William Franke on Secular Scriptures: Modern Theological Poetics in the Wake of Dante

In this podcast, Chris Benda, theological librarian at Vanderbilt Divinity Library, interviews Professor William Franke about his book Secular Scriptures: Modern Theological Poetics in the Wake of Dante. Joining the conversation is Chance Woods, a doctoral candidate in English using Franke's book in an Introduction to Poetry class

Amy-Jill Levine on Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons

In this podcast, Chris Benda, theological librarian at Vanderbilt Divinity Library, interviews Professor Amy-Jill Levine about her book Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons, coauthored with Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and illustrated by Margaux Meganck

CAPSTONE ELL Portfolio

Teaching and Learning Department Capstone ProjectIn this ELL Portfolio, I demonstrate my expertise and knowledge gained from learning in this program, sustaining my theoretical understanding and application to practice for working with English Language Learners. Through the reflection upon educational literatures, the coursework and experience working with students, I build on my professionalism and commitment in teaching and learning. This portfolio contains three sections: (1) my philosophy of teaching (2) professional knowledge of the TESOL domains supported by artifacts of my coursework and (3) my reflection on application to practice, including implications of the collection of work and vision of my future development. In the first part, I discuss the conceptual framework and educational literatures that most influence me as a teacher in working with future English language learners. In second part, I provide artifacts of my work demonstrating my professional knowledge in the following domains: planning, instructing, assessing, identity and context, learning, content, commitment and professionalism. I explain my interpretation of these domains and discuss how the artifacts I provide relate to the specific domain in terms of four aspects: (1) learners and learning, (2) the learning environment, (3) curriculum and (4) assessment. In the final part, I discuss the ways in which I bridge between theories and practice in my future class, including opportunities and challenges as well as the possible solutions. Also, I point out the directions in which I will keep developing professional knowledge in future practice.Department of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen

Portrait of a Grandmother

English Department Honors Thesis.Vanderbilt UniversityEnglish DepartmentCollege of Arts and Scienc

Designing the Future: Education for a Master Planned Community in an Innovative and Choice-Filled Landscape

Leadership Policy and Organizations Department capstone projectThe Sterling Ranch Development Company is developing 3,400 acres of land in Douglas County, Colorado. This open range along the Colorado Rocky Mountains will be home to 40,000 people and 12,000 homes at its full development. Knowing that education plays a central role in anchoring the values and cohesion of a community, the developers have sought an intentional relationship with Peabody College to inform their design for an “educational ecosystem” that will include schools, shared facilities, and community partners. The development is centered on sustainable building practices and community development that can serve as a model for responsible stewardship and technological innovation in other master planned communities. The larger education context surrounding this development encompasses a high-choice, innovative school district in the midst of an affluent, fiscally conservative community. This study is a mixed methods study, utilizing qualitative focus group interviews, a community survey, and field visits to model schools of innovation across the country. This study seeks to address the following questions: 1. How does the high choice landscape of Douglas County influence parents’ preferences, priorities, and activities regarding the education of their children? 2. What is the role of innovation in education and how is it perceived by community members? 3. Given the findings of questions 1 and 2, what models of educational innovation might inform the master plan for the educational ecosystem at Sterling Ranch?Department of Leadership Policy and OrganizationsPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen

An Explanatory Model of First Year Retention: Application and Adaptation of Braxton, Doyle, Hartley, Hirschy, Jones & McLendon's Rethinking College Student Retention

Leadership Policy and Organizations Department capstone projectOn average, more than a quarter of all entering first-time, full-time students do not return to their institution for a second year. One in five fail to persist at all. Yet, “of the 45 percent of students who start college and fail to complete their degree, less than one-quarter are dismissed for poor academic performance. Most leave for other reasons” (Kuh, et al., 2006). Central Methodist University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with its residential undergraduate enrollment of 1,900 students and a first-year retention rate of 66%, is emblematic of hundreds of small to mid-sized liberal arts colleges and bachelor-degree granting universities dotting the landscape of higher education. Based heavily but not exclusively on Braxton, et al.’s Rethinking College Student Retention (2014), this study focuses on Central Methodist University against which established theory is applied in search of pragmatic, actionable strategies supportive of student retention.Department of Leadership Policy and OrganizationsPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen

“Detroit ‘Polar Bears’ in the Land of Lice and Snow: The American Soldier Experience in North Russia, 1918 – 1919”

History Department Honors Thesis, 2017. Awarded: Highest HonorsThis thesis examines the experience of American soldiers serving in North Russia in 1918 – 1919, an expedition often referred to as an offshoot of World War One. It bases its conclusions by utilizing the comprehensive Polar Bear Expedition Collections archive at the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library. The thesis uses this extensive primary source base to identify common themes and describe the soldier experience in a confused and ultimately failed military intervention. This focus on a relatively unexplored military mission places the thesis in a larger genre which examines the experience of American soldiers on the ground. It also readjusts the standard twentieth century American interventionism timeline.Department of HistoryCollege of Arts and Scienc

Understanding the Doctorate of Medicine/Master of Education Joint Degree: An Examination of Students’ Development as Future Medical Educators

Teaching and Learning Department capstone projectThe increasing complexity of the healthcare system has spurned a profound reconceptualization of physician training, placing an increased value on physicians with educational expertise. Consequently, medical education has evolved into a more prominent professional focus within the field, pushing some physicians to seek additional training through masters programs in Health Professional Education. As the development of physician educators enters the medical school level by way of the Doctor of Medicine/Masters of Education (MD/MEd) joint degree, we must assess the program’s ability to develop future medical educators capable of responding to the field’s needs. In this capstone, I examine the collective experience of the MD and MEd programs using a competency-based framework, stakeholder interviews, and my own lived experience to gauge the program’s capacity to develop future medical educators. Stakeholders viewed the framework’s competencies as both appropriate and congruent with their independent characterization of educators. Stakeholder interviews and tiered mapping of the curricular experience to the competency framework identified seven competency domains within which students could appropriately develop by understanding theoretical foundations and applying them within authentic activities supported by reflective practices. This analysis also highlighted the current divorce between the theoretical learning occurring within Peabody and the authentic activities present in the medical school. Coupling theoretical development at Peabody with authentic practices in Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) could tremendously enhance student development. These natural alignments can occur by leveraging spaces for authentic practice as field sites within Peabody courses. Finally, as future medical educators, MD/MEd students require knowledge of the field’s history and present landscape, which nether program presently provides. These considerations would bolster the professional development of MD/MEd students while cultivating a rich environment for bi-directional learning between Peabody and VUSM and generating novel possibilities for future work.Department of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen

English Language Learners Capstone Project

Teaching and Learning Department capstone projectThis capstone explores the connections between a personal teaching philosophy and the five domains of the TESOL standards. The philosophy centers around a culturally inclusive, educational advocacy based approach to teaching English Language Learners (ELLs). The subsequent breakdown of the five domains explores how these principles can be applied through teachers’ understandings of language, culture, planning, assessment, and professionalism. An emphasis is placed on strategies that best benefit ELL students, including metalingual approaches to designing lesson plans, educational advocacy through community and political engagement, and authentic assessment practices that serve to close current achievement gaps. The concluding reflection aims to bridge these theoretical claims with plans for future practice.Department of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen

Capstone English Language Learners Portfolio

Teaching and Learning Department capstone projectThis English Language Learners portfolio demonstrates the in-depth professional knowledge that I have learned from my two years of study in the English Language Learners program at the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Synthesizing with what I have learned through coursework, student teaching experience, fieldtrips, and classroom observations, I present my own interpretation and understanding of teaching English as a foreign language. This portfolio consists of three sections: 1) Philosophy of Teaching, 2) TESOL Standards, and 3) Implications, Challenges, and New Directions. In the first section of the portfolio, I discuss the overarching teaching philosophy that forms my teaching style. In the second section of the portfolio, I list the eight domains of the TESOL Standards: (1) Planning, (2) Instructing, (3) Assessing, (4) Identity and Context, (5) Language Proficiency, (6) Learning, (7) Content, and (8) Commitment and Professionalism. I then provide artifacts as examples to reflect my mastery in these standards by specifically focusing on learners and learning, learning environment, curriculum, and assessment. Finally, in the third section of the portfolio, I discuss the goals that I plan to achieve in my future practice, identify the challenges that I may encounter and suggest the ways of tackling them, and outline the direction for my continual professional developmentDepartment of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen