249 research outputs found
Learning in Place: Teachers' Experiences with a Place-based Language Arts Curriculum in Rural Appalachia
No full textResearch in rural gifted education is garnering increased national attention (Plucker and Callahan, 2014; Lewis and Boswell, 2020), yet inequities in rural gifted services continue to challenge educators in their efforts to meet the needs of a unique population (Azano et al., 2014, 2017). Understandings about existing systemic structural challenges in rural gifted services highlight a need to mitigate opportunity gaps for rural gifted students (Azano et al., 2017). Using Greenwood's (2003, 2008) critical pedagogy of place as the theoretical framework, this qualitative case study examined how 16 teachers in a high-poverty rural district consisting of eight schools experienced the Promoting PLACE in Rural Schools curriculum, a place-based language arts curriculum designed for gifted third- and fourth-grade students. Analytic induction and thematic coding of four distinct sources of evidence (fidelity logs, observation documents, questionnaires, and an interview) were used to make sense of teachers' experiences in implementing of the curriculum. With "an emphasis on experience, understanding, and meaning-making" (Merriam, 2009, p. 19), the researcher explored what teachers' experiences and perceptions could teach us about instruction in high-poverty rural communities and opportunities for gifted learners. Findings illuminated influences on teachers' ability to implement the curriculum such as the under-prioritization of gifted education by the larger school community and teachers' own ingenuity in ameliorating challenges to implementation. The study offers insights about students' access to gifted instruction in one school district in Appalachia. Findings from this qualitative case study may shape gifted instruction in rural places and inform stakeholders of ways in which opportunity gaps for rural gifted populations may be addressed. Insights offer implications for practitioners, administrators, policymakers, community members, and researchers to mitigate instructional challenges and increase students' access to place-based gifted curriculum.Doctor of PhilosophyThis qualitative case study examined teachers experiences with a language arts curriculum for high-poverty rural gifted students. The study focused on one rural Appalachian school district where 16 elementary teachers working in eight schools implemented the Promoting PLACE in Rural Schools curriculum with third- and fourth-grade students. Methods included analytic induction and thematic coding of four distinct sources of evidence: fidelity logs, observation documents, questionnaires, and an interview. These sources were used to generate understandings about how teachers perceived their experiences with a rural specific curriculum designed for gifted students. These understandings suggested existing barriers influence implementation and impede students from access to the curriculum in its entirety. Insights from this case study offer implications for practitioners, administrators, policymakers, community members, and researchers to mitigate instructional challenges and increase students' access to place-based gifted curriculum
Fourth-Grade Narrative Fiction Writing: Using Content Analysis to Examine the Intersection of Place, High Ability, and Creativity
No full textWriting gives children a chance to practice self-expression and creativity (Dobson, 2015b; Millard, 2005) as they learn needed literacy skills (Calkins, 2003). When children write, they appropriate semiotic materials from popular culture, literature, and the world around them (Dyson, 1997, 2003, 2013). Although the National Commission on Writing (2003) recommended that writing instruction be "placed squarely in the center of the elementary curriculum," attention to writing continues to lag behind other subjects (Coker et al., 2016; Cutler and Graham, 2008; Korth et al., 2016; Simmerman et al., 2012). Vygotsky's sociocultural (1978) and creativity (1971) theories, together with Freire's critical pedagogy theory (1970), form the basis of the theoretical framework used for this research. Various literature on the importance of writing (e.g., Dyson, 1993, 2008), creativity (e.g., Csikszsentmihalyi, 1996), and place (e.g., Gruenewald, 2003) were also influential in its framing.
