Mentor perceptions in urban middle schools: a qualitative study of one school district

Research supports the use of mentoring programs and induction assistance for retaining quality teachers and easing beginning teachers’ transition into the teaching profession. Over the last three decades researchers have looked at the varying levels of the mentoring process. However, few studies have explored the perceptions of the teacher mentors serving in those roles. This qualitative case study was designed to take an in-depth look at the perceptions of teacher mentors working with first year teachers at the middle school level. The research questions that guided this study were designed to determine how experienced teachers serving as mentors describe their experiences and what are the best, most needed or most helpful mentoring practices. The fifteen study participants taught at the middle school level in a suburban school district in North Carolina. The primary methods of collecting information for this study were one-on-one interviews, surveys, and focus group interviews, which allowed for a comprehensive perspective and a crosscheck of information. After a detailed analysis five distinct themes that emerged from the data were: (a) the qualities of the mentor and mentee relationship; (b) willing helper; (c) personal growth for the mentors; (d) support provider; and (e) advocate. The themes were interrelated which led to the factors that are necessary to create an optimal mentoring situation. The findings from this study revealed that mentors must create a positive relationship that is built on trust and respect with the mentee in order to combat the many challenges that occur during the first year of teaching. The experienced teacher must have a desire to help in order to create the optimal conditions be an effective mentor and provide the personal and professional support that many first year teachers need. The role of the mentor extends beyond the one-on-one relationship with the mentee. The mentor serves as an advocate for mentoring by promoting its importance to school and district leaders which in return will hopefully invoke changes in the recruitment, training, and evaluation of the mentoring program

Characterization, character, and moral judgment of the women in Middlemarch

This is a detailed study of the methods of characterization used to create the female personages of Middlemarch and an attempt to place those characters historically. The first two chapters include a discussion of the position of women in the growing nineteenth-century middle class, their educational opportunities, marital relationships, financial expectations, and cultural demands. The second chapter takes into account contemporary feminist perspectives on George Eliot and Middlemarch. Chapters three through six are an in-depth study of the methods of characterization George Eliot uses to create her fictional women. Chapters three and four discuss the novel’s two major characters, Dorothea Brooke and Rosamond Viney; chapter five deals with the intermediate characters, Mary Garth and Harriet Bulstrode; and chapter six explains the importance of the minor characters who act as foils and parallels to the major characters. Chapter seven summarizes this extended analysis and draws conclusions based on the study. George Eliot looks at characters as the product of will and circumstance, showing both as they operate to produce the fictional lives of her women characters. The study includes an exhaustive analysis of the devices of characterization, including physical description, dramatic presentation, gossip, interior consciousness, epithets, authorial intrusion, and narrative distancing, pointing out the relation of technique to various character types

Bicycle Tourists: Staying Connected at Public Libraries

Each year thousands of bicycle tourists stop at public libraries throughout the United States. They are looking for a place to relax, access to computers and Wi-Fi, and a knowledgeable person that can provide information about the area. In this article, public libraries situated along transnational bicycle routes or statewide bike rides share their experiences in providing services to bicycle tourists passing through their towns and using their libraries

The Carter Family And Hazel & Alice: A Comparison Of Musical Influences And Changing Gender Norms

This thesis explores, in detail, the lives and musical careers of The Carter Family (A.P., Sara, and Maybelle) in comparison with those of Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. These are two trailblazing musical groups of the country and bluegrass music industries. This thesis discusses the effect of these women’s accomplishments on the country music and bluegrass industries when taking into consideration the obstacles society presented them with in the form of gender norms. Using the social constructs of gender norms during the 1920s-1970s as a lens for discussing some of the obstacles these women faced in their careers (e.g., restrictions/hindrance). This work will attempt to address what the gender norms of the time period were, if the fact that they were women presented any significant obstacles for their careers, and why these women received the recognition that they did. This work will highlight the significance of these women’s musical accomplishments (e.g., recording, solo-performances, widespread popularity) in a time when women were generally not in the foreground of the bluegrass and country music industries

A study of the agreement and conflict of textbook concepts in distributive education and consumer education

Despite the assertion of Adam Smith, the founder of our present system of economic study, that, "consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production,"1 within recent years much evidence in periodicals and even in books has emphasized that interests of producer and consumer groups is divergent. For a number of years there was extensive publication of books exposing business practices inimical to the welfare of the consumer.2 These exposés placed business on the defensive because they made the consumer aware of manufacturing practices, advertising procedures, and selling techniques used in distribution. These books did give the consuming public a wholesome skepticism and awareness of selling methods

