Altering the Traditional American History Landscape: Incorporating Culturally Relevant Biographies in Social Studies

The purpose of this article is to provide guidance to teachers on how to incorporate Latinx culturally relevant biographies into their social studies classrooms with English learners (ELs). In the social studies curriculum, United States history often is regarded as one of the hardest courses for newly arrived immigrants to learn due to the unfamiliarity of American history content (Dunne & Martell, 2013). Using a culturally relevant approach to teaching social studies has the potential to connect EL students to content in powerful and meaningful ways. As the number of Spanish speaking EL students grows in the American public school system (Cruz & Thornton, 2008), the use culturally relevant Latinx biographies allows teachers to incorporate different reading levels, bilingual narratives, and historical photographs in their sheltered (EL only) or mainstream (traditional) classroom. Teachers can differentiate assignments for students based on English proficiency, as well as challenge students who are learning new English skills. Additionally, the use of culturally relevant biographies can help teachers change the landscape of American history s/heroes and these shifts can be impactful for native-born students also (Wineburg & Monte-Sano, 2008). In this article, we provide a sample lesson where EL students in United States history study female Latinx activists to construct body biographies

Helping ESOL students find their voice in social studies

In this self-reflective essay, an experienced secondary social studies teacher and her professor reflect on the new challenge the teacher embraced during the school year—teaching a sheltered English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) World History course to recently immigrated students. The teacher, who is certified to teach social studies and is also ESOL endorsed, and her professor examine continued teacher resistance to working with ESOL students in the context of the teacher’s school, which includes an International Baccalaureate program. Using Noddings’ model of care in schools, they examine teaching practices that the teacher found successful and others that she learned were less effective over the course of the year with her English Language Learners (ELL) students. The voices of the ELL students are conveyed by providing examples of notes the students wrote to the teacher during the year-long journey. The teacher will be able teach the students for a second year in a row, in a push-in model in a U.S. History classroom. Thus, the exploration of helping ESOL students find their voice in social studies classrooms will continue

The homeobox transcription factor Even-skipped regulates acquisition of electrical properties in Drosophila neurons.

BACKGROUND: While developmental processes such as axon pathfinding and synapse formation have been characterized in detail, comparatively less is known of the intrinsic developmental mechanisms that regulate transcription of ion channel genes in embryonic neurons. Early decisions, including motoneuron axon targeting, are orchestrated by a cohort of transcription factors that act together in a combinatorial manner. These transcription factors include Even-skipped (Eve), islet and Lim3. The perdurance of these factors in late embryonic neurons is, however, indicative that they might also regulate additional aspects of neuron development, including the acquisition of electrical properties. RESULTS: To test the hypothesis that a combinatorial code transcription factor is also able to influence the acquisition of electrical properties in embryonic neurons we utilized the molecular genetics of Drosophila to manipulate the expression of Eve in identified motoneurons. We show that increasing expression of this transcription factor, in two Eve-positive motoneurons (aCC and RP2), is indeed sufficient to affect the electrical properties of these neurons in early first instar larvae. Specifically, we observed a decrease in both the fast K+ conductance (IKfast) and amplitude of quantal cholinergic synaptic input. We used charybdotoxin to pharmacologically separate the individual components of IKfast to show that increased Eve specifically down regulates the Slowpoke (a BK Ca2+-gated potassium channel), but not Shal, component of this current. Identification of target genes for Eve, using DNA adenine methyltransferase identification, revealed strong binding sites in slowpoke and nAcRalpha-96Aa (a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit). Verification using real-time PCR shows that pan-neuronal expression of eve is sufficient to repress transcripts for both slo and nAcRalpha-96Aa. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our findings demonstrate, for the first time, that Eve is sufficient to regulate both voltage- and ligand-gated currents in motoneurons, extending its known repertoire of action beyond its already characterized role in axon guidance. Our data are also consistent with a common developmental program that utilizes a defined set of transcription factors to determine both morphological and functional neuronal properties

Coaches’ Perception of Organizational Socialization Process of International Student-Athletes and the Effect of Cultural Distance: An Exploratory Study.

International Journal of Exercise Science 10(6): 875-889, 2017. This study focuses on the coaches’ perspective of the organizational socialization process of new international student-athletes. After analyzing the information of 10 in-depth interviews with experienced NCAA Division I coaches, this exploratory study aided the researchers to identify socialization tactics being used to successfully integrate international student-athletes entering USA college teams. ISAs come from different cultures, and pending on their home nation culture they might be challenged in their ability to socialize within their new surroundings. Results indicate that the cultural distance between team culture and ISA’s culture affects the effectiveness of socialization tactics, and coaches should evaluate and take into account cultural distance before structuring the socialization process for ISA

Functional Conservation of the Glide/Gcm Regulatory Network Controlling Glia, Hemocyte, and Tendon Cell Differentiation in Drosophila.

