"""A Voice for the Voiceless"" African American Student Engagement with Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools"
Like generations before, the 21st century teacher has been tasked with the challenge to educate students of varying experiences, opportunities, and motivations. It is interesting how motivation, particularly lack of motivation, impacts the educational aspirations of schoolchildren. This research examines student motivation, particularly from the vantage point or perspective of African American youth. It relies extensively on the testimonials of African American schoolchildren to understand how their experiences in Freedom Schools influence their engagement in the program. Seeking to identify African American students’ motivation for engagement, the study will also pinpoint aspects of schooling that encourage and/or discourage their engagement, as well as explain their responses to school experiences, and offer their interpretation of engagements that have produced success in their educational attainment. The project will interview children enrolled in the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools program in an effort to provide a voice for the voiceless students that much of the existing literature has omitted. The evidence collected will increase teacher’s awareness of potential obstacles and barriers that confront students who appear to lack motivation or appropriate aspirations. Using this discussion on African American student motivation for academic achievement will also yield recommendations on what students believe they need in order to achieve. This study is designed to engage students in a discussion that will allow them to unpack their justification for what drives their engagement and dispel any myths regarding African American students’ feelings and motivation toward academic achievement.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign