How the medical professionals impact ASL and English families’ language planning policy

This article explores the journey of eight hearing families of bimodal-bilingual deaf children as they navigate the decision-making process reflecting their beliefs and values about American Sign Language (ASL) and English through their family language policy framework. The resources offered to families with deaf children often reflect a medical view, rather than a cultural perspective of being deaf. Because medical professionals, educators, and specialists who work with deaf and hard-of-hearing children have a strong influence on family members’ opinions, beliefs, and attitudes about being deaf, it is even more crucial to correct misconceptions about ASL and empower families to develop a family language policy that is inclusive of their deaf and hard-of-hearing children. This article informs researchers, teachers, and other professionals about the potential benefits and challenges of supporting the families’ ASL and English language planning policy.     

What is Reading? A Literacy Interview with a Five and a Half Year Old

This article presents an analysis of a transcribed video recording of a child being interviewed concerning the nature of reading and her proposed strategies for improvement. Some interesting and amusing answers are given.     

Transformational Leadership: The Nexus Between Faith and Classroom Leadership

Transformational leadership is well documented in organizational and business literature. Classroom and faith-based applications are more recent phenomena. The authors of this mixed-methods study explored professor behaviors and characteristics perceived as transformational in students' faith and focused on transformational leadership in the classroom at a faith-based institution. Thirty-four undergraduate students completed surveys containing open-ended and forced-choice questions; the findings highlighted the importance of compassion, optimism, encouragement, and openness as behaviors that facilitated faith transformation.     

To Challenge or Not To Challenge: The Mentor's Dilemma

This paper focuses upon open and distance learning initial teacher education in both primary and secondary sectors and explores the ways in which mentors challenge PGCE students in their professional thinking and classroom practice. It draws upon ethnographic research on mentors and student teachers during one presentation of the course. The data are based on observations of mentors working with students on final student placement, conversations with specialist subject mentor trainers as well as questionnaire and other source material. An analysis of how mentors articulate their knowledge base; the dialogue between mentor and student and the challenge of moving from novice to expert for the student teacher are all considered. Our conclusions have implications for all ITT and will also be a source of valuable practical help for student teachers and mentors.     

A potential shock-reducing contingency in the backshock technique: Implications for learned helplessness

Electric shocks were delivered to rats through a subcutaneously implanted back electrode. Experiment 1 evaluated the relationship between number of paws grounded and total power dissipated in the rat. In Experiment 2, the threshold of shock-induced vocalization, a putative index of aversiveness, was found to be positively correlated with the number of paws grounded. These findings suggest that when the backshock technique is used, the aversiveness of shock potentially can be modified by the posture adopted by the experimental animal. Caution should be exercised, therefore, in attributing deficits in escape behavior following inescapable shock administered with back electrodes to learned helplessness.     

Juxtapositioning Geriatrics and Art: The Essence of Caring,Carer, and Cared-for in Films

The need to revolutionize geriatric nursing is dawning. However, there is a negative view regarding this nursing field. The dearth of literature on the use of theatrical films to surface universal realities in a care-driven profession has led to this attempt of bringing to reality the essences of caring, carer, and cared-for and their interactions with each other. This paper presents an innovation of selecting a film (Away From Her) to surface the essences, or lebenswelt, of three universal realities: caring, carer, and cared-for. Content analysis and appreciative inquiry were utilized to achieve the objectives of this study. This bold attempt to tap the field of art, particularly films, has led to the genesis of three themes that resulted from the interaction of the objects under study. The C³ (Carer-Caring-Cared-for) Interaction Model crystallizes the nexus between and among living, learning, and loving in geriatric practice.     

Stress in Year 11 School Children

In this article David Lambert argues in support of the humanities in the secondary school curriculum and underlines the contribution that they can make to citizenship education. He emphasizes but does not restrict his arguments to geography and offers a wide view encompassing the humanities as a whole. He explores the links between the humanities, moral education and citizenship and argues against the citizenship-as-subject approach.     

‘Hay que seguir luchando’: struggles that shaped English language learning of four Cuban immigrant women

Newly arrived from Cuba, Angelica, Dora, Marina, and Damaris attempted to negotiate new surroundings and immigrant identities, building a sense of home for themselves and their families. Data from qualitative interviews, classroom observations, and focus group conversations revealed hopes that by acquiring English language skills, they would improve their quality of life in their new country. Struggles included personal factors situated in their pasts in Cuba and their new surrounds in the Miami Cuban exile enclave, contexts that were further complicated by uncertain expectations of new lives in Miami and the overwhelming task of learning a new language at a local adult education center. The women negotiated pressure from spouses, assisted children in Cuba, pondered uncertainties of crossing cultural and linguistic borders, and anticipated eventual acceptance within the greater English‐speaking society. The women’s individual luchas (struggles) and English language learning efforts were tempered by their dreams for their children and themselves.