Homeless Students in Rural Oregon: A Narrative Ethnographic Study

This qualitative study explores the experiences of a little understood marginalized segment of the American population. Using a narrative ethnographic approach, I examined the perceptions and experiences of a small sample of youth ages 18-24 in rural Oregon who experienced high school while homeless. I conducted personal interviews to explore the perceived needs of homeless youth as identified by the participants and document what they consider as the predominant misconceptions surrounding their circumstances. The data analysis documented four prevailing themes common to the participants’ experience with homelessness while high school students: 1) the challenge presented by being a homeless high school student requires enormous resiliency; 2) the necessity to confront their own and others’ ambivalence about homelessness; 3) the need for practical assistance; and 4) the imperative desire for normalcy. The findings of this study shed light on how to assist rural homeless high school students as well as provides a voice to those who frequently go unheard

Game-Based Teaching Methodology and Empathy in Ethics Education

This article describes the experience of a group of educators participating in a graduate course in ethics. Playing role playing games and the work accompanying that play were the predominate methodology employed in the course. An accompanying research study investigated the lived experiences of the course participants. Themes that emerged from interview data included student engagement, participants’ applications, empathy development, and reactions to professor modeling

Game-Based Teaching Methodology and Empathy (Chapter in How Shall We Then Care? : A Christian Educator’s Guide to Caring for Self, Learners, Colleagues, and Community)

Excerpt: While ethics instruction in initial teacher education and advanced preparation in education fields is fairly common,1 less common is the particular curriculum and teaching methodology described herein. Professional educators make many daily decisions regarding curriculum, instruction, and assessment.2 A number of those decisions reflect a need for and commitment to ethical frameworks that inform professional decisionmaking. Indeed, as Shapiro and Gross point out, “The most difficult decisions to solve are ethical ones that require dealing with paradoxes and complexities.”3 Often, educators find themselves at decision points in which ethical systems seem to clash