Literacy metaphors of pre-service elementary teachers: Do they change after instruction? Which metaphors are stable? How do they connect to theories?

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2011.538274The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service elementary teachers’ metaphors of “literacy” and “teaching literacy” at the commencement and conclusion of a year-long literacy methods course at a Midwestern American university. Over a 3-year period, a total of 47 participants enrolled in the two-semester literacy methods course with embedded practicum. Data were entered in NVivio 7 and analyzed for qualitative themes. Results identified six themes of teaching literacy, five of which connect to literacy theories. The majority of the pre-service teachers maintained their metaphorical belief after a year-long methods/practicum course. Four metaphors appeared to be stable across time and population. The article provides implications for linking the research reported with contemporary ideas for teaching in teacher preparation programs

Pre-service teachers' metaphors of teaching and literacy

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02702710701568397The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service elementary teachers’ metaphors of teaching and literacy and then relate their metaphorical images of literacy to content presented in the reading methods course. Specifically, fifty-two participants generated responses to open-ended statements, “Teaching is. . .” and “Literacy is. . .” Results indicated that the pre-service teachers’ metaphors could be grouped into eleven themes for teaching and fourteen themes for literacy. Two themes of teaching that arose in previous research, nurturing and guiding, were evident in the responses of this population as well, illustrating their commonality and perhaps universal nature. The primary literacy theme was the parts/ingredients metaphor (N=8). Four dominant metaphors of literacy were identified: sequence of knowledge and skill, parts that come together as a whole, foundation of life, and journey. Twenty-three (or 44%) of the pre-service teachers wrote metaphors that related to content presented in the reading methods course. We advocate that future research should solicit pre-service teachers’ metaphors of literacy early in the teacher preparation program and students should be taught to examine their metaphors throughout the course of study. Further, novice teachers should be followed into the classroom and monitored as they engage in learning to teach. We believe the metaphor will continue to be a powerful conceptual means for framing and defining teachers’ awareness of their beliefs

Growth Rate Effects on Temporal Trajectories of Ring Width, Wood Density, and Mean Tracheid Length in Norway Spruce (Picea Abies (L.) Karst.)

The study reported was conducted on 20 fast-grown and 20 slow-grown Norway spruces (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) from an even-aged, plantation-grown stand near Rendeux, Belgian Ardennes. The objective was to test whether increasing the growth rate of Norway spruce by heavy thinnings had an effect on the temporal trajectories (i.e., fluctuations from year to year) of ring width, wood density, and mean tracheid length, all measured yearly from pith to bark. Since the data were chronologies (i.e., time series of yearly measurements), time had to be considered as a factor (i.e., the calendar year of ring formation) in the statistical analysis of the within-tree variation (repeated measures analysis of variance).While the effects of the growth category and its interaction with the year were highly significant after first thinning for ring width, a significant decrease in the wood density of fast-grown trees was observed in many years during that growing period; the decrease was small in magnitude, once averaged over years (-0.033 g/cm3). Tracheids were longer for the slow-grown trees after first thinning; although constant in sign and magnitude over years, the difference in mean tracheid length between growth categories was not statistically significant. In summary, increasing the growth rate in circumference of Norway spruce from 1.7 to 2.7 cm/year by heavy thinnings induced a limited decrease in wood density and mean tracheid length. These results support the statement that stand productivity might be improved without sensible loss of wood quality

Holistic analysis of the effect on electricity cost in South Africa’s platinum mines when varying shift schedules according to time-of-use tariffs

In the past the cost of electricity was not a significant concern and was not common practice for mining companies to consider peak time-of-use (TOU) tariffs for their shift schedules. It has become more prevalent, as TOU tariffs continue increasing, to consider energy saving important. A study was carried out to analyse the mining operation of a South African deep-level platinum mine in respect of integrated load management, shift changes and TOU schedules. This was achieved by thoroughly analysing energy consumers, mine operational schedules and their interconnectedness. A specific mining system was analysed as a case study and a maximum savings scenario was determined, using the methodology formulated. The maximum savings scenario schedule change resulted in a 1.3% cost reduction. System improvements had an additional potential reduction effect of 8.4%, which was primarily the result of a reduction in compressors’ power consumption. The implications of the proposed schedule adjustments necessitated a realistic scenario. The realistic scenario had an effective financial reduction of 0.7%. The realistic schedule change, however, opened the door for large system operational improvements, which could increase the reduction potential by 7.6%. The study methods described illustrate the potential implications of integrated load management and operational schedule optimisation on the power demand and cost savings in the mining industry, specifically focusing on deep-level platinum mines

Making sense of teaching through metaphors: a review across three studies

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1354060090347564The purpose of this paper is to synthesize findings from three studies that have addressed the conceptualization and application of the metaphor construct to the study of teachers and teaching. We specifically examined the perspectives of elementary and secondary preservice teachers, how the particular metaphors indicated conceptualizations of and orientations to classroom life, and how metaphors influenced teachers’ approaches to teaching, curriculum and their work with pupils. We frame the discussion in light of the larger literature on the relationship of beliefs and practices as it relates to learning to teach and teacher education. The paper provides implications for linking the research reported with contemporary ideas for teaching and teacher preparation

