Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-126). Also available via the Internet.

Given the growing racial and ethnic disproportionality amongst young Latinxs and early childhood teachers against the established benefits of racial and ethnic matching between students and teachers, in this study I aimed to gain insight into the often ignored trajectories and experiences of Latinx early childhood educators. In this study, I endeavored to address the need for more Latinx early childhood teachers to teach the growing majority of Latinx young children. I situated my study in Los Angeles, California, given the growing presence of Latinxs in Los Angeles County’s population and in its public-school system. It is in such a context that I sought to document and learn from the counter-stories of five Latinx early childhood teachers teaching Latinx young children.Utilizing Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as a guiding theoretical framework and a project in humanization orientation, I posed the following research questions: 1. How do Latinx early childhood teachers in the County of Los Angeles, California (where Latinxs are the growing demographic majority) verbally portray their stories of becoming early educators? 2. How do Latinx early childhood teachers verbally portray their stories as early childhood educators in a community where Latinxs are the growing demographic majority? 3. As they reflect on becoming and being Latinx early childhood teachers, what consejos do they have for the field of early childhood education if it is serious about supporting the growth of Latinx early childhood teachers? This study involved a FotoHistorias methodology, which entailed utilizing participatory photography and pláticas (conversational interviews) to elicit lived experiences to “counter” deficit-oriented majoritarian stories of Latinx teachers, families, communities, and young children. Data were comprised of participatory photography, pláticas, and researcher memos. Findings, presented as counter-stories, shed light on necessary transformations in the field of early childhood teaching and teacher education. Implications point toward the importance of listening to and learning from Latinx early childhood teachers’ memoried experiences and stories, as they stand to inform the recruitment and retention of Latinx teachers within the field of early childhood education.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to explore possible relationships between the acculturation level and culturally responsive teaching practices among Korean American mathematics teachers in K-12 schools. In addition, this study aimed to see how Korean American mathematics teachers applied culturally responsive teaching in their culturally diverse classrooms. This research further examined a possible difference in applying culturally responsive teaching among Korean American mathematics teachers from urban schools and from suburban schools. A total of 30 Korean American mathematics teachers with more than 3 years of experience in teaching mathematics in K-12 schools participated in the study. This study used mixed methods: quantitative research methods were used to explore participants’ responses on three surveys, focused on their cultural experiences, teaching expertise, and culturally relevant pedagogy, and a subset of 10 participants participated in in-depth interviews for the qualitative research component. For quantitative research, the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (Suinn et al., 1992) was used for the acculturation level of participants, the Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (Tapia, 1996) was used for general attitudes towards mathematics among participants. In addition, the Culturally Responsive Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (Siwatuet et al., 2015) was used to evaluate how familiar participants were with culturally responsive teaching. Interviews were designed based on four elements suggested by Ellis (2019): supporting deep learning, valuing and engaging identity, sharing authority, and applying mathematics. Results in this study indicated that school environment was a more important factor than acculturation level when it came to culturally responsive teaching. Furthermore, all the participants still held beliefs in Korean subculture (known as “education fever”) prioritizing test-driven performance among students as an important factor in their teaching strategies regardless of acculturation level. Perceptions of most appropriate mathematical support for students’ learning varied; more acculturated participants expressed that family support for mathematics was most important for students, while less acculturated participants shared that outside classroom support including private academies was best. Participants from urban schools felt more pressure from school administration about test-driven performance of students, while those from suburban schools expressed that the major issue for teaching and learning was the language barrier between teachers and students. After moving to the United States, participants realized how they went through the acculturation process in their lives, but did not believe that it affected many of their teaching strategies. Most immigrant participants still held strong beliefs in Korean subculture in education, and even those who were born and raised in the United States knew what Korean subculture in education was, and how it affected their teaching strategies in one way or another. However, the acculturation process was believed to be contextual and differed depending on who participants frequently interacted with, and the school environment where they taught students largely determined their teaching strategies.

