The Negotiation and Development of Writing Teacher Identities in Elementary Education

Identity development in writing is a unique process. While many studies have explored the process of developing a professional identity among future teachers, few studies have investigated how teacher candidates develop a writing teacher’s identity. This study explores the development and negotiation of writing teacher identity among 21 pre-service multiple-subject teacher candidates at a large public institution in California. More specifically, the study examines the students’ journeys as they transformed from students of writing in a university methods course to student teachers of writing in a local school district. Our findings indicate that the use of a sociocultural-based approach to teaching writing in a university method’s course conflicted with the use of a skills-based mandated curriculum used in local districts. Nonetheless, within this space of conflict, teacher candidates began to determine how to merge the two approaches, understand potential limitations and develop a pedagogical toolbox thus, renegotiating their identities as future writing teachers. We provide recommendations that teacher educators may use to assist teacher candidates and developing effective writing pedagogy while utilizing a mandated curriculum

Soils of western Wright Valley, Antarctica

Western Wright Valley, from Wright Upper Glacier to the western end of the Dais, can be divided into three broad geomorphic regions: the elevated Labyrinth, the narrow Dais which is connected to the Labyrinth, and the North and South forks which are bifurcated by the Dais. Soil associations of Typic Haplorthels/Haploturbels with ice-cemented permafrost at 70 cm. They are developed in situ in strongly weathered drift with very low surface boulder frequency and occur on the upper erosion surface of the Labyrinth and on the Dais. Typic Anhyorthels also occur at lower elevation on sinuous and patchy Wright Upper III drift within the forks. Salic Aquorthels exist only in the South Fork marginal to Don Juan Pond, whereas Salic Haplorthels occur in low areas of both South and North forks where any water table is> 50 cm. Most soils within the study area have an alkaline pH dominated by Na+ and Cl- ions. The low salt accumulation within Haplorthels/Haploturbels may be due to limited depth of soil development and possibly leaching

Dome Formation During Crustal Extension in the Himalaya: Kinematic and Pressure-Temperature-Time-Deformation Constraints on Extensional Exhumation Along the Southern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

The Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau were built by a combination of south-directed thrusting, north-directed extension, and generally east-west-directed extension within the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau all to accommodate convergence between the Indian and Eurasian plates that began in the Eocene. Normal-sense shear zones that accommodate roughly east-west-directed extension across the southern margin of the Himalaya have exhumed young metamorphic domes across the Himalayan front. These metamorphic domes contain high-grade metamorphic rocks bound by normal-sense shear zones. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how these normal-sense shear zones develop and how they exhume metamorphic domes, which remains poorly understood and is critical for understanding the processes that accommodate extensional exhumation in this convergent setting. Two examples of metamorphic domes that were exhumed by east-west-directed normal-sense shear zones in the Himalaya are the Ama Drime Massif, southern Tibet, and the Leo Pargil dome, northwest India-Tibet. The Ama Drime Massif is a 30 km-wide north-south-striking structure that thins toward the north. It is located ~50 km northeast of Mount Everest and is bound by the Nyönno Ri detachment on the eastern flank and the Ama Drime detachment on the western flank. The Leo Pargil dome, ~950 km west of Ama Drime, is a 20 km-wide, northeast-southwest-striking structure composed of high-grade metamorphic rocks and leucogranite. It is bound on the east by the Qusum detachment and on the west by the Leo Pargil shear zone. Field mapping and sample collection were combined with kinematic, microstructural, thermobarometric, and geochronologic methods to constrain the metamorphic conditions, the kinematics of deformation during shearing, the amount of exhumation, and the timing of metamorphism and shear zone initiation. These data demonstrate the exhumation on these normal-sense shear zones in the Himalaya are controlled by an interplay between various processes including a regional kinematic setting that favored extension which led to strain partitioning, fault reactivation, decompression-driven melting, and the development of these deeply-rooted extensional systems

How educators and parents can collaborate to improve student reading fluency

In this project, fluency practices are defined and explored in relation to an elementary school setting that is partnering with parents on how to promote fluency practices in the home. The Literature Review describes the importance of fluency instruction, how fluency instruction supports literacy instruction, and finally how educators and parents can begin partnering to provide literacy practices in the home. Following the literature review, there is a professional development plan that lays out the key components of collaborating with parents to implement fluency practices in the home

Multiracial Identity from Theory to Praxis: A Literature Review for K12 Practitioners

Multiraciality and mixed-race students have long been overlooked in K12 education discourse despite a significant increase in the number of students identifying as more than one race. Research that does address Multiracial students tends to focus on multiracial identity development of college students. However, educators and K12 school leaders must engage critically with how theoretical abstractions like ‘racial identity’ are being parsed and adopted in school policies, particularly as it pertains to mixed-race students. Having a deeper understanding how Multiracial identity is conceptualized and deployed makes it possible for K12 practitioners to better appreciate how race and racial identity operate in schools. This literature review for K12 practitioners highlights theories and assumptions about identity that have gained acceptance in K12 education -- cognitive identity development models; social identity theory; and the uncritical adoption and use of racial categories. The literature review presents limitations and challenges these theories pose for understanding Multiracial identity in a K12 context. Lastly, this work suggests a postpositivist realist theory of Multiracial identity be used in education and the implications of such for K12 practitioners working with Multiracial students and families

Toward a Theory of the Collaborative Family Firm: An Exploratory Study on Family Ownership and Collaborative and Competitive Dynamics in Privately Held SME’s

Family businesses are a dominant contributor to the US economy, yet little is known about factors that may contribute to business continuity and longevity. Despite the long-standing statistic that only 30% of family-owned firms will succeed to the next generation, few empirical studies have examined why some family- owners choose to continue, while other choose to exit or close mature family businesses. This study explores survival outcomes in 147 family firms, longitudinally, over a twenty-year span of time to better understand latent factors that may contribute to these outcomes. Key findings in this study include several factors that appear to typify collaborative relational dynamics linked to firm longevity and performance advantages in family SMEs

The Effect of Creativity in Nature

The purpose of this research was to determine the effects on children’s creativity by using natural materials. Children are sometimes lacking in creativity when performing a teacher directed art lesson or step by step crafts. This research, was instigated to observe how using natural materials will affect children’s creativity. In order to determine the effects that nature materials in a preschool classroom have on a student’s creativity, the children were provided with nature materials to use and few instructions to create their own artwork. Data was collected from five sources to measure preschooler’s creativity using nature materials. The data included artifacts such as children’s work samples, observational data such as photographs, checklist, and tally sheets, and inquiry data by a short interview about their artwork. The findings suggested that nature does help with children’s creativity and children are able to express their creativity using the materials

Book Review: \u3ci\u3eRemarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives\u3c/i\u3e By Matt Warnock Turner

At last: a book dealing with numerous Texas plants that is neither a field guide nor a dry litany of ethnobotanical uses. Remarkable Plants of Texas is an easy, informative, and enjoyable read. Its 65 entries cover over 80 species of some of the most common, well-known, and well-used plants of Texas (many of which also occur in the southeastern or southwestern United States or Mexico). The short (four- to eight-page) chapters are grouped by life form: trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants (also including cacti, grasses, vines, and aquatics). Although most treatments are about a single species, a few cover several species within the same genus, either for reasons of similarity or because of difficulty in distinguishing between species. There is at least one color photograph for every treatment (my only disappointment with the book is that some photographs are poorly focused). At the beginning of each treatment, the origin of the scientific name is provided along with multiple common names, family, simple description, habitat, and distribution information. While the volume’s primary focus is ethnobotanical (prehistoric to present), there is also information on history (both natural and human), culture, wildlife uses, ecology (both at the single species and community level), conservation, toxicology, paleobotany, geology, etymology, interesting tidbits, folklore, and even folk songs