College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Peace, Love, Unity & Having Fun: Storying the life histories and pedagogical beliefs of African American male teachers from the Hip Hop generation.(2009) Bridges, III, Thurman LeVar; Brown, Tara M.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation study is motivated by a desire to address the diminishing presence of African American male teachers in U.S. schools and the significance of this dissertation is multifold. First, through an examination of the life histories of African American teachers from the Hip Hop Generation and their pedagogical beliefs, it sheds light on cultural contexts in which their experiences with Hip Hop culture, their motivations to teach, and their pedagogical approaches emerged. In doing so, this study expands upon the existing literature on teacher beliefs, which all but excludes the ontologies, epistemologies, and pedagogies of African American male educators. This study focuses on nine African American male K-12 teachers who were born between 1965 and 1984 and feel closely connected to Hip Hop music and culture. It examines their social, political, educational and cultural experiences (e.g. coming of age during the crack epidemic, their connections to political movements like Civil Rights and Black Nationalism, their schooling experiences, and their involvement with Hip Hop culture) and how these experiences have influenced their pedagogical beliefs. This study revealed that the nine participants embraced non-traditional pedagogies, relied on Hip Hop culture to support their daily instruction, and viewed the intersections of Hip Hop culture and traditional curriculum as powerful sites through which to address the achievement challenges facing students of color, while producing positive academic outcomes for, particularly, African American boys.Item Intersections of Vision, Practice, and Context in the Development of Student Teachers as Reading Teachers for Students of Diverse Backgrounds(2007-11-26) Mercado, Rebecca; Valli, Linda; Turner, Jennifer D; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The well-documented achievement gap and common cultural mismatch between teachers and their students underscore the need for culturally responsive teachers. Students of diverse backgrounds need teachers whose visions of teaching reading result in high-quality educational experiences for all students. As teacher education programs strive for ways to support preservice reading teachers to be more culturally responsive, it is important to understand how a vision of teaching develops and then intersects with actual classroom practice of teaching reading to students of diverse backgrounds. From a sociocultural perspective and using qualitative case study methods, this dissertation explored the visions of five student teachers as they taught reading to students of diverse backgrounds in the context of urban classrooms, including the district-mandated balanced literacy program. Through classroom observations, interviews, and a review of documents, I examined the intersections of vision, practice, and context in the participants' development as reading teachers. Additionally, I developed a checklist of Culturally Responsive Indicators and Strategies to assess the extent to which cultural responsiveness emerged in the five student teachers' vision and practice. The five case studies strengthened research findings that previous attitudes and beliefs, educational experiences, and intercultural experiences (or the lack there of) do influence the development of visions about teaching reading. The individuals experienced complex intersections as they made meaning of their student teaching experience. In the cross-case analysis, three major intersections of vision, practice, and context emerged: classroom management, teaching balanced literacy, and the students' cultures. The conceptual framework developed for this study showed that one of the intersecting elements of vision, practice, or context can be dominant for an individual, with implications of different models for teacher education. The data suggested that a context-dominant student teacher might be most likely to move toward cultural responsiveness. From a checklist of 25 strategies, limited use of culturally responsive strategies was found, suggesting that a diverse context alone does not necessarily lead to cultural responsiveness. Suggestions for strengthening preservice teacher preparation are provided.Item Hearing Others' Voices: An Exploration of the Musical Experiences of Immigrant Students Who Sing In High School Choir(2004-11-29) Carlow, Regina; McCarthy, Marie; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore the musical experiences of immigrant students in an American high school choral classroom. This study revealed some of the central issues and tensions that immigrant students face as they are acculturated into secondary school music programs. The study explored the experiences of five immigrant female high school students who had emigrated from the following countries: Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, and Kazakhstan. The primary participants in the collective case study attended a suburban high school in the Mid-Atlantic region and had been living in the U.S. for three years or less. All participants were enrolled the same entry-level non-auditioned choral class. A survey was given to all choral students at the school which provided demographic information about the overall school choral program. Data collection methods included: semi-structured, in-depth interviews, student and teacher surveys, observations, focus groups, and dialogue journal writing collected over a ten-month period. Participants were encouraged to write journal entries in their native language. Lind's study of classroom environment and Gay's theory of culturally responsive teaching provided two important frameworks for analysis and interpretation of data. Data were coded through the NVivo software system for processing qualitative research. The data were analyzed and interpreted to create four narrative case studies. Findings suggested that the acculturation process for immigrant teenagers entails multiple dimensions with distinct outcomes depending on students' personal histories and educational backgrounds. Data revealed teacher dependence on contextual language in the choral classroom language as a vehicle for transfer of musical knowledge and that English language learners (ELL) are sometimes placed at a disadvantage in the choral classroom because of this reliance. Findings implied that some curricular norms in secondary choral classes such as vocal warm-ups, musical notation, sight reading requirements and choral festivals can be viewed as culturally incongruent with immigrants students' previous musical experiences. Data suggested that immigrant students in choral classes viewed the minimum requirements for participation in a school group, opportunities for public performance, and daily use of English in a non-threatening atmosphere as benefits of their overall high school education.