The problem of not enough African American males enrolling in masters level teaching programs was addressed in this study. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of African American males in master of arts teaching (MAT) programs to understand why they enrolled and what factors led to persistence throughout their program enrollment. Six African American males currently enrolled in MAT programs in the southern, southwestern, and western regions of the United States participated. Data gathered for each participant included an individual, semi-structured interview and a demographic survey. Audio-recordings were used to capture the fullness of the interviews, and transcription software was used to code, analyze, and sort the data to help identify themes. This study looked through the lens of Strayhorn’s graduate student persistence and Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theories. Factors that influenced African American males to enroll into a program were (a) education as a necessary credential, (b) desire to give back to society, (c) minority scholarship support, (d) making a connection to passion, and (e) desire to enhance teaching skills. External and internal factors were identified as assisting the males to persist within their programs. Academic institutions and policy makers may find the results useful for understanding the unseen educational barriers likely to limit African American males from enrolling in MAT programs, the issues likely to occur during the process of obtaining the degree, and the factors likely to be assistive to them for achieving program completion.

Black men make up roughly 2% of the national teaching corps, and as Brockenbrough (2012) reminds us, there are recurring themes within Black Masculinity Studies that are central to bear in mind when looking at the lived and teaching experiences of these Black male teachers. The major one is to recognize and acknowledge the unique psychological, emotional, and spiritual toll of Black male marginality on Black men. “Oft-cited statistics on incarceration, homicide, unemployment, high school dropout, and HIV infection rates, among other chronic blights (Dyson, 1993; Noguera, 2003), illustrate not only the systemic marginality of Black men in American society, but also their distance from patriarchal definitions of manhood that rely on White supremacist and capitalist power to reinforce male domination” (p.5). The intention of this study was to engage with these Black male teachers’ narratives, stories, and commentaries and learn from their life and teaching experiences as Black men. The aim was to gain insight into how they were recruited, how they were supported, and also what their understandings and thoughts are around retaining Black male teachers in the classrooms. This is a small qualitative study is a sample of four Black Male teachers within the 2013 Teach for America Corps in NYC. As Lewis (2006) suggests, many of these Black male teachers consider their role bound to some form of social justice. This inquiry aimed to talk across the struggles and challenges of Black men in the NYC corps of the TFA program and to reach an understanding of their lived and teaching experience, and of the ways ideologies and narratives are negotiated and navigated in schools and classrooms. The questions of inquiry were aimed to provide insight into the recruitment, retention, and professional support of the Black male teacher, both in TFA and outside this program. Participation in this study was limited to Black male educators with one year of elementary or middle school teaching experience, in order to draw on and speak to the greater presence of male teachers at those levels to help teacher preparation programs navigate toward better recruitment processes, and supporting and sustaining more Black males in the classroom.

Not available / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Embodied pedagogy is a way of facilitating lessons which use the body as a locos of learning. Through a practice of storytelling, reflection, and imagination, embodied pedagogy evokes enactment and a release of emotions. This qualitative narrative study created multimodal portraits of embodied educators in the Newark Board of Education using the lens of Native Science and Ubuntu as epistemological frameworks. Using portraiture methodology, the lives of embodied educators were documented and reported in multimodal ways. The study is divided into three phases representing Ubuntu’s ontotriadic structure. The African philosophy of Ubuntu (“I am because you are”) centers community and recognizes the harmonious flow of life through three stages of existence (living dead—ancestors, living, yet to be born) and sees life as continuous motion. The three primary participants mirrored these three phases. The living dead was an ancestor, a deceased educator, and a dancer. The living is a current Newark teacher, and the yet-to-be-born is a preservice teacher (to be licensed). Their portraits were supported by interviews with secondary participants (colleagues, administrators, former students, cooperating teachers, family, and friends). Data were collected through interviews and observations. Portraiture methodology combines art and science to blend empiricism and aestheticism; the audience responds by being pulled into the narrative to experience the story as it unfolds. The portraits in this study function as art by exploring the physical context of the setting and illuminating the relationship between the researcher and participants. Each portrait is a beautiful, evocative, deep, compelling story of what is good and shines light on those aspects rather than on what is wrong and trying to right those wrongs. To actualize a full embodied experience, data analysis, and reporting included letter writing, poetry, visual art, movement phrases, song composition, and spoken word. The findings revealed the power of these collective stories, revealed through six themes and lessons learned that inform urban teacher preparation programs. The narratives demonstrate the importance of supporting students in their journey of becoming and recognizing the humanity in teachers and students.