Disquietude: A Sonata-Form Inquiry Into Multiliteracies Practices in an EAL Classroom

This narrative case study describes an English as an Additional Language teacher’s struggle to understand her young adult learners’ apparent resistance toward multiliteracies pedagogical practices in a college setting. Multiliteracies Pedagogy (New London Group, 1996) advocates the use of digital media, and home languages and culture, to engage diverse youth in designing personally meaningful multimodal texts that can significantly impact learner identity, voice, and agency. This arts-based study uses an innovative sonata-style format to document the making of a class documentary, accompanied by teacher reflections on the video project in the form of poetry, journal excerpts, and classroom dialogue. The sonata form provides a unique methodology for teacher inquiry, allowing the teacher-researcher to explore the ways in which curriculum, pedagogy, and sociocultural influences intersect in the classroom. The study does not end with a clear resolution of the problem; instead, the process of inquiry leads to deeper understandings of what it means to teach in the complex worlds of diverse learners.

Preparing to teach : learning from an exploration of teachers' experiences of teaching in classrooms of difference

This qualitative study explores practicing teachers' experiences of teaching in classrooms of diversity, that is, classrooms where students represent a variety of differences including race, culture, ethnicity, and class. More specifically, this study investigates the types of curricular and pedagogical practices teachers employ in their classrooms. This study attempts to make a contribution to the scholarship of critical pedagogy by drawing upon the works of critical pedagogues to make sense of participants' descriptions oftheir curricular and pedagogical practices. Four participants were involved in this study. Participants were elementary teachers in classrooms of difference in Ontario who contributed the primary sources of data by engaging in 2 individual interviews. Additional sources of data included a focus group meeting that 2 ofthe participants were able to attend, school board curriculum resource documents assisting teachers in teaching critically, as well as a research journal which the researcher kept throughout the study. The scholarship of critical pedagogy (Ellsworth, 1992; Giroux, 1993; McLaren, 1989) informs the analysis of participants' descriptions of their teaching experiences. Many of the participants did not engage in a practice of critical pedagogy. This study explores some of the challenges and possibilities of using critical pedagogy to create spaces in classrooms where teachers can build connections between the curriculum mandated by the government and the multiple identities and experiences that students bring into the classroom. This study concludes with a discussion on what teachers need to know to be able to begin creating equitable and educational experiences in classrooms of difference.

Part Time University Teaching in Ontario: A Self-Study

This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate Ontario university, where I experienced difficulty integrating my beliefs about teaching into my practice of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to inquire into why it was difficult for me, representative of a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate university, to enact the critical pedagogical practices I espoused in my teaching philosophy. The secondary purpose was to apply the findings of the study to reframe my university teaching practice in a way that met my need to enact my beliefs about university teaching while complying with the broader geo-political conditions of part-time university teaching in Ontario (Loughran, 2006; Russell & Loughran, 2007). This study is grounded in the sociological theoretical framework of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1988, 2010; McLaren, 2003) and the methodological framework of The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP). This study combined the methods of Brookfield’s (1995; 2002) critically reflective practice and Cole and Knowles (2000) practice of reflexive inquiry with Creswell’s (2005) methods of thematic analysis to answer the research question: Why is it difficult for me to enact my beliefs about university teaching as a part-time teacher in an Ontario university? Findings suggest the geo-political contexts of part-time university teaching work can impact a teacher’s ability to enact his/her beliefs about teaching within his/her practice of teaching.

Understanding the Integration of Living Skills Through the Context of Health and Physical Education: A Case Study of Educators’ Experiences

The research presented is a qualitative case study of educators’ experiences in integrating living skills in the context of health and physical education (HPE). In using semi-structured interviews the study investigated HPE educators’ experiences and revealed their insights relative to three major themes; professional practice, challenges and support systems. Professional practice experiences detailed the use of progressive lesson planning, reflective and engaging activities, explicit student centered pedagogy as well as holistic teaching philosophies. Even further, the limited knowledge and awareness of living skills, conflicting teaching philosophies, competitive environments between subject areas and lack of time and accessibility were four major challenges that emerged throughout the data. Major supportive roles for HPE educators in the integration process included other educators, consultants, school administration, public health, parents, community programs and professional organizations. The study provides valuable discussion and suggestions for improvement of pedagogical practices in teaching living skills in the HPE setting.