This study sought to illuminate the possibilities that emerge when rural students in the intermediate elementary grades engage in narrative fiction writing. Qualitative content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005) was used to analyze 237 stories written as the culminating project of the semester-length Fiction unit of Promoting PLACE (Azano et al., 2017a), a place-based language arts curriculum for fourth graders attending rural schools. The researcher first typed the stories, making low-level inferences to correct spelling and grammar mistakes so comparisons could be made across stories about macrostructure elements (Koustofas, 2018), or the overall structure, organization, and cohesion of the piece. The data were described and catalogued according to codes that emerged from a deep dive into the stories. Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was used to inductively identify thematic understandings across the stories. Specifically, the researcher searched for expressions of identity, connections to place, and mastery of age-appropriate language arts standards. Findings revealed that students can exert agency and express their identities through creative writing and that many students demonstrated mastery of needed language arts skills through the narrative fiction writing task. The study illuminated the value of sharing place-based literature as "mentor texts" for rural students, the importance of providing choice in writing assignments, and the need to foster the writing talent of rural students as a matter of social justice.Doctor of PhilosophyWriting gives children a chance to practice self-expression and creativity (Dobson, 2015b; Millard, 2005) as they learn needed literacy skills (Calkins, 2003), yet attention to writing lags behind other subjects (Coker et al., 2016; Cutler and Graham, 2008; Korth et al., 2016; Simmerman et al., 2012). Using Vygotsky's sociocultural (1978) and creativity (1971) theories, together with Freire's critical pedagogy theory (1970), as the theoretical framework, this study sought to illuminate the possibilities that emerge when rural students in the intermediate elementary grades engage in narrative fiction writing. Qualitative content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005) was used to analyze 237 stories written as the culminating project of the semester-length Fiction unit of Promoting PLACE (Azano et al., 2017a), a place-based language arts curriculum for fourth graders attending rural schools. Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was used to inductively identify thematic understandings across the stories, and findings revealed that students exerted agency and expressed their identities through creative writing while demonstrating mastery of needed language arts skills. The study illuminated the value of sharing place-based literature as "mentor texts" for rural students, the importance of providing choice in writing assignments, and the need to foster the writing talent of rural students as a matter of social justice
Identity and Place: Exploring the Complexities Between Rural Education, Community, and Queerness
No full textThese combined manuscripts explore the intersections of rural education, community influences, and diverse identities by challenging rural monoliths and deficits while working to address opportunity gaps for rural youth and educators. Theories throughout this work include critical pedagogies of place (Bass and Azano, 2024; Greenwood, 2003), critical theories disrupting power (Freire, 1970), a pedagogy of love (Darder, 2017), and poetic explorations for a sense of belonging and a celebration of place (bell hooks, 2008; 2012) allowing for my own poetic voice to "cry out" (hooks, 2012, p. 12). The critical engagement with place norms and influences on identity development is further rooted in Queer studies, binding these manuscripts as a "tool of incessant unsettling" (Luciano and Chen, 2015, p. 192) by challenging the role of cis-heteronormativity (Berlant and Warner, 1995) in rural contexts. These combined manuscripts situate knowledge production and identity development in educational spaces in conversation with rural education, local and federal policies, issues of access, histories of erasure, and local and societal cis-heterosexual norms.
Literature informing these manuscripts focused on rural schools and the unique challenges embedded in those communities, such as rural poverty (Lewis and Boswell, 2020; Tieken, 2022), geographical inequities (Lichter et al., 2012; Showalter et al., 2023), fewer resources for Queer youth (Kosciw et al., 2022; Movement Advancement Project, 2019; Ramos et al., 2014), and limited enrichment opportunities (Azano et al., 2020; Callahan and Azano, 2019; Rasheed, 2019), with a focus on how these challenges influence rural identities and widen opportunity gaps for rural learners. As a manuscript style dissertation, each manuscript centralizes parts of these theories and literatures. Manuscript 1 is a grounding theoretical piece that explores how Queer rural narratives are tangled in a spectrum of visibility. Manuscript 2 is a literature review that navigates how rural education and Queer identities have been discussed in research and reports. Manuscript 3 is a policy brief that presents a framework to critique federal and local anti-Queer policies and their influence on rural Queer youth and educators. Manuscript 4 is an empirical study exploring how rural youth explore their own sense of place and identity while attending a residential summer camp aimed to address an opportunity gap for rural gifted learners.
While each manuscript stands alone, combined, they present themes about (a) the internalizations and externalizations of rural identity, (b) the value of diverse rural representation, and (c) the influence of policy and place norms in rural schools. These manuscripts suggest the need to uplift vulnerable and historically marginalized narratives in rural schools in order to challenge rural monolithic narratives, the possibilities of alternative learning spaces to address opportunity gaps for Queer and gifted youth, and the hope for more safe spaces that celebrate diverse rural identities and experiences to increase authentic learning opportunities to celebrate place and self together.
Doctor of PhilosophyThis manuscript style dissertation explores rural education, community influences, and diverse, under-served rural populations. Each manuscript engages with issues of deficit narratives, addressing assumptions, and monolithic perspectives of rurality that widen opportunity gaps that allow for all rural youth to access authentic learning. The theoretical framings in the embedded manuscripts center a critical pedagogy of place (Greenwood, 2003), Queer studies (e.g., Berlant and Warner, 1995; Luciano and Chen, 2015,), critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970), and concepts of belonging (hooks, 2008, 2012). The four manuscripts address this central research topic by: (a) engaging with the role of visibility in rural spaces from Queer narratives; (b) exploring how research has discussed the intersections of rural education and Queerness in K-12 schools; (c) addressing anti-Queer policy implementation in rural schools; and (d) analyzing how rural, gifted learners explored their sense of place and identity at a summer enrichment experience designed to address an opportunity gap for rural, gifted learners. Overarching themes illuminate the importance in uplifting and celebrating diverse, rural experiences, especially Queer, to (re)root a sense of place value and authentic identity in a rural educational experience, which works to address educational opportunity gaps that uniquely influence rural youth while also challenging monolithic rural narratives
International Response:What Counts as Curriculum?
No full textWhen I think “Curriculum Studies,” I think, What knowledge is of most worth? (Pinar, 2012) or Whose knowledge is of most worth? (Apple, 2004). In these questions, and the field as I understand it, the question of knowledge is central (Green, 2017). It immediately strikes me then that these chapters may not all fall into the curriculum studies field I know. Then again, the Latin origin of the term “curriculum”—to run the course (Pinar, 2012)—also signifies the field as related to a notion of a broadly defined “course.” Is it that in these chapters “curriculum” is the course, and the topics covered relate to the fairness of that course for rural students? As I write this, I am on extended fieldwork in remote communities in the far west of the state of New South Wales, on the Australian continent, and on the lands of First Nations peoples (whom I will not name to maintain the anonymity of the research sites). The town I am in now has about 700 residents and a K-12 school with about 65 students. It is about 180 kilometers (111 miles) to the nearest small town, itself the same distance to what may be termed a large center, and of the three nearby towns two are on dirt roads impassable after rain. Here I am immersed in the perspectives on education, and the knowledge system it is founded upon, of those positioned as falling behind in the curriculum race. Whose rules are the race run by though, what is the course, are there obstacles, and how are the winners determined
Principals' Role in Fostering School-Family Partnerships: Improving the Achievement of Students Living in Poverty within Rural Appalachia
No full textAuthentic and effective family engagement requires a high commitment from the school principal. This study is a representation of the researcher's effort to better understand how principals can form strong school-family relationships in order to improve overall achievement for economically disadvantaged students living in rural communities. Interview data were examined pertaining to six elementary school principals serving Title I schools within rural Appalachia. Data were analyzed to identify strategies practicing principals and policy makers can use to better strengthen school-family relationships. The findings focus on the principals' role in fostering and improving these relationships. As an educator in a high-poverty school system in rural southwest Virginia, I want to add to the literature research-based strategies for implementing family engagement strategies in elementary schools within rural communities. This research should provide practitioners with effective strategies for reflecting on their own strategies and to build relationships with families to ultimately improve the overall achievement for students experiencing economic distress.Doctor of EducationAuthentic and effective family engagement requires a high commitment from the school principal. This study is a representation of the researcher's effort to better understand how principals can form strong school-family relationships in order to improve overall achievement for economically disadvantaged students living in rural communities. The researcher completed interviews with six elementary school principals serving Title I schools within rural Appalachia. This research should provide practitioners with effective strategies for reflecting on their own strategies and to build relationships with families to ultimately improve the overall achievement for students experiencing economic distress
Folklore Unit_Lesson 06
No full textThis is a component of the Fiction Unit of the place-based language arts curriculum developed by the Appalachian Rural Talent Initiative.Jack Kent Cooke Foundation 54974
Disrupting Dichotomous Traps and Rethinking Problem Formation for Rural Education
No full textThis article highlights various paradoxes and false dichotomies in rural education research. Using Paulo Freire\u27s theories of oppression and critical awareness, the article delineates a theoretical framework designed to explore a reframing of rural education. We propose that this reframing would serve as rural praxis for school leaders and teachers, and we make use of these theories to discuss school leader and teacher preparation programs. This reframing for the field of rural education research proposes a way through contradictions and dispels deficit narratives underlying conceptions of rurality and theoretical constructs in rural education research
- …
