Relevant Files
Note: Upon request from the Doctoral committee, I have the latest iteration of the literature review. This latest version is much more substantive and acts on the feedback given by
Dr. Mitton.
When I reflect on the journey within the doctoral program, I consider the Problem Identification Literature Review to be my largest undertaking. Fortunately, I have had many amazing and thoughtful mentors who were willing to give up their time to support me in this endeavour. Prior to starting the doctoral program, I realized that one of the gaps I did not explore was the success around Black and Indigenous learners. While I had addressed the issue of racism and discrimination in my Master-level thesis, my participants did not identify themselves as such. Consequently, in narrowing my focus, I chose to explore the circumstances of student success for Black and African Nova Scotian learners. This was a conscious act because at my present school, there has been a sustained effort to develop an Afrocentric cohort in mathematics. As a science teacher, I believe this cohort may extend itself into the sciences. Therefore, I wanted to focus my literature review and pending dissertation on this very topic. That way, I can be equipped with appropriate, in-depth and meaningful professional development, with the hope of being prepared for future teaching.
One of the very significant teachings Dr. Mitton shared was the notion of drawing upon a diversity of perspectives. While there has been a colonization of Eurocentric voices and thoughts, these powerful forces may act as a way to diminish alternative perspectives. Consequently, prior to writing the literature review, I made a sustained effort to investigate literature from mostly Black perspectives. My first priority was to draw upon the local context. Locally, I leaned on scholarly work from multiple Black scholars (see Hamilton-Hinch et al., 2021; Mackey, 2018; Malinen & Roberts-Jeffers, 2021). For National contexts, I drew upon other Black scholars (see Codjoe, 2001, 2006; Dei, 2008). Finally, for American contexts, I utilized works from renowned scholars such as Ladson-Billings (2006, 2021). It is important to address that I limited my investigation to only Canadian-American contexts because, as Hamilton-Hinch et al. identified, the challenges faced by African Nova Scotian and Black learners are also experienced in both nations. One may need to consider the possible cultural influences shared by being geographically neighbours to one another.
During my thesis, I wrote detailed notes on how I conducted the literature review. These notes described what worked, what did not work and what I would change in the future. Positioning myself on these invaluable memos afforded me with the necessary skills to develop a preliminary working model. I leaned into the work of local Black scholars to develop some initial themes. As I conducted research by first examining the local setting, then extending outwards to National and American contexts, I continued to build the model through several iterations, branching off new ideas and perspectives as the model grew. However, because there was a very short time span of three months, I went ahead on writing the initial draft using a model that was not quite ready. However, I am quite proud of the fact that I created a usable first draft in this very short period of time. When I look back at my thesis, the literature review component took about eighteen months from research to first draft.
Artifact 1: Problem Identification Literature Review
Draft Version of the Chapter 2 Literature Review Section
EDU 9004: Dr. Jennifer Mitton, StFX
In-Depth Knowledge
Artifact 2: Submission of Journal to In Education
Submission of A Teacher's Autoethnography of Grit and Student Success in a High School Physics Classroom to the University of Regina's Open-Source Journal (In Education).
Upon completing my defence of the Master-level thesis in June 2023, I purposely sought out ways to mobilize my research to appropriate knowledge users. This process began immediately after the PhD Summer Institute in July 2023. In beginning the process, I sought advice from my former committee members. They provided me with advice and pointed me into several directions. Due to this invaluable feedback, I chose to opt for a Canadian open-sourced journal—In Education. The rationale for choosing an open-sourced journal was primarily due to not having a doctoral candidate title, in addition to maximizing my chances of having my submission accepted. Because I spent a great deal of time, energy and focus in making sure my research was accessible to all knowledge users of varying abilities, I did not want my work to collect dust and end up in some sort of archive. Therefore, in addition to actively communicating tools and strategies to support learners (see Theme 4 Artifact 2; coded T4A2), putting my research into a journal was very important to me.
In November 2023, I received an email from the Editors-in-Chief from In Education regarding administrative changes which resulted in a backlog of submissions within the system. As of April 2024, I am still waiting on a double-blind review for this journal submission.
Thorough and detailed knowledge of a range of issues in their specific doctoral focus area theme(s).