Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study described how the English language arts (ELA) teacher mediates the literacy learning of the 6th grade students at Bright Star Islamic school whose language and cultural background is diverse. Three specific research questions guided this study, including (1) what approach does the teacher use to develop literacy skills of the students? (2) what texts are available for the students? and (3) what is the student response to the teacher-led discussion and teacher-created assignments? Drawing upon the ecological framework to literacy (Barton, 1994), this study shed lights on the Islamic school's literacy that is intertwined with religious values in addition to knowledge construction mediated through multiple use of languages and texts. Narrative case study was carried out to unpack and understand the classroom interaction. The participants included one teacher and 20 students in her ELA class. 30 literacy lessons were observed and audio-recorded which comprised of a total of 40 hours. In addition to that, field notes, semi-structure interviews of the teacher and the student, as well as documentation were used to enrich and confirm the data. The observation and interview data were transcribed verbatim. Grounded theory was employed for data analysis which consisted of analyzing data through coding them into categories for the purpose of comparison. The categories contained labels that resembled conceptualization of key findings of the data and represented the cases being studied. The analysis stopped when a core category emerged in which I can integrate the analysis and develop a `story' encapsulating the main themes of the study. Results from the analysis showed that regarding the research question #1, the teacher situated the classroom literacy events as social practices deriving from her interpretation of the State' learning standards, the school's ELA curriculum (i.e. Wit & Wisdom), conception of reading instruction, and teacher' roles in the classroom (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Adrian Rodgers (Advisor); Christine Warner (Committee Member); Binaya Subedi (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Literacy; Reading Instruction; Religion; Secondary Education; Teaching

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Leadership and Change

The transformation to the curriculum taught in chaplain training in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) will now address the spiritual needs of a more diverse, nonreligious, and interfaith population in the United States. Historically rooted in religious frameworks, CPE curricula are evolving to incorporate non-religious spiritual care interventions and promote research literacy among chaplains. This dissertation study uses descriptive analysis to present a study surveying CPE educators across over 300 U.S. based CPE centers to explore teaching practices and adaptation strategies. Findings reveal that integrating evidence-based methods and interdisciplinary collaboration is key to addressing inclusivity and professional competency in chaplaincy. By examining quantitative and qualitative data, this research emphasizes the need for adaptive and inclusive approaches to meet modern spiritual care demands. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Stewart Burns PhD (Committee Chair); Betty Overton-Adkins PhD (Committee Member); Debby Flickinger PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Ethics; Health Education; Higher Education; Judaic Studies; Literacy; Medical Ethics; Mental Health; Multicultural Education; Music Education; Pastoral Counseling; Peace Studies; Personal Relationships; Psychobiology; Psychotherapy; Religion; Religious Education; Social Psychology; Social Research; Spirituality; Teacher Education; Teaching; Therapy

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2022, Honors

Over the past few years, the nationwide protests over the long-standing plague of racism in our country, most recently manifested in the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, have placed our nation before a “fork in the road.” We stand on the precipice of monumental change or devastating regression in the area of race relations within our nation. This has been most vivid in the relationship between law enforcement and the African American community. What comes next between these two parties will depend on how law enforcement responds to the cries of the people in these affected communities. Historically, particularly in African American communities, there has been an intimate connection between social movements and sensitives to injustice and faith. At the same time, there appears to be a decreasing appreciation of faith among law enforcement officers. If the disparity between the attitude towards faith by law enforcement and the significance of faith in communities of color continues to increase, it will undoubtedly lead to more tension between these two communities. I hypothesize that reconciliation between law enforcement and African American communities can be achieved through the inclusion of religious literacy in the training and formation of law enforcement officers. As a disclaimer, it is important to understand that the building of trust and the reparation of relationships is an effort that requires the cooperation of both sides. This means that there has to be a willingness and an understanding from both law enforcement and communities of color for any real difference to be made. It is also important to recognize that this is not a “black versus white” issue, this is an issue that affects society as a whole. This understanding will be made present throughout this research, but the primary focus will be on the inclusion of religious literacy in the formation of law enforcement officers.

Committee: Fr. Louis Bertrand Lemoine O.P. (Other); Cary Dabney (Advisor) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Behaviorial Sciences; Criminology; Divinity; Law; Legal Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Psychology; Religion; Religious Education; Religious History; Sociology; Theology; World History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, EDU Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this study is to examine student and teacher talk as they co-constructed meanings from literary texts and from Islamic religious texts with the supports of select process drama strategies. After the exploration of the nature of classroom discourse in the dramatic sessions, comparisons were made between the talk students made during the implementation of storytelling and other process drama strategies (Dramatic Sessions, DS) and the talk that occurred during the Non-Dramatic regular classroom sessions (ND). Guided by Vygotsky's (1978) constructivism or theory of social development, Mercer's (2000) theory of sociocultural discourse, and Rosenblatt's (2000) transactional theory of reading, I aimed to answer the overarching question: What is the nature of teacher and student interaction interactions when making meaning from novels and stories from the Quran through storytelling and process drama strategies as indicated by their discourse strategies and nonverbal cues in interactions. The overarching question was stretched into three research inquiries. To answer the first question, I explored the nature of talk in the religious class and in the language arts class to find whether they were dialogic or authoritative, cohesive or incohesive, and thoughtful or affective. Then, through the analysis of teacher and student talk, I described both second grade and fifth grade teacher and student discursive strategies while co-constructing meaning from religious and literary texts. In answering the third question, I presented an argument regarding how and why the inclusion of drama strategies influenced the classroom interactions in talking about texts. I conducted a five-month qualitative case study with a group of second graders in their AQIS class (Arabic, The Quran, and Islamic Studies) class and a group of fifth grade students in their English Language Arts (ELA) class by using Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006; Thornberg & Charmaz, 2012) (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Christine Warner Dr. (Advisor); Mollie Blackburn Dr. (Committee Member); Adrian Rodgers Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Language Arts; Literacy; Literature; Reading Instruction