Come Into My Parlor: Rendition,Ugly Betty,and Rude Awakening from the American Dream

Although the national ideology emphasizes that the American Dream is available to immigrants, recent events have made public opinion hostile to two groups, Mexicans and Arabs. Popular culture has played a historic role in presenting sympathetic portrayals of immigrants and their assimilation to American culture. Current depictions of Mexican immigrants continue this tradition, as shown by the television show, Ugly Betty. Arabs and Muslims, in contrast, have had a largely negative presentation in popular culture. A few recent movies and television shows have been more sympathetic, especially the movie, Rendition.     

Teacher generations in an era of reform

Danish upper-secondary school is currently undergoing remarkable changes. Comprehensive reforms and restructuring have transformed teacher roles and school organization. However, not all upper-secondary teachers welcome reform： on the one hand, they have to adopt norms, standards and values determined by colleagues, if they want to ＂fit in＂; on the other hand, they are confronted by governmental and educational claims, but also their own interest in doing things differently. This paper analyzes generational differences and similarities in the post-reform school in regard to leaming values and the competence discourse, which are an important part of the reform discourse. In addition, it explores the dilemmas which arise for young teachers their understanding of practical and theoretical teacher training. This paper combines theoretical approaches with data analysis being both quantitative and qualitative. Finally, this paper discusses team work as an important means to make dialogue between teacher generations possible and to enhance reflection on the relationship between practice and theory.     

A Scale to Measure the Attitudes of School Pupils Towards their Lessons in Physical Education

Attitude formation and attitude change in children may be seen as matters of central concern to the teacher. This paper describes how, in one particular subject area (physical education), the investigator gathered attitude statements from young children and produced a scale to measure their stated attitudes towards curriculum physical education. The paper relates the process of establishing test reliability and validity and indicates how standardisation and greater ease of administration may be achieved through the use of an audio tape presentation.     

Re-play: Re-assessing the effectiveness of an arts partnership in teacher education

RE-PLAY: RE-ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ARTS PARTNERSHIP IN CANADIAN TEACHER EDUCATION – Elementary teachers in Canada are increasingly expected to deliver arts instruction in their classrooms, as financial exigencies have restricted the hiring of specialists. This study examines the effectiveness of an arts partnership between a Canadian university faculty of education and local-area school boards. In this partnership, university staff and specialist arts teachers together delivered the integrated arts component in teacher education. Findings indicate that specialist arts instruction, peer learning methods and theory/practice integration strengthen such training in the arts. Specialist arts teachers can enhance the instructional effectiveness of teacher-candidates by introducing current classroom teaching strategies, concrete activities, up-to-date resources and classroom management techniques. The confidence of beginning teachers to teach the arts can be promoted by observing colleagues, engaging in team learning activities, and obtaining peer feedback. The use of integrated arts theory and a focus on practical applications of concepts, coupled with reflective discussion, can also be seen to promote conceptual understanding. A further recommendation involves expanding the role of the arts in teacher education to foster cultural diversity.     

THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ACADEMIC EXCUSE-MAKING: Examining Individual Differences in Procrastination

Students from two colleges (n = 546) differing in admission selectivity completed measures of academic procrastination and excuses. Procrastination was higher among students at the selective college than students at the nonselective college. Academic procrastination was motivated by task aversiveness for students at the selective college and by fear of task failure and fear of social disapproval for students at the nonselective college. At the nonselective college only, procrastinators compared to nonprocrastinators reported more often using both legitimate and fraudulent excuses in college and during the current semester. Participants reported that excuses were self-generated for the purpose of gaining more assignment time and that most instructors did not require proof for excuses. The characteristics of courses and instructors likely to promote excuse-making by both procrastinators and nonprocrastinators also were examined. These results reflect the need by administrators and personnel to consider individual and situational differences when implementing student-centered intervention programs.     

博物馆观众研究简史(一)——20世纪60年代以前

博物馆观众研究领域最早的成果可以追溯到吉尔曼在1911年的研究工作,本文对观众评估研究的关注对象与问题进行了历史性的批判分析。本研究揭示了各类研究建立的范式,包括对实施机制的说明、对评估客观性的审问、对文化民主化研究和营销相关研究之间不协调性的强调。本文介绍了博物馆观众研究领域的形成和早期研究的成果,描绘了20世纪60年代以前这一领域的行为主义研究进路,以及这一阶段末期自然主义评估萌芽的出现。     

Progress and Backlash in the Wake of Obergefell: Reaching Conservative Southern Teachers Through the Power of Literature

This paper uses a mixed narrative and quantitative analysis to examine how a graduate class of predominantly politically and religiously conservative (self-identified), elementary teachers in the South made discursive sense of gender and sexually diverse (GSD) young adult and children's literature in the context of concurrent, relevant national events, especially the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. Using narrative data, supplemented with quantitative pre- and postsurveys, this study provides fruitful insights into conservative professionals' attitudes and practices regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and adults. Our findings suggest effective ways to help prepare conservative professionals to sensitively address GSD issues in elementary school settings.     

Constructivism as a framework for literacy teacher education courses: the cases of six literacy teacher educators

This paper presents findings from the large-scale study Literacy Teacher Educators: Their Backgrounds, Visions, and Practices that includes 28 literacy/English teacher educators (LTEs) from four countries. The participants were interviewed three times and shared their course outlines. Six pre-service LTEs who use a constructivist approach are presented. The six LTEs speak English as their mother tongue. Three aspects of constructivism are discussed: knowledge is constructed by learners; knowledge is experience based; and a strong class community is essential. They have adopted a constructivist approach because they conceptualised the teaching/learning process as a partnership. Constructivism is a flexible and fluid framework so individual LTEs can shape their work for their context and draw on their strengths; however, it is demanding because courses have to be somewhat organic in order to create space for discussion of issues as they arise.