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Teaching Middle School Children Affected by Homelessness: An Interpretive Phenomenological Investigation of Teachers’ Lived Experiences

Teaching Middle School Children Affected by Homelessness: An Interpretive Phenomenological Investigation of Teachers’ Lived Experiences, 2018

Abstract The human experience occupies the central role in phenomenological research. In this interpretive phenomenological study, the researcher recruited and interviewed secondary school teachers from three public urban schools in the Pacific Northwest in order to have them describe their lived experiences that relate to instructing students affected by homelessness. The researcher used two semi-structured, conversational interviews with six participants who reflected on how their classroom experiences influenced their teaching, engagement strategies, emotional states, and student relationships. The conceptual framework for this study included: Homelessness in America, public school setting, impact of homelessness, and teacher perspective. In this study, the researcher identified gaps in pre-service teacher programs with regard to supporting the marginalized population of students affected by the homeless experience. The essence of the lived experience of the participants’ in this study is centered around a teachers’ drive to seek introspective reflection and gain knowledge, along with building positive relationships with their students, which leads to increasing engagement strategies with all students, including those affected with homelessness. Based on discovering the essence of the lived experience of educators who work with homeless adolescents in a public school, the researcher has begun to fill in the missing gap of literature and potentially assist educators to be more effective in supporting this marginalized population of students. Keywords: homelessness, phenomenology, teacher perception, student relationships, trust, empathy

Understanding African American Teachers’ Perceptions of African American Students Who are Homeless

2018

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the perceptions of African American in-service teachers and their beliefs about the academic, social and emotional needs of African American students who were homeless. While research supports the importance of teacher perceptions in building the teacher-student relationship at school (Powers-Costello & Swick, 2008), this research has been limited primarily to white female preservice elementary teachers. There has been little research in the area of African American in-service elementary teachers’ perceptions of students who are impacted by homelessness due to systematic racial disparity and poverty. This study included three African American female teachers at an elementary school located in the Southeastern United States. The following questions guided this study: (1) How do African American in-service teachers in a public elementary school perceive the academic, social and emotional needs of African American students wh...

Partners for Better Practice: A Teacher for Homeless Children

2009

This paper describes the partnerships between a private accredited child development center for homeless children (the House of Tiny Treasures [HTT]), a large urban, independent school district, (Houston Independent School District [HISD]), and an urban university (the University of Houston-Downtown [UHD]) in placing a certified teacher into a school for children of the homeless. For the first time, HISD placed one of its certified early childhood teachers in this private facility so that children could experience a more seamless transition into district schools. Case study methodology is used to describe the progression of the certified teacher during her first year at the child center and examines her impact on the entity. Findings indicate that certain traits and outside support increase the likelihood of success.

Against the Unchallenged Discourse of Homelessness: Examining the Views of Early Childhood Preservice Teachers

Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 2013

This study investigated views about children experiencing homelessness held by preservice teachers in an early childhood education program. Thirteen early childhood preservice teachers were actively involved in class discussion, reading, doing class assignments, and visiting homeless shelters as community-based field experience. They were asked to participate in focus groups, and some of them also participated in individual interviews. The analysis showed that the preservice teachers viewed homelessness in a way parallel to public discourse, which neglects and stigmatizes children experiencing homelessness. They believed that those children and families would be abnormal and held stereotypes attached to the spaces they occupied. By connecting these preservice teachers' views to the dominant discourse of homelessness in U.S. society, this study addresses how early childhood educators can support preservice teachers to prepare children experiencing homelessness in their future classrooms.

That is not what homeless is: A school district’s journey toward serving homeless, doubled-up, and economically displaced children and youth.

International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2015

School districts play a key role in identifying, supporting, and educating homeless students. This qualitative case study of a school district in Northern California illustrates how district leadership serves as a bridge between federal policy and local school sites. In this case study, federal funding funneled through the state served as the incentive for the district to reeducate itself on what home- lessness is. Four themes emerged concerning the role of districts in serving homeless students: (1) serving the needs of all students includes those who are homeless; (2) state and federal policy incentives can be an important aspect of reculturing a district; (3) once a district adjusts policy, it must make concerted effort to integrate and align other aspects of other district and school site functions; and, (4) once issues of access have been addressed, districts need to consider how to support the educational success of homeless students.