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Teaching the Discipline of Western Philosophy According to its Own Values and in Reference to Pedagogical Research
Full text linkThis essay begins with two assumptions, and throughout tries to remain honest to them. First, that the Discipline of Western Philosophy, and pedagogy too, have certain intrinsic values. And second, that when a philosophy professor teaches, their teaching should be informed by the values of philosophy and the research that has been done on pedagogy. It would be somewhat strange, after all, if philosophy were taught unphilosophically or unpedagogically. Those are my assumptions. This paper is dedicated toward answering what the values of Western Philosophy are, how current practices break them, and what a philosophy class would look like if it were philosophically and pedagogically inspired. This paper is both critical and constructive: it critiques how philosophy is generally taught, and constructs an alternative. My goal, this essay’s goal, is to convince its reader that the proposed alternative is valuable — an improvement upon how things stand today, both because of its philosophical roots and pedagogical acuity
Said Gonzalez Interview 2022
Full text linkIn a short interview, Said Gonzalez describes his experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. He discusses his experiences at home and work as well as how his life changed during the shutdown period
Working at a Hospice Facility
Full text linkPoem entitled Working at a Hospice Facility
Third Prize winner of the Peter Sears Poetry Award 2022 at Western Oregon Universit
Cultural Familiarity Through Mentorship: A Way to Increase People of Color Retention within Interpreting Education and the Profession
Full text linkThe goal of this study is to explore one way to increase the retention of People of Color (PoC) within the interpreting field in hopes of increasing numbers within Interpreter Training Programs (ITPs). Short term mentoring experiences consisted of four stages with various mentors of different backgrounds. I gathered reflective data via journaling pre- and post-mentorship meetings. This is a personal narrative from a recent ITP graduate entry-level interpreter who is continuing to seek mentorship and growth while starting in the professional field. Interpreter mentoring for this project consists of discussions centered around interpreting skills, decision making, self-care aspects, self-identity, imposter syndrome, and perspectives on how to break through the barriers as a PoC interpreter. The objective is to identify different mentoring experiences with various types of mentors. The desire is to spread knowledge to ITP educators, students, interpreters, and mentors within the field about the benefits of working with a mentor/mentee who has a similar cultural background and lived experience. Lastly, a goal of this project is to increase institutional awareness of the need for more PoC involvement in education, mentorship, and overall interpreting. I aim to demonstrate the importance of how this process is similar to the butterfly effect; the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere and can lead to significant results over time. By providing familiar mentors, retention of PoC interpreting students can increase, therefore, increasing the numbers of PoC graduates within ITPs. More importantly, retention of PoC interpreters provides more options for the PoC Deaf community
Multimodal Literacy in Drama and Language Arts Classrooms
Full text linkThis Action Research project was conducted from October 2021 to May of 2022 during which I spent two terms as a student teacher for an 8th English Language Arts class, a 10th Grade ELA class, and a mixed grade Drama elective. In this project, I primarily explore the meaning of multimodal literacy as it relates to my content areas. I also examine my practice when it comes to culturally responsive pedagogy, and the development of group leadership skills. Through analysis and reflection of pedagogical artifacts, I have acknowledged the strengths and weaknesses in my own planning and performance of my lessons. This process has informed and developed my views on multimodal literacy, culturally responsive pedagogy, and the development of group leadership skills in my content areas. I conclude that I have made my lessons with consideration to the framework of this study for the most part. However, there are several shortcomings and missed opportunities in my lesson planning. I must keep researching these topics to inform my views and develop my practice of literacy instruction to incorporate more modalities. I must also do what I can to maintain positive rapport with my students while I seek to understand them individually and culturally in order to find the best way for them to benefit from my pedagogy. I also conclude that I must continue to develop my understanding of group leadership skills as they relate to literacy to help students become positive participants in society with the tools to educate themselve
Best Practices for Effective Teaching Through Implementing Research Based Methods for Classroom Management, Scaffolding, and Technology Integration
Full text linkBest Practices for Effective Teaching Through Implementing Research Based Methods for Classroom Management, Scaffolding, and Technology Integratio
Art Classroom: Creativity, Motivation, Discovery
Full text linkI have conducted a qualitative action research project focusing on high school students in a ceramics classroom. In exploring my essential question in this study: How can classroom strategies be altered to produce an encouraging influence on student engagement and motivate them to challenge themselves in their creative development and discover further than what has been asked and expected of them? I include the following descriptors to aid in my research and teaching: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Scaffolding, Evidence-Based Practices, and Education Strategies.
I want to encourage to create an art culture in the students in where (a) students can have meaningful peer-to-peer conversations, (b) use skills and knowledge beyond the art classroom, and (c) have student discover their unique artistic voices. For this research, I taught a classroom of 30 students through a ceramics unit where students would use research, practice writing, and create physical works of art. Students choose what they want to create that reflects the theme given in the lesson, and once they finish, they must complete a self-evaluation of their work
Differentiation, Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Second Language Methods in the World Language Classroom
Full text linkThe purpose of this action research was to analyze my own teaching in relation to the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards, with a specific focus on Standard #2 learner differences, Standard #7 planning for instruction and Standard #4, content knowledge. From these standards and my philosophy of education, I identified three research questions regarding my own teaching practice: (1) How do I differentiate in my lesson plans and instructional activities to respond to diverse student needs? (2) How does my teaching reflect a gradual release of responsibility? And (3) what is my preferred language teaching method? I conducted thematic analysis of formal lesson plans, observer feedback and rubrics, a reflective journal, and miscellaneous data that arose during collection, such as student feedback. Results and discussion indicated growth over the course of the year in my ability to differentiate and release responsibility for learning to students while proficiency-oriented instruction that balanced meaning and form emerged as my preferred language method. I also found a general preference for the Natural Approach of the Somos Spanish curriculum compared to the Communicative Approach of the Realidades curriculum. Additional goals that arose for future action research were differentiating up for higher-ability levels, data-guided instruction and diversity of assessments, and professional development on new language methods.
Keywords: action research, differentiation, gradual release of responsibility, proficiency-oriented instruction, Realidades, Somos
Teaching with Differentiation: Students Searching for Joy and Justice
Full text linkThis document is an action research project that studies a teacher’s growth to include two years of classes and student teaching from Western Oregon University Master of Arts in Teaching: Initial Licensure program. As a student teacher for high school social studies classes, environmental science classes, and teacher of record for engineering classes, the primary researcher wanted to ensure that he was continually improving his teaching skills and best practices. His experiences in the classroom led him to the questions listed below in his research to improve his teaching for current and future classes. An expanded version of the primary researcher’s chapters includes philosophy of education, a literature review, research methods, findings, and conclusions.
Three specific research questions that were analyzed through various data sources included: (1) How and why has my incorporation of differentiation strategies changed since I started teaching last school year, (2) how and why has my use of instructional strategies changed since I started teaching last school year, and (3) how and why has my incorporation of technology changed since I started teaching engineering last school year and social studies and science this year