Counseling approach to the reluctant reader

This research project was undertaken in order to determine some effective manner of enhancing the student\u27s self-image while improving his reading ability

Modeling Instructional Best Practices: Pedagogy of College of Education Professors

In light of increased accountability for K-12 student achievement, critics have questioned the quality of teachers and school principals as well as the university programs that prepare them for these roles (Lambert, 1996; Levine, 2005; Murphy, 1992). Regarding the preparation of teachers, critics have stated that education courses are vapid, impractical, segmented, and directionless (Glenn, 2000). Two national reports that have made recommendations for teacher redesign are noteworthy. The report of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, What matters most: Teaching for America’s future (Lambert, 1996), found that teacher preparation education is thin and fragmented and recommended that universities reinvent teacher preparation. The Glenn Commission\u27s report, Before It\u27s Too Late (2000), called for the identification of exemplary teacher preparation programs to be held up as models for other programs to emulate

Revealing a Spectrum of Racialized Sexuality: Representations of Video Game Characters Over Time, 1981-2012

While researchers have examined controlling images of race and gender in the media, many have failed to acknowledge the role video games play in the hegemonic domain of power and few have examined the simultaneity of race and gender. This study expands upon existing literature by using video games as a site of racial formation, through which racialized others are created and Whiteness is normalized. Through the lens of intersectionality, I examine representations of female characters that appeared in popular video games between 1981 and 2012 and assess changes in racial composition, sexualization, narrative role, and aggression. A content analysis indicates belated portrayals of women of color and an analysis of odds ratios reveals a hierarchy of racialized femininity and sexuality in which Hispanic females are portrayed as hypersexual and passive and Asian females are depicted as aggressive but sexually modest. Examination of narrative roles indicates that, while women of color appear much later and far less often than white women, they are more likely to secure a significant role than white female characters when they are present

Attentional Load and Style Control

Labov\u27s (1966) attention-to-speech model suggested both social and cognitive elements in style-shifting: social awareness of prestige norms and cognitive defaulting to an easier style when attention is diverted. A focus on social motivations in later work has left the cognitive dimension under-explored. As the contexts elicited in sociolinguistic interviews vary in both attention and register, new methods are needed to tease these apart. In this study, we investigate the cognitive prediction: Does an increase in attentional load cause individuals to struggle to maintain a later-learned style? The novel experimental design eliminates contextual differences by requiring a formal news report style throughout. Twelve speakers of vernacular British English completed two speech production tasks (reading and recall), each with varying attentional load conditions. Higher load conditions included a cross-modal distractor task requiring simultaneous arithmetical calculations. Both of the variables examined—glottal replacement of /t/ and th-fronting—exhibited a consistent but mild trend towards an increase in vernacular forms under higher load. Speakers seem slightly less able to maintain a formal style when their attention is diverted, as suggested in Labov\u27s original description of the vernacular as a default. However, the low level of the effect also suggests that sharp formality shifts cannot be purely due to a reduction in monitoring, but must also involve social awareness of the stylistic norms of a given register. Processing and cognitive ease should therefore be factored in alongside social motivations in the study of style variation

Barriers to parental involvement in an urban parochial school.

Current literature and research in education underscores the importance that parent participation and involvement play in a child\u27s academic progress and successful educational experience. The importance of involvement has been traced through all educational levels from preschool through high school and in both American and foreign academic settings. American educational reform movements focus on efforts to restructure our schools to include all interested parties in the decision making process. Crucial to this restructuring is an active parental component. If schools are to overcome this crisis of public confidence they must work with the community, including its citizens and business members, to meet the unique individual needs of their setting. No where is this involvement more crucial than in America\u27s inner-city, urban neighborhoods. However, it is here where we have seen minimal parent-school contact. This study explored parental involvement practices in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, inner city parochial school setting and attempted to identify and analyze the various barriers which prevent a more involvement role for our inner city parents even in this selective setting where the element of parental choice and monetary investment became evident. The descriptive study utilized a questionnaire format to identify these barriers to participation and compare the responses across various racial groups including Hispanic, African American, Native American, White, and Asian American

Parent Involvement in Urban Schools: The View from the Front of the Classroom

American educational reform movements focus on efforts to restructure our schools to include all interested parties, especially parents, in the decision-making process. Nowhere is involvement more crucial than in America\u27s inner-city urban neighborhoods. As parents are given a greater voice in their child\u27s school, educators must join them as collaborators. This article identifies elements that impeded parental involvement and recognizes positive and encouraging techniques leading toward successful family-school-community partnerships. An alliance between groups too long seen as opponents rather than proponents must be established

Improving the Viability of New Farmers\u27 Operations Through the Use of Profit Teams

Profit teams comprise multiple consultants engaged to support farmer decision making by holistically analyzing farm challenges. We tested the idea of using profit teams to help advanced beginning farmers, those who are beyond start-up but have been in business less than 10 years, address constraints to growing their businesses. These new entrepreneurs often have entered agriculture without a family farming history or a connection to Extension. We describe the processes of selecting farmers and administering teams, and we highlight significant improvements in quality of life, production, and profitability reported by 35 farmers. Our lessons learned may guide other educators and funders in developing profit teams for their beginning farmer clients

Women and Philanthropy in the United States, 1790-1990

This document was part of the Multicultural Philanthropy Project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. A series of fourteen guides examine the ways in which various gender, ethnic, cultural, religious and racial groups use their gifts of time, money, and talent. They reflect the ways giving and voluntarism are embedded in American life and challenge the notion that philanthropy is the exclusive province of elites. The guides include discussion topics, research questions, and literature overviews with annotated bibliographies. They were developed both to integrate the study of philanthropy into the curricula at colleges and universities, and to provide a tool to nonprofit professionals in the area of development and fundraising. Each volume provides background information on a selected community that will help practitioners work effectively with these groups. This guide provides an overview of the rich tradition of women?s giving and volunteering in the United States over the course of two centuries (between 1790 and 1990) and illustrates the ways that women have changed American society. The volume focuses on voluntary associations and describes the activities of various groups of women in different regions of the United States. It will be of particular use to those seeking to understand the ways that philanthropy has played an important role in enabling women of different religious, races, regions and economic backgrounds to shape American politics, professions and institutions. It also offers a context for nonprofit professionals and fundraisers who are looking to identify the best ways to tap into the enormous wealth held by women in the 21st century. This knowledge may then serve as a springboard for involving women today by reminding women of their ability to use giving and voluntarism to shape the future in directions they believe important

An intern\u27s experience in educational leadership at Salem County Special Services School District

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was in fact a growing number of minority students in special education, if minority staff in special education were being hired in proportion to the number of minority students coming to this particular school district, and finally, whether or not the district was addressing cultural diversity among the staff and student populations due to the increase in minority students. Initially, a questionnaire was developed for the students. One site in the district was targeted because it had thirty-five emotionally disturbed students. Nineteen emotionally disturbed high school minority students were interviewed. Other interviews were conducted in and out of the district to determine the level of consciousness among educators regarding minority students and their education. Statistics were also gathered on the staff and students on the number and ethnic makeup of each group from 1992-1997. The intern found that the number of minorities in the school district had increased significantly, while the number of minority staff had increased but not in proportion to the student population. Finally, the intern found that more workshops for the staff and students were needed to bring the school community to a higher level of consciousness in terms of cultural awareness