The problem this research addresses is that, regardless of training, educational background or social status, with or without work experience, most non- or limited-English speaking immigrants are forced to begin their American careers at the bottom of the occupational ladder. This study focuses on the comparison of the lives of English as a Second Language (ESL) students/warehouse workers before and after migration to try to ascertain whether these individuals have experienced upward or downward mobility. The approximately 80 participants in this study are workers in a garment distribution warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. The participants have been drawn from the worksite ESL classes offered during their lunch or dinner hours and extended one-half hour into work time donated by the company. A questionnaire was distributed to voluntary participants. The information gleaned was used to tabulate statistics and analyze hypotheses regarding the socio-economic transition of immigrants to the United States. As a result of this study, the following questions were addressed: (1) How do immigrants perceive the effects of immigration? (2) When immigrants come to the United States, do they feel their lives improve or worsen socioeconomically? (3) If studies prove that high-status immigrants become downwardly mobile upon entrance to the United States, does that imply that lower-status immigrants become upwardly mobile? (4) How do immigrants compare their lives in their native country to their lives in their new country? The objective of this study was to evaluate the ramifications of migration to the United States with respect to upward and downward mobility of higher- and lower-status immigrants. The population consisted of ESL students/warehouse workers from 13 different countries. This group of immigrants was chosen because, regardless of background, education, English language facility, experience, degree of literacy, or previous socioeconomic class, they were now all thrust together, doing the same job, earning the same salary, and on an equal footing here in the United States. Based on this premise, the researcher wanted to study their perceptions of life in the United States compared to their previous countries to see if, in their estimation, they had indeed bettered themselves or their lots in life by migrating to the United States, or whether their lives had taken a downward turn by coming here.

Teachers of English to students of other languages in the United States face complex teaching realities. The students themselves come from diverse social, economic and political backgrounds and their needs and demands vary widely from context to context. Teachers face external pressures from the institutions in which they teach and struggle with the impact of their own visible and invisible identities on the students' learning. This thesis is a participatory inquiry into the challenges of six women teachers, all with very diverse and extensive linguistic and intercultural experiences. Over the course of six years, these teachers, in conjunction with the author, searched themselves and discussed as a group the impact of their diverse backgrounds on their approaches to teaching. Data used as the basis for the inquiry includes extensive initial individual interviews and conversations among the women, subsequent workshops given for other teachers on the topic by the group and papers and theses written with regard to their approaches to teaching for their Master's Degree theses. The literature review includes references to the sociopolitical dimensions of ESL teaching, intercultural communication, research in identity, and gender issues in education. Conclusions point to the impact of extensive intercultural experience and reflection on teacher confidence, skill building and resilience.

The theoretical part is about concepts of places, landscape, genius loci, Land Art and in those concepts are connected through the walking. The theoretical part is structured into various individual "imaginary steps", the development of my thoughts on the subject and then refers to the cultural contexts. In the practical part I focus on descriptions and examples of my own artistic realization. The last didactic part describes the model learning schemes. I tried to follow starting experience, i.e. scheme: to live - to think out - to tell. The main part is mainly inspired by my one year study in Lisbon in Portugal. Just stay here and the opportunity to perform physically demanding 750 km long pilgrimage route across Portugal, forms the basis of my practical part performance art. This topic applies to didactic etudes. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Antiracist teacher education in the United States has largely been situated within university-based teacher education programs over the last thirty years. This body of research documents the struggles and possibilities of preparing race-conscious educators who engage in antiracist practices that support diverse student populations. Despite this body of scholarship, there has been limited research in this area with school-based teacher education through inservice professional development (PD). Yet, there has also been an increase in antiracist and race-forward PD for teachers in schools in recent years. In turn, this study analyzes the curriculum of antiracist PD in New York City schools over the last ten years (2012-2022), seeking to understand the possibilities and tensions. Using qualitative and visual arts-based educational research methods, I interviewed 28 teachers, school leaders, and PD facilitators. In doing so, I found that the PD curricula across NYC schools largely made room for (a) building educators’ knowledge of structural racism, (b) individual reflection, and (c) changing the student-facing curriculum to be antiracist. However, there were two tangles, or complicated points of tension and contradiction. The first tangle was most visible when one looked at educators’ relationships, especially given the dominance of the carceral paradigm in schools. The second tangle highlights the tension between individual teachers and school institutions, wondering who is responsible for enacting antiracism in schools. I ultimately contend that it is not just antiracist PD that is needed in schools, but abolitionist PD.

