On the Journey to Becoming Culturally Responsive in a High School Choir Classroom: A White Woman’s Autoethnography

Application of the culturally responsive teaching (CRT) initiative to practice may be challenging because each school community is unique. The individualized nature of CRT renders that research on successful CRT practices is only mildly, if at all, applicable to practicing teachers. As a result of these barriers, little is known about the process of becoming culturally responsive. The purpose of this study was to document my process in seeking to become a culturally responsive music educator. Critical Race Theory shaped this study. The emphasis on white culture in public high school choir curricula does not reflect the diverse populations in music classrooms today. Many of these classrooms are led by white teachers like myself, requiring that we interrogate our race and how often it affects the learning environment in our classrooms. Autoethnographic methods were used in this study. Three sources of data were gathered: my journal, lesson plans, and other teaching artifacts including student work. The data were then condensed into three stories: a) the story of me; b) the story of my teaching; c) the story of my students. Self-reflection, self-assessment, and self-analysis took place through questioning which included: a) “How does my whiteness affect my teaching?” b) “How often were suggestions from scholarship used?” c) “How did my attempts at culturally responsive teaching affect my students?” Through this work, I found that developing awareness of my whiteness, my biases, and assumptions, and how they influence my instructional choices was the most important step towards CRT. I often observed myself in a self-imposed binary: either I was ‘successful’ or ‘a failure’ at being culturally responsive. My disposition about CRT has changed because now I understand that teaching responsively is not a binary but a continuum. Each day I may exist in a different place on the continuum. Therefore, I will always be becoming culturally responsive. An individual’s process of becoming culturally responsive can only be learned through autoethnographic techniques. Additional autoethnographies conducted by teachers who are attempting to become culturally responsive may assist in finding trends

Saint Michael\u27s Orthodox Church History and Architecture Brochure

In Spring of 2018, students in ARTH 204: Castle, Cathedral, and Cloister, taught by Prof. Janice Mann, conducted research on four churches in Mount Carmel, PA: Divine Redeemer Catholic Church, First United Methodist Church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Saint Michael\u27s Orthodox Church. Each brochure showcases the church\u27s history, exterior architecture, and interior architecture and design. This entry is for the Saint Michael\u27s Orthodox Church brochure. The brochure, which is a 4 panel double gate fold design, includes the church foundation history, exterior architecture explanation including the onion domes, and interior design and architecture details including a description of the iconostasis and the Saint Michael stained glass window. Funding for printed brochures, which were provided to the churches for distribution, came from the Art and Art History Department at Bucknell University

Developing an Auditory and Visual Cross-Modal Continuous Performance Task for Evaluating Concussion

Neurocognitive tests like the SCAT3 and ImPACT have become standard concussion assessment tools. Although these tests have adequate sensitivity, specificity, and reliability, they are unimodal in nature. Consequently, the tests do not fully assess the range of processing that can be affected by concussion (Thompson, 2012). Therefore, we developed a cross-modal continuous performance task to examine cognitive processing post-concussion. Forty-three middle school school lacrosse players, college students, and physical therapy graduate students participated in the study. Twelve of these participants had been previously diagnosed with a concussion. Participants completed a symptom checklist from SCAT3 along with other demographic information (e.g., previously concussed, last concussion). They then completed the continuous performance task starting with visual detection followed by visual inhibition, auditory detection, and auditory inhibition. Older subjects were more accurate than younger subjects on the detection task (F(1, 84) = 20.61, p \u3c .001). Subjects were also more accurate on the visual task than the auditory task (F(1, 84) = 21.47, p \u3c .001). Both age (F(1, 84) = 5.65, p \u3c .02) and previous concussion (F(1, 84) = 4.49, p \u3c .04) interacted with test modality. College and graduate students who had previously been concussed performed the same as those who had not been concussed. However, middle schoolers who had been concussed did significantly worse on the auditory task than those who had not been concussed. Similarly, older subjects were more accurate than younger subjects on the inhibition task (F(1, 84) = 4.91, p \u3c .03). Older subjects were also significantly more accurate on the visual task than the middle schoolers (F(1, 84) = 5.33, p \u3c .03; Figure 2). However, no differences were found based on previous concussion

Identification and Characterization of HTLV-1 HBZ Post-Translational Modifications

Human T-cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) is estimated to infect 15–25 million people worldwide, with several areas including southern Japan and the Caribbean basin being endemic. The virus is the etiological agent of debilitating and fatal diseases, for which there is currently no long-term cure. In the majority of cases of leukemia caused by HTLV-1, only a single viral gene, hbz, and its cognate protein, HBZ, are expressed and their importance is increasingly being recognized in the development of HTLV-1-associated disease. We hypothesized that HBZ, like other HTLV-1 proteins, has properties and functions regulated by post-translational modifications (PTMs) that affect specific signaling pathways important for disease development. To date, PTM of HBZ has not been described. We used an affinity-tagged protein and mass spectrometry method to identify seven modifications of HBZ for the first time. We examined how these PTMs affected the ability of HBZ to modulate several pathways, as measured using luciferase reporter assays. Herein, we report that none of the identified PTMs affected HBZ stability or its regulation of tested pathways

