Readers theater : effect of fluency, comprehension, and attitudes toward reading in middle school students with mild-to-moderate disabilities

This study investigated the impact of Readers Theater on reading fluency, reading comprehension, and attitude toward reading in middle school students with mild-to-moderate disabilities. All fourteen participants in this research were students in one special day classroom who read below grade level. Quantitative measures for this pre-experimental research were obtained by comparing pre-test and post-test scores from three nationally-normed assessment instruments. The independent variable in each case was Readers Theater. The dependent variables of reading fluency and reading comprehension yielded interval data and were analyzed using paired samples t-tests. The dependent variable of attitude toward reading was further broken down into three separate categories: attitude toward recreational reading, attitude toward academic reading, and overall attitude toward reading. The design of the attitude survey incorporated a 4-point Likert scale yielding nonparametric data that was an alyzed using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs test. Results revealed statistically significant growth in reading fluency and in one aspect of attitude toward reading over the six-week intervention period. Specifically, the research revealed increases in the number of correct words read per minute and in attitude toward recreational reading among the participants. Although increases were seen across all measures, a statistical difference was not seen in scores for reading comprehension, attitude toward academic reading, and overall attitude toward reading over the course of the study. Results from this investigation imply that Readers Theater has the potential to increase both reading fluency scores and enjoyment of reading in struggling middle school students with mild-to-moderate disabilities

Photojournalism : a critical analysis of training and practices in Southern Africa for training purposes

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of Master of Arts in Fine Arts.My thesis examines current photojoumallstic practice in Southern Africa In this examination, I introduce ways to improve existing training initiatives by incorporating critical practice into an otherwise technical education. I use 'photojoumalistic' occasions as a way of showing how a critical understanding of a situation can change the way photographs are taken and, later, read. Three specific aspects of critical practice are introduced to organise the examples into a creative and relevant learning experience. Firstly, visual literacy is introduced as a basis for learning how to read the many possible meanings of a photograph. Representation is the second aspect of critical practice. Here, the discussion focuses on specifically representations of race. Further discussions include gender and 'Culture'. Thirdly, ethics emphasises the notion of 'right action' and the (highly contested) responsibilities associated with critical practice. My contention is that photographers will be better equipped to understand and photograph the transformation processes of Southern Africa if their education incorporates a familiarity with, and articulation about, critical practice. Thus, 'photographers can be more active participants in the creation of a debate-based democratic society.Andrew Chakane 201

Directing The Dream Continues: The History of the Civil Rights Movement A Readers Theatre Oral History Play

This project is about my directing a Readers Theatre play about the Civil Rights Movement. It covers the period from 1619 to the present. The script is written by Professor Bobby Funk of the Theatre and Dance Department of ETSU. I have only been in several plays and that as an actor. This will be first my first experience as a director. As this is my first time, I will endeavor to relate an exact as possible account of this experience. I will in my first chapter tell you about the play, the characters, and my research in preparing for the project. I have kept a journal of the things that occurred during the audition process and rehearsals. Finally, I will report on the culmination of all these steps, what worked and what did not

Our Paper 10/1992

https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/our_paper_sac/1104/thumbnail.jp

English Godly Art of Dying Manuals, c. 1590-1625

Five examples of English Art of Dying literature from the period 1590-1625 are examined in this thesis. The rhetorical strategies of these texts are explored in detail, to demonstrate the means by which an activity, of death preparation, and a concept, of 'good' or 'godly' dying, are invented and made compelling to readers. An introductory chapter discusses the problems of classifying works in the Art of Dying genre, and the limitations of a strictly historical mode of analysis. Reasons are given for the decision to use rhetorical theory as a central analytical framework. The first chapter examines an exemplary deathbed narrative. Stubbes' portrayal of his dying wife in A Christal Glasse (1591) helps to establish a Protestant discipline of 'godly' dying, which combines elements of exemplary martyrdom with an older tradition of diabolic deathbed drama. The mirror image of Stubbes' title indicates that godly Art of Dying literature is intended to be used for self-reflection and imitation. In the central three chapters, the Art of Dying is considered as a godly regimen, created and conducted through printed manuals. Godly divines William Perkins, Nicholas Byfield and Samuel Crooke use various rhetorical methods to incite, regulate and suppress readers' emotions regarding the prospect of death. A final chapter returns to the use of personal examples in death preparation literature. Ward's Faith in Death (1622) collates the dying words of martyrs from Foxe's Acts and Monuments to invite readers' active contemplation of their own deaths. With 'lively' rhetoric, this text narrows the gap between celebrated and ordinary believers. It presents godly dying as an energetic, vocal, demonstrative act of testimony. In conclusion, the thesis finds that godly Art of Dying literature directs the way readers imagine death and so prompts active, emotional and behavioural responses

The limits and powers of the technological text

This thesis examines the implications for text and subject of the digital technology of hypertext. Focussing on the printed texts of Alasdair Gray, it explores the complex relationship between humans and technology depicted in his fictions. Gray’s fictional examples provide the basis for a wider discussion regarding the impact of technology upon the lives of the subjects who engage with it and in particular who engages with the technologies of writing. It aims to illustrate how digital technologies of writing can be considered in light of some of the textual concerns raised by fiction and criticism in the late age of print, notably issues of narrative theory and the cultural function of linear stories and histories. Straining in many respects against the limitations of the printed form, Gray’s boundary-pushing texts, whilst remaining firmly rooted in the aesthetic tradition of the book as object, perhaps anticipate a more flexible textual form. The digital space of hypertext can be seen to offer a new arena for the textual debate, but does it live up to the claims of some of its critics, particularly in terms of its rapport with aspects of contemporary theory? And what may be the consequences of text dematerialised in the digital medium? As well as considering the textual possibilities of hypertext, the thesis also looks at the ways in which subjects relate to technology as well as those by which technology – and particularly writing technology – relates to them. Given the ambiguous role of technology in the life of the subject – employed on the one hand as part of a project and promise of rational enlightenment through science and on the other as a military and ideological means of repression – the consequences of technological development and of the digital revolution for the written word must be closely considered. Finally, the thesis questions the types of texts that may be constructed through an engagement with the digital technology of hypertext and what types of subjects these in turn might construct

Community Pride Reporter, 09/1997

https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cpr/1047/thumbnail.jp

Abstracts: HASTAC 2017: The Possible Worlds of Digital Humanities

The document contains abstracts for HASTAC 2017