Browsing by Author "Souder, Donna, advisor"
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Item Open Access Closing the achievement gap: from teacher education to student learning(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Jesik, Shaynee L., author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Taylor, Ted, committee member; De Witt, Debra, committee memberThe academic achievement gap in the United States keeps growing every day. Beginning in eighth grade, students around the world are compared to each other using one international assessment to measure student performance. The results of the assessment are disheartening for Americans because American students rank among the lowest in the world when it comes to reading, math, and science. Because of the international assessment results, an academic sense of urgency has swept the nation. Legislation is currently writing and implementing new laws and bills to address the education epidemic spreading throughout the United States. All efforts are currently focusing on existing teachers and students in the classroom, as they should because that is where the current state of reality lies. However, everyone seems to overlook one very important contributor in educating students in grades kindergarten through twelfth. That contributor consists of the various teacher education programs within universities. These programs are responsible for preparing future teachers to educate 21st century learners. This research examines the current reality facing public education, discusses the possible reasons for the widening achievement gap in the United States, and offers possible solutions to cleansing and mending the systemic dysfunction found in education today. By exploring rhetoric and its place in teacher education programs and public education, the United States can begin to close the widening achievement gap.Item Open Access Developing emerging argumentation: using disparate forms of evidence to create instructional inroads(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Thielemier, Brian T., author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Taylor, Ted, committee member; DeWitt, Debra, committee memberArgumentation should be approached as a practice that is woven into the larger instructional practices across the core educational disciplines. With the advent of The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the ability to analyze and write an argument is now a predominant skill students are required to repeatedly demonstrate. As student achievement is now being used to reflect the larger portion of teacher accountability, it is essential that educators better understand how to make argumentation a disciplinary practice. I suggest that students should first be able to examine, identify, and understand the necessary function of evidence as a primary element of argumentation in order to more effectively construct a meaningful, sustainable argument. Through the categorization and analysis of explicit and implicit evidence, students are able to establish more meaningful claims. While this procedure elicits more student engagement and requires educators to reorient their instructional considerations, it also provides a practical starting point for all stakeholders when dealing with emerging argumentation in the classroom.Item Open Access Dialogic and material influence on the formation of identity in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Michael Cunningham's The Hours(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) O'Brien, Ann Diefendorf, author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Taylor, Cynthia, committee member; Ribadeneira, Alegria, committee member; Frank, Katherine, committee memberThe Hours and Mrs. Dalloway are texts that creatively and poignantly reveal how personal identity can be shaped. The construction of identity as portrayed in the characters of these novels goes beyond sexual orientation and constricted roles for women, two areas frequently highlighted in analyses of these books, to the essence of "being" and especially to how self or identity evolves in one's everyday place and time. The focal women in the books, though fictional creations, provide an opportunity to consider how identity evolves within particular ideological settings and how it is influenced by one's material, day-to-day circumstances and personal relationships. I examine identity formation as reflected in the protagonists with the ultimate goal of better understanding, as Bakhtin scholar Michael Holquist states well, "an activity in which we are all implicated. . . creating the ultimate act of authorship [that] results in the text which we call our self," (315). I draw upon the theories of Mikhail M. Bakhtin to apply his model of identity development and his thinking regarding how dialogics, language, ideology and a person's unique acts sculpt identity. My thesis emphasizes kairos, used here to indicate the particular time, place and socially charged environments in which each of the key female characters in Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours are portrayed. Not only do these texts mirror one another, they also keenly mirror human consciousness as it participates in forming personal identity. Applying a Bakhtinian critique to these novels illuminates the creation, sustainment and potential for change in individual identity, or in Bakhtin's words, "consciousness becoming." A Bakhtinian perspective also calls attention to the choices individuals make of their own accord and the responsibility created because of these choices. This is important in the academic setting today because increased awareness about how identity is formed, both by ideological influences and material reality, can contribute to individual empowerment and belief in the possibility of enacting change in self and in others.Item Open Access From fountain pen to Facebook post: networking literacy as the intersection of digital and epistolary literacies(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Wilson, Emily M., author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Gage, Scott, committee memberThis thesis examines the connections between 18th century epistolary literacy and 21st century digital literacy. I argue for the use of the phrase "networking literacy" as a term that captures the essential overlapping elements of the two other terms. A networking literacy is a literacy developed in a dialogic environment between two or more people who are too distant in proximity to communicate verbally, is strongly informed by audience, is typically discursive, and focuses on topics that are usually personal or addressed from a personal angle. Networking literacies transcend geographical location, historical moment, and especially technology. While the tools of technology change, the need writers have to engage in networking literacy and the impact it can potentially have upon their motivation to write and comfort with writing, remains the same regardless of whether they hold a pen or a smart phone in their hands. The tools of networking literacy will undoubtedly evolve within the next several decades into forms that may well be unrecognizable to us. However, whether it's via Royal Post, Tweet, or status update, networking literacies will find a way into our new technologies. Although networking literacy will certainly shape and be shaped by technology, an essential set of principles about the writer and writing process will remain the same regardless of the writing tools used. I argue that the emergence of epistolary literacy in 18th century England and its effect on both the individual and society bears striking similarity to the emergence of digital literacy in 21st century America, and that the points at which they intersect form the definition of networking literacy. Networking literacies help construct the identities of the users and share certain attributes regardless of technology, including being discursive, personal, narrative, and dialogic. Regardless of the technological tools writers use, the characteristics of networking literacy, including its dialogism, discursiveness, and the narrative template it provides for writers to lay over the events of their lives, remain the same in any era.Item Open Access Goals in the dual credit classroom: language as dual credit power(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Armstrong, David Lee, author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Taylor, Ted, committee member; DeWitt, Debra, committee memberFrom pen-to-paper submission to plagiarism filters such as Turnitin.com, Composition instruction tools change, and instructors at every level must adapt to technological advances. Despite changes at all levels, students' ability to manipulate language and manipulate the means of publishing language still equates to academic power. Manipulating technology and language, students and instructors alike must raise their expectations for both Composition product and process. In the Colorado high school classroom these raised expectations are called "21st Century Skills"1. These skills guarantee that a student can manipulate language and acquire the necessary language-based power to thrive in the 21st Century workplace. Post-Secondary institutions also include technology and the same "21st Century skills" in their outcomes for Composition I. Pierre Bourdieu's explanation of language as power2 is my basis for examining Composition expectations in College Composition I and High School Senior English in Colorado to provide dual credit3 classroom goals with college-level rigor combined with the rigid requirements of a high school setting. Scholars and high school administrators rarely examine dual credit classrooms and their academic product. They overlook dual credit students because they represent the school's elite and adhere to rules or regulations teachers place on them. But their learning takes second or even third place to students who don't perform as well, but who still follow the same rules and regulations. In a Colorado high school classroom, CCSS provide content and expectations to aid students in academic growth. Nevertheless, college Composition classrooms do little more than prepare students to teach Composition or provide a base for scaffolding further Composition instruction. Neither the CCSS nor the Composition I outcomes prepare the dual credit student for their next academic step. Several P-Post-Secondary Composition advocates, high school Composition advocates, and Post-Secondary Composition advocates outline Composition requirements and outcomes at their particular level of academia. My analysis includes the National Council of Teachers of English expectations for the teaching of writing, the Council of Writing Program Administrators, the Colorado Community College System, and the Colorado Common Core State Standards. After I analyze what these experts identify as Composition, I examine college Composition theory according to James Berlin and Kathleen Blake Yancey. Berlin provides a historical view of college Composition, and I juxtapose his view with Yancey who provides a modern, technological, communication based4 expectation of the Composition Classroom. Lastly, anecdotal evidence and pedagogical strategies from my own high school classroom provide first-hand credible evidence of assessment and expectation in a dual credit classroom. Finally, I argue for Bourdieu-centered goals that provide dual credit students with meaningful instruction that provides college-level rigor with accommodated protection of a high school learning environment including but not limited to: image analysis, technology access, theme and unit study, and rigorous Composition expectations.Item Open Access Motherhood, performance, and mommy blogs: the political power of maternal online rhetoric(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) DiPrince, Dawn, author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Arnegard, Iver, committee member"If