Embodied pedagogy is a way of facilitating lessons which use the body as a locos of learning. Through a practice of storytelling, reflection, and imagination, embodied pedagogy evokes enactment and a release of emotions. This qualitative narrative study created multimodal portraits of embodied educators in the Newark Board of Education using the…

Alternative teacher credentialing programs (ATCPs) have grown over the last two decades to address persistent staffing shortages in high-need schools. Today, nearly a quarter of new teachers are prepared though these programs. Nonetheless, there are few studies that examine teacher candidates' learning as facilitated by these programs, or their…

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to explore preservice teachers' beliefs and preconceptions about teaching for social justice in two pathways to teacher licensure: a traditional, university-based teacher preparation program and an urban teacher residency (UTR) program. Participants were enrolled in a post-baccalaureate education program…

Dropout rates, suspensions, and expulsions have increased--among urban schools for quite some time. Yet, the number of unmotivated and disengaged culturally diverse students in urban learning environments is steadily increasing. There is a growing number of white female novice teachers who are entering the field of urban education and many…

This qualitative case study explored how a pre-service training program developed through a partnership between a university and a charter school, and specifically created to prepare and retain urban educators, may lead to efficacious classroom practices. To address the manner in which teachers can be ill-prepared for the realities of urban school…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how an urban teachers' residency cohort program in Ohio, formed a partnership with an urban school district located in Ohio, and how and why the partners defined distinct and differing ideas of teacher quality for high-poverty schools and their disadvantaged students. Investigations of…

Urban education systems serve nearly 16 million students and employ almost one million teachers in the United States. The preparation of teachers for urban settings must attend to the unique and complex historical and sociocultural context of urban communities. This includes disrupting dominant stereotypes, particularly of urban communities of…

The purpose of this concurrent mixed-method study was to explore how special education intern teachers, placed in an urban secondary special education school setting developed an ability to implement content literacy strategies after completion of a professional development graduate seminar and internship experience. This was done by studying both…

This action research study acknowledged the possibilities of culturally responsive pedagogy by examining digital storytelling via online workshops that were facilitated for a group of educators and educational leaders. The presence of cultural biases and cultural discontinuities in Pre-K-12 education has the propensity to contribute to the…

This study is the result of my work as a teacher educator in an English methods course and a member of an inquiry community I formed with eight of my students, all middle and secondary student English teachers at the University of Pennsylvania. I investigate what was at stake for them in learning to teach English in Philadelphia urban schools in…

This dissertation investigates how teaching in a hands-on science center contributes to re/shaping one's teaching identity. Situated at the New York Hall of Science (NYHS) in Queens, New York, my research approach is to conduct a critical ethnography where the focus is on improving the teaching and learning of science for all involved. In…