Parental marital conflict and youth maladjustment

Linkages between parental reports of marital conflict and youth maladjustment have been established, but less is known about the role of youth's own perceptions of and their involvement in parental marital conflict. Drawing on family systems and social learning perspectives, a primary goal of this study was to examine the association among three indicators of parental marital conflict and both youth maladjustment and sibling conflict. The three measures of marital conflict examined here included: 1) parental and 2) youth reports of the frequency of parental marital conflict and 3) youth reports of their involvement in parental marital conflict. A secondary goal of this study was to test whether linkages between parental marital conflict and outcomes differed by age and sex. Data came from 165 youth, ages 9 to 18 years old (M = 11.6, SD = 2.0). Hierarchical regression analyses in STATA were used to test all study hypotheses. Results indicated that none of the marital conflict variables were associated with maternal reports of maladjustment when common covariates of both marital conflict and youth adjustment (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms and parent-child relationship) had been taken into account. Youth-report of parental marital conflict was associated with youth reports of maladjustment. Furthermore, both maternal and youth reports of marital conflict explained significant variance in sibling conflict. Assessing youth reports of marital conflict over and above parental reports of marital conflict may further help understand associations between parental marital conflict and both youth adjustment and relationship qualities

The attempted construction and validation of a test for scientific aptitude

Several test batteries have been fairly successful in predicting whether or not a student will succeed in science work in college, but these batteries make no claims other than that of predicting scholastic success or failure. They do not attempt to say whether the student will get along well in the world of science once he finishes school. Scholastic "scientific aptitude" and true scientific aptitude cannot be assumed to be the same, and there is an evident need for tests measuring the latter. But is there actually such a thing as scientific aptitude which can be isolated and measured and measured as an entity

Interdepartmental sharing of resources in a small university : a curriculum planning case study

The major purposes of this study were (1) to examine the extent of formal and informal interdepartmental sharing of resources in a small university setting, and (2) to examine the extent to which academic personnel perceive a higher degree of efficacy while engaged in formal and informal interdepartmental sharing of resources in a small university setting. The significance of this stud/ is based on the fact that there are limited resources available and interdepartmental sharing is a logical solution to the problem of limited resources in the small university. Specifically, the researcher attempted to establish that (1) interdepartmental resource sharing occurs, and (2) a relationship between interdepartmental resource sharing and teacher efficacy does exist. The research procedure used in this study was the case study method. Data were collected primarily through observations and interviews with the subjects. The subjects included one dean, one chairperson, and one faculty person each from three schools within the university. The subjects' extent of resource sharing and sense of teacher efficacy was examined individually, from each school, and from the three academic ranks

The significance of gospel music to social activism in North Carolina

Using qualitative research methods and social movement theory, I explored the significance of gospel music to the Forward Together Moral Movement in North Carolina and the meanings the singers who perform the music apply to their roles and contributions. Five themes emerged from interviews with three gospel singers, field observations, and document/media analyses concerning the role of gospel music in the moral movement: intentionality, collective identity, music as hope, music as strength, and music as education. The study makes several contributions to the field of cultural studies. First, the singers provide a firsthand perspective to the literature on social movements. First-person narratives of gospel singers are far less common in the literature than the first-person narratives of their secular musical counterparts. Second, this study gives music scholars additional insights into the importance of gospel music and social movements through the eyes of the people who perform it. Third, the music of the moral movement and the study of its singers can serve as a teaching tool, adding culturally relevant perspectives to lessons in history, tolerance, and culture that are presently taught in American education

Personal, family, and social characteristics of southern low-income young adults by occupational status/status congruence type

This study involved the development and evaluation of a conceptual model integrating an occupational congruence perspective with one of occupational status attainment. A classification system was constructed to serve as an operational representation of the occupational status/status-congruence model. This conceptual perspective was translated into a three dimensional typology based on three categories of occupational status and two dichotomized varied representing internal (or psychological} occupational congruence and external (or structural) occupational congruence. Subjects for the study consisted of 544 Southern low-income young adults who had been followed over a period of ten years. Data were collected in 1969, 1975, and 1979 during time periods which corresponded to the preadolescent, adolescent and young adult developmental periods of the sample members' development. Information was also obtained from the mothers of sample members in 1969