you define writing as any kind of scribble, any kind of trying to mark on the world," Gloria Anzaldúa says in an interview with Andrea Lundsford, "And, some of us want to take those marks that are already inscribed in the world and redo them." Language - and thus, writing - has the power to transform, to redefine reality. Autobiographical writing is a performative act that forms - not reflects - identity. Mommy blogs are autobiographical acts with dual performativity: identity and maternity. With performativity, mommy blogs have the power to, as Anzaldúa writes, "rewrite culture." Yet, collectively, mommy blogs reify the normative motherhood narrative with gritty and sometimes profane clicktivist delusions, rather than actively work against the systemic issues that limit the lives of mothers: lack of quality child care; breastfeeding discrimination; unpaid maternity leave; wage disparity for women, working mothers and women of color. Mommy blogs emphasize a narrative of voluntary stay-at-home motherhood (SAHM). The SAHM narrative is essential to capitalism, which only thrives when a certain percentage of adults are removed from the workforce. Mommy blogs use narrative to keep women content while they are being forced out of the workforce through lower wages and lack of child care choices.Item Open Access Reconsidering the fourth canon: rhetoric, memoria, and composition in the digital age(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Clark, Meagan, author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Lopez, Derek, committee memberIn this thesis, I argue that the rhetoric we teach and the context included in composition textbooks should comprise the discourse applicable not only to the academic discipline of composition but be equally relatable to current and modern demands of professional and business communities in which most composition students will be expected to write proficiently in the future. The consideration of the rhetorical cannon of memoria in the modern day writing classroom is one seldom recognized, yet exists as a highly influential area of discourse that has the power to prepare students in a composition classroom to enter any career path, academic in nature or otherwise, in the digital age. The distinct abandonment of memoria is an element that should be recognized and discussed by the field since the creation and selection of first-year composition textbooks relies heavily on disciplinary, institution, and program memoria. In this thesis, I have developed a four-way test by which composition textbooks can be judged, objectively. Through a qualitative study and analysis of five composition textbooks from the top publishing companies, using the four-way test, I have found that the most commonly used first-year composition textbooks rely on memoria. My findings not only provide reason for revisiting how the fourth canon is considered in the field of composition, but also that the current state of first-year writing textbooks do not provide adequate practice or instruction for writing in the digital age.Item Open Access Samantha Stephens as the Third-World feminist other: border theory and Bewitched(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Lundahl, Audrey, author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Gage, Scott, committee memberIn this thesis I argue, using Samantha Stephens from the television show, Bewitched, as an example, that Third-World feminism can be expanded beyond identifications of ethnicity only in terms of physical appearance, in order to speak to experiences by women who are oppressed by dominant society in ways that are not easily recognizable. Bewitched presents a narrative of a Third-World oppressed experience, as defined by Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands, Sonia Saldivar-Hull's Feminism on the Border and the collective "radical women of color" in This Bridge Called my Back. Samantha's experience as shown through this narrative is not a typical experience of oppression because her ethnicity is portrayed through the fictional idea of Samantha being a witch. The show very clearly defines Samantha's identity as a witch as a cultural and ethnic difference, which is different and opposite from the dominant mortal culture. Samantha's narrative relies on the conflict that is created when Samantha marries Darrin, a mortal. Several episodes set up Samantha's identity as a witch as an ethnicity that is oppressed by mortals, and most of these episodes rely on Darrin's experiences with Samantha's mother, Endora. Endora and Darrin's interactions set up an "us vs. them" dynamic through the show, which parallels experiences of oppression in This Bridge Called my Back, which represents a collection of women who experience oppression in many different ways, because of their different identifiers, but who seek to understand each other and reach a common goal of equality. Samantha's experiences as a witch who must exist in a mortal world when she gets married, makes her narrative parallel with the ideas expressed in Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands, because of Samantha's place living among two liminal spaces. This relates specifically to Anzaldua's experiences expressed through her book living on the physical Borderlands in Southwest Texas, which further leads to a psychological border set up to distinguish and categorize places that are "safe and unsafe." Samantha's experiences are further complicated as she must face further oppression because of her place in a gender role as a 1960's middle-class housewife. Samantha's feminist struggles are comparable to Saldivar-Hull's Feminism on the Border because her theory speaks to a complicated identity as a female and a Chicana. And finally, I make the argument that through this analysis of Samantha Stephens' Third-World Feminist struggles in Bewitched, we have a model in which to judge television more critically in order to reach a more fair look at disparate experiences. This look at Bewitched can also help