The Kids Need Hip-Hop: Reengaging Students through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

My thesis advocates for critically-conscious hip-hop in classrooms to promote student engagement and culturally relevant pedagogical practices. This proposed approach to educating youth offsets the harmful effects of a normalized curriculum that limits students’ creativity and discounts their experiences as lifelong learners. My thesis gathers data from research literature on hip-hop and education, critically-conscious hip-hop lyrics, and also includes my own hip-hop muse to illustrate the positive tenets of critically-conscious hip-hop. The research literature in my thesis is gathered from multiple studies within North American high schools. My hip-hop muse interrelates with critically-conscious hip-hop lyrics because they both address contemporary issues through social commentary and critical awareness. The element of social commentary in my hip-hop muse is displayed through short poems and verses that outline my experiences in a normalized schooling environment. Throughout my thesis, I uncover the causes of student disengagement in classrooms, the ways in which critically-conscious hip-hop music serves as a tool for reengaging youth, and the approaches that must be taken in order to adequately integrate hip-hop into today’s classrooms. My thesis is important within the context of Canadian classrooms because it acts as an agent for social change and cultural relevance through a critical lens. The purpose of this approach, then, is to demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of our society and schooling system through social critique and proposals for change. More importantly, my thesis is grounded in equity; in which critically-conscious hip-hop serves as a bridge for students’ experiences, interests, and independent identities.

The Search for Scholarly Teaching in Elementary Education

Elementary teachers are expected to prepare students to work efficiently with others, solve complex problems and self-regulate their own learning. Considering the importance of a solid educational foundation in the early years, students would benefit if elementary teachers engaged in scholarly teaching. The purpose of this study was to investigate Boyer’s (1990) four dimensions of scholarship, application, integration, teaching and discovery, to better understand if there is scholarly teaching in elementary education. Four professional teaching documents were analyzed using a hermeneutic orientation. A deductive analysis suggests that we do have scholarly teaching in elementary education, with strong evidence that elementary teachers are scholars of application and integration. An inductive analysis of latent and manifest content suggests that underlying humanistic values run deeply through elementary education driving current curricular, instructional and pedagogical practices.

Using Effective Teaching Strategies and Personality Type to Enhance the Mathematics Classroom: A Handbook for Intermediate Math Teachers

This project addressed the need for more insightful, current, and applicable resources for intermediate math teachers in Canadian classrooms. A need for a handbook in this division seemed warranted by a lack of government resource support. Throughout an extensive review of the literature, themes and topics for the handbook emerged. The handbook was designed to not only provide educators with examples of effective teaching strategies within the mathematics classroom but to also inform them about the ways in which their personal characteristics and personality type could affect their students and their own pedagogical practices. Three teaching professionals who had each taught in an intermediate math class within the past year evaluated the handbook. The feedback received from these educators was directly applied to the first draft of the handbook in order to make it more accessible and applicable to other math teachers. Although the handbook was written with teachers in mind, the language and format used throughout the manual also make it accessible to parents, tutors, preservice education students, and educational administrators. Essentially, any individual who is hoping to inspire and educate intermediate math students could make use of the content within the handbook.

Examining current facilitative practices and projections of activity-based physical education degree programs regarding the participation of individuals with disabilties /

Individuals with disabiliiies are increasingly accessing post secondary education opportunities to further develop their educational and career goals. This study examines the current facilitative practices of Canadian university activity-based physical education degree programs on the participation of individuals with disabilities. A critical orientation and descriptive/interpretative approach allows insight into unique stories and experiences of physical education practitioners and special needs professionals as they attempt to provide equitable educational experiences within a least restrictive environment. Leading practitioners are used to triangulate and strengthen the validity of the data while providing direction and advocacy for future development and inclusion of individuals with disabilities. The study concludes with seven recommendations, each providing university activity-based physical education degree programs with viable opportunities for helping create equitable opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Parental goals among Italian-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian families : their connection to socialization practices and the quality of parent-young adult relationship /

