Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2016, College of Education and Human Services

Men teachers are not present in early childhood classrooms for many reasons, despite recruitment efforts. Many men who do choose to follow this feminized career path find themselves positioned as tokens and often quickly leave for administration. Informed by a three-dimensional narrative inquiry approach this research utilized identity and masculinities paradigms to investigate the experiences of veteran men teaching young children. A series of four interviews was used to explore and describe the individual professional life history of participants. The narratives of Frank, Jerry, and George provide a deeper understanding of how men negotiate identity and construct masculinities over time in early childhood education. Findings suggest a critical mass of men teachers can lead to their acceptance in early childhood education while augmenting the male privilege they receive. Themes emerging from the study offer paths for improving the recruitment and retention of men in early childhood education and continuing the discussion of gender and power in the workplace.

Committee: Dinah Volk Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Anne Galletta Ph.D. (Committee Member); Brian Harper Ph.D. (Committee Member); Karl Wheatley Ph.D. (Committee Member); Megan Hatch Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Gender; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, EDU Teaching and Learning

This dissertation is a conglomerate of three distinct, yet related, studies each exploring the question: How do the gendered experiences of a man elementary school teacher as well as portrayals of fictional men teachers in middle-grade novels contribute to the conceptualization of the gendered identities and masculinities of men who teach in the predominantly female environment of an elementary school? The first study is a content analysis of 85 middle-grade school stories using gender theory to analyze the gendered identities of 357 fictional teachers across the text set. In this analysis, I found that 40.34% of these 357 fictional teachers were constructed as men, with no transgender or nonbinary teachers in the text set. Over 90% of the teachers were constructed as White, and when they had an identified sexuality, they were most likely to be heterosexual, with only four teachers constructed as homosexual. Men teachers were most likely to be portrayed teaching P.E. or after-school classes. The teaching roles they were most likely to be shown performing included the delivery of content, the disciplining of students, and the daily management of the classroom. They were more likely than women teachers to be portrayed as fun and to give their students life advice. The second study in the dissertation is another content analysis with a much smaller text set, this time comprised of 10 middle-grade books. In this second analysis, I employ masculinity theory to examine various patterns of masculinity in the portrayals of 10 fictional teachers, each constructed as a man. In this analysis, I found that most of the fictional men teachers were constructed as successfully navigating between hegemonic and subordinate masculinities. At the same time, half of the teachers also operate to an extent within marginalized masculinities, two as gay men, two as Latinx men, and one as a Black man. These portrayals promote some gendered stereotypes of men teachers, specifically portra (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Linda Parsons (Advisor); Petros Panaou (Committee Member); Lisa Pinkerton (Committee Member); Jonda McNair (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Gender; Gender Studies; Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

Tupac Shakur wrote in his song Changes, “learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers.” This qualitative study was motivated by this call to action. Drawing on Miller and Bryan's (2020) notion of otherbrothers, this study uses autoethnography as a qualitative method to interrogate the structural/personal motivators, enablers, and constraints behind the ways otherbrothering has manifested in my own life, while identifying and filling a void for qualitative research on this notion of otherbrothering. What has been and what is now the nature of my otherbrothering experiences from preschool through Ph.D.? This question emerges at the intersection of several key areas of literature that point at the discourse around how Black men and boys navigate an anti-Black world, within and beyond schooling. Furthermore, I share my story alongside the academic literature about Black men and boys, shifting the focus from the pervasive deficit literature to share stories of advancing through the educational pipeline and the conditions that warrant otherbrothering. Writing my personal narrative validates my story as well as the stories of others, making “witnessing” possible by providing an opportunity for others to observe and offer testimonies that can heal/cope with or change the conditions of an anti-Black world (Baszile, 2008; Denzin, 2004; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011); it is our healing that should define us, not our trauma. It is my belief that Black men and boys can achieve at the same rate as their peers. It is change we must make if we are truly interested in transforming our schools and meeting the needs of all of our scholars, especially those who have and continue to be disenfranchised within them. Educators must create safe and trusting environments that are respectful of students' culture, and be the change that we want to see, in hopes that we start to see one another just like bruddas.

Committee: Denise Taliaferro Baszile (Advisor); Brian Schultz (Committee Member); Joel Malin (Committee Member); Thomas Poetter (Committee Member) Subjects: Education