The Vogelbarke of Medinet Habu

The Sea Peoples are generally assumed to be a loose confederation of clans that first appeared in the historical record in the 14th century B.C.E. Over a century of scholarship has puzzled over whether they were responsible for the collapse of several Late Bronze Age civilizations or simply one of several catalysts that put that collapse in motion. Many attempts have also been made to determine the origins of the various groups of Sea Peoples using textual and iconographic evidence, as well as the material culture of the Sea Peoples identified in Cyprus and the Levant. This material culture is characterized foremost by locally made Mycenaean-style pottery; as such, a considerable Aegean or Mycenaean presence has been argued in the multi-ethnic Sea Peoples coalition. The most important visual record that survives of the Sea People documents a land and sea battle against the forces of Ramesses III in the early 12th century B.C.E. and is recorded on the walls of the pharaoh's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu. In 1964 a connection was first proposed between the distinctive ships of the Sea Peoples in the Medinet Habu naval battle relief, with their high, angular stem- and stern- posts topped with outward-facing water-bird heads, and the vogelbarke, or bird-boat, of Late Bronze Age Central European religious iconography. Too little is still understood of both the vogelbarke tradition and the maritime abilities of Bronze Age Central European populations to conclusively state at this time that a vogelbarke-like vessel could have plied the waters of the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age. However, additional archaeological evidence suggests a Central European mercenary presence in Mycenaean Greece during the period of Sea Peoples activity, as well as Central European participation in the multi-ethnic coalition reflected particularly in the material culture of the Sea Peoples identified in Cyprus. This evidence strengthens the possibility that the vogelbarke-like vessel some scholars claim to see at Medinet Habu is indeed not a "duck out of water.

Polluted Soundscapes and Contrepoison in Sixteenth-Century France: The Sonic Warfare Leading to the First War of Religion

In the decades leading up to and during the first years of the Wars of Religion, Huguenots and Catholics waged audible battles over sonic territories using songs as spiritual weapons. Huguenots memorized and communally sang metrical psalms in the vernacular as sonic markers of the Reformed faith. Catholics interpreted these same sounds as pollution in need of eradication. Artus Desiré, for example, responded by producing polemical contrepoison, musical antidotes created by composing new countertexts to Marot’s Psalm tunes to “cleanse” them of their perceived heresy. While scholars have long recognized both the destructive nature of iconoclastic attacks on religious buildings, artworks, and musical instruments, and the deployment of song in the confessional conflicts of sixteenth-century Europe, we still lack an analysis of the techniques of erasure employed by Catholics and Huguenots as they struggled to control, shape, and dominate sonic spaces. Some types of singing in the context of confessional politics, I argue, were heard as sonic pollution, and soundscapes—the complex relationships, mediated through sounds, between humans and their environment— needed to be purified by erasing texts to cleanse melodies, by drowning out opposing singers, or by exterminating the offending voices. For the people who lived through these tumultuous and violent times, songs were charged with emotional significance and were more than symbolic; they were markers of identity and at times could function as a call to arms to defend one’s faith. I argue that in some cases sonic purification prefigured corporeal violence as spiritual song ratcheted up confessional tensions

The Influence Of Concept-Based Instruction On Student Academic Engagement

Student engagement, including behavior, academic, cognitive, and social/emotional engagement is a complex multidimensional element of students’ overall well-being and success in school. As dropout rates continue to increase along with students feeling disenfranchised from the current educational system, there is a deep need to improve students’ experience in school by having them engaged in their learning. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the influence, if any, of concept-based curriculum and instruction on student academic engagement. This study examined the multiple elements of student academic engagement by addressing the concept-based learning construct, and student ownership of their learning and inquiry while simultaneously unpacking the connection between these elements of learning and brain-based learning. The research was conducted through one-on-one semi-structured interviews with a global network of international teachers who provided feedback from a variety of school settings and geographical locations on student engagement and concept-based instructional practices. The findings of the study uncovered the following six emerging themes, student-ownership of their learning, student choice, inquiry, positive relationships and rapport, monitoring student learning, and assessment practices. The recommendations for action in the study include providing training for teachers and administrators on how the brain learns new information and instructional strategies to support how the brain learns, balancing content and standards coverage with meaningful learning experiences, and allowing teachers the needed time to build strong relationships and rapport with their students

Where Are We Now?: A Study of Gifted Program Availability by Region, Urbanicity and SES

There is considerable diversity among gifted programs and program availability in the United States. This is at least in part due to the fact that there is no national mandate for gifted programming, despite the existence of the Javitts Act. Instead, decisions about gifted programming are left up to the individual states, which may then choose to allow individual counties or districts to set their own standards. This in turn creates a situation in which parents and teachers of the gifted have no ready access to information about the type of gifted programming options available in their area. Many of them seek assistance through national organizations such as the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT), which are not equipped to help them. Thus, a descriptive study of the locations of gifted programs and the age ranges they serve will be a useful resource for parents and teachers of the gifted and will lay the foundation for future research into the efficacy of gifted programming across regions and settings

A Decision to Serve: Decision Making Through Service Learning

The use of service learning and community service with students at all levels of ability is becoming increasingly prevalent, especially with gifted students, because of their need to prepare for college applications. These applications often require a range of activities including community service as well as straight academic success. However, the distinction between community service, a reactive activity, and service learning, a proactive process in which students take leadership roles in their community, is not always emphasized. The role of structured decision-making processes, like those in Talents Unlimited and Future Problem Solving, to enable gifted students to take proactive leadership roles in service-learning experiences, along with the benefits of these programs for both gifted and non-gifted students, is the focus of this paper