Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-209). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

This qualitative teacher - research study investigates how secondary students in English classes might use art materials and the construction of abstract artworks to explore, develop, and express their responses to and interpretations of literary works. The study was guided by the following research questions: 1. What happens when students are introduced to a wide variety of art materials and encouraged to use them to discover and express their response to or interpretation of a literary text? 1a. How do students describe how their understanding of or relationship to a work of literature is impacted by their production of a work of art in response to that literature? 2. How do students describe the experience of displaying their responsive art works in a final art “show” or classroom display, and how does their preparation for such a capstone event impact their creative process or their experience of producing their work of art? 3. What challenges and obstacles seem likely to arise for a teacher who tries to implement an instructional program in literature that includes a requirement that students create works of art to explore or express their response to or understanding of a literary work? The data collected and analyzed include classroom observations in multiple classes, student writing, student artwork at all stages, student testimony, and student responses to survey questions. The analysis of the collected data suggest that the creation of works of art to explore and express literary experience and response promotes in many students an expanded understanding of the definition of ‘art’ and ‘artist’; a greater personal engagement with the assigned literary work; more original, nuanced, and insightful responses to literature; and more engaged and intellectually honest writing about literature. The greatest challenges and obstacles to implementing the arts-based approach to the study of literature in the classroom were located largely in the researcher’s own attachments to conventional practices in the teaching of literature, desire to ensure that her students acquired standard knowledge about the assigned literary work, and her lingering sense of responsibility about preparing students for conventional future literature classes.

What do we hope to teach in teaching literature, and how can we best serve that purpose? These are questions that are no less urgent than they are fundamental, and should, in fact, be constantly in our minds as we engage in our practice. This discussion will entail a conversation between the theories behind, and the process of, teaching literature to adolescents, with a series of observations and thoughts rooted in specific texts and classes. I will start by querying how we define our mission, and then situate this debate in its historical context. I will look at how current influences are affecting this mission, before examining in a more granular sense how we attempt to trace progress and process. I will root this discussion in both theory and practice, utilizing my own teaching and extant student artifacts. I will argue that the elliptical nature of the process means that our assessment must be multifaceted, and that a mirror elliptical approach on our end can yield richer understandings, for both teacher and students.

Argumentation is widely regarded as both a productive path and a critical objective of education. However, poor performance remains a serious problem at all ages in assessments of expository writing in which students are asked to make an argument in support of a claim. An apprenticeship model is proposed as a mechanism in the development of skill in dialogic argumentation, with this skill serving as a bridge to individual written argument. In a multi-week intervention, young adolescents were paired with a series of both more skilled and similarly skilled partners, anonymously, in conducting one-on-one electronic dialogs on controversial issues. A comparison group was included who engaged in the same intervention and assessments, but their dialogic partners were confined to similar ability peers. The more skilled adult partner displayed skilled forms of counterargument and use of evidence to support claims as well as frequent questioning with respect to the partner’s statements and meta-talk about the discourse itself. Effects on students’ individual argument skill on a new topic were assessed by means of both a (solitary) individually constructed dialog and an individual essay. In both the dialogs and essays, the experimental group showed greater skills in using evidence to support a claim, generating advanced counterarguments, and constructing integrative critical arguments coordinating two contrasting claims, relative to the comparison group. These results lend support to the power of apprenticeship in individual argument skill development. Both groups also advanced in individual dialogic argument skills following their engagement in argumentation, a result thereby demonstrating the passage of higher-order intellectual skills from a social to individual level. Besides their educational implications, the theoretical significance of these results in relation to both an apprenticeship model and a dialogical model of argument skill development was discussed.

Many students and their families do not understand the impact of students’ involvement in gifted or advanced academics educational programs and their potentially positive effects and challenges. Nationally African American students are underrepresented in gifted and advanced academics courses in high schools; however, African American students and families often do not advocate for their inclusion in these educational pathways. A survey of literature supporting this study of voices of African American families concerning gifted and advanced academics participation focused on (1) the historical underpinnings for equity and excellence for African American and for gifted and advanced academics learners, (2) how the lack of an agreed upon definition of gifted and advanced academics by the professional field might contribute to the problem, and (3) how African American parents made educational decisions for and with their children, especially concerning college. Employing semi-structured interviews and a focus group, this qualitative case study examined how four students from each of three groups, gifted and talented, advanced academics, and neither, and a representative group of their parents perceived these programs and their children’s involvement in them within the framework provided by a single school district. African American families in this study asked for a partnership to support their children in building resiliency to choose and remain in gifted and advanced academics programs. Students reported that they could access more rigorous coursework if they were supported by mentoring peers, in addition to informed family and educators. The matching intonations and word choices of the children and parents suggested academic success pathways as students carried the voices of their families with them.

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of teenage pregnancy on educators in the rural high schools at Thabo Mofutsanyane district in Eastern Free State. This study aimed to achieve four objectives which were to identify the impact of teenage pregnancy on educators; to identify the challenges that educators face when dealing with pregnant learners; to identify the form of training educators receive in preparing them to deal with teenage pregnancy; and lastly to identify the kind of support educators feel they are being given to help them deal with teenage pregnancy. Participants were eight Life Orientation educators from two high schools and two principals in the respective schools. Participants were identified using a purposive sampling method. Interviews and one focus group were conducted with educators and principals from the two schools. Interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and translated into English where necessary. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis. The results of the study showed, firstly, that educators face a number of challenges including a lack of training and resources, poverty, lack of parental involvement, as well as a lack of policies and clear guidelines to be used when dealing with pregnant learners. Secondly, it showed that teenage pregnancy tends to have a negative impact on educators because they receive little support in dealing with pregnant learners. Thirdly, it showed that teenage pregnancy tends to have negative impact on educational performance because pregnant learners are distracting to the class and they are distracted themselves. This tends to affect the school’s overall performance which reflects negatively on educators. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

This qualitative study was conducted at Minenhle High School (pseudonym) in Mgugu, a deep rural area in Umbumbulu, KwaZulu-Natal. It explored the way in which six pregnant young women between ages of 16 and 17 talked about their pregnancies. All the young women emerged from a working class background. The purpose of this study was to investigate why these young women fell pregnant; and the gendered dimensions of pregnancy. Gender-power theory was used to show how male dominance reproduces female submissiveness and influences sexual negotiations and thus increasing vulnerability to unintended pregnancies among young African women. Focus groups and individual interviews were used to produce relevant data for this study. However, the same study finds that some young women see the need to challenge accepted gender norms which often promote and encourage female submissiveness and oppression. Socio-cultural influence emerges whereby these young women have failed to access and use contraceptives due to socially constructed myths regarding the effects of contraceptives and fear of going to the clinic to access contraceptive services since this will reveal to the parents that they (young women) are sexually active; hence viewing sex as secret and clinic as public. The findings of this study also show intergenerational silence on issues of sexuality between these pregnant young women and their parents or caregivers which encourages them to rely on their peers for support, information and advice. This study also found a decline in the value of ukuhlolwa kwezintombi (virginity testing) as a strategy for preserving young women’s virginity, discouraging unintended pregnancies and reducing the rate of HIV infections; due to socio-economic and religious reasons. Findings of this study were used to develop strategies that challenge cultural, gender power imbalances as well as breaking intergenerational silence thus encouraging a healthier and more positive sexuality among young people in Umbumbulu. / M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the nature of the response of ninth grade English students to a Relationship-driven Teaching Style. Explored was the effect of Relationship-driven Teaching Style on the academic and lived experiences of four ninth grade At-risk English students. Additionally, the study allowed room to study the nature of other areas of perceived growth that resulted from exposure to this affective style. This exploration was conducted in a rural junior/senior high school setting.Data collection employed: 1) Participant-observer field notes (researcher as primary instrument); 2) Reading, Writing, and Non-Verbal Behaviors as recorded on field notes by the participant-observer. (Inquiries were informal in nature, except for simplistic reading questionnaires); and 3) The Corporation made available archival records inclusive of a. NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Test Scores); and b. Corporation Pilot Study data from a reading study conducted the previous year. Students were observed a minimum of two times per week during the time-span allowed for this exploration.Use of the Constant/Comparative Method (Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2002) yielded the following thematic areas: 1) Self- efficacy; 2) Perceptions toward others and self; 3) Internal changes, such as attitudinal metamorphosis toward education; 4) Importance of family approval, 5) Personal responsibility and "trying;" 6) Mutual Respect; 7) Non-verbal and verbal communication; 8) Physical or emotional reactions; 9) Teacher Characteristics; and 10) Academic achievement (as connected to all other categories).Data were interpreted to discover impact of Relationship-driven Teaching on said students and effectiveness in light of instruments as well as lived experience in the home. It was found that three, of four participants, significantly enhanced achievement and personal affective responses to Relationship-driven Teaching Style. Small gains were made by the fourth student, attributed to lived experience. Relationship-driven Teaching Style was thought to be effective. / Department of Elementary Education

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2003. / Title from title page screen, viewed October 19, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Amee Adkins (chair), Albert T. Azinger, W. Paul Vogt, Robert Nielsen, Loyd Edward Wells. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-219) and abstract. Also available in print.

The study aimed to investigate the educationally-related challenges faced by teenage mothers in coming back to school in two senior schools in the Kavango Education Region. This small-scale study focused on the challenges that influence or affect the academic progress and development of these learners. The study looked at how teenage pregnancy is perceived as a social problem in many countries as well as in Namibia and examined its impact on the educational aspirations of the young mothers. Namibia has a policy in place to cater for the continued education of learners returning to school after the birth of their babies. This policy was analysed and its implementation in the selected schools formed part of the study, The findings revealed that the educational challenges faced by these young women range from social exclusion to the need to manage the dual responsibilities of motherhood and study. The way in which the learners who participated in this study are viewed by their peers and their teachers was found to be influenced by the cultural connotations ascribed to women as soon as they become mothers, a factor that adds to the challenges these learners face when returning to schools. Cultural connotations which perceived a mother as an adult in the society was attached to the change of the behaviours and attitudes of school young mothers. The findings also showed that while these learners tended to be withdrawn in class and were generally unable to participate in extra-mural activities, they none the less were able to compete with their peers in terms of their academic performance. The study revealed that there is no shared understanding of the policy among the participants and that it is not effectively implemented in the schools, nor is it uniformly applied.