Parenting goals are the behavioral, cognitive, and affective outcomes that parents implicitly or explicitly strive to achieve during specific interactions with their children. In the present study, intergenerational parenting practices and goals in Italian-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian families were examined. The association between parenting goals, parents' socialization practices, and the quality of relationship between parent and child were investigated. Participants included individuals ranging in age from 1 8-26 years and their mothers from Anglo-Canadian (n= 31) and Italian-Canadian families (n= 50). The young adults and their mothers were asked to imagine how their respective parents would have reacted to five hypothetical vignettes depicting difficult parent-child interactions. Young adults and their mothers were also asked to rate the importance of parenting goals within these parent-child situations. In addition, young adults assessed the perceived quality of their present relationships with each parent. Cultural differences were revealed such that Italian-Canadian parents endorsed more authoritarian parenting strategies and relationship-centered goals than Anglo-Canadian parents. However, Italian-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian parents were not found to differ on their endorsement of parent-centered goals. Italian-Canadian parents' who did use authoritarian strategies were found to have young-adult children who perceived their relationship with their parents as less satisfying, intimate, affectionate and having relatively high levels of conflict than parents who did not use authoritarian strategies. Anglo-Canadian parents' authoritative strategies were correlated with a better perceived relationship quality by young-adult children.

Teacher professional growth in an authentic learning environment

The last several decades have been marked by tremendous changes in education - technological, pedagogical, administrative, and social. These changes have led to considerable increments in the budgets devoted to professional development for teachers ~ with the express purpose of helping them accommodate their practices to the new realities oftheir classrooms. However, research has suggested that, in spite of the emphasis placed on encouraging sustained change in teaching practices, little has been accomplished. This begs the question of what ought to be done to not only reverse this outcome, but contribute to transformational change. The literature suggests some possibilities including: a) considering teachers as learners and applying what, is known about cognition and learning; b) modifying the location and nature ofprofessional development so that it is authentic, based in the classroom and focusing on tasks meaningful to the teacher; c) attending to the infrastructure underlying professional development; and d) ensuring opportunities for reflective practice. This dissertation looks at the impact of each ofthese variables through an analysis ofthe learning journeys of a group ofteachers engaged in a program called GrassRoots in one midsized school board in Ontario. Action research was conducted by the researcher in his role as consultant facilitating teacher professional growth around the use of Web sites as culminating performance tasks by students. Research focused on the pedagogical approach to the learning of the teachers involved and the infrastructure underlying their learning. Using grounded theory, a model for professional development was developed that can be used in the future to inform practices and, hopefully, lead to sustained transformational school change.

Opening a can of worms : perceptions and practices of teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador incorporating the role of a therapist

Educational trends of inclusion and collaboration have led to changing roles of teachers, including an emphasis on personal support. To provide for social, emotional, and behavioural needs, teachers may adopt a therapeutic role. Many models for such support are proposed, with most models including the importance of student-teacher relationships, a focus on social, emotional, and behavioural development, and direct instruction of related skills. This study includes 20 interview participants. In addition, 4 of the 20 interview participants also took part in a case study. It examines whether participants adopt a therapeutic role, their beliefs about student-teacher relationships, whether they provide interventions in personal issues, and instructed social, emotional, and behaviour skills. Findings show that teachers adopt an academic role as well as a therapeutic role, believe student-teacher relationships are important, are approached about personal issues, and instruct social, emotional, and behavioural skills. Talking and listening are commonly used to provide support, typically exclusive of formal curricular goals. The challenges in providing front-line support issues that may be shared within an established student-teacher relationship are considered. Support in turn for teachers who choose to provide support for personal issues in the classroom within a therapeutic role are suggested, including recommendations for support and referral related to specific social, emotional, or behavioural scenarios that may arise in the school community.

Emptying the bell jar: an exploration of adolescent responses to a women's literature unit /

This study examines adolescent student responses to a women's literature unit taught within a grade 12 Writer's Craft course. Current research (Gilligan, 1989, Pipher, 1994 & Slack, 1999) suggests that there is a great under-representation of female authors in the high school literature curriculum. The use of women's literature may draw attention to important literary figures who are historically overlooked within the curriculum. It gives voice to a marginalized group and presents students with alternative subjects and heroes. It encourages students to develop a critical perspective and reevaluate assumptions about institutions, ideologies, language and culture. It also allows me, as a teacher, to reflect on my own teaching practices and explore alternate feminist pedagogical principles and teaching styles encouraging multiplicity of voices, deconstruction of power relations, and alternative assessment tools within the classroom. As an educator, it is important for me to teach curriculum that is relevant and meaningful to students and help them become critical, self-reflective thinkers. It is also important for me to assist students in their exploration of self and encourage them to expand their awareness of historical, social and global issues. Sylvia Plath's (1963) The belljar is used as the primary text taught within this unit. In this novel, the bell jar is a central image that signifies entrapment and isolation. "To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead body, the world itself is the bad dream"(p.l 54). As a metaphor, the bell jar resonates with young readers in a variety of ways.

Ethical space in a secondary school: a case study /

Discourse in the provincial education system that includes Aboriginal peoples is a convoluted one-sided affair. This has contributed to the limited academic success for Aboriginal secondary students in the provincial school system. The Office of the Auditor General (2004) announced a 27-28 year gap in Academic success compared to non- Aboriginal students (p. I). Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal stakeholders are fiiistrated and confused with the lack of support for long-term solutions to address academic success for Aboriginal students. The boundaries in education that exist between the dominant society of Canada and Aboriginal peoples in education are hindering the development of ethical space in which to negotiate and apply "concrete arguments and concepts" (Ermine, 2000, p. 140) for 'best' solutions across the cultural divide. Recent literature suggests a gap in knowledge to address this cultural divide. This study reveals racism is still prevalent and the problem lies in the fallacy of Euro-Western pedagogical beliefs. There is a need to design ethical space that will assist transformation of cross-relations in education for inclusion of Aboriginal voices and content. I submit that ethical space involves physical and abstract space. This report is a qualitative, exploratory, and single case study of one northern Ontario secondary school attended by First Nations and Metis peoples who comprise 35% of the school population. Twenty-six stakeholders volunteered to participate in six interviews. The volunteers in this study are Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. Aboriginal peoples are firom two First Nations, and Metis peoples. It is an Aboriginal designed and delivered study that a) describes an Aboriginally-designed research method to gather data across cultural divides in a secondary school, b) reviews Tri-Council Policy Section 6 (TCPS) regarding 'good practices' in ethical research involving Aboriginal peoples, and c) summarizes stakeholder perspectives of the 'best educational environment' for one secondary school.

Legal education in crisis: healing and humanizing Canadian law schools /

Western law schools are suffering from an identity and moral crisis. Many of the legal profession's problems can be traced to the law school environment, where students are taught to reason and practice in ways that are often at odds with their own personalities and values and even with generally accepted psychologically healthy practices. The idealism, ethic of care, and personal moral compasses of many students become eroded and even lost in the present legal education system. Formalism, rationalism, elitism, and big business values have become paramount. In such a moment of historical crisis, there exists the opportunity to create a new legal education story. This paper is a conceptual study of both my own Canadian legal education and the general legal education experience. It examines core problems and critiques of the existing Western legal education organizational and pedagogical paradigm to which Canadian law schools adhere. New approaches with the potential to enrich, humanize, and heal the Canadian law school experience are explored. Ultimately, the paper proposes a legal education system that is more interdisciplinary, theoretically and practically integrated, emotionally intelligent, technologically connected, morally accountable, spiritual, and humane. Specific pedagogical and curricular strategies are suggested, and recommendations for the future are offered. The dehumanizing aspects of the law school experience in Canada have rarely been studied. It is hoped that this thesis will fill a gap in the research and provide some insight into an issue that is of both academic and public importance, since the well-being of law students and lawyers affects the interests of their clients, the general public, and the integrity and future of the entire legal system.

A conceptual analysis of research literature on teachers' ideology and literacy practices: extending the dialogue through a secondary analysis of high school English as an additional language contexts /

This thesis provides a conceptual analysis of research literature on teachers' ideology and literacy practices as well as a secondary analysis of three empirical studies and the ways in which the ideologies of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Street, 2005) teachers in these contexts impact the teaching of literacy in empowering/disabling ways. Several major theoretical components of Cummins (1996, 2000), Gee (1996, 2004) and Street (1995, 2001) are examined and integrated into a conceptual triad consisting of three main areas: power and ideology, validation of students ' cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and teaching that empowers. This triad provides the framework for the secondary analysis of three empirical studies on the ideologies of secondary EAL teachers. Implications of the findings from the conceptual and secondary analyses are examined in light of the research community and secondary school teachers of EAL.