David Lee Carlson

Methodology brut Philosophy, Ecstatic Thinking, and Some Other (Unfinished) Things

A reminder: This text has been created as a series of brut and raw responses representing a collective of “impossible” imaginings. Our collective writing is not about the vision or about insights into the future of qualitative inquiry per se, but it is about ways in which some qualitative researchers wish to stay methodologically and theoretically in flux and motion. We desire to face this uncertainty, rawness, and creative chaos by engaging in collective thinking without constant and continuous purification and “cleaning” efforts. The future of qualitative inquiry is not one but multiple; thus, there cannot be one “vision” but all visions; visions on top of other visions, visions continuing other visions, visions contradicting others, visions lacking and desiring something that cannot be described, understood, or had.

The social importance of a kiss: a Honnethian reading of David Levithan's young adult novel, Two Boys Kissing

ABSTRACT Although trends in young adult literature (YAL) indicate that authors are constructing more positive renditions of gay characters, curricular and pedagogical choices seem to remain quite unsympathetic and “conservative,” reproducing harmful stereotypes. This paper contends that the kiss in YAL can symbolize the physical, social, and moral manifestation of same-sex desire, and thus functions as a personal, social, and moral marker of ones relation to oneself and to others. To aid our discussion, we employ Axel Honneths theory of recognition. Integrating Honneths theory of recognition with lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) young adult novels offers researchers the potential to conduct literary analysis that offers readers, teachers, and students new or alternative “readings” of LGBTQ individuals as well as the social constraints that obstruct social recognition for everyone within a given space. This paper provides a brief literature review of LGBTQ YAL in education and then explicates Honneths theory of recognition, followed by an application of Honneths theory to David Leviathans novel, Two Boys Kissing.

Mind the Map: How Thinking Maps Affect Student Achievement

This action research project, conducted in an 8th grade classroom by Daniel Long, investigated how Thinking Maps could be utilized by the students to broaden critical thinking skills and enhance their understanding of the content being presented. The research data was gathered through anonymous student surveys, instructor observation notes and a post-intervention assessment. Students were taught the function and proper construction of all eight Thinking Maps and were encouraged to utilize them on multiple occasions every day. The findings by Long indicated that when students constructed Thinking Maps, they were able to achieve greater understanding than those students who used traditional note taking strategies.

Fashioning Sexual Selves: Examining the Care of the Self in Urban Adolescent Sexuality and Gender Discourses

This paper presents data from a qualitative study of urban high school students that asked students to reflect on the experiences of their lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and questioning peers. The focus group participants wrote letters to an imaginary new student at their school, discussed what they see and hear in their schools, and kept journals recording a weeks worth of observations. The writings and conversations are analyzed in this paper through the lens of Foucaults Care of the Self in order to understand how young people characterize their own and their peers’ actions and words as ethical moves in the fashioning of themselves as sexual subjects.

Introduction: Social–Emotional Learning and Resolving Cohen's Paradox

Every day nearly 55 million children travel to schools throughout the United States. They are greeted undoubtedly by approximately 12 million teachers and administrators who work tirelessly to ensure that schools are safe places for children to learn and grow into happy, healthy, and productive members of their communities. Even though their faces may differ and the tenor of the local area may vary, the one common element is that schools are places where human beings interact, strive, resolve conflict, and teach and learn together. Schools are more than a collection of test scores, graduation completion rates, and accountability measures. They are a collection of relationships that include social, emotional, and cognitive components. In short, schools are places where learning occurs within the context of relationships. Recent passage of the federal legislation No Child Left Behind has privileged the cognitive over the social and emotional. Higher academic standards and stricter yearly school progress have forced public schools to focus on high-stakes tests and academic abilities. Even though the new U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan promises to create new policies on education, very little in his speeches and public appearances indicates that his plans include making social–emotional learning (SEL) a centerpiece of his tenure. This point is a bit ironic given that he arrives to Washington, DC, from Illinois, which is one of two states that have incorporated SEL standards in their state academic standards. He will certainly have the funds to reform education, as President Barack Obama more than doubled the budget for the U.S. Department of Education in his first year in office. Furthermore, Secretary Duncan has expressed an interest in exploring innovative programs that can improve student achievement, including extending the school day and academic year, fostering charter schools, and implementing merit pay for teachers.

A Story of Becoming: Trans* Equity as Ethnodrama

Amid today’s political climate, it becomes increasingly critical to encourage and maintain trans*1 equity practices of affirmation and recognition. While providing opportunities for hope and empathy, this article situates ethnodrama within gender theory to stage the lived experience of one female-to-male (FTM) trans* high school student. Distilled from a corpus of ethnographic interviews, this performance captures the student’s school experiences, and exchanges with his parents. Given theater possesses the potential to create empathy and affect social change, this ethnodrama attempts a novel embodiment of the layered complexities of trans* inclusion to foster pedagogies of recognition and gender equity. In this way, this performative text contributes to the burgeoning and important field of gender studies in education.

Evoking a Spirit of Play: M&M's[R] Stories and (Un)Real Possibilities for Teaching Secondary Literacy.

Abstract While balancing the demands of test preparation, English teachers can use these research-based techniques to develop their students into strong writers.

Narrative of Amor Fati: Meditations on Life and Death

The purpose of this article is to consider a philosophical concept in terms of narrative inquiry. In this instance, the authors explore the Nietzschean concept of Amor Fati and explore what it means to construct narratives based on this concept. The authors provide a detailed literature review of Narrative Inquiry and align their work with the post qualitative narratives, specifically new materialism based on the work of Rosi Braidotti. The article concludes with suggestions about the nature of the tensions between life and death as well as how to fashion a life in spite of the ever-pervasive specter of death.

(Re)mixing Foucault and Deleuze: Power Games in Critical Qualitative Research

The purpose of this article is to explore further and through other examples what happens when a Foucauldian conception of power is remixed with “the theoretical toolbox of Deleuze” to address diverse notions of power in critical qualitative science inquiry. The article experiments with Foucauldian power/knowledge and the Deleuzian machine by using the metaphor of capoeira to argue that critical qualitative science can maintain its social justice focus as well as align conceptions of power with a postmodern framework. The authors illustrate how capoeira can function as a conceptual frame for shifting the onto-epistemologies of critical qualitative science inquiry.

Postqueer? Examining Tensions Between LGBT Studies and Queer Theory: A Review of LBGT Studies and Queer Theory

This collection of essays, LBGT Studies and Queer Theory: New Conflicts, Collaborations, and Contested Terrain, provides analytical tools from both LGBT studies and queer theory to initiate a postqueer dialogue among scholars, educators, and practitioners. Essays offer a historical perspective and methodologies from specific disciplines to explore the lived experiences of sexual minorities in the United States.