Classroom management and teachers’ coping strategies: Inside classrooms in Australia, China and Israel

This paper discusses the degree to which recently reported relationships between the classroom management techniques and coping styles of Australian teachers apply in two other national settings: China and Israel. Little is known about which teacher characteristics relate to their approach to classroom management, although researchers in Australia have recently found that teachers’ coping styles appear to predict the management techniques they utilize in classrooms. In this study, 772 teachers from a range of schools in Australia, China, and Israel completed questionnaires asking how frequently they use six classroom management techniques—hinting, discussion, involvement, recognition and reward, punishment, and aggression—and how often they use a range of coping behaviours. The analysis showed that some of the Australian findings were replicated only in Israel and others only in China, revealing national variations in the links between management techniques and coping styles, which have wider implications for investigations in this area. The implications of these findings are discussed, as are their potential ramifications for future research.     

THE RELIGIOUS ZIONIST: TOWARD THE NEW ERA

This essay presents the problems inherent in religious Zionist education on the eve of a new era, and proposes avenues toward solutions. That the Torah is permanent and the world is relative and changing leads to many incongruities within and among components of religious Zionist identity. The cyber‐era will expose the religious Zionist to a great deal of information, some of which maybe harmful and confusing—especially to adolescents—because of the weakness of present religious Zionist educational doctrines. Therefore, religious Zionist identity is in danger of “overload,” due to incongruities among and within systems. This overload may cause some people to abandon religion and others to turn to ultraorthodoxy, impoverishing the religious Zionist community in two ways, and reducing its ability to serve as a bridge between national factions.     

SHORT‐TERM PROGRAMS ON DEATH AND DYING AND AGING: A REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE

Agencