Term of Award
Fall 2019
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)
Document Type and Release Option
Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
Committee Chair
Robert Lake
Committee Member 1
Ming Fang He
Committee Member 2
Sabrina Ross
Committee Member 3
Pam Wells
Abstract
In this study I theorize my life experiences with difference as a student and teacher through the framework of Maxine Greene, Paulo Freire, and Robert Lake’s work on social imagination. With an academic first chapter, I write of experiences in chapters 2-4 and include preambles, interludes and postscripts unpacking my personal evolution. Chapter 5 crystalizes meanings surfaced through this concentrated self-reflection, emphasizing how the process of becoming predicates my presence in my classroom of students with dis/abilities. Meanings include not only the intensity of self-analysis, but how the process of who I have become strengthened my reconsideration of the reality of those with dis/abilities. I discuss my new understanding of personal incompleteness and how this evokes empathy, particularly for those with dis/abilities. Through prescriptive curriculum theorizing I advocate that through students’ personal understanding of themselves as incomplete we empower them to empathize and become more comprehensive. I unpack my management of emotions resulting through self-analytic inquiry and recovery through my refreshed connectivity with those with dis/abilities. Ultimately, my sense of incompleteness and personal journey reaching for what might be possible through the eyes of another will be forever at the crux of my presence as an individual and educator of students with dis/abilities.
Recommended Citation
McDonald, 2019
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
