Date of Award
Spring 2020
Degree Type
Restricted to Claremont Colleges Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Education, MA
Program
School of Educational Studies
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2020 Svetlana H FortnerHenderson
Keywords
Los Angeles, Skid Row, Undocumented, Poverty, White, Pasadena
Subject Categories
Science and Mathematics Education | Secondary Education
Abstract
Svetlana Fortner-Henderson grew up experiencing abuse, sexual assault, and drug and alcohol abuse within the home. She suffered hearing loss as a child, which impacted her education. She went to college, attended graduate school, and worked in the field of environmental toxicology and regulatory compliance. She volunteered in many capacities that influenced her calling to become an educator. She agreed to teach were she was ‘called,’ as she considers that as the implementation of ministry of social justice through science education. She teaches in a high-trauma, deep inner-city setting, where students have experienced similar types of trauma that she experienced. She follows the lives of three students that derive from various backgrounds. These backgrounds contribute to the assets, strengths, and opportunities for growth socially and academically for these students. Svetlana is able to use the tools inherent and applied to educate the three students to benefit other students that have similar opportunities for educational and social/emotional growth. Svetlana deeply reflects on the impact she has made with her students and opportunities she sees for continued personal development within the profession. During her ethography, she modifies and massages her techniques in order to extact quality and usable content, as she seeks to be an effective teacher within a high trauma and high risk school and community. She also modifies her techniques as she believes in continuous improvement of herself and the students she has chosen to work with.
Recommended Citation
Fortner-Henderson, Svetlana. (2020). Ethnographic Narrative. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 129. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/129.
