My Honor's Thesis

For my Honors Program requirement, I have to do a thesis on a topic of my choice. I went through a long planning period. At first I wanted to do a paper on censorship because Dr. Stearns had influenced me with her own experiences, as well as given me a lot of ideas in ENG374. My second idea was to do a paper on multiculturalism because I was seeing the expansion of new cultures, especially Spanish, into classrooms. Then I moved onto poetry in the classroom, since so many teachers fail at doing this topic well. Finally, I landed on my thesis topic, and I was mostly influenced by AED308, where Dr. Sarver talked about the theory of constructivism. I thought that the theory truly pinpointed my philosophy of teaching. So I decided I would focus on the positive attributes of constructivism in the classroom, with specific interest in three different areas. However, I only got through one of the areas, critical thinking, before seeing my thesis was done with 23 pages. So, I did not need to delve into more. I had underestimated the power of critical thinking!

My writing process went as such: Over the December break, I did a lot of research on constructivism and critical thinking. Dr. Sarver was instrumental in lending me books on both topics, which provided to be invaluable. Also, I had learned a lot in her AED308 class as well as in my PSY332 class. Most of my research came from Paula Bobrowski's work on critical thinking, in specificity the Bellevue University Rubric for Critical Thinking. This rubric outlines critical thinking much like Bloom's Taxonomy. It lists the type of thinkers we become as we grow from the basic phase, the Egocentric Thinker, to the top phase, the Master Thinker.

Other parts of my thesis concentrate on the explanation of the different phases of the rubric, as well as how constructivism looks in the classroom, to the motivation styles constructivist teachers should use to get students to think critically.

One of my friends recently asked me if I enjoyed writing the thesis. I was ambivalent at first, because all I thought about was the hours at the computer and the desk typing and writing tirelessly. But when I thought about it, I really did enjoy the process. I learned a lot from the research I read, and the information I present will be valuable to me in my classroom. Also, I love writing, so the writing aspect was never a burden.

The hardest part of the thesis was deciding what to put in it. I did not want to be to general because the thesis was supposed to cite specific research, and a generalized paper is not informational. I am also at the difficult phase now of revision, but I am finding it to be less of a hassle than I thought.

Overall, I am relieved it is finally over, but I am glad I learned from it. :)