Family Updates

In case you didn't get our holiday card, visit our online holiday card. Campbell Holiday 2018.

These are some wonderful pictures taken by my brother-in-law. These were actually taken in front of our wonderful home (our neighbor's home is in the background). I love this pic of Murad and me. We will celebrate 10 years of marriage in March 2019.

I absolutely love these three children. Abigail Lynn (17), Joel Tariq (7.5), & Lena Elise (3.75-- 4 in February).

New Year

I don't really do New Year's resolutions, but I do have overall goals for the New Year. On the 26th day of 2019, I'll turn 37. Let that sink in. I feel like I'm closer and closer to the woman I want to be, but still have a ways to go before I hit 40. Here are some of my goals:

Become Financially Secure
Last year, my husband worked a great job financially. Instead of saving like we should've, we pretty much blew right through it. Then my husband lost his job in August and we went into major debt. Like we're having to dig ourselves out of huge hole. He makes more money than I do, so it was hard to shoulder all the expenses for the past five months. Luckily, my husband is now gainfully employed, but we will spend the first part of 2019 paying off debt and saving.

Travel
That  being said, I do hope we get to travel this summer. We'll go to Colorado at the end of July for my final summer seminar in my doctoral program. Abi and I are taking a service trip with the UU Youth in June. Usually, they go to New Orleans, but I think this year we may go to Houston. UU GA is also this summer in Spokane, Washington, but I'm not sure if I'll get to go. I'm really, really hoping we can spring another summer trip to Disneyland. I know we won't be able to stay on site like we did two summers ago (prices have jumped), but I so wanna go! That was hands-down the best vacation we've taken as a family. Now that we're a family of five, I'd really for Abi to go.

Live Healthier
I need to get back on the healthy eating and exercise train. I know what I need to do, but I just need to do it. It's so hard being a doctoral student, mom, full-time worker, wife, etc. As I inch closer to 40, I need to take my health into consideration.

And those are my major goals. What are you looking forward to in 2019? What are you dreading?

MLK + UU

Over the break, I've made time to read for pleasure, but mostly to learn more of the history of the UU faith and the church's relationship with African-American's.

I bought a book on Kindle called Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism by Mark Morrison-Reed. It's interesting to read about early Black UUs (Unitarians, prior to becoming UU) and how this liberal religion has consistently missed the mark in creating a truly multicultural community. However, I do have hope for a more inclusive future. I think as we close the achievement gap, we'll see more diversity within the UU church.

I read this article that examined the possibility of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a UU. In fact, Dr. King and Coretta Scott King both thought of becoming UU, but noted that, it would not help to build the Civil Rights Movement. "What surprised and saddened me most was what she said next. Though I am paraphrasing, the gist of it was this: 'We gave a lot of thought to becoming Unitarian at one time, but Martin and I realized we could never build a mass movement of black people if we were Unitarian.'"

As I mentioned before, UU intrigued me because of its open support of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights. However, as I learn more about the church, I realize that it is full of issues that mirror any other church or house of worship. I do think that the more we look to the past in our search for truth, we'll be able to make the church a diverse place. Murad and I are starting the path to membership for our current church. We are excited for our family to officially become UU members. 

Anyways, here's a link to the article about MLK + UU.

What it means to be UU

As many of you know, Murad and I attend a UU church. Most people are not quite sure what to make of UU, but for us it makes perfect sense. Murad was raised Muslim and I was raised Protestant (Lutheran). Neither one of those faiths worked for us, and for Murad it was important that remained Muslim. I maintained my Lutheran identity and even had my children baptized as Lutheran. However, as I became a mother, I didn't feel comfortable raising them Lutheran or Muslim. My car accident really changed my perception of religion, and so I visited a UU church periodically. I typically attended alone, but I started bringing Murad and the children. When Abi moved in with us in March, I knew that we had to be part of the UU church. We are now going through the membership process and our children are actively involved in Religious Education. I'm so happy my children will be 1st generation UUs, and I hope that if they have children, they will raise them as UUs.

Murad and I recently became involved with a growing organization called BLUU (Black Lives of UU). We completed a living history project in which we detailed our journey into UU. I won't share the project here, but I am so proud of how it turned out. Through it all, it helped me to solidify my beliefs and my hopes for my little family.

• We desire for our family members to be loving, accepting, compassionate individuals who seek truth and light.
• We desire to develop, maintain, and share our pride in our Blackness and our UU faith.
• We desire to connect with other Black UUs.
  

I'm including a link to a great article on visiting a UU church.

Looking for more: Why visiting a Unitarian Universalist church matters

Fall Semester 2018 is done!

I got straight A's again!

This semester was great and I'm excited by the work I produced. Click here to see my completed projects: Recent Projects. 

• In my Qualitative Case Study course, I worked on a group project with three other members of my cohort. We examined writing in mathematics. We are now looking to publish our study, Multiple Case Study Examining Teacher Application and Perceptions of Incorporating Writing Strategies in Mathematics, in a refereed journal.
• In my Social Justice in Education course, I completed a staff development project on School Social Workers. I also wrote a paper on the concerns of Muslim students in American schools.

During the school year I also worked as a GRA for Dr. Ku. I mostly edited drafts that he prepared to submit for publication. However, I just started working on a literature review with him and a colleague on teacher quality.

Next semester, I'll have Dr. Ku for a technology in education course, and I will also take a literacy as social practice course. This doctoral journey has been pretty amazing so far. I feel like I'm learning so much, and able to apply it to my job as a program specialist. In turn, my job as a program specialist guides my research. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to my dissertation topic too. I'm excited as it combines my current work in SEL with Womanist theory. More on that later as I still have a whole year before I take comps and submit my dissertation proposal.

It's been a long time...

I shouldn't have left you...

My first year of doctoral study is officially under my belt. Woo-hoo! As you can tell, I spent most of the year busy with classes, being a wife, and mother of 3. Yes 3! More on that later! Here are some of the highs and the lows of 2017-18!

Summer 2017
In July of 2017, we went to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Immediately after we got back to Texas, we hopped in the car and headed to Loveland, Colorado for my first doctoral seminar. The seminar was great. The first day as a student, we met one of the professors in the program. We would be our professor for the rest of the week. We also attended a library orientation and new doctoral student orientation. In the afternoon, we watched the cohort ahead of us present their History of Education Reform poster project and the cohort two years ahead of us present their Curriculum Theorist projects. The rest of the week, our cohort worked on research article critiques.
The highlight of the week was bonding of with my cohort. We have a great group and we all really support each other. I definitely could not have gotten through the program without them!

Fall 2017
I took Introduction to Research Literature and Statistical Methods I online. Statistics kicked my butt, but I made it out with a B, so I'm fine with that! Research Literature was an interesting course. I was able to make a literature review on multiracial students and their educational experiences.

Spring 2018
I took Philosophical Foundations of Education and Qualitative Research Methods online. I really enjoyed my philosophy class as the readings caused me to think outside of the box in regards to education and reform. I also had to create a school based on the theories of a philosopher of education. For my qualitative research course, I conducted a research study with three of the other members of my cohort on code-switching among upper elementary students. Although, we got an A on the project, our professor didn't think that we really examined code-switching (which was ironic, since he said he'd never heard of code-switching prior to our study). Nevertheless, we are going to submit our study for publication in our department's journal.

During this spring, my stepdaughter testified against her mother in court and asked to come live with us. So, in March she came to live with us permanently. We've adjusted very well to having a 16 year old (yes 16!). Honestly, I can't imagine life without her!

Summer 2018
This summer, we spent our summer vacation in New Jersey. We took the kids to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania and to the Jersey Shore (Ocean City). This year we had two weeks instead of two days from our vacation until traveling to Loveland again.
This summer I took Social Theories of Learning and Organizational Change (Sociology of Education) and History of Education Reform. It was a lot to cram into 6 weeks of class, but I thoroughly enjoyed the readings for the class. The final project for my History of Education Reform class was a poster presentation during our doctoral seminar. The format for the doctoral seminar was pretty much the same as last summer, except this summer my cohort presented our posters.
One cool thing our cohort did was create t-shirts based on our time together last summer. We wore them on our last day of the seminar. It really was so good for us all to be together again! During this time, I got to meet my mentor for my graduate research assistant. I also decided to add a doctoral minor in Applied Statistics & Research Methods (Qualitative Methods).

Fall 2018
What's in store for Fall 2018?
I have a Graduate Research Assistantship with a professor in the Educational Technology department. the assistantship pays for 1/2 of my tuition and a stipend. I'm hoping to look at online learning and social-emotional learning.
I'm taking Social Justice in Education Reform and Qualitative Case Study this fall online. For my qualitative case study class I hope to investigate math teachers who use writing to learn methods and how they perceive themselves as writers.
The AATC (American Association for Teaching and Curriculum) conference will be in Dallas this October. Two of my cohort members are presenting their research from our Qualitative Research Methods course.

Projects
To view any of the research projects mentioned here. Please visit my website Ashlea Campbell Writing - Recent Work

What am I reading?

Lots of Research and lots of Stats! Stats is really kicking my butt this semester. This fall, I'm enrolled in Introduction to Research Literature and Statistical Methods I. The majority of my reading revolves around this. However, I am starting to read on topics related to my possible dissertation topic and other areas of interest:

• Critical Mixed Race Studies in Education
• Cultural Competence
• Social Emotional Learning

Here are some things I'm reading related to Critical Mixed Race Studies in Education:

• A qualitative analysis of multiracial students' experiences with prejudice and discrimination in college. Journal of College Student Development -Museus, et. al
• Understanding the identities of mixed-race college students through a developmental ecology lens. Journal of College Student Development -Renn
• Mixed-race youth and schooling: the fifth minority -Winn Tutwiler
• Coping with the crickets: a fusion autoethnography of silence, schooling, and the continuum of biracial identity formation. International Journal of Qualititative Studies in Education -Mawhinney & Petchauer
• Adolescent Racial Identity: SelfIdentification of Multiple and “Other” Race/ Ethnicities Urban Education -Harris, Ravert, &Sullivan

The following is an annotated bibliography of things I read over the summer or in the past couple of months:

Christensen, L. (2000). Reading, writing, and rising up: Teaching about social justice and the power of the written word. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools.

This book is mostly pedagogy related to literacy and social justice. While Christensen did not conduct any formal research on her students, her students’ experiences and classwork are the inspiration for her curriculum. The research she includes coordinates with the lessons, and the student work brings the ideas to life.  This book was written seventeen years ago, and while it has been revised it would be nice to see more of a connection to current standards, as well as a connection to the standards that Teaching Tolerance has developed regarding teaching about social justice.

Hallman, H.L. (2007). Reassigning the identity of the pregnant and parenting student. American Secondary Education.  36 (1), 80-98.

Hallman sought to explore the role a school for pregnant and parenting teens plays in not only the academic aspects of their lives, but also the social aspects as well. Teachers at the school Hallman observed often used various aspects of literacy to build students’ academic, parenting and social skills. Though reading, writing, discussion, and experiential education, students developed their identity which Hallman posits is fluid and never fully finished (83). However, the students Hallman observe had differing responses when asked if they felt the parenting school should focus more on parenting skills or building community and support. While Hallman’s study explores the identity development of parenting students, more research needs to be done to dispel or confirm the assumption that separate schools for parenting teens are often remedial.

Jones Thomas, A., Hacker, J.D., Hoxha, D. (2011). Gendered identity of black young women. Sex Roles. 64 (7-8), 530-542.

Jones Thomas, Hacker & Hoxha seek to explore the experience and identity development of Black adolescent women. They cite previous research on the topic which focuses largely on Black identity development beginning with superficial ideals, negative feelings towards one race and finally resulting in positive self-esteem. They note the incorporation of Africentric values and how they positively affect one’s racial identity development. However, the researchers sought to look at gendered racial identity and how it is different and affects young black women. In a focus group of fifteen young women between the ages of 15-22, the researchers asked a series of questions concerning gendered racial identity such as, “what does it mean to be African-American (or of your ethnicity)?” This was followed by, “what does it mean to be a woman?” The follow up questions focused on how their identities formed and changed. Several themes emerged as a result of the study: gendered racial identity, early awareness of racism, beauty standards, and self-determination. While the open-ended questions may be beneficial for older participants, the younger high school students may struggle to identify and articulate their feelings regarding gendered racial identity. The study did highlight the need for “programs that promote resilience, self-determination and Africentric values for African-American girls and adolescents.”

Museus, S. D., Sariñana, S.,A.Lambe, Yee, A. L., & Robinson, T. E. (2016). A qualitative analysis of multiracial students' experiences with prejudice and discrimination in college. Journal of College Student Development, 57(6), 680-697.

In this study, Museus, Sariñana, Lambe, Yee and Robinson sought to understand the unique racial discrimination multiracial students experience in college. They hope to close the gap in research literature related to mixed-race college students’ experiences. The results of the study brought about major themes:

·       Racial essentialization

·       Invalidation of racial identities

·       External imposition of racial identities

·       Racial exclusion and marginalization

·       Challenges to racial authenticity

·       Exoticization

·       Pathologizing of multiracial individuals

While there were some limitations to the study including generalization particularly due to sample size, the results paved the way for new studies in the field of critical mixed race studies in higher education. The researchers also note that while this was a qualitative study, future studies may lend themselves better to a quantitative format.

Renn, K. A. (2003). Understanding the identities of mixed-race college students through a developmental ecology lens. Journal of College Student Development, 44(3), 383-403.

Renn uses an ecological theoretical framework to explore how environmental factors influence mixed-race identity and racial identification. More specifically, Renn also sought to answer the question: what individual traits and developmentally instigative characteristics lead some students to one pattern of identity and some to one or more others? Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model (1995), the author explores how racial identity develops in college. Renn chose this model due to the fact that it could be used to examine the experiences of a variety of students, but also notes that it does not “capture the evolution of identities across time.” Nevertheless, the results of this study which was broken into two parts including a focus group and individual interview show how students self-identify and what processes and experiences in higher education led to this identity.