The Craft of Constructing a Classroom Library: Student Collaboration in Book Selection for the Classroom Library

Reading performance has been correlated to time spent in engaged reading. Additionally, positive attitudes toward reading, time spent reading, and reading proficiency have been shown to affect employment options, state of financial wellness, and overall quality of life and health into adulthood. How students contribute to book selection for classroom libraries may critically impact reading performance and attitudes toward reading, as books selected by teachers and school leaders may not be relevant, accessible, or interesting to the students for whom the books are selected. This mixed methods study examined factors around student collaboration in book title selection for the classroom library, including how teachers view collaboration, how teachers practice collaboration, how willing teachers are to increase collaborative practices, and needs that could be met to mitigate challenges around collaborative practices. Using a constructivist, grounded theory approach, data were collected via an electronic survey and an interview. Descriptive statistics provided context for themes found in coded, transcribed interviews. Results of the study suggest teachers positively view collaboration with students but financial resources, time in the school day, and curriculum demands limit how collaboration is practiced. Supporting teachers with discovery of new books and curriculum applications may increase collaborative practices. Lastly, an organizational improvement plan discusses how a children’s literature and classroom library providing company can increase student voice and agency through rebranding a web-based classroom library inventorying and auditing system. Change management is discussed through the lens of Dr. John Kotter’s 8-Step Process for Leading Change

Urban Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives and Practices

Urban teachers alone cannot solve the complex social and economic problems that plague urban communities and schools; however, their efforts to effectively educate inner-city youth can begin to break the cycle of disadvantage. Therefore, urban teachers’ perspectives are essential in understanding the process of effectively instructing urban youth. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives and practices of five urban educators through a postpositive theoretical lens. Participants for this study were five urban educators kindergarten through fourth grade, all of whom were teaching at one urban school. The participating teachers were chosen by criterion sampling with the help of the principal. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and observations during the course of one school year. A case study of each of the five urban educators provided a better understanding of: (a) factors that influenced each urban educator’s career choice; (b) how these urban educators describe their educational practices and beliefs about teaching; (c) the similarities and differences that can be found between urban educators’ beliefs and practices; (d) how these urban educators think cultural/ethnic background influences their instructional practices. Recommendations were made to improve current urban educators teaching practices, enhance future urban education, and encourage researchers to continue doing research in the field of urban education

Ocean forcing of glacier retreat in the western Antarctic Peninsula

In recent decades, hundreds of glaciers draining the Antarctic Peninsula (63° to 70°S) have undergone systematic and progressive change. These changes are widely attributed to rapid increases in regional surface air temperature, but it is now clear that this cannot be the sole driver. Here, we identify a strong correspondence between mid-depth ocean temperatures and glacier-front changes along the ~1000-kilometer western coastline. In the south, glaciers that terminate in warm Circumpolar Deep Water have undergone considerable retreat, whereas those in the far northwest, which terminate in cooler waters, have not. Furthermore, a mid-ocean warming since the 1990s in the south is coincident with widespread acceleration of glacier retreat. We conclude that changes in ocean-induced melting are the primary cause of retreat for glaciers in this region

The Language and Communication Characteristics of Communication Aids - A Systematic Review

A systematic review of the language and communication characteristics of communication aids considered in identifying the appropriate aid for a child is introduced. The aim is to improve the decision-making around the provision of symbol communication aids to children

The language and communication attributes of graphic symbol communication aids – a systematic review and narrative synthesis

Background: Symbol communication aids are used by children with little or no intelligible speech as an Augmentative and Alternative Communication strategy. Graphic symbols are used to help support understanding of language and used in symbol communication aids to support expressive communication. The decision making related to the selection of a symbol communication aid for a child is poorly understood and little is known about what language and communication attributes are considered in this selection. Aim: To identify from the literature the language or communication attributes of graphic symbol communication aids that currently influence AAC practice. Method and Procedure: A search strategy was developed and searches were performed on a range of electronic databases for papers published since 1970. Quality appraisal was carried out using the CCAT tool and papers rated as weak were not included in the review. Results: Eleven studies were included in the review reporting data from 66 participants. Weaknesses were identified in most studies that would limit the validity of the results for application to practice. Included studies investigated aspects of vocabulary organization and design, the process of vocabulary selection, and the choice of the symbol system and encoding method. Two studies also evaluated innovative communication aid attributes. Conclusions: Information from studies reported in the research literature provides a sparse source of information about symbol communication aids from which clinicians, children or family members may make informed decisions

Four-month moxifloxacin-based regimens for drug-sensitive tuberculosis

Supported by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.K. Department for International Development, Directorate General for International Cooperation of the Netherlands, Irish Aid, Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and National Institutes of Health, AIDS Clinical Trials Group and by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (UM1AI068634, UM1 AI068636, and UM1AI106701) and by NIAID grants to the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) site 31422 (1U01AI069469); to the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa, ACTG site 12301 (1U01AI069453); and to the Durban International Clinical Trials Unit, South Africa, ACTG site 11201 (1U01AI069426); Bayer Healthcare for the donation of moxifloxacin; and Sanofi for the donation of rifampin.Background: Early-phase and preclinical studies suggest that moxifloxacin-containing regimens could allow for effective 4-month treatment of uncomplicated, smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial to test the noninferiority of two moxifloxacin-containing regimens as compared with a control regimen. One group of patients received isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol for 8 weeks, followed by 18 weeks of isoniazid and rifampin (control group). In the second group, we replaced ethambutol with moxifloxacin for 17 weeks, followed by 9 weeks of placebo (isoniazid group), and in the third group, we replaced isoniazid with moxifloxacin for 17 weeks, followed by 9 weeks of placebo (ethambutol group). The primary end point was treatment failure or relapse within 18 months after randomization. Results: Of the 1931 patients who underwent randomization, in the per-protocol analysis, a favorable outcome was reported in fewer patients in the isoniazid group (85%) and the ethambutol group (80%) than in the control group (92%), for a difference favoring the control group of 6.1 percentage points (97.5% confidence interval [CI], 1.7 to 10.5) versus the isoniazid group and 11.4 percentage points (97.5% CI, 6.7 to 16.1) versus the ethambutol group. Results were consistent in the modified intention-to-treat analysis and all sensitivity analyses. The hazard ratios for the time to culture negativity in both solid and liquid mediums for the isoniazid and ethambutol groups, as compared with the control group, ranged from 1.17 to 1.25, indicating a shorter duration, with the lower bounds of the 95% confidence intervals exceeding 1.00 in all cases. There was no significant difference in the incidence of grade 3 or 4 adverse events, with events reported in 127 patients (19%) in the isoniazid group, 111 (17%) in the ethambutol group, and 123 (19%) in the control group. Conclusions: The two moxifloxacin-containing regimens produced a more rapid initial decline in bacterial load, as compared with the control group. However, noninferiority for these regimens was not shown, which indicates that shortening treatment to 4 months was not effective in this setting. (Funded by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and others; REMoxTB ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00864383.)Publisher PDFPeer reviewe