problematic behaviors will follow. Finally, ethics-based (least intrusive) social skills and behavioral interventions will be exemplified.