The Burdens of Capability

I once specialized in counseling talented and gifted children. Before that, I taught these students in my high school English classes for many years, and they taught me about themselves through their writings and discussions. Motivated by what I had learned from my most memorably talented students, I began discussion groups for them when I became a gifted education teacher in the 1980s. I knew there was a need for affective support. I also knew that educators, coaches, and even parents sometimes forgot that these bright and complex students were more than just potential fulfillers of adults\u27 dreams, more than award-winners, more than stars. They were certainly more than their intellect, their talents, or their stardom. They were kids, working through the same developmental stages as their same-age peers. Some of them, of course, did not manage their development smoothly, did not compete and achieve well, did not meet expectations. Some had neglectful parents and came from violent homes. Some were never noticed as being bright. I had all of them in mind when I organized the groups

Diagenesis and porosity distribution in deltaic sandstone, Strawn Series (Pennsylvanian) north-central Texas

Extensive diagenetic changes have occurred in deltaic sandstones of the "Gray" interval, Strawn Series (Pennsylvanian) from Taylor County, Texas. The present burial depth of the "Gray" interval is feet (1370 m.), and maximum burial was about 7500 feet (2300 m.). Sandstone beds were deposited in delta slope, bar crest, and distributary channel environments in a high-constructive elongate delta. Petrographically, the rocks are fine to very fine, submature to mature, shale-bearing sublitharenite. Except for clay clasts, the framework grains, more than 95% quartz, are very mature mineralogically. Good primary porosity occurred in sediments deposited in high energy environments such as bar crest and channel. These sediments had large mean grain size ([X-bar] = 2.8 [phi] or .15 mm.), contained an average of only 1.4% detrital clay matrix, and were located farther away vertically from shale beds. It is estimated that depositional porosity of about 35% was reduced to 22% by compaction. Cementation began with authigenic chlorite rims, followed by quartz overgrowths. Calcite cement filled the remaining pore space and replaced unstable grains such as feldspar. Later, dissolution of calcite produced secondary porosity. Further compaction was prevented by quartz cement, so the secondary porosity was preserved. Kaolinite, barite, and ferroan dolomite precipitated as late cements that reduced secondary porosity. Samples from high energy environments contain the most cement, but they also retain the highest porosity. Original textures and depositional environments in a formation may be used to predict where porosity will survive diagenesis.Geological Science

A Counselor Educator Situates Two Seminal Studies in the Cultural Values and Underrepresentation Literature 30 Years Later

Emerging themes in an interview-based qualitative study of dominant-culture teachers’ beliefs about giftedness in the late 1900s reflected that behavior, verbal assertiveness, family status, a strong work ethic, and social skills mattered most. In a similar study in five culturally and linguistic diverse (CLD) communities at that time, themes differed from community to community, and collectively from the teachers\u27. Findings are pertinent to the underrepresentation of CLD students in gifted-education programs currently because teachers continue to be gatekeepers when asked to refer students for programs and what they value matters. The research approach is also of interest. The methods used in these studies were effective for exploring teachers’ ad hoc rationale when nominating students for special programs, and the findings provoke thought about why underrepresentation remains so intractable. Current implications for educators involve policy, philosophy, selection and programming

How grammar instruction can benefit students in the second language classroom

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that grammar has played in second language teaching methods throughout history and to question whether explicit grammar study has a place in the second language classroom today

A feasibility study for the creation of a meat processing training program in Iowa

The unique needs of Iowa\u27s small meat processors include more educational opportunities. This project explored how to provide additional training to these important rural businesses

Accessibility of Health Data Representations for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for Design

Health data of consumer off-the-shelf wearable devices is often conveyed to users through visual data representations and analyses. However, this is not always accessible to people with disabilities or older people due to low vision, cognitive impairments or literacy issues. Due to trade-offs between aesthetics predominance or information overload, real-time user feedback may not be conveyed easily from sensor devices through visual cues like graphs and texts. These difficulties may hinder critical data understanding. Additional auditory and tactile feedback can also provide immediate and accessible cues from these wearable devices, but it is necessary to understand existing data representation limitations initially. To avoid higher cognitive and visual overload, auditory and haptic cues can be designed to complement, replace or reinforce visual cues. In this paper, we outline the challenges in existing data representation and the necessary evidence to enhance the accessibility of health information from personal sensing devices used to monitor health parameters such as blood pressure, sleep, activity, heart rate and more. By creating innovative and inclusive user feedback, users will likely want to engage and interact with new devices and their own data

Gendered Differences: Postmodern Feminist Perspectives and Young Women Identified as Emotionally Disabled

Copyright 2002 Families International, Inc.Little consideration has been given to adolescent girls identified as having emotional disabilities in either the research or clinical literature. Social workers continue to use developmental theories that are based on males, and thus contribute to the persistent silence about the needs of this population. Feminist and postmodern perspectives can serve to highlight how dominant discourses around "gender/7 "emotional disabilities/7 and "psychological development" influence social work theory and practice with this population. This paper uses feminist and postmodern re-visions of developmental theories to deconstruct the current research and clinical practices with female adolescents and shows how these re-visions can inform our thinking about adolescent girls identified as having emotional or behavioral disabilities

Creating Partnerships: A Key Counselor Capability

Counselors who create active partnerships as they implement counseling programs ensure support for their work. This ethnographic case study of an exemplary elementary school counselor details three strategies used in creating partnerships