scholarly journals The Contested Discourses of Yoga, Youth, and Urban Schooling: Paradox and Possibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Janet D. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Alternative High School ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Participation ◽  
Youth Of Color ◽  
Urban Schooling ◽  
Background Context

Background/Context Yoga, as a recent cultural phenomenon in the United States, is often marketed as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. This has led to yoga becoming widespread in schools, particularly schools that serve low income youth of color. While some advocates argue that yoga can help students navigate highly controlled, standards-based school environments, others assert that yoga is being used as a tool for student compliance rather than liberation. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study addresses the tensions between schooling discourses and yoga discourses, and how youth use their own discourses and agency to navigate those complications. Setting/Population This study took place in an alternative high school program for students who were in danger of not graduating because they had too few credits. Reflecting the community, the participants were low income youth of color. Research Design In this yearlong critical qualitative study, I served as an observer for weekly yoga classes at the school, interviewed the student participants during the fall and the spring, and interviewed the yoga teacher and classroom teacher during the fall and spring. I kept a field journal and wrote memos after every class and analyzed the data from the observations and interviews using critical discourse analysis. Conclusions/Recommendations Even as yoga may serve as a counternarrative to schooling discourses, it is only with intention and practice that it does not reify narratives of power and patriarchy. This is particularly true when the participants themselves may replicate these narratives, such as the participants’ complex use of heteronormative masculine discourses. For yoga to be liberatory in schools, the following aspects should be included: a sense of community where all students feel valued, classroom teacher participation, explicit instruction in the discourses of yoga around acceptance and compassion for oneself and others, and acknowledging school and youth discourses around sports and heteronormativity.

Abstract 17385: CPR Education in High-need Schools to Increase Student Knowledge and Comfort Performing CPR

Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Heard ◽  
Comilla Sasson
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
The United States ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Paired Data ◽  
School Students ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Bystander Cpr ◽  
Cpr Training

Introduction: Low-income neighborhoods are important targets for CPR trainings as they typically have high incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and low prevalence of bystander CPR. Training middle school students in these neighborhoods is a novel intervention to increase CPR awareness. Objective: Conduct a school-based CPR intervention using classroom teachers as facilitators at 1131 middle schools across the United States with a high proportion of students from lower-income families. Methods: Population: 1131 public middle and high schools in 34 states (including the District of Columbia) were selected for the 2014-2015 school year to participate based on close proximity to sponsor’s U.S. store locations and 50% or more student eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch. Intervention: Participants completed a pre-test survey to assess baseline knowledge of CPR and comfort performing CPR. A classroom Hands-Only CPR training lasting one class period was conducted with the CPR in Schools Training Kit™, which includes an educational DVD, 10 manikins and resources for any classroom teacher to conduct trainings. Participants then completed post-training knowledge and comfort survey. McNemar’s tests on paired data and chi square and t-tests on aggregated unpaired data were conducted to assess for differences in CPR knowledge and comfort performing CPR pre- and post-training. Results: Training data were returned by 563 (49.8%) participating schools training a total of 150,409 students in Hands-Only CPR. Using a sample of returned data, the mean number of questions answered correctly on CPR knowledge increased from 2.5 to 4.2 (out of 5). The majority of participants (75.8%) felt comfortable performing Hands-Only CPR after the intervention. Conclusion: A total of 150,409 students from 563 schools were trained in Hands-Only CPR (average 267 students/CPR in Schools Training Kit). At $625 per CPR in Schools Training Kit (with 10 manikins and materials), training cost $4.70 for each student trained. Participants demonstrated increased knowledge of and comfort performing CPR. The CPR in Schools Training Kit is a low cost and promising method for increasing bystander CPR awareness in the student population in low-income neighborhoods.

