The Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies in the Writing Methods Course

I argue that the threshold concepts of writing studies enable preservice writing teachers to meet several goals for the writing methods course: comprehending composition theory, understanding themselves as writers, and developing effective pedagogical practices. After introducing these concepts, I first outline how they—because they define writing as a subject of study and as an activity—bridge theoretical knowledge, pedagogical application, and personal writing practices. Second, I quote from my own students to illustrate the ways in which threshold concepts help preservice teachers reflect on their own writing practices and become thoughtful, theoretically informed teachers

New Nobility: A Deeper Look at Inspiration

Undergraduate Creative and Artisti

The American Media’s Construction of “Participants” in Cases of Police Killings

poster abstractWith several highly publicized police killings in the latter half of 2014, the issue of police brutality has been reignited in the United States, as emotionally charged a topic as ever, dividing Americans politically and socially and racially. This pilot study analyzes how the American media’s language contributes to readers’/hearers’ perception of the identities and roles of those who are victim to and those who enact police brutality. Using a sample of twenty-eight reports of the cases of Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Levar Jones, and Tamir Rice from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and The Washington Post, I coded for patterns of race-related modifiers and of passivization. Based on the analysis of these articles, I suggest the implications of such use—how race-related descriptors can influence the perception of “participants’” (the involved police officers and the involved citizens) identity in relation to one another, in relation to the event, and in relation to outsiders and how passivization can influence the perception of participants’ roles, implicitly connoting importance, accountability, empowerment, and other such senses

Parenting Skills Of Primiparas As Correlated To Maternal Age

A descriptive study was designed to examine parenting skills of primiparas and determine if parenting skills correlated with maternal age. The researcher hypothesized that there would be no significant difference between maternal age and scores as determined by the Parenting Skills Questionnaire and the Observation of Parenting Skills. Primiparas, ranging in age from eighteen to thirty-three, comprised three samples : ten in the eighteen to twenty-three age group, ten in the twenty-four to twenty-nine age group, and three in the thirty to thirty-five age group. Parenting knowledge and skills were assessed of subjects with infants three to seven days old. Responses to a researcher designed Personal Information Data , Parenting Skills Questionnaire and Observation of Parenting Skills were recorded and analyzed. The data collected were analyzed utilizing the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The r values obtained were not significant at the .05 level. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis

Visionary Ascents of Moses in Pseudo-Philo\u27s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum: Apocalyptic Motifs and the Growth of Visionary Moses Tradition

This dissertation explores the development of visionary Moses tradition from its origins in the Hebrew Bible through pro-Mosaic Second Temple literature and rabbinic texts. It demonstrates that throughout this variegated literature, there is a developing tendency to portray Moses as an apocalyptic seer. In the non-biblical Mosaic texts that were analyzed, Moses\u27 revelation on Sinai and Nebo is increasingly invested with esoteric content, and Moses\u27 ascents are often depicted as heavenly journeys. These revelatory developments have conceptual roots in alternative visionary traditions, notably Enochic lore. The texts investigated contain a discernible thread of dialogue with Enochic revelatory claims; Moses\u27 ascents and revelation were embellished to include speculative elements and motifs typical of Enochic traditions. Pro-Mosaic texts and traditions responded to alternative visionary developments by re-envisioning Moses\u27 ascents of Sinai and Nebo in similar transcendent terms. Moses\u27 presentation in these texts often appears to be a polemical positioning of Moses over Enoch. The second part of this dissertation considers the place of Pseudo-Philo\u27s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (LAB) in the trajectory of visionary Moses tradition. Analysis of the apocalyptic features of LAB reveals the formative role of alternative visionary traditions in Pseudo-Philo\u27s portrayal of Moses. Moses often takes on the exalted qualities of Enoch in the text, including the experience of heavenly ascent, journey to paradise, and esoteric disclosure of heavenly, cosmic, meteorological, protological, and eschatological secrets. LAB not only demonstrates awareness of Enochic tradition; it provides evidence of polemical dialogue with Enochic revelatory claims. This assertion contributes to the deciphering of some puzzling passages in LAB. The investigation concludes that Pseudo-Philo\u27s depiction of Moses\u27 ascents and revelation were re-crafted with apocalyptic characteristics in order to underscore Moses\u27 authority and pre-eminent position as Israel\u27s visionary par excellence. LAB links all truth, exoteric (law and covenant) and esoteric, to Moses

Balsam Woolly Aphid Infestation of Fraser Fir in the Great Smoky Mountains

The balsam woolly aphid (Adelges piceae (Ratz.)) has within the last decade become a serious pest on Fraser fir (Abies fraseri (Pursh.) Poir.) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, causing concern for the scenic and scientific resources of the spruce-fir forests. In order to determine and anticipate the nature and impact of the balsam woolly aphid in this area, a research project was designed to investigate some of the relevant biotic factors. Objectives of this study were: (1) to determine relationships between levels of infestation, as indicated by aphid population and damage on individual trees, the respective size, crown position, age, growth rate, and bark characteristics of these trees, and (2) to determine relationships between levels of infestation and selected site characteristics including slope, elevation, aspect, and ground vegetation. Permanent plots were located throughout the Park in areas of varying levels of infestation as determined from aerial photographs. Data were collected on individual trees and sites during the summer of 1976. Individual tree characteristics were important in determining levels of aphid population on a tree and the amount of damage sustained. The most significant characteristic was tree size: large trees supported the heaviest populations while the smallest trees sustained more severe and/or rapid damage

Expression of the gene for main intrinsic polypeptide (MIP): separate spatial distributions of MIP and beta-crystallin gene transcripts in rat lens development

The main intrinsic polypeptide (MIP) is the major protein present in the lens fiber cell membrane and is the product of a gene which, as far as is known, is expressed only in the lens. We have used in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence microscopy to characterize the expression of this gene during the course of development in the rat. At progressive stages of lens morphogenesis, we find that synthesis of the protein is closely tied to the accumulation of MIP mRNA in cells that are committed to terminal differentiation, first in the elongating presumptive primary lens fibers and later in the secondary fibers as they differentiate from the anterior epithelial cells. The transcripts accumulate in the basal cytoplasm of the primary fibers and in the cytoplasm which surrounds the cell nucleus in the secondary fibers. We have compared this pattern of expression with that of a gene for a cytoplasmic protein, beta-crystallin beta-A1/A3. In sharp contrast to the localized concentrations seen for the MIP mRNA, beta-A1/A3 transcripts are relatively uniformly distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Neither MIP nor crystallin gene appears to be transcriptionally active in the undifferentiated epithelial cell, but transcripts from the beta-A1/A3 gene appear earlier in fiber cell differentiation than do those from the gene for MIP