This qualitative study followed the classroom practices of a second grade teacher across the course of a school year. Data collection methods used included interviews, fieldnotes, observations, various site artifacts and photographs. Informants were the classroom teacher, thirteen second grade students, the building principal, and several colleagues, family members and friends identified by the teacher. The study used literature in the fields of critical pedagogy and democratic educational practice to interpret the teacher's work. Analysis suggested that the second grade class group evolved toward a sense of democratic community as the teacher: 1) provided the foundations of relationship, high expectations and belief in her students; 2) created classroom structures that supported the growth of moral intelligence amongst class members; and 3) extended opportunities for students to regularly contribute to and actively participate in class experiences. Findings suggest that a sense of democratic community can not be quickly or easily realized. As this teacher sought to foster its development through building foundations, creating support structures and extending opportunities to her students, she experienced unpredictability, risk and struggle. Significantly, however, she perceived her daily struggles as opportunities to reflectively reconsider her teaching practices. As she continually assessed and refined her practices, she and her students grew as a mutually supportive community. / Ph. D.

The growing interest in educational technology is matched by a corresponding increase in concern about its effects on children and adolescents. With demand for implementing technology on one hand, and the moral consequences that could result from it on the other hand, integrating a one-to-one computing program (1:1 program) in Catholic schools remains a subject in need of more thorough study. This study sought to examine the various advantages, challenges, and ethical questions related to implementing the 1:1 program in a Catholic middle school. While several studies demonstrate the positive impact of 1:1 program on students’ engagement and academic achievement, this study examines the pros and cons of the 1:1 program for the teachers and students, as well as its possible relationship with the students’ moral virtues, which constitute their moral intelligence. In order to examine the integration of 1:1 program and its intersection with morality, a variety of methods were used to collect data, including a survey (quantitative approach), document analysis, classroom observations, and interviews (qualitative approach). In short, this study contributes to a better understanding of how the 1:1 program has been implemented in a Catholic middle school, his advantages and disadvantages for teachers and students, to what extent Catholic leaders are navigating educational technology with morality, and of any possible correlation between students’ use of digital devices and their moral growth.