Insights into Teachers’ Experiences Implementing Garden-Based Learning: Characterizing the Relationship between the Teacher and the Curriculum

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Selmer ◽  
Melissa J. Luna ◽  
James A. Rye
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Participation ◽  
Curriculum Materials ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Teachers Experiences

Background/Context This study seeks insights into teachers’ experiences implementing Garden-Based Learning (GBL) in an elementary school. The breadth of studies supporting the use of GBL in K–8 schools in the United States alongside the paucity of studies specific to teachers’ experiences implementing GBL highlights the importance of this work. Purpose Our study uses Remillard's framework for characterizing and studying teachers’ interactions with curriculum materials specifically in the context of GBL. We believe that exploring the dynamic relationship between teachers and a GBL curriculum may help those involved in supporting teachers in implementing GBL to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the teacher/GBL curriculum relationship. This research examined teachers’ GBL implementation experiences in order to answer the following research question: How do we describe and characterize teachers’ interactions with GBL curriculum materials? Research Design Twenty teachers employed from one elementary school were interviewed using a semistructured task-based protocol resulting in a teacher-created diagram of supports and challenges he/she encountered while implementing GBL over the past year. The diagram was used as a tool to stimulate and access teachers’ thinking about these supports and challenges in order to provide insight into the teacher and curricular resources at play when implementing GBL. Findings/Results Using a grounded theory analysis of each participant's diagram, we characterized each teacher's participatory relationship with GBL. We found 13% of supports and challenges elicited from all teachers had a teaching and learning focus. On an individual level, supports and challenges had a substantial teaching and learning focus for only two teachers. Thirteen teachers were characterized as having a pragmatic focus. Of the seven teachers characterized to have an experiential focus: supports and challenges focused more so on what students were doing for four teachers and more so on what teachers were doing for three teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations We used Remillard's framework to investigate and characterize the participatory relationship between teachers and the GBL curriculum. The resulting characterizations provide insight for supporting GBL teacher learning contexts and will help guide future research. Based on this study, it is critical that individuals involved in educational change continue trying to understand and develop spaces for teacher learning. These spaces should move beyond traditional professional development focused on teacher participation toward experiences focused on teacher learning within and across their teaching contexts.

[Re]claiming “Inclusive Education” toward Cohesion in Educational Reform: Disability Studies Unravels the Myth of the Normal Child

2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (10) ◽  
pp. 2122-2154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Baglieri ◽  
Lynne M. Bejoian ◽  
Alicia A. Broderick ◽  
David J. Connor ◽  
Jan Valle
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Disability Studies ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Diversity ◽  
Disability Studies In Education ◽  
Heuristic Device ◽  
Background Context ◽  
Harmful Effects ◽  
Objective Research

Background/Context This article calls attention to the restrictive notions of inclusive education promulgated within the discourse of special education in the United States and asserts the value of using disability studies in education to support broader conceptualizations of inclusion that potentially incorporate all students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study By dismantling the myth of the typical/average child, the authors reveal ways in which educational practices actively contribute to the creation of “normalcy” and discuss the harmful effects that this can have on all citizens. They illustrate selected practices that help constitute the normative center of schools by using the organizing principle of disability as a heuristic device to enable multiple simultaneous critical standpoints. Research Design Analytic essay. Conclusions/Recommendations The authors call for the dissolution of the normative center of schools through an interdisciplinary alliance between disability studies and other criticalist fields that share the aim of claiming value in human diversity over standardization.

Exploring Curricular and Cocurricular Effects on Civic Engagement at Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Gina A. Garcia ◽  
Marcela Cuellar
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Diverse Students ◽  
Hispanic Serving Institutions ◽  
Hispanic Serving

Background/Context Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSIs), or those postsecondary institutions that meet the 25% Latina/o enrollment requirement to become federally designated as HSIs, are burgeoning in the United States. Similarly, emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (eHSIs), or those postsecondary institutions that enroll between 15% and 24% Latina/o students, are rapidly increasing. As these institutions increase in number, there is a need to understand them as unique organizations that provide distinct outcomes for diverse students, including students of color, commuter students, and low-income students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which eHSIs contribute to one specific outcome, civic engagement. We conceptualized civic engagement as primarily defined by political involvement (contacting public officials, participating in a political demonstration, discussing politics, voting in an election), although volunteerism was also included in our definition (engaging in community service). The main research question guiding this study was: What curricular and cocurricular experiences contribute to the civic engagement of students enrolled at eHSIs? Population/Participants/Subjects A sample of 10,022 students was drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). The sample is inclusive of women (61%), first-generation college students (18%), and racially diverse individuals, including Latina/o (18%), Black (4%), Asian/Pacific Islander (38%), American Indian (4%), and White (51%). Research Design We used a cross-sectional research design, measuring the civic engagement of students enrolled at six eHSIs at one time point. Secondary data came from CIRP's Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) survey, which focuses on the experiences of diverse students and their perceptions of the climate and institutional practices for diversity. Data Collection and Analysis The DLE survey is web based and administered annually by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). We merged two data sets, the 2010 and 2011 DLE, data from the 2010–2011 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and information about diversity-related curricula and cocurricular programs for each of the six institutions. We ran t tests and used ordinary least squares regression to examine relationships between variables. Findings/Results Findings show that students’ perceptions of their academic validation and of a curriculum of inclusion in the classroom, as well as their involvement in campus-facilitated diversity programs, positively predict their civic engagement. Recommendations Recommendations for research include developing and validating quantitative measures of civic engagement for diverse students attending compositionally diverse institutions. Recommendations for practice include acknowledging the changing demographics within postsecondary institutions and creating curricular and cocurricular structures that will contribute to nonacademic outcomes such as civic engagement.

scholarly journals “All kids matter”? Catholic institutional advocacy for federal COVID relief funding for non-public schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Institutional Advocacy ◽  
American Catholic ◽  
Trump Administration

This article explores the policy interests expressed by the largest private educational system in the United States, American Catholic schools, during the first four months of the COVID-19 crisis. Critical discourse analysis is applied to public texts produced by the Catholic Church between March 1 and July 1, 2020, in order to understand the discursive strategies through which this institution constructs meaning in the policy arena. This analysis illustrates how Catholic leaders use language to make racialized and low-income students “discursively invisible.”  The author documents a significant change in policy discourse, from neoconservative logics to neoliberal ones, which corresponds directly to political signaling from the Trump Administration. Drawing on critical race theory, the author suggests implications for policymakers and stakeholders.    

How Positive Youth Development Can Support Low-Income Roma Youth Living in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-28
Author(s):  
Marija Bingulac
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Youth Of Color ◽  
Persistent Violence ◽  
Mainstream Society

Deprivation and discrimination, including the destruction of housing settlements, forced evictions, and persistent violence, led a portion of Europe’s 12 million Roma to seek refuge in the United States and Canada. Approximately 1 million Roma live in the United States, and 80,000 Roma currently live in Canada. Profound experiences of injustice in their home countries have led Roma in the United States to keep their lives hidden from mainstream society. The Roma as a race/ethnicity is not accounted for in any American surveys, and research on their well-being in the United States is scarce. This chapter fills knowledge gaps by presenting a one-of-a-kind comprehensive literature review synthesizing empirical evidence on the lives of Roma people and their youth in the United States by applying the positive youth development (PYD) framework that focuses on promoting positive asset-building for youth and seeing youth as vital resources in development strategies. In doing so, the chapter advances beyond the more usual narrative that has focused on the problems of Roma youth to examine the mechanisms that can enable them to flourish in the United States. Romani youth is a case study example of youth of color in general; this chapter adds to the body of knowledge that examines how PYD development matters for positive developmental outcomes of a minority group that has experienced socioeconomic disparities strictly because of the stigma of their identity.

scholarly journals Leading With Youth of Color: Organizing for Educational Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 110-125
Author(s):  
Rachael Lee Ficke Clemons
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Young People ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Youth Workers ◽  
Youth Of Color

In the United States, young people of color are under attack. The school-to-prison pipeline, poverty, and racism are some of the systems of oppression that young people of color navigate. The challenging conditions that youth of color face have historically been met by their powerful resistance. Young people of color have fought for educational equity for decades. In the community in which this research study was situated, social justice youth development (SJYD) workers supported youth as they resisted unjust educational policies. I set out to answer the research question: In urban communities, how do youth workers engage adolescent youth in social justice activism? I found that adult youth workers at People for Change, a SJYD organization, maintained a consistent and multi-layered approach to supporting youth as they engaged in social justice activism. This paper highlights the ways in which adult youth workers (a) networked adult and youth supporters, (b) engaged in action, and (c) co-constructed knowledge with young people of color.