Thesis in compliance with the requirements for the Doctor’s Degree in Technology: Language Practice, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / South Africa’s dynamic post-Apartheid education climate is beset by a plethora of new policies designed to transform education. Our county’s educators are expected to be the alchemists of change to create the new and transformed society envisaged in these policies, albeit with insufficient logistical planning and support. Moreover, so many of our schools are operationally dysfunctional, with literacy and numeracy levels at an all time low. Under these daunting circumstances our Provincial Education Department Teacher Development Institution, Ikhwezi In-Service Training Institute, develops training materials and delivers courses aimed at implementing policy while at the same time modelling progressive, internationally recognized and democratic adult-based methodology. In this self-study project of my departmental work with a group of trained educators, I use action research to trace the potential of integrated arts to transform teaching and learning in under-resourced rural and township classrooms. An aspect of this self-study looks at the therapeutic potential of the arts in my own life and career as an arts educator. When my Masters research revealed the dramatic effect a project-like arts approach to teaching could engender, I was motivated by compassion to develop the work further to reach a broader base of learners. I also wished to educate the authorities into mainstreaming the default marginalising of the arts in schools by developing photographic, written and video evidence promoting the arts in schools, mainly to emphasize their holistic educational role, but also as an essential healing, a potential remedy for the ills of the past that continue to impact on the present. / D

The purpose of this study was to begin constructing an expanded framework for child literacy learning with participants who educate children in formal and informal settings in literacy, the arts and environmental education. The study explored how a broader framework for child literacy learning could gain strength and purpose from our increasingly diverse and complex social environment. I used participatory arts-based research to spark dialogue and foster partnerships. The design of the study was intended to demonstrate how the arts, in this case photography, can be effective as a means of attending, exploring, and communicating ideas. Three major themes emerged: Child Literacy Practices and how they can attend to belonging and voice; Arts and Culture and the engagement of children in the arts and how this is relevant to child literacy learning ;and Environmental Destruction looking towards preparing children to be ecologically literate in the context of child literacy learning. / Graduate

The diploma thesis called Visual arts education and artistic creation in Štětí describes the teaching and the conception of Visual arts in Štětí. The methods of qualitative research were implemented, namely the observations of the art teachers in practice, the interviews with the teachers and the statements of the pupils. All these methods were used in order to answer the research question. Another aim of the diploma thesis is to describe the educational and cultural institutions. In the practical part, the Visual arts project focusing on a particular space and situation is introduced. KEYWORDS Art education;arts; city of Štětí; educational intitutions; art education project

Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this study aimed to contribute to an understanding of A) the availability of arts education programming in NYC during the 2022–2023 academic year at charter schools affiliated with Charter Management Organizations CMOs), and B) arts educators’ plans for retention and perceptions of professional satisfaction, network-level support, and school-level support. In this study, a CMO was defined as a non-profit operator that exists (as a business entity) separately from the charter schools it manages. Quantitative data was collected prior to qualitative data. In Phase 1 (quantitative data collection), an electronic survey of arts educators in CMO-affiliated schools in New York City (NYC) was conducted to measure job satisfaction, attitudes and opinions of perceived levels of support from networks and schools, and needs for further support. In Phase 2 (qualitative data collection), interviews were conducted with six arts educators to further explore the perceptions of support held by arts educators at schools associated with NYC-based CMOs. Emerging from the qualitative results were the educators’ concepts of and needs for support across three categories: structural support, peer support, and support for teacher development (including both lesson planning and lesson delivery). The roles of network-level leadership and school-level leadership (as a team and as individuals) in providing support across these three categories while also preserving teacher autonomy created a complex web of influences on charter sector teacher satisfaction and retention within the field of arts education at schools affiliated with CMOs for the teachers in this study, which has implications for theory, practice, and policy alike.

Visual arts-based tasks have been used and continue to be used by educators to help support the learning needs of many students. Research findings pertaining to visual arts-based education have concluded that visual arts-based tasks can help to improve students’ social communication skills, support their learning in academic subject areas, and increase their learning engagement. In recognition of the potential benefits of integrating the arts into the curriculum, the Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) program provides students with opportunities to engage in arts-based activities. In 2003, the results of a national longitudinal study on the LTTA program revealed a strong relationship between students’ involvement in the arts and their learning and engagement. The investigators recommended that further research in this area was required; through my research, I sought to contribute to this area of study. It is within the setting of a visual arts-based LTTA program that this study was conducted. Data were collected to construct two multiple-perspective case studies—each involving a Grade 7 student with learning disabilities. Each multiple-perspective case study involved the student’s mother, classroom teacher, and LTTA artist-educator in order to explore the following research question: In what way did visual arts-based tasks incite the student’s learning attitude, engagement level, and feelings of academic self-efficacy within the subject area(s) being explored? Overall, the findings suggested that visual arts-based tasks incited positively each student’s learning attitude, engagement level, and feelings of academic self-efficacy within the respective subject area that the students identified as being one of their least favourite. Most notably, their engagement in the visual arts-based tasks activated each student’s meaningful processing skills and fostered their emotional engagement in the task and their learning. Limitations of this study and future research directions were considered. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-10-22 18:15:56.859

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