Author: Maija    Overturf

Major: Elementary Education

Graduation Year: 2022

Thesis Advisor: Dominick Varney

Description of Publication: Education can be a dehumanizing experience for both students and teachers. Teachers hold a great responsibility to ensure that student identities are validated in school and to this end, must create a safe and welcoming learning environment. This thesis analyzes common dehumanizing practices in schools and ways in which teachers may unconsciously invalidate their students or be invalidated themselves. In a personal reflective manner, this thesis focuses especially on the text Opening the Classroom Door (Chapter 1 of Teaching Towards Democracy) by Ayers et. al (2017) as I evaluate my experiences in the classroom both as a student and teacher, and reflecting on my changing knowledge and understanding of others through three different lenses: race, identity, and online learning.

Location of Publication:

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/765