to encourage a more authentic look at the historical past, because of its representation of the 1960s.Item Open Access The remediation opportunity: writing articulation and collegiate discourse(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Trujillo, Dana M., author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Pettit, Sue, committee memberEach year, almost half of America's new freshmen begin their college careers with an unpleasant surprise: the need to enroll in remedial classes. These classes, for which students do not earn college credit, are the result of under preparedness for college coursework in writing, reading, and/or mathematics. For students who have been out of formal education for a time, the remedial classes may be expected; but for many who just graduated from high school, the classes are totally unexpected. And here begins the remediation debate of why are the high school graduates unprepared and why do they have to take a classes that are not college level when they were accepted for admission? Why do they have to take additional classes to earn a college degree? While the remedial requirement is often state-mandated, savvy institutions have come to view the remedial courses as opportunities to prepare their new students, within their classrooms, with the specific skills they want them to have as new freshmen. The goal of writing remediation courses should be to write effectively and to learn the discourse of the institution. Successful courses in writing remediation must have high expectations, qualified teachers, small class sizes, a limited number of remedial courses, and the philosophy of "every student a writer." Statistics show that students enrolled in remedial courses who successfully complete them have similar graduation rates as the students not required to enroll in remedial courses. Like it or not, remediation is an important aspect of higher education in America, no matter how much it is disliked by institutions of higher education, policy makers, students, and parents for prolonging graduation and adding more requirements to a degree without college credit. Ultimately, writing should be integrated into the K-12 grade curriculum to adequately prepare students for college-level writing, with the curriculum articulated from kindergarten through postsecondary education. Until this becomes a reality, remedial courses should be embraced as the opportunity they present to institutions of higher education.Item Open Access Toward a literate future: pairing graphic novels and traditional texts in the high school classroom(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Roberts, Nicolas J., author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Taylor, Ted, committee memberThis thesis focuses on the need to incorporate visual literacy instruction in the secondary classroom. I begin by first exploring the need for a change in the instruction of literacy at the high school level; especially a change that emerges from those who are currently working in the high school classroom. I examine how visual literacy instruction can help to improve declining traditional literacy rates. The use of multimodal texts, such as graphic novels, has been proven to increase the ability of students to read traditional text-based works. I also look at the impact that the lack of visual literacy competency has on students when they leave the secondary setting. High schools are producing students who can consume visual culture, but they are unable to produce and critique that culture. This visual illiteracy places students at a disadvantage. They enter the culture with a lack of culture capital, and are missing the skills to attain more. In my argument, I suggest that one way to help improve the visual literacy skills of students is to incorporate graphic novels into the high school curriculum by pairing them with traditional texts. I offer suggestions for ways educators can make different pairing, based on the needs of their classrooms.Item Open Access "Who is 'you'?": teaching authentic approaches to audience and genre in first-year composition(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Crowe, Sara, author; Souder, Donna, advisor; Eskew, Doug, committee member; Lopez, Derek, committee memberOurs is a highly digitized society, and accordingly, so are the daily practices of communication in composition classrooms. Students of the digital age bring with them a new and continually evolving language into their college writing, which, while it is indicative of the change in language processes, can be problematic. The impetus for this thesis developed through my experiences teaching first-year composition. Frustrated with the ambiguity of audience in student writing, I would ask students in one-on-one conferences "who is 'you'?" in order to create the opportunity to discuss specific directives of audience. What I came to realize was how often their rhetorical situation changed due to social media and other forms of instant communication. If and when the digital language that forms through social media interferes with the development of student identity and authorial agency as a result of a lack of comprehension to an identified audience. Digital Natives must be approached as multilingual English language learners because they carry with them similar code-switching tendencies into the classroom, which means that it is imperative that recent trend to incorporate blogs and other methods of digital writing be integrated in the classroom as ways to connect students to the language with which they are most familiar. Through the inclusion of digital media in composition classrooms and a careful articulation of the rhetorical situation, students can begin to gain more agency through their writing. Compositionists will be better equipped to prepare students for their collegiate careers in the formative years during enrollment in first-year composition by including narrative, literary, linguistic, and rhetorical traditions in the classroom.