Make Kindergarten “Funner”: Examining how Kindergarteners Made Sense of the Changed Kindergarten

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Brown ◽  
David P. Barry
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Public Schooling ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
Typical Day ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Background Context ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Academic Content

Background/Context Over the last two decades, policymakers’ standards-based accountability reforms in the United States have fundamentally changed public schooling in general and kindergarten specifically. As this has occurred, little has been learned about how the children themselves make sense of these changes in schooling. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this article is to address this issue by providing insight into how a sample of kindergarteners enrolled in a public kindergarten in Texas made sense of their experiences in kindergarten today in relation to two research questions: a) How did they make sense of their educational experiences in kindergarten?, and b) How would they like to alter kindergarten so that it reflects their understanding of schooling? Research Design This is an explorative qualitative, video-cued, multivocal ethnographic research study. Data were generated through focus-group interviews with 19 kindergarteners in Texas. The students were asked about how they made sense of the changed kindergarten through viewing a micro-level example of their kindergarten classroom in Texas. The video the kindergarteners watched and commented on provides a coherent narrative that captured shortened versions of each of the activities they participate in over a typical day in their classroom. Findings/Results The findings shared in this article illuminate these kindergarteners’ understandings of kindergarten as well as whether or not they believed they would be able to succeed in a school system that expects them to learn more academic content and demonstrate their knowledge on an increasing number of standardized tests. These findings also provide insight into the changes these kindergarteners would like to see made to kindergarten to improve their learning experiences in school. Conclusions/Recommendations The kindergarteners in this study framed kindergarten as a place they go to learn academic content that they believe will allow them to progress to and through subsequent grade levels. Though they enjoyed kindergarten and had strong relationships with their teacher, they would like more opportunities for physical activity and choice throughout the day, which echo the sentiments of other early childhood education stakeholders and researchers. As these were kindergarteners enrolled in a typical public kindergarten, additional insight into these issues could be gained by seeking out the voices of children in different kindergarten programs (e.g., private, play-based, half-day, etc.) or from these same children at different points in their educational careers.

Compassionate, Spiritual, and Creative Listening in Teaching and Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 2763-2776
Author(s):  
Jim Garrison
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good Teaching ◽  
Sympathetic Response ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
Background Context ◽  
Objective Research

Background/Context Listening is largely overlooked in cultures constituted on the basis of the freedom of speech, such as we find in the United States and elsewhere. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The article explores compassionate listening as a creative spiritual activity. Such listening recognizes the suffering of others in ways that open up possibilities for healing and transformative communication. It is particularly important for a caring profession like teaching and critical for good teaching and learning relationships. Research Design Relying on philosophical reflection, the article mixes some of the basic ideas of Eastern thought revolving around the image of the Bodhisattvas as they who constantly ameliorate suffering. The article concentrates on the Bodhisattva “Perceiver of the World's Sounds.” Conclusions/Recommendation We can only relieve suffering if we attend carefully to the needs, desires, interests, and purposes of others and respond in terms of their best possibility in the situation. Such self-eclipsing allows caregivers to avoid the horrors of conditional love. Such listening lies beyond theory and ideology in the immediate, directly involving sympathetic response, but not pity. It is not the kind of sympathy that assumes that the pain in others has the same characteristics or source as our own.

The Economic Opportunity Gap

Making Change ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
Tina P. Kruse
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Economic Opportunity ◽  
Youth Of Color ◽  
Opportunity Gap ◽  
Disconnected Youth ◽  
Low Income Families

This chapter explores the demographic trends in the United States of youth for whom youth social entrepreneurship may be most important, those framed by the Opportunity Gap, conceptualized by the field of education to better explain outcome disparities for youth of color and/or from low-income families. Academic disciplines and the nonprofit sector have embraced this framework and furthered it by identifying the youth “haves” and “have-nots” depending on their access to opportunities of many kinds: educational and economic among them. Youth without, or with fewer, opportunities tend to also lack connections of many kinds that can inhibit their educational, employment, housing, and health outcomes. This, then, is the central concern of this chapter: how can youth social entrepreneurship be part of the solution for disconnected youth?

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