Preservice Teachers' Metaphors of Teaching in Relation to Literacy Beliefs

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version is available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540600701837632 .The purpose of this study was to examine preservice elementary and secondary English and foreign language teachers’ metaphors and relate their metaphorical images to conceptions of literacy. Specifically, sixty-six participants completed a questionnaire that solicited their sense of teaching. Results indicated that the preservice teachers’ beliefs could be categorized into nine themes. The most common metaphors for teaching were nurturing, guiding, promoting learning and qualities of effective teachers. In comparing response patterns between elementary and secondary, there was considerable overlap among and between categories. There appeared to be limited variability in responses specifically among secondary majors. An association was found between four metaphors and literacy beliefs. We advocate that future research should solicit preservice teachers’ metaphors of literacy across content areas and then compare the selected metaphors to their teacher education literacy program in order to better align student learning with the program’s conceptual framework. Further, novice teachers should be followed into the classroom and monitored as they engage in learning to teach. We believe the metaphor will continue to be a powerful conceptual means for framing and defining teachers’ awareness of their beliefs

Metaphors and Sense of Teaching: How These Constructs Influence Novice Teachers

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10476210500204887.The purpose of this study was to identify the root metaphors of secondary classroom teachers and to observe ways in which these constructs influence teachers’ work with their students and their environments. Specifically, five case studies of novice teachers were presented. Results indicated that the metaphor of life as a tree was the most common view and that all five participants held a similar childhood metaphor in which they tended to idealize childhood. Overall, the data showed the persistence of ideas that beginning teachers bring to their university preparation and those beliefs extend into actual classroom practice. Teacher development seemed to be more influenced by the schooling environment rather than the preservice preparation the teachers received. Furthermore, these novice teachers felt conflict between their held-beliefs and the reality of teaching and schooling. Implications for teacher educators and future research are included

Public safety communications centers: are we prepared for the new technologies coming our way?

CHDS State/LocalThis thesis explores the impact of rapidly evolving emerging technologies on public safety communications centers. It is intended to further the discussion on whether the public safety community is prepared for these new technologies, which will likely become commonplace over the next several years, and how to prepare to integrate those technologies into existing structures. Through the use of a nominal group technique and cross-impact analysis, this thesis utilized a pre-collected data set concerning the risks, structure, governance, policy and external influences associated with public safety communications centers in light of emerging technological advancements to determine what trends and events were of the greatest concerns to those actively involved in the leadership of public safety communications centers, development of emerging technologies, and implementation of governance models used by the various agencies. Those findings were analyzed and strategies were identified to allow for successful mitigation of the most statistically significant risks. Ultimately, this thesis determined that through visionary leadership, effective strategic planning and mitigation of risk, public safety agencies could position themselves for successful implementation of emerging technologies with their communications centers.http://archive.org/details/publicsafetycomm1094541443Assistant Chief, California Highway Patrol, Glendale, C

A Study of Student Teachers' Reflections on Their Beliefs, Thoughts, and Practices

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The original published version can be found at the following link:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2008.10463482The purposes of this study were to identify critical events that student teachers encountered and to investigate how the interaction between the characteristics of student teachers and their school environment influences their role-assumption strategies. Twenty-seven student teachers (15 elementary and 12 secondary) in three midwestern communities provided data in the form of prepared journal guides, classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Analysis of the data over several phases led to a refined theory of beginning teachers' role-assumption strategies. Perhaps the most significant finding from this study is that the interaction of an individual's needs and perceptions of the salient characteristics of the school and classroom environment results in unique, understandable, and adaptive patterns of behavior aimed not just at the goal of developing competence but at that of contributing to improved school practice. Implications for teacher education, supervision practices, and future research are discussed

Reconstruction on trees and spin glass transition

Consider an information source generating a symbol at the root of a tree network whose links correspond to noisy communication channels, and broadcasting it through the network. We study the problem of reconstructing the transmitted symbol from the information received at the leaves. In the large system limit, reconstruction is possible when the channel noise is smaller than a threshold. We show that this threshold coincides with the dynamical (replica symmetry breaking) glass transition for an associated statistical physics problem. Motivated by this correspondence, we derive a variational principle which implies new rigorous bounds on the reconstruction threshold. Finally, we apply a standard numerical procedure used in statistical physics, to predict the reconstruction thresholds in various channels. In particular, we prove a bound on the reconstruction problem for the antiferromagnetic ``Potts'' channels, which implies, in the noiseless limit, new results on random proper colorings of infinite regular trees. This relation to the reconstruction problem also offers interesting perspective for putting on a clean mathematical basis the theory of glasses on random graphs.Comment: 34 pages, 16 eps figure