High-throughput screens allow us to understand how transcription factors trigger developmental processes, including cell specification. A major challenge is identification of their binding sites because feedback loops and homeostatic interactions may mask the direct impact of those factors in transcriptome analyses. Moreover, this approach dissects the downstream signaling cascades and facilitates identification of conserved transcriptional programs. Here we show the results and the validation of a DNA adenine methyltransferase identification (DamID) genome-wide screen that identifies the direct targets of Glide/Gcm, a potent transcription factor that controls glia, hemocyte, and tendon cell differentiation in Drosophila. The screen identifies many genes that had not been previously associated with Glide/Gcm and highlights three major signaling pathways interacting with Glide/Gcm: Notch, Hedgehog, and JAK/STAT, which all involve feedback loops. Furthermore, the screen identifies effector molecules that are necessary for cell-cell interactions during late developmental processes and/or in ontogeny. Typically, immunoglobulin (Ig) domain-containing proteins control cell adhesion and axonal navigation. This shows that early and transiently expressed fate determinants not only control other transcription factors that, in turn, implement a specific developmental program but also directly affect late developmental events and cell function. Finally, while the mammalian genome contains two orthologous Gcm genes, their function has been demonstrated in vertebrate-specific tissues, placenta, and parathyroid glands, begging questions on the evolutionary conservation of the Gcm cascade in higher organisms. Here we provide the first evidence for the conservation of Gcm direct targets in humans. In sum, this work uncovers novel aspects of cell specification and sets the basis for further understanding of the role of conserved Gcm gene regulatory cascades.We thank the DHSB and the Bloomington Stock Center for reagents and flies as well as J. Veenstra (INCIA UMR 5287 CNRS, France) for the gift of the Anti-DH31 antibody and B. Altenhein (U Mainz, Germany) for fly strains. We thank K. Jamet for initial bioinformatics analyses. We thank C. Diebold, C. Delaporte, and IGBMC facilities for technical assistance. We thank the members of the lab for valuable input and comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by INSERM, CNRS, UDS, Hôpital de Strasbourg, ARC, INCA and ANR grants. A. Popkova and P. Cattenoz were funded by the FRM and by the ANR, respectively. A. Popkova also benefitted from a short Development traveling fellowship to visit the laboratory of A. Brand in Cambridge (UK). The IGBMC was also supported by a French state fund through the ANR labex. T.D.S and A.H.B were funded by Wellcome Trust Programme Grants 068055 and 092545 to A.H.B. A.H.B acknowledges core funding to the Gurdon Institute from the Wellcome Trust (092096) and CRUK (C6946/A14492).This is the final version of the article. It was first available from the American Genetics Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.18215

Neural stem cell transcriptional networks highlight genes essential for nervous system development

Neural stem cells must strike a balance between self-renewal and multipotency, and differentiation. Identification of the transcriptional networks regulating stem cell division is an essential step in understanding how this balance is achieved. We have shown that the homeodomain transcription factor, Prospero, acts to repress self-renewal and promote differentiation. Among its targets are three neural stem cell transcription factors, Asense, Deadpan and Snail, of which Asense and Deadpan are repressed by Prospero. Here, we identify the targets of these three factors throughout the genome. We find a large overlap in their target genes, and indeed with the targets of Prospero, with 245 genomic loci bound by all factors. Many of the genes have been implicated in vertebrate stem cell self-renewal, suggesting that this core set of genes is crucial in the switch between self-renewal and differentiation. We also show that multiply bound loci are enriched for genes previously linked to nervous system phenotypes, thereby providing a shortcut to identifying genes important for nervous system development

Targeted DamID reveals differential binding of mammalian pluripotency factors.

The precise control of gene expression by transcription factor networks is crucial to organismal development. The predominant approach for mapping transcription factor-chromatin interactions has been chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). However, ChIP requires a large number of homogeneous cells and antisera with high specificity. A second approach, DamID, has the drawback that high levels of Dam methylase are toxic. Here, we modify our targeted DamID approach (TaDa) to enable cell type-specific expression in mammalian systems, generating an inducible system (mammalian TaDa or MaTaDa) to identify genome-wide protein/DNA interactions in 100 to 1000 times fewer cells than ChIP-based approaches. We mapped the binding sites of two key pluripotency factors, OCT4 and PRDM14, in mouse embryonic stem cells, epiblast-like cells and primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs). PGCLCs are an important system for elucidating primordial germ cell development in mice. We monitored PRDM14 binding during the specification of PGCLCs, identifying direct targets of PRDM14 that are key to understanding its crucial role in PGCLC development. We show that MaTaDa is a sensitive and accurate method for assessing cell type-specific transcription factor binding in limited numbers of cells

Strengthening the emergency healthcare system for mothers and children in The Gambia

A system to improve the management of emergencies during pregnancy, childbirth, infancy and childhood in a region of The Gambia (Brikama) with a population of approximately 250,000 has been developed