Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School
College for Education and Engaged Learning
Department/Program
Teacher Education and Teacher Development
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Emily Hodge
Committee Member
Susan Baglieri
Committee Member
Monica Taylor
Abstract
In some U.S. states, student learning standards mandate that teachers engage students in lessons about disability, yet there is a notable lack of disability-related curricular content in P–12 schools. There remains a particular need for natural studies in the field to investigate how teachers do teach lessons about disability. In this qualitative research study, I applied a Disability Studies in Education (DSE) lens to lessons about disability in secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classes. I examined the ways three ELA teachers of students with and without disabilities with expressed interest in DSE used pedagogical reasoning to make sense of and rationalize their instructional decisions. Findings revealed that teachers shared power with students, adopted alternative perspectives to traditional understandings of disability, promoted continuous(un)learning, interrogated ableism, highlighted disability representation in curricula, emphasized disabled students’ personal experiences, and created opportunities for students’ intellectual pursuits. Importantly, this research exposed potential barriers, both challenges and cautions, to teaching about disability that elucidated tensions enacting practices informed by DSE.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Pollitt, Ashley, "Enacting Disability Studies in Education: Pedagogical Reasoning During Lessons About Disability" (2024). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1484.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1484