“We Want to Tell the World”: One Teacher’s Experience with the Power of Petey

“That one’s Petey Corbin. He’s an idiot retard, but a friendly one—you know, laughs and smiles a lot. Sometimes you swear he’s thinking, but it’s just conditioning. They used to get him up every day and put him in a wheelchair. Lucky for us, they stopped that.” (Mikaelsen, 1998, p. 113) I steal a glance up from the page of the book I am reading aloud to take stock of my fourth-graders’ reactions. They sit just below where I am curled on the couch. The lights are off, except for a single reading lamp. This is our daily read-aloud ritual; a time of togetherness that quietly opens the door to great possibilities. Many are hugging their knees and staring into the middle distance, thoughtful. Some are slightly agape; all are solemn. “Why am I reading those words, ‘idiot’ and ‘retard’?” I ask. “What does it suggest to you about what people thought of Petey?

Professional Development\u27s Complex Ecology: Examining a Whole-School Balanced Literacy Professional Development

This descriptive study reports on the structure and implementation of a school wide professional development model in a southwest public elementary school. The professional development effort was designed to support educators’ understanding and teaching of balanced literacy. The paper reports on the components of this professional development and discusses the strengths of this model in relation to educational research and findings on professional development. We conclude by discussing this model from the perspective of involved administration, facilitators, and teachers, as they consider the process of crossing the borders from professional development into their classrooms. The study is strengthened by teachers’ opinions about the model in their school

Pre-service Teachers\u27 Understandings About ELLs: One Pedagogical Tool for Identifying and Shifting Dispositions

Cowart, Melinda T, Ed.D. Series EditorAnderson, Gina, Ed.D. Managing Edito

\u27The Classroom is a Place Where I\u27m Alive:\u27 One Teacher\u27s Reflection on Learning and Life in the Classroom

This qualitative case study of one teacher’s learning life describes how affective considerations influenced her learning and teaching. Classroom observations, interviews, and inquiry conversations informed the learning considerations that infused her first-grade classroom. The resulting descriptive vignettes showcase the various ways this experienced teacher trusted the significance of affect for her teaching and learning life together with children. This allowed her to co-construct a ‘life curriculum’ alongside students, demonstrating sensitivity to her students’ academic, social, and emotional needs

Gender Inequality in Higher Education

Social issues are present in every activity, area, and institution in this world. Many are positive, affecting those involved for the good, but then there are the negative that produce grave consequences both in the short term and the long. The relationship between social issues is an interesting one, for many are interrelated. One issue or problem leads to another and they snowball, creating a larger problem with almost inconceivable solutions. For example, the issue of poverty does not just begin and end with a poor individual. He or she cannot get a job that pays a higher wage because this individual does not have access to the education or skills needed for this kind of a position. He or she cannot move out of the assumedly depressed area in which they live because they cannot afford the move, cannot afford more expensive housing, and if they are a member of a minority racial or ethnic class, they may be discriminated against in the real estate market, closing doors on possible properties. All of these are social issues that play into each other, driving an individual down in society. This does not simply have immediate effects, but also long term effects. The effects could go so far as continuing into the lives of the individual\u27s children and grandchildren

The Relationship Between Moist-Soil Plant Seed Production and Drawdown Date in an East-Central Illinois Subimpoundment Managed for Waterfowl Hunting

Faced with increasing costs and decreasing federal funds, wildlife managers are turning towards more energy effecient and economical methods of attracting fall migrating waterfowl. The production of food by natural moist-soil plants can be encouraged in low lying areas by timely dewatering and reflooding. This study was designed to determine which of two drawdown dates would result in the greatest seed production by plants known to be valuable waterfowl foods. A late July 1984 drawdown in an east-central Illinois subimpoundment produced significantly more smartweed (Polygonum spp.) and pigweed (Amaranthus tamariscinus) seed than did a late March 1985 drawdown. Estimated seed production by Cyperus spp. did not vary significantly with a difference in drawdown date. Beggarticks (Bidens spp.) were more abundant following the early drawdown. Wild millet (Echinochloa crusgalli) occurred on soils exposed early but did occur after the late drawdown. Seed production between plots was highly variable even within the same year. Interspecific competition and differences in microclimate probably account for the majority of this variability. A drawdown between 15 June and 15 July is recommended to maximize seed production of smartweeds, pigweed, and millets. Drawdowns conducted during the early portion of this period are more likely to result in the germination of non-target problem species like cottonwoods and willows

The Relationship Between Moist-Soil Plant Seed Production and Drawdown Date in an East-Central Illinois Subimpoundment Managed for Waterfowl Hunting

Faced with increasing costs and decreasing federal funds, wildlife managers are turning towards more energy effecient and economical methods of attracting fall migrating waterfowl. The production of food by natural moist-soil plants can be encouraged in low lying areas by timely dewatering and reflooding. This study was designed to determine which of two drawdown dates would result in the greatest seed production by plants known to be valuable waterfowl foods. A late July 1984 drawdown in an east-central Illinois subimpoundment produced significantly more smartweed (Polygonum spp.) and pigweed (Amaranthus tamariscinus) seed than did a late March 1985 drawdown. Estimated seed production by Cyperus spp. did not vary significantly with a difference in drawdown date. Beggarticks (Bidens spp.) were more abundant following the early drawdown. Wild millet (Echinochloa crusgalli) occurred on soils exposed early but did occur after the late drawdown. Seed production between plots was highly variable even within the same year. Interspecific competition and differences in microclimate probably account for the majority of this variability. A drawdown between 15 June and 15 July is recommended to maximize seed production of smartweeds, pigweed, and millets. Drawdowns conducted during the early portion of this period are more likely to result in the germination of non-target problem species like cottonwoods and willows

Why Do Cascade Sizes Follow a Power-Law?

We introduce random directed acyclic graph and use it to model the information diffusion network. Subsequently, we analyze the cascade generation model (CGM) introduced by Leskovec et al. [19]. Until now only empirical studies of this model were done. In this paper, we present the first theoretical proof that the sizes of cascades generated by the CGM follow the power-law distribution, which is consistent with multiple empirical analysis of the large social networks. We compared the assumptions of our model with the Twitter social network and tested the goodness of approximation.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted to WWW 201