What motivates African-American males to succeed in middle school?
Term
Fall 9-19-2014
Capstone
Thesis
Degree Name
MAEd
Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair
Susan Manikowski
Secondary Advisor/Reader One
Robert (Bob) Richie
Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two
Julie Nelson
Abstract
The research question addressed in this project was: What motivates African-American males to succeed in middle school? It documents a teacher’s journey of interviewing African-American male students and parents of African-American males to gather their views of the education system. It also integrates information from observations conducted for two months by a master teacher who is able to motivate African-American males to buy-in to his class. Throughout this study, it was imperative to answer this research question because the researcher was once an at-promise African American male, and the main demographic he teaches is African-American students. This research is intended to be a guide for educators working with African-American males at the middle school level. This study should help close the achievement gap between African-American males and their Caucasian peers. Results conclude that educators need to build studentteacher relations, have a sense of humor, and participate in mentoring programs.
Keywords
At-risk Students, Motivation, Multicultural Education, Social Justice
Recommended Citation
Gilmer, Domonique Dejoan, "What motivates African-American males to succeed in middle school?" (2014). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations. 35.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/35