Expectations of Mentoring: Novice Teachers’ Voices

Mentoring, as an avenue to support and retain new teachers, has received a renewed interest. As Trubowitz suggests, “School systems are finding that beginning teachers who have access to intensive mentoring are less likely to leave teaching” (2004, p. 59). While several factors may cause teachers to leave, alienation has been identified as one of the major forces. According to previous research, teachers experience “a combination of feelings of isolation, normlessness, powerlessness, and meaninglessness” (Benham & O’Brien, 2002, p. 20). Such feelings of isolation are compounded by the current accountability demands and the professional pressure teachers’ experience. Thus, it is imperative to consider alternative strategies aimed at providing the kind of support congruent with beginning teacher’s needs in order to be successful (Breaux & Wong, 2003, p. iii). A goal of such strategies should be the effective socialization of teachers, and providing on-going support for growth, through different approaches including mentoring (Darling-Hammond, 2003; Brennan, Thames, & Roberts, 1999). Although mentoring can be an effective means to enhance teacher efficacy and help beginning teachers (Breaux & Wong, 2003; Delgado, 1999; Yost, 2002), limited research focuses on teachers’ perspectives associated with their own expectations of mentoring, particularly in diverse school settings (Wang & Odell, 2002). Further, researchers suggest, “There has been limited evidence that points to the expectations of new teachers relative to mentoring” (Tillman, 2005, p. 616). Thus, it is essential that teachers’ voices be illuminated to better understand their needs so that school leaders may “consider the benefits of consulting with novice teachers about their expectations in the mentoring arrangement” (Tillman, 2005, p. 626). Much of the current literature on teacher mentoring is based on experiences of mentors (Ganser, 1996; Trubowitz, 2004), and mentoring internship program descriptions (Brennan, Thames, & Roberts, 1999) however, novice teachers’ voices tend to be absent from the discourse. While few studies have focused on teachers’ perceptions (Rowley, 1999; Olebe, Jackson, & Danielson, 1999), additional research is needed so that beginning teachers’ voices contribute to a better understanding of mentoring as a vehicle to reduce isolation, successfully socialize new teachers into the demands of the profession, provide culturally responsive support to novice teachers, and reduce teacher turnover. Such inquiry could also be useful to avoid the common pitfalls that might have a detrimental effect on teachers and students. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study conducted to examine teachers’ expectations of mentoring

Effects of Case-Based Learning on Preservice Secondary Teachers’ Multicultural Attitudes: A Mixed Methods Study

As our society changes, so must our teacher education practices. In the past decade, the Southwestern U.S. has been transforming into a majority minority region (U.S. Census Bureau 2005), which must in turn reframe the underpinnings of teacher education in this area of our country. As teacher educators, we have known that many preservice teachers lagged in their preparedness to teach students who are culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different from themselves. Teacher education increasingly is being criticized as having inabilities to instruct teacher candidates in ways that produce greater K-12 student learning; diversity awareness will be a cornerstone if we can change this infamous trend (AACTE 2003)

El campo de la educación matemática, 1993-2001, de Alicia Ávila y Eduardo Mancera (coords.) (reseña)

La obra reconoce y organiza las investigaciones en educación matemática, provenientes de distintos ámbitos de producción, como son las instituciones dedicadas a la investigación y las dedicadas a la educación que tienen entre sus funciones tareas de investigación; comenta acerca de los actores que realizan esta tarea en condiciones institucionales y analiza las publicaciones y tesis de posgrado producidas entre 1993 y 2001

Evaluación morfológica del hígado, riñón y pulmón en un modelo de intoxicación crónica con el fruto maduro de kawinskia humboldtiana en la rata wistar

Karwinskia humboldtiana (Kh) es un arbusto venenoso de amplia distribución en México, cuyo fruto contiene 4 sustancias conocidas como T-496, T-514, T-516 y T-544 que son las principales responsables de la toxicidad. Los casos de intoxicación accidental por Kh en humanos se caracterizan por un cuadro clínico de parálisis flácida ascendente que puede conducir a la muerte. Los pacientes que sobreviven se recuperan de forma lenta. Esta intoxicación se ha definido como una polineuropatía sin describir la existencia de alteraciones en órganos distintos al Sistema nervioso central (SNC) y periférico (SNP). El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la morfología del hígado, riñón y pulmón en un modelo de intoxicación crónica con Kh. Para este estudio se utilizaron 30 ratas Wistar (ambos sexos) de las que 6 sólo recibieron agua por vía oral (Grupo I) y 24 fueron intoxicadas con el fruto seco y molido de Kh en 5 dosis, la primera de 1.5 y 4 de 0.5g/kg de peso los días 0, 3, 7, 10 y 14 respectivamente. Se dividieron en cuatro grupos (n=6) y se sacrificaron los días 24, 48, 58 y 112 (Grupos IIV). Después de analizar las muestras se observó necrosis y esteatosis hepática en los grupos II-IV. En el grupo V se observó una reversión de estas alteraciones. En el riñón se observó necrosis tubular, engrosamiento de la membrana basal de la cápsula de Bowman, barrera de filtración y túbulos contorneados de los grupos intoxicados (II-V). En pulmón se observó un engrosamiento de los tabiques interalveolares con depósitos de matriz extracelular y abundantes infiltrados de células cebadas alrededor de los tabiques y regiones peribronquiales. Se observó un incremento progresivo en el número de células cebadas, alcanzando su máximo en el grupo V. Por histoquímica se encontraron variaciones en la composición de los gránulos de las células cebadas. En el grupo I no se encontraron alteraciones. En conclusión la administración crónica del fruto completo de Kh produce una intoxicación sistémica y no es exclusiva del SNC y SNP

Quick and Inexpensive Method to Elaborate Tissue Punches Useful in Paraffin Tissue Microarrays

The tissue microarrays (TMAs) were first called multitumor block. In 1998 was described the current technique, that uses an innovated sampling method for more than 1,000 cylindrical paraffin tissue core biopsies in a single paraffin block. TMAs are now considered as a useful powerful research tool in Histology and Pathology laboratories, for the standardization of immunohistochemical techniques along with in situ hybridization. However, one disadvantage to its widespread use is the high cost of professional paraffin tissue punches, and the complexity in the development of homemade devices previously described in other studies. This study describes a step by step process to develop four different home-made devices made with materials that are common in hospitals and offices. These devices are useful in Histopathology laboratories to obtain paraffin blocks with until 360 samples of tissue, investing from two to fifteen dollars in the development of each device described

An application of ARX stochastic models to iris recognition

We present a new approach for iris recognition based on stochastic autoregressive models with exogenous input (ARX). Iris recognition is a method to identify persons, based on the analysis of the eye iris. A typical iris recognition system is composed of four phases: image acquisition and preprocessing, iris localization and extraction, iris features characterization, and comparison and matching. The main contribution in this work is given in the step of characterization of iris features by using ARX models. In our work every iris in database is represented by an ARX model learned from data. In the comparison and matching step, data taken from iris sample are substituted into every ARX model and residuals are generated. A decision of accept or reject is taken based on residuals and on a threshold calculated experimentally. We conduct experiments with two different databases. Under certain conditions, we found a rate of successful identifications in the order of 99.7 % for one database and 100 % for the other.Applications in Artificial Intelligence - ApplicationsRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Developing a Mentoring Framework Through the Examination of Mentoring Paradigms in a Teacher Residency Program

In this paper, we extend on our exploratory study that examined mentors’ conceptualizations and practices of mentoring preservice teachers in a residency program to develop a mentoring framework to guide mentors’ approaches to mentoring preservice teachers in a year-long clinical experience. Our mentoring framework has the potential to make mentors consciously aware of their roles and purposes of mentoring throughout the year and within respective contexts. This metacognitive approach may help them to improve their practice and grow alongside their mentee. The Mentoring Framework for Mentoring is a tool that may be instrumental in developing mentors’ deeper understanding of the roles and purposes of mentoring to promote quality guidance and support for mentees. Our instrument has the potential to inform teacher preparation programs regarding goals and expectations for mentors to develop more formal mentoring guidelines and expectations, to better support the professional development of both preservice teachers and mentors

