A Case Study Of Teachers’ Perceptions On Teacher Leadership As A Model For School Improvement In SIG Schools

Developing teacher leadership in a rural, geographical isolated SIG school is a difficult task toward school turnaround. This research explored the impact of teacher leadership on the School Improvement Grant (SIG) process, the development of teacher leadership model standards, and the school improvement evaluation process through the qualitative method of case study analysis. This single case study was conducted at one designated SIG funded school in central West Virginia. The case study focused on understanding the impact teacher leadership had on the implementation of the SIG school improvement process. This study was based on 14 participant interviews that were transcribed and entered into NVivo. Coding cycles were then conducted on the transcribed interview data. The results of this case study were the development of five major themes that were established as teacher leadership model practices in SIG schools. These themes included collaboration, distributed leadership, positive culture, teacher buy-in and teacher leading teachers. This data allowed the research to recommend the creation of an online SIG school improvement network that would provide a SIG school a network of collaboration among SIG School to promote and develop teacher leadership model practice as an additional means of school improvement

Job’s Gethsemane: tradition and imagination in William Blake’s illustrations for the book of job

Blake created two versions of his Illustrations of the Book of Job, and it is now agreed that about twenty years separates his first watercolour series and the final engraved set of plates. The first chapter is biographical and technical: it establishes that the Butts series of water-colours was the product of the tumultuous and creative years 1805-10, following a time wh6n Blake experienced a strong sense of vision and Christian regeneration; whereas the engraved set was produced 1821-1826, at the end of his life. It also reviews all Blake's treatments of the Job theme. The friends-turned-accusers seem to have been a central pre-occupation. Blake's illustrations contain important elements which are not found in the Old Testament text. I have followed Bo Lindberg's principle that explanation should be sought in the artistic tradition, and in the work itself The second chapter concentrates on the tradition available to Blake, following and supplementing Lindberg's examination of the influence of the apocryphal Testament of Job, and of the artistic tradition of seeing Job as alter Christus and as Christian. Chapters three to five, interpreting Blake's imaginative use of this material, are new both in focussing on the Butts set, and in exploring the importance to Blake of St.Teresa, Fenelon, Mme. Guyon, Hervey and other people of prayer. Also discussed are Joseph Hallett's radical biblical commentary, of which Blake owned a copy, variant proofs discovered by Robert Essick of the first and last engraved plates, and the thirteenth century Job wall- paintings discovered in 1800 in St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster. Blake's Job was unique in the corpus of his work. Previous studies have followed Wicksteed in concentrating on the engraved set, and no one has explored the implications of the earlier dating now agreed for the watercolour series. The thesis is essentially concerned with Blake's Christocentric theme, and Job's inner journey of prayer, in these illustrations. Conclusions drawn differ substantially from Wicksteed's

The work of Rudolf Otto and its relevance to religious education in Britain at the present time

Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) was brought up in circles of Lutheran piety, and looked for the meeting point of academic theology and religious experience. Deeply influenced by mystics like Eckhart, he sought a solution with the help of the philosopher Kant, the theologian Schleiermacher, and the psychologist William James. He found the locus of encounter with the numinous within the human heart (Gemut) . thus proposing humanity as the starting point for the study of religion without reducing it to psychology or denying its reality as transcendent. More recent studies of children's transcendent experiences make it impossible to draw a line between those that are religious and secular ones, a state of affairs implied by the call in the Education Act for 'spiritual development.' A neutral stance is needed for the study of religion in a secular context, e.g. religious education in Britain, yet without denying its validity as religion. A new understanding of Otto's 'schematisation' discloses the relation between rational and non-rational, as well as that between the numinous in essence and its manifestations. Recent interest in Experiential R.E. makes the application of Otto's approach timely, but schematisation rightly applied also offers a dialogical wholeness to all aspects of R.E

Breeding phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) for resistance to the major pest bruchids Zabrotes subfasciatus and Acanthoscelides obtectus. Biochemical bases for seed resistance in wild lines

Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) is an important source of protein for human and animal consumption. Economic losses post-harvest in storage are primarily due to the bruchid beetles Acanthoscelides obtectus (Bean Weevil) and Zabrotes subfasciatus (Mexican Bean Weevil). Wild-lines exhibiting resistance to these two species have been found and the mechanisms of resistance to each species are investigated. The mechanisms of resistance to the two species are found to be multiple, and different for each species. In the case of Z. subfasciatus, the presence of a novel storage protein and absence of the conventional storage protein constitutes the primary mechanism. The novel protein ("arcelin") is antimetabolic when included in artificial diets. In vitro digestibility studies indicate that it is indigestible to Z. subfasciatus larval gut proteases, and since arcelin constitutes the major protein of the seed the larvae starve. Arcelin has a similar amino- acid sequence to PHA. Also present is WBAI, a highly specific inhibitor of larval amylase of the two bruchid pests Z. subfasciatus and Callosobruchus maculatus, whilst having virtually no inhibitory activity on the mammalian amylase, nor on other insect, bacterial nor fungal enzymes. WBAI is similar in gross structure to the conventional amylase inhibitor obtainable from RKB (commercial P. vulgaris), and both are also immunologically similar to PHA. Both of these mechanisms are suitable for incorporation into commercial seed, and the former has already been tested, using meal from seeds, in feeding trials using rats, confirming absence of mammalian toxicity. Resistance to A. obtectus damage is accompanied by reduced starch content, and high content of an acidic polysaccharide (whose structure has not been elucidated). No protein cause for resistance was found. Inheritance of resistance to A. obtectus is recessive. Since the factor responsible for resistance is not a primary gene product and is expressed recessively, this factor is unsuitable for incorporation into breeding lines to be used for developing commercial cultivars

A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Mainstream Classroom Teachers and Overly Active, Distracted Students

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore those lived experiences that predispose some mainstream elementary teachers to initially modify in-classroom instruction to meet the needs of their overly active, distracted students before referring them for an ADHD evaluation. Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory was the lens through which this study was examined. In essence, social learning theory suggests that individuals learn what they know and how they should act through formal and informal interactions with others. The central research question around which this study revolved was: What are the lived experiences of mainstream classroom teachers who prefer to first initiate in-classroom instructional modifications to meet the needs of their overly active, distracted students before referring them for testing? Using a qualitative research method, guided by Moustakas (1994), data collected consisted of lived experiences shared by participants. To collect this data, the online study was structured to include a semi-formal individual interview, four written reflective prompts, and one focus group. Triangulation among the data collection methods contributed to validity. The ten teacher participants were current or former mainstream classroom teachers, who had taught for a minimum of four years, at any combination of grades K-6, who preferred to initially modify instruction for overly active, distracted students before referring them for a formal ADHD assessment. Saldana (2021) informed data collection, analysis, and eclectic coding and synthesis. The central research question and three sub-questions were all successfully answered using different combinations of the three emergent themes: Self-agency, School Leadership, and Parents

Bonipak Produce Inc.

Bonipak grows, packs and ships fresh produce. As the 10th largest (by acreage) agricultural firm in the western US, it supplies a wide range of produce to national chain retailers such as Costco, Safeway, Kroger and Loblaw. The case discusses Bonipak’s Seed to Sale approach, in which they aim to satisfy their buyers, who demand consist, high quality produce for the final retail customer. Bonipak has dealt with issues including labor and water, and has worked with sustainability, in terms of “farming with the future in mind”

Studazon

Studazon is a book listing for students to list textbooks they no longer need. Studazon acts as an advertising site to help connect students who have textbooks with students who need those textbooks

SOS employability: a support structure for language students

It is readily recognised that “study and residence abroad are significant contexts for second language learning and development” (Mitchell, Tracy-Ventura, & McManus, 2015, p. 1), but the Year Abroad (YA) also provides Modern Foreign Language (MFL) students with a unique opportunity to develop personal and professional skills. YA students go through what is often termed a ‘transformative experience’ (British Academy/UCML, 2012). However, the problem of skills self-recognition and articulation remains. Without strong support structures students struggle to understand these skills and how to talk about them. This case study explores the creation of an employability-focussed support structure for MFL undergraduate students centred on preparing for, getting the most out of, and articulating the ‘soft skills’ learnt from the YA. The study presents evidence from three core activities: 1) interviews with YA returners, now final-year students; 2) support through tailored employability modules; and 3) the launch of an interactive online resource for students who are on their YA

Understanding the National Student Survey: investigations in languages, linguistics and area studies

This report is a summary of interviews and focus groups with around 100 students and 50 members of academic staff in departments of languages, linguistics or area studies at nine universities in the UK. In recent years, concerns have been expressed about the ambiguity of some of the statements which students are asked to respond to in the National Student Survey (NSS). This project set out to get a better understanding of how students and staff understand the questions. The interviews and focus groups were carried out by members of academic staff at the nine institutions who each then wrote an individual report of their findings. This summary is designed to enable wider distribution of these findings without identifying individual staff, institutions `or departments