In "Who are You," I narrate seven vignettes of my lived experiences from childhood through the beginning of my Ph. D. I examine how they directly relate to the relationships I build with my students as a teacher in an urban public high school. I deconstruct how my experiences push me to break standard professional teacher boundaries in order to support and advocate for my students. I discuss the realities of my lived experiences and the impact they have had on me personally, educationally, and professionally. I explain my choice for using narrative vignettes tied to the Lewis Carroll novels Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and their connection with my adolescent and professional experiences. I explain my choice of autoethnography as my method and how I have come to terms with the vulnerability necessary to successfully use this genre of qualitative research while learning about the difficulties and benefits of the method. In "Where Soul Meets Body," I reflect on occurred during those experiences, and how they shaped the person and the teacher I am today. I reflect on the collapse of family, the effects of divorce on my actions, the seeking of solace and emotional repair, the effects of abusive relationships, the changes in my identity, the rebuilding of my identity, and the impact of my lived experiences on my teaching pedagogy. I reflect on the need for transparency and vulnerability in teaching. I explore how the acceptance and realization of my lived experiences has a deep impact on personal pedagogy, practices, and meaningful relationships with students, specifically in an urban school setting. I explore how my personal experiences intertwine with my students' personal experiences and how all teachers need to acknowledge the importance of transparency and vulnerability in their pedagogy. / Doctor of Philosophy / In "Who are You," I narrate seven stories from my life. I begin with my childhood and continue through the beginning of my Ph. D. I look at how they directly relate to the relationships I build with my students as a teacher in a public high school. I take apart how my experiences help me to support and advocate for my students. I discuss how my experiences influenced me personally, educationally, and professionally. I write about why I chose to use stories and why I used the Lewis Carroll novels Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to connect them with my adolescent and professional experiences. I explain why I chose to use a research method that is completely a reflection of myself. I also discuss how I have come to terms with being vulnerable necessary to successfully when writing about oneself. In "Where Soul Meets Body," I look at what ac during those experiences, and how they shaped the person and the teacher I am today. I reflect on how my family changed and how my parent's divorce caused a change in my personality and actions. I also look at how I began to look for relationships I thought I had lost due to my parent's divorce. I explore abusive relationships and how I was able to heal from those relationships. I talk about the need for teachers to be open with who they are as teachers. I write about how my life often is similar to what my students experience and how it is helpful if all teachers include self-reflection as part of their teaching practice. urban school setting.

The challenge of transitioning into high school is associated with social anxiety, decreased grades, increased absences, and overall motivation to learn. Based on anecdotal evidence from 9th grade teachers in the Ohio School District, teachers had poor rapport with some of their students, and 9th graders were being retained more often than were students in any other grade. Grounded in Noddings's care theory, the purpose of this mixed methods sequential case study was to explore perceptions of rapport between 9th graders and their teachers. Guiding research questions were used to discover student and teacher perceptions about their relationship as it relates to care, respect, and communication. Archived data from Gallop Poll surveys given to 9th grade students at 3 schools (n = 163) demonstrated student perceptions of their relationships with teachers. Additionally, 15 teachers were randomly selected for a focus group interview about rapport with students. The interview transcripts were coded for emergent themes related to the guiding questions. The analysis of the Gallup Poll data included calculation of the mean, standard deviation, median, item score range, mode, and raw-data frequencies/percent for responses to answer the respective research questions. Responses on the survey showed that students perceived a moderate level of bonding with teachers, while the interview data showed that there were issues related to communication with students, administrative support of teachers, and sincerity of teacher care for students. The project outcome is a professional development about communication amongst teacher and students, teachers and teachers, and teachers and administration to improve rapport and reduce the prevalence and impact of adverse events such as dropout and other forms of disengagement.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur lärare och elevhälsoteam på grundskolor arbetar med att identifiera barn som är eller har blivit utsatta för fysiskt eller psykiskt våld i hemmet. Studien utgår från två frågeställningar som berör lärare och elevhälsoteamets möjligheter att identifiera våldsutsatta barn, utmaningar i arbetet och strategierna de använder sig av. Studien utgick från en kvalitativ metod i form av tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med en lärare, två elevcoacher, tre skolkuratorer och fyra skolsköterskor på grundskolor i Halland. De teorier som tillämpas för att analysera det empiriska materialet är relationsteorin, rollteorin och begreppet tillit. Resultatet påvisade vikten av att lärare och elevhälsoteamet arbetar med att skapa relationer präglade av stark tillit till eleverna. Dessutom är det av relevans att ha en god samarbetsförmåga mellan de olika professionerna samt att visa engagemang och vara lyhörd gentemot barnen. Intervjupersonerna belyste även de utmaningar som de står inför. Dessa är bland annat kopplade till resurser, socialtjänstens hantering av anmälningarna och barnens lojalitet till föräldrarna. Genom att vara ute hos eleverna och skapa starka relationer med tillit, underlättas arbetet med att uppmärksamma och identifiera våldsutsatta barn. / The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers and student health teams in elementary schools work to identify children who are or have been subjected to physical or psychological violence at home. The study has answered two questions about the ability of teachers and student health teams to identify children exposed to violence at home, the challenges they face, and the strategies they employ. We used a qualitative method based on ten semi-structured interviews with one teacher, two student coaches, three school counselors, and four school nurses at elementary schools in Halland. The theories we applied to analyze the empirical material are relationship theory, role theory, and the concept trust. The results indicated the importance of teachers and student health teams working to build strong, trusting relationships with students. Additionally, it is relevant to have good collaboration between the different professions and to show engagement and be perceptive to the children. The interviews also showed the challenges they face, including resources, the Social Services handling of reports, and the children's loyalty to their parents. By being present among the students and creating strong, trusting relationships, the work of identifying and recognizing children exposed to violence was facilitated.