A statistical sampling strategy for iris recognition

We present a new approach for iris recognition based on a random sampling strategy. Iris recognition is a method to identify individuals, based on the analysis of the eye iris. This technique has received a great deal of attention lately, mainly due to iris unique characterics: highly randomized appearance and impossibility to alter its features. A typical iris recognition system is composed of four phases: image acquisition and preprocessing, iris localization and extraction, iris features characterization, and comparison and matching. Our work uses standard integrodifferential operators to locate the iris. Then, we process iris image with histogram equalization to compensate for illumination variations.The characterization of iris features is performed by using accumulated histograms. These histograms are built from randomly selected subimages of iris. After that, a comparison is made between accumulated histograms of couples of iris samples, and a decision is taken based on their differences and on a threshold calculated experimentally. We ran experiments with a database of 210 iris, extracted from 70 individuals, and found a rate of succesful identifications in the order of 97 %.Applications in Artificial Intelligence - ApplicationsRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Consecuencias y secuelas en el retraso de la utilización del desfibrilador en una parada cardiorrespiratoria

Una parada cardiorrespiratoria se define como la interrupción brusca de la circulación y la respiración espontáneas. Se trata de un problema de gran interés público, pues en España se producen alrededor de 50.000 paradas al año. Esta revisión bibliográfica busca evidenciar las consecuencias y las secuelas que puede sufrir una persona tras una parada, cuando no se le realiza maniobras RCP y desfibrilación precoz. Para ello, se han realizado una serie de búsquedas en las principales bases de datos de la salud, destacando PubMed por encima de las demás.Es imprescindible educar a la población en maniobras RCP, pues su retraso supone una disminución de las posibilidades de supervivencia de alrededor del 12% por cada minuto que transcurre. La desfibrilación precoz supone mayor posibilidad de sobrevivir con función neurológica intacta. Cuando esta no es posible, el organismo comienza a sufrir una serie de signos y síntomas agrupados en el término de síndrome post parada cardíaca. Los efectos y las complicaciones de este síndrome afectan principalmente al cerebro, pulmones, corazón, riñones e hígado. Las secuelas a largo plazo tras una parada cardiaca afectan principalmente a la función miocárdica y neurológica.El daño neurológico es la principal causa de mortalidad en personas que sufren una parada cardiaca. Para valorar el pronóstico de este daño es necesario realizar distintas pruebas. Entre ellas está la medición de los biomarcadores de daño neurológico, siendo la enolasa neuroespecífica una herramienta de gran valor predictivo.<br /

Human papillomavirus type 16 variants in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive carcinoma in San Luis Potosí City, Mexico

"Background In San Luis Potosí City cervical infection by human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) associated to dysplastic lesions is more prevalent in younger women. In this work HPV16 subtypes and variants associated to low-grade intraepithelial lesions (LSIL), high-grade intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC) of 38 women residing in San Luis Potosí City were identified by comparing their E6 open reading frame sequences. Results Three European (E) variants (E-P, n = 27; E-T350G, n = 7; E-C188G, n = 2) and one AA-a variant (n = 2) were identified among the 38 HPV16 sequences analyzed. E-P variant sequences contained 23 single nucleotide changes, two of which (A334G, A404T) had not been described before and allowed the phylogenetic separation from the other variants. E-P A334G sequences were the most prevalent (22 cases, 57.9%), followed by the E-P Ref prototype (8 cases, 21.1%) and E-P A404T (1 case, 2.6%) sequences. The HSIL + ICC fraction was 0.21 for the E-P A334G variants and 0.00 for the E-P Ref variants. Conclusion We conclude that in the women included in this study the HPV16 E subtype is 19 times more frequent than the AA subtype; that the circulating E variants are E-P (71.1%) > E-T350G (18.4%) > E-C188G (5.3%); that 71.0% of the E-P sequences carry the A334G single nucleotide change and appear to correspond to a HPV16 variant characteristic of San Luis Potosi City more oncogenic than the E-P Ref prototype.