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The Perceptions of Elementary Principals Regarding Their Role in Increasing Teacher Capacity
Get PDFThe Perceptions of Elementary Principals Regarding Their Role in Building Teacher Capacity is a sequential explanatory mixed methods study and includes quantitative and qualitative elements. In public schools throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the responsibility for building increased teacher capacity falls primarily on elementary school principals. This study collected the experiences and behaviors of elementary principals in Massachusetts to gain insight into their understanding of their role in building teacher capacity. This study was guided by three research questions: 1. To what extent do elementary principals consider the capacity of teachers to be a principal leadership priority? 2. In what ways do elementary principals report they build teacher capacity? 3. What are the factors and conditions that occur within the school day that elementary principals identify as supporting or inhibiting their efforts to increase teacher capacity? This study collected data from 79 elementary principals through a questionnaire, with nine of those school principals providing qualitative data in the form of follow-up interviews. The study’s seven findings identified the elementary principal’s primary role in building teacher capacity; and the strategies and practices that are effective in supporting this. Recommendations offer effective strategies and approaches principals can use to increase teacher capacity taking cognizance of the importance of culture and climate as an influencing factor
Exploring the Influence of Psychiatric Discourse on Belongingness: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Get PDFThis dissertation critically examines the role of psychiatric discourse in shaping the sense of belonging among individuals labeled as mentally ill. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and drawing on Foucault’s theories of power and knowledge alongside Patricia Hill Collins\u27 matrix of domination, this study explores how psychiatric discourse—rooted in supremacy ideologies—perpetuates social exclusion and internalized oppression. Through qualitative interviews, the research highlights how fear, judgment, and narratives of individual responsibility embedded in psychiatric frameworks erode self-worth and agency, fostering internalized blame and social disconnection. Participants described feeling viewed as burdens and powerless, with these dynamics reinforcing exclusionary identities. The findings advocate for moving beyond a biomedical framework toward holistic, community-based approaches that honor dignity and humanity. By promoting solidarity, inclusivity, and collective responsibility, this work challenges traditional psychiatric practices and calls for creating supportive spaces that embrace diverse emotional experiences. This study contributes to critical scholarship regarding conventional psychiatric practices, emphasizing the need to dismantle oppressive systems and establish equitable frameworks that empower individuals and foster belonging
Commonthought (2024)
Get PDFThis issue features works created by Lesley University students and covers a broad range of topics. The work itself crosses many disciplines from creative writing to visual arts.https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/commonthought/1037/thumbnail.jp
Reimagining Disability: Expressive Arts Therapy as an Empowerment Tool
Get PDFA quarter of the U.S. adult population is disabled. Current expressive therapies’ approaches are rooted in a medical-interventionist model of disability over a social model of disability. In utilizing the connection between disability arts and creative arts therapies, this capstone thesis explores the tools found within the field – such as photovoice – to examine the impact of hierarchy in therapeutic spaces. Mental health practices are also often rooted in individualistic models of self-care, over community care. Through examining the practices of disabled art, music, and drama therapists, this literature review seeks to imagine new therapeutic spaces and realities for disabled clients. By utilizing liberation psychology and crip theory, disabled clinicians and clients alike, might rebuild expressive arts’ therapeutic practice to adapt to the imminent needs of multiple marginalized populations. Creative arts therapists must realign themselves as professionals allied to community over professionals allied to medicine. Without attending to these needs, creative arts therapists may continue to unintentionally perpetuate harm against clients as disabled clients are required to adjust to an ableist world. The Expressive Therapies can be re-shaped as a tool for empowerment
Unlocking Creativity in the Visual Arts: Using Mindfulness and Open Awareness Meditation to Access Creative Insight
Get PDFAn artist\u27s creativity is a vital resource, so it is important to nourish this internal phenomenon and develop helpful techniques when they experience a creative block. Researchers have discovered that mindfulness and meditation positively affect artists\u27 ability to access creative insight. The research reviewed in this rationale paper demonstrates beneficial experiences for artists who are trying to foster creativity or move beyond a creative block. After reviewing research, there were common threads linking the reasons for artists’ creative blocks and the positive impacts of mindfulness and meditation. The creative project is a handbook designed for artists and provides information, meditative practices, creative exercises, and reflection questions developed to support visual artists on their creative journeys. While the discussion around mindfulness and meditation\u27s impact on creativity for a visual artist is a niche topic, there is still room for continuing research in this field. Current research supports that offerings such as a handbook that provides mindfulness and meditation exercises can positively contribute to visual artists who wish to foster their creative exploration
Assessing the Role of the Northern Education Initiative (NEI) Plus Teacher Training Program in Enhancing Teachers’ Professional Development in Gamawa, Bauchi State, Nigeria.
Get PDFThe lack of access to quality education in northern Nigeria has proven endemic due to the incessant marginalization of the area by various governments since independence to date. The marginalization and lack of investment in teacher training institutions to bridge the manpower gap has created a vicious cycle of poverty, high illiteracy rates, and banditry in most of the northern states in Nigeria. Apart from the historical marginalization of these states, another critical factor that has been identified as contributing to this problem is the lack of professional development opportunities for teachers. The NEI Plus teacher training program is a recent initiative that aims to address this issue by providing teachers with the skills and knowledge they need to improve their teaching practice. This study used a phenomenological approach to investigate the impact of NEI Plus teacher training on professional development. A total of 22 teachers, two from the eleven wards in Bauchi, who had participated in the training program were interviewed. The interview questions were 18 and sought to investigate the experiences and perceptions of the study participants within the six tenets of NEI Plus teacher training program. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the data was analyzed using NVivo software. The findings of the study showed that the NEI Plus teacher training program had a positive impact on the professional development of the participants. The participants reported that they had gained new knowledge and skills, and that they were more confident in their ability to teach effectively. They also reported that the training program had helped them to develop a more reflective approach to their teaching practice. The findings of this study suggest that the NEI Plus teacher training program is an effective way to improve the professional development of teachers in Nigeria. The program provides teachers with the skills and knowledge they need to improve their teaching practice, it helps them to develop a more reflective approach to their work, effectively manage the school resources, and generally use the skills learnt to reflect address the contemporary needs and demands of education
Examining Motivational Trajectories and Need-Fulfillment Dynamics of Students on Academic Probation
Get PDFThe purpose of this mixed methods phenomenological study was to explore undergraduate students’ experiences of academic probation by examining changes or stabilities in the quality of their motivation and students’ basic psychological needs, i.e., autonomy, competency, and relatedness, using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as the theoretical framework. The study was conducted during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. Students were recruited from three 4-year private and public research universities located in the Southern and Northeastern parts of the United States. Fifty-nine undergraduate students completed the survey, and five participated in semi-structured interviews. The key findings of this study identified three types of motivational trajectories: High-Motivation-High Rebound, Medium-Motivation-Slight Rebound, and Low-Motivation-High Growth trajectory. The trajectories helped to identify moments and provide context for when students’ motivations and need-fulfillment declined. Trajectories also showed the possibility of a rebound in students’ motivation during academic probation placement. However, rebounds depended on students’ circumstances and the severity of decline before academic probation. These findings suggest that the before periods of academic probation may be more important for understanding the motivational impact of academic probation. Moreover, these findings present new perspectives on students’ motivation for academic probation research that benefits academic advisors and support staff working with this student population
Text-based drama therapy and role: Development of a method for identity integration of adolescents exposed to trauma at a partial hospitalization program
Get PDFTrauma interacts with adolescent’s growing understanding of their identity, yet their formative intra- and interpersonal skills may need extra guidance while enrolled in partial hospitalization programs (PHPs). This capstone thesis utilized role method and a selected scene to help adolescents exposed to trauma with identity integration while at a PHP. Through researching adolescent development, trauma, identity, and interactions between those three factors, an intervention was devised to facilitate identity integration using a selected scene from a play independently created of the therapeutic group. The results indicated that there was reflection and perspective growth after the intervention was utilized. The scene might have become a container for experiences that could not be expressed fully, supportive of traumatic response, and allowed for identity understanding and integration
THERAPEUTIC PRESENCE IN MUSIC THERAPY EDUCATION: AN ARTS-BASED PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY
Get PDFLittle music therapy research has been published on therapeutic presence (TP). This study explored the inclusion of TP in music therapy education. Participants were eight credentialed music therapists who identified as music therapy educators and/or clinical supervisors. They attended one of two focus groups and were asked to submit a 1-minute excerpt of themselves improvising a reflection of their focus group’s discussion. Focus group data revealed four themes: (1) Defining TP; (2) Education and Supervision Responsibilities; (3) TP is Taught Through Experiential Learning; and (4) Learning TP is a Developmental Process. Participants defined TP as simultaneously incorporating both states of being and action. For them, TP was primarily taught in clinical training, including supervision, though is also taught in academic courses through experiential teaching methods. Improvisation data resulted in an original composition, “Therapeutic Presence: Improvisation Collage,” which includes excerpts from all six improvisation recordings. Its elements of tempo, key, dynamics, and instrumentation also reflect the commonalities in the elements among the six improvisations
Using Bibliodrama in Hong Kong to Address Mental Illness
Get PDFDuring the pandemic in recent years, utilising expressive arts as psychological intervention has been discussed in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, introducing expressive arts in local social work and medical settings is challenging due to the human service professionals lacking the understanding of this new method. In religious organizations, which are common in the Hong Kong social welfare system, there may be more obstacles. The literature review firstly defines religion and spirituality, and their importance for people with serious mental illness then discusses the effectiveness of psychodrama and Bibliodrama for the targeted population. A six-session workshop was delivered, containing three-sessions of expressive arts training, two-sessions of Bibliodrama, and one session of sharing. The results showed a group of people with diverse cognitive abilities understood the text of the Bible, through action based drama activities. Role-empathizing, processing of text interpretations, and engaging with group conflicts were experienced. The core features of Bibliodrama, modifications made for the group with serious mental illness, and observed cultural concerns are highlighted and discussed. Lastly, limitations are stated with the researcher’s personal reflection