A Rhythm, Ritual and Rule for a Wisdom Monastic Community for Second Half of Life Pilgrims

This dissertation explores the establishing of a wisdom monastic community to nurture disciples living into the Second Half of Life. A critical problem facing mainline churches today is the increasing number of US-American adults describing themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” In 2012, a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life documented that 20 percent of the adults in the United States classify themselves as religiously unaffiliated. Adding to this population are longtime, faithful lay leaders announcing they are “done” with church. Recent research suggests that a growing number of these adults leave congregations that have nurtured their faith through the First Half of Life because churches are ill equipped to offer spiritual nurture for the Second Half of Life. In this dissertation, the researcher explores whether a local spiritual community can effectively nurture the continuing spiritual growth of people living in the Second Half of the Life by establishing a wisdom monastic community. Section One addresses the problems both churches and believers are facing through an exploration of the spiritual needs of those moving in the Second Half of Life. Section Two identifies and evaluates alternative solutions to the ministry problem of continued spiritual nurture for Second Half of Life pilgrims. Section Three introduces A Rhythm, Ritual and Rule for a Wisdom Monasticism tailored for pilgrims in the Second Half of Life. Section Four posits an artifact description of the Rhythm, Ritual and Rule of a Wisdom Monastic Community, including the survey summary, questions conducted to find Second Half of Life Pilgrims and transcripts of interviews with Second Half of Life Pilgrims. Section Five offers the artifact specification. The Final Section offers a x postscript, providing suggestions for further research. The artifact concludes the dissertation

Experiences of Special Education Teachers Performing Physical Restraints Involving Students with Disabilities: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study

The performance of physical restraints on students with disabilities has become a significant interest to the legislative and disability communities in recent years. A report from the USDOE Department of Civil Rights (2018) indicated that while students with disabilities make up only 12% of the student population, these students account for 71% of the physical restraints in public schools. To date, little research has been identified involving physical restraints in public schools. This transcendental phenomenological study collected data from 10 special educators in a school district in Southeast Tennessee who were involved in the physical restraint of students with disabilities using a demographics questionnaire, individual open-ended interviews, a focus group, and debriefing interviews. Data analysis included the horizonalization (Moustakas, 1994) of all transcripts derived from data collection methods to explore textural and structural descriptions and to fuse the essence of the phenomenon to answer the following central research question: What are the experiences of special education teachers involved in the physical restraint of students with disabilities? Data analysis occurred using Atlas.ti software and three themes emerged: (a) keep everyone safe, (b) build your toolbox, and (c) it is what it is. The presentation of the findings included their relation to self-determination theory and self-efficacy theory

Implications of Collaboration in Education

There are many examples of collaboration in education. Superintendents must collaborate with department heads, principals, teacher associations, and state agencies. Principals must collaborate with teachers, parents, student organizations, and local agencies. Teacher educators must collaborate within the University as well as with local education agencies and pre-service teachers. Special educators must collaborate with parents, agencies, regular education teachers, school psychologists, etc. While these examples in no way encompass the myriad forms of collaboration necessary in education, they bring clarity to the fact that no level of education is immune to collaboration

Comparison of Three Benthic Macroinvertebrate Passive Sampling Devices for Non-Wadeable Streams

Rivers and streams provide essential ecosystem services to the degree that the monitoring and maintenance of these systems becomes imperative. Biomonitoring provides managers and policymakers with the tools to make informed decisions, and macroinvertebrates are often the object of biomonitoring because they are ubiquitous in most systems and are known to be good indicators of water quality. However, methods for sampling macroinvertebrates in non-wadeable streams (i.e., large rivers) have not been standardized across states and regions and an established method for macroinvertebrate biomonitoring in large rivers of Georgia is not currently available. My study compared macroinvertebrates collected with three types of passive sampling devices to assess their suitability for sampling non-wadeable systems. Hester-Dendy samplers, mesh packs filled with swamp laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia) leaves (leaf samplers), and mesh packs filled with laurel oak sticks and twigs (wood samplers) were deployed at three sites on the Savannah River and three sites on the Ogeechee River for approximately 30 days during the fall of 2014. I examined mean, standard deviation, and variance components from 53 common bioassessment metrics and 2 multi-metric indices to identify differences in colonizing macroinvertebrates between the sampling devices. I estimated variance components using 2-way ANOVA to determine sources of variation (e.g., sites or devices). I further compared assemblages colonizing sampling devices using Permutational Multivariate Analysis (PERMANOVA) followed by Similarity Percentages (SIMPER) analysis. The abundance of true flies (Order: Diptera), the abundance of midges (Family: Chironomidae) and 9 of the 53 metrics (i.e., Diptera taxa, % Amphipoda, % Gastropoda, % Oligochaeta, % Dominant individuals, Dominant individuals, Collector taxa, % Predator, and % Burrower) were determined as significantly different between sampling devices based on a 2-way ANOVA. Macroinvertebrate assemblages colonizing the three sampling devices differed (PERMANOVA; F14,37=1.6078, P=0.001), and SIMPER results showed these differences were driven by the proportions of taxa collected by each device. Estimates of variance components attributed large percentage (i.e., \u3e20%) of variability to sites, rather than devices, with the exception of % Predator and Diptera taxa. My study suggests all three sampler types are suitable for collecting macroinvertebrate from non-wadeable systems and determining the precision and overall efficiency of sampling devices is an important step towards developing standard operating procedures for the bioassessment of large rivers

Colonial America & Our Founding Documents

This unit was designed to cover the new STAAR TEKS for U.S History including the “Celebrate Freedom Week” TEKS and the Introductory TEKS for U.S History. By covering these TEKS at the start of the year students can get a refresh from 8th grade History, if they still remember 8th grade U.S History. By front loading these TEKS early on instead of reviewing these TEKS before STAAR testing, students will have more time to review Colonial America, the American Revolution, our founding documents. This unit will provide a foundation for the rest of the year allowing U.S History to be taught in a chronological order instead of skipping our founding documents, the American Revolution, and quickly reviewing those later in the year. By understanding the formation of our nation and its founding documents students will be able to understand the role the individuals play in our constitutional republic and how historical events developed as a result of or in correlation with the apparatus of our society these founding documents have created