Creating a culture of coaching: upskilling the school workforce in times of change

Research Associate Full report, Spring 2011. "Within an education culture striving for continuous improvement, there is a constant need to ensure the appropriate skills, knowledge and actions of staff match the changing needs of the system. Coaching can assist in this process of ‘upskilling’. This research study explored how a small cross-phase sample of eight schools in one local authority area went about the process of creating a culture of coaching, the logistics of so doing, and the impact that this had on professional development and pupil progress." - Page 3

The Vocabularyclept Poem, No. 1

Mr. Lindon has solved the VC poem presented in the previous issue - and he has done this under further handicaps, the cause of which was my carelessness in presenting the problem to him. How he finally arrived at a technically exact solution under these conditions is a story in itself. The following passages from his letter make fascinating reading

Doctor Jones and the Lawless Lords of Logomycin

Unable to draw his real foes into the open, Doctor Jones crosses swords directly with a Sinister Logological Entity which threatens the financial health of his entire Medical Empire

IN SEARCH OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN ECONOMICS

The economic well-being of economic agents is assumed to be interpersonally dependent and varies according to the strength of relationships, values, and social bonds. The extent of this interpersonal dependency is measured using social capital coefficients in a neoclassical model in which agents with stable preferences maximize utility. The model's predictions are tested empirically by asking agents how their distribution of a scarce resource is altered by relationships.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

A WHITE PAPER ON THE RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES (CANR)

Social capital is about relationships that are often based on earned or inherited kernels of commonality. Social capital raises the ethical question of when relationships should be allowed to influence outcomes. The essential theory underlying the social capital paradigm is that relationships of sympathy or social capital influence almost every interpersonal transaction. Since interpersonal transactions occur in many settings, the study of social capital is multi-disciplinary and interested in such diverse topics as charitable giving, leadership development, educational achievements, migration patterns, formation of cooperatives, how people care for the environment, diffusion of technology, advertising, economic development, family integrity, flow of legal, recreational, and health services, management of organizations, community development, animal health, passage of legislation, and the creation of civil society. Social capital is relevant to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) because it represents an important resource that must be studied and managed to achieve CANR's mission.Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Linguistic evidence for the Indo-European and Albanian origin of Aphrodite

I consider the question of the source of the divine name Aphrodite, arguing that the etymology of the name indicates an Albanian and Illyrian origin. I first survey different etymological hypotheses and give reasons for rejecting them and then turn to motivating the Albanian sound changes necessary for taking the name to derive from Albanian sources. The historical and linguistic evidence will show that the Albanian phrase afro dita ‘come forth the day/dawn’ can be posited back to a Proto-Albanian *apro dītā a reflex of Proto-Indo-European *h2epero déh2itis. Modern Albanian afro dita refers to Aphrodite’s celestial origin. Aphrodite was first and foremost known as the planet Venus, which can only be seen during the dawn. Only Modern Albanian afro dita ‘come forth the day/dawn’ indicates this exact time when the planet Venus is visible in the sky. The celestial concept of Aphrodite was adapted by a Pre-Proto-Albanian group (Illyrians) from the Phoenicians, who first brought knowledge of the goddess to Europe

A Virtual Tour of Shiloh

In this article the author discusses a virtual field trip lesson created to assist his high school history students. By using pictures, videos hosted via youtube, and actual battlefield artifacts, the teacher was allowed to better explore the history surrounding the Civil War battle