Physical Activity and the Health of Wheelchair Users: A Systematic Review in Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, and Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To understand the benefits and harms of physical activity in people who may require a wheelchair with a focus on people with multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy (CP), and spinal cord injury (SCI). Data Sources Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, PsycINFO, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Embase (January 2008 through November 2020). Study Selection Randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized trials, and cohort studies of observed physical activity (at least 10 sessions on 10 days) in participants with MS, CP, and SCI. Data Extraction We conducted dual data abstraction, quality assessment, and strength of evidence. Measures of physical functioning are reported individually where sufficient data exist and grouped as “function” where data are scant. Data Synthesis No studies provided evidence for prevention of cardiovascular conditions, development of diabetes, or obesity. Among 168 included studies, 44% enrolled participants with MS (38% CP, 18% SCI). Studies in MS found walking ability may be improved with treadmill training and multimodal exercises; function may be improved with treadmill, balance exercises, and motion gaming; balance is likely improved with balance exercises and may be improved with aquatic exercises, robot-assisted gait training (RAGT), motion gaming, and multimodal exercises; activities of daily living (ADL), female sexual function, and spasticity may be improved with aquatic therapy; sleep may be improved with aerobic exercises and aerobic fitness with multimodal exercises. In CP, balance may be improved with hippotherapy and motion gaming; function may be improved with cycling, treadmill, and hippotherapy. In SCI, ADL may be improved with RAGT. Conclusions Depending on population and type of exercise, physical activity was associated with improvements in walking, function, balance, depression, sleep, ADL, spasticity, female sexual function, and aerobic capacity. Few harms of physical activity were reported in studies. Future studies are needed to address evidence gaps and to confirm findings

SOCIAL ISOLATION IN FISH: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND NUTRITION

The rapid growth of the aquaculture industry has resulted in a growing demand for fishmeal (FM) and fish oil raising economic and sustainability concerns. Fishmeal and fish oil rely on finite marine sources and increasing reliance on these products continues to raise prices while incentivizing overfishing in order to meet demand. In order to combat the increasing cost and environmental detriment of FM, plant protein sources have grown in popularity as a protein replacement in aquafeeds. Soybean meal (SBM) is one of the more notable protein alternatives due to its high protein content and relatively well-balanced amino acid profile. However, at high dietary inclusions, SBM has been found to have negative impacts on feed ingestion, digestion, and growth rates. Improving feed intake and utilization of alternative protein feeds is an important challenge facing the aquaculture industry. Social environment affects feeding behavior through various means. Further, feeding behavior has previously been shown to have heritable aspects. Thus, the objective of this thesis was to investigate how social environment influences feed intake and feed utilization of a plant protein-based diet and how these effects might be transferred to offspring of the next generation. The first experiment (Chapter 2) investigated the effects of chronic social isolation on zebrafish monoaminergic system signaling, growth performance, feed intake, and intestinal health. Zebrafish were either isolated (CI; one fish, 1.5 L tank) or socially housed (SH; six fish, 9.0 L tank) beginning at 20 days-post-fertilization (dpf) with 18 replicates per treatment group. Social treatments lasted for 30 days and during the final 15 days, zebrafish were challenged with a high inclusion SBM based diet. The results indicated that social treatment did not have an effect on the monoaminergic system or growth performance; however, CI fish consumed significantly more and presented with less intestinal inflammation. This suggests social isolation promoted feed intake and the perhaps increased SBM diet intake led to improved intestinal adaptation to this typically inflammatory diet. The second experiment (Chapter 3) investigated the effects of parental social experience on the feed intake and feed utilization of first generation offspring. Offspring of both CI and SH fish were assigned to one of four groups: CI offspring fed a FM based diet (CIOF), CI offspring fed a SBM based diet (CIOS), SH offspring fed a FM based diet (SHOF), or SH offspring fed a SBM based diet (SHOS). Each treatment group had three replicates and all were socially housed with 25 fish per tank; the feeding trial lasted 30 days. The results showed that CIO fish had significantly higher initial weights and weight gains regardless of diet type. While feed intake tests, appetite-related gene expression, and intestinal health analyses did not provide a clear understanding of why these results occurred, the improved growth performance suggests some influence of parental social experience on offspring quality and feed utilization. Overall, the findings from this thesis suggest that social experience can alter feeding behavior in zebrafish and this may be a useful tool in improving ingestion rates of lower quality diets, such as those with a SBM base. This provides underlying support for further investigation into the use of social isolation as a selective breeding tactic, allowing those in the aquaculture industry to select for optimal health and body condition and potentially create generations of fish better equipped to utilize plant protein alternatives