One first grade teacher\u27s experience with a literature-based reading series: A look at her first year

The purpose of this study was to examine a first-grade, rural school teacher\u27s use of a newly adopted literature-based reading series. The goal was not only to see how she used the materials but to also examine any struggles she experienced during her first year with a literature-based series. The participant/observer spent one day a week for an entire school year observing the teacher\u27s reading class and interviewing the teacher at regular intervals. It was apparent in the interviews that this teacher had a positive attitude toward many aspects of the new series and believed that she had changed her methods and beliefs of teaching reading. However, classroom observations revealed that in fact she modified the materials to meet her epistemology. Although prior studies support that the literature based basals are significantly different from previous editions, a change in reading instruction will only occur with greater teacher guidance

Behavioral Issues, Self-Esteem Struggles, Retention, and More: The Portrayal of Book Characters with Dyslexia

This study examined children’s and adolescent trade books portraying school-age characters with dyslexia. All of the books are contemporary realistic fiction, geared to elementary and adolescent readers, and published in the United States between 1993 and 2003. After an extensive search, seventy-two books were located. An analysis of the characters’ strengths and difficulties is discussed. Also behavioral characteristics and self-esteem struggles are noted. Furthermore, the article addresses the issue of grade retention and the history of characters’ family members with dyslexia

Pictorial/Oral and Written Responses of First Grade Students: Can Aesthetic Growth Be Measured?

Reader-response research (Galda, 1983; Many, 1992; Wiseman, Many, and Altieri, 1992) continues to provide in sight into the complex responses of children. From this perspective, each reading event is viewed as a transaction between the reader and text (Rosenblatt, 1978). Meaning is not inherent within the text or reader but rather created by the reader who uses the cues provided by the text

African-American Stories and Literary Responses: Does a Child\u27s Ethnicity Affect the Focus of a Response?

The importance of using multicultural books with children has become of increasing concern to the educational community. Within the past year multiculturalism has been the focus of articles in many important shapers and reflectors of public opinion including Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, The Atlantic Monthly and The New Republic (Taxel, 1992). A criticism frequently found in such writing is the lack of multicultural books published. During a three-year period in the 1960s only four-fifths of one percent of the books published dealt with contemporary black Americans (Larrick, 1965). Even though the situation has slightly improved for all minority cultures, the percentage of books published about people of color continues to remain between one and two percent (Bishop, 1992). The most dramatic increase has been in the number of quality African-American books produced. In the last ten years, seven of the Caldecott Award winners or Honor Books contained African-American characters

African-American Stories and Literary Responses: Does a Child\u27s Ethnicity Affect the Focus of a Response?

The importance of using multicultural books with children has become of increasing concern to the educational community. Within the past year multiculturalism has been the focus of articles in many important shapers and reflectors of public opinion including Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, The Atlantic Monthly and The New Republic (Taxel, 1992). A criticism frequently found in such writing is the lack of multicultural books published. During a three-year period in the 1960s only four-fifths of one percent of the books published dealt with contemporary black Americans (Larrick, 1965). Even though the situation has slightly improved for all minority cultures, the percentage of books published about people of color continues to remain between one and two percent (Bishop, 1992). The most dramatic increase has been in the number of quality African-American books produced. In the last ten years, seven of the Caldecott Award winners or Honor Books contained African-American characters

The Role of Children\u27s Literature in One Rural Town\u27s Elementary School: A Case Study

Although researchers and theorists have shown the value of using literature in the curriculum (Huck, Hepler, and Hickman, 1987; Norton, 1993), studies show that the use of children\u27s literature in the classroom is not as common as one might think (Blass and Jurenka, 1989-1990; Morrow, 1982). One study suggests that teacher location may be related to the use of literature-based instruction (Lehman, Allen, and Freeman 1990). This study found that teachers in rural areas were less confident about teaching with literature without the benefit of a published reading program than urban and subur ban teachers. Rural teachers were also much more likely to feel that lists of recommended children\u27s books for each grade level were important

From McGuffey Readers to Taking Notes on the Sermon: Literacy Experiences in a Catholic Home Schooling Group

