Celebrating Diversity in Urban Areas: Embracing Current Events at the Intersection of Social Consciousness and Restorative Practices

Background: Students in urban areas experience great diversity in schools. The data state that 27% of urban students identify as White, 22% as Black, 37% as Hispanic, and 7% as Asian American-Pacific Islander. It is undeniable that diverse, urban demographics play a role in the development of children. Despite the diversity amongst urban students, one alarming trend is the rising amount of hate crimes within a K-12 setting. In 2020, about 1.3 million students, ages 12 to 18, were bullied for their race, religion, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Purpose: The purpose of this self-study was to examine the process to create a curriculum that is reflexive in nature, authentically connected to current events, and includes discourse as a generator for social consciousness in students via restorative practices. Using John Dewey’s theory of social consciousness, the researcher examined how educators can foster social consciousness through current events with a restorative lens. Research Question: How can an administrator create curriculum which utilizes current events with a restorative practice lens to foster social consciousness in students? Method: To maximize the data sets that were collected throughout this study, the researcher included a field journal and self-questioning. The field journal documented the steps required to create such a curriculum, as well as the moments of ease or challenges faced by the researcher. When it came to self-questioning, the researcher conducted three self-interviews to reflect on key moments in the process. The self-interviews occurred before the beginning of the journey of curriculum development, the mid-point of the curriculum development process, and after the research was completed and the curriculum was developed. Findings: The researcher identified the restorative elements of the curriculum as the highlight. Drafting questions for students to engage in discourse and literacy with a restorative lens allowed the researcher to feel a sense of pride in the curriculum. The ethical considerations regarding the curriculum material were the largest challenge. The researcher discovered that locating current events in the last five years with reliable publishers was a lengthier process than initially expected, exceeding the planned allocated time. Conclusion: The self-study determined that a literacy-based restorative curriculum rooted in recent and reliable current events is a catalyst for social consciousness in students. The researcher proposes that administrators and teachers leverage the curriculum as a source of restorative practice in secondary schools as a way to decrease hate speech amongst urban students.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Professional Leadership, Education

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Swearingen, Hope Danielle 1988-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hutchison, Laveria

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Li, Miao
• Reis, Nancy
• Thomas, Dustine

• Education--Curricula

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/20630

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/20630