This study looks at the literacy practices of a Catholic home schooling group located in the Pacific North West. Semistructured interviews conducted with each parent in the home schooling group comprised the primary data source. Researchers have called for more research looking at specific teaching practices of such individuals (Cizek &Ray, 1995; Knafle &Wescott 1994) involved with home schooling. Findings of this study revealed that reading aloud was important to all parents. Benefits cited by parents included immediate feedback for children, ability to pace themselves as necessary, and the opportunity to tailor lessons to individual child

Pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions on the integration of children’s literature in mathematics teaching and learning in Ireland

The beneficial role that children’s literature plays in facilitating the meaningful integration and advancement of literacy and numeracy in the primary mathematics classroom has been well validated by research findings internationally. In Ireland, supporting the development of literacy and numeracy is a key educational priority. Consequently, a myriad of policy initiatives such as the Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life strategy have been introduced. All aim to address concerns about young people’s lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills and to consider new teaching and learning modalities to enhance same. Despite this, no official emphasis is given to incorporating literature in the Irish primary school mathematics curriculum. Therefore, it is pertinent and timely that this study seeks to ascertain pre-service and in-service teachers’ views on the use of literature to support mathematics teaching and learning and to investigate perceived barriers to and enablers for the integration of children’ literature in the mathematics classroom in Ireland. The analysis of the findings will be framed using Ajzen (1991)’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model. This research is part of a large international research collaboration (see www.mathsthroughstories.org), in which the beliefs of teachers with respect to children’s literature are investigated

Climate drives the geography of marine consumption by changing predator communities

Este artículo contiene 7 páginas, 3 figuras, 1 tabla.The global distribution of primary production and consumption by humans (fisheries) is well-documented, but we have no map linking the central ecological process of consumption within food webs to temperature and other ecological drivers. Using standardized assays that span 105° of latitude on four continents, we show that rates of bait consumption by generalist predators in shallow marine ecosystems are tightly linked to both temperature and the composition of consumer assemblages. Unexpectedly, rates of consumption peaked at midlatitudes (25 to 35°) in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres across both seagrass and unvegetated sediment habitats. This pattern contrasts with terrestrial systems, where biotic interactions reportedly weaken away from the equator, but it parallels an emerging pattern of a subtropical peak in marine biodiversity. The higher consumption at midlatitudes was closely related to the type of consumers present, which explained rates of consumption better than consumer density, biomass, species diversity, or habitat. Indeed, the apparent effect of temperature on consumption was mostly driven by temperature-associated turnover in consumer community composition. Our findings reinforce the key influence of climate warming on altered species composition and highlight its implications for the functioning of Earth’s ecosystems.We acknowledge funding from the Smithsonian Institution and the Tula Foundation.Peer reviewe

Novel coexisting mangrove-coral habitats: Extensive coral communities located deep within mangrove canopies of Panama, a global classification system and predicted distributions

Marine ecosystems are structured by coexisting species occurring in adjacent or nested assemblages. Mangroves and corals are typically observed in adjacent assemblages (i.e., mangrove forests and coral reefs) but are increasingly reported in nested mangrove-coral assemblages with corals living within mangrove habitats. Here we define these nested assemblages as "coexisting mangrove-coral" (CMC) habitats and review the scientific literature to date to formalize a baseline understanding of these ecosystems and create a foundation for future studies. We identify 130 species of corals living within mangrove habitats across 12 locations spanning the Caribbean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific. We then provide the first description, to our knowledge, of a canopy CMC habitat type located in Bocas del Toro, Panama. This canopy CMC habitat is one of the most coral rich CMC habitats reported in the world, with 34 species of corals growing on and/or among submerged red mangrove aerial roots. Based on our literature review and field data, we identify biotic and abiotic characteristics common to CMC systems to create a classification framework of CMC habitat categories: (1) Lagoon, (2) Inlet, (3) Edge, and (4) Canopy. We then use the compiled data to create a GIS model to suggest where additional CMC habitats may occur globally. In a time where many ecosystems are at risk of disappearing, discovery and description of alternative habitats for species of critical concern are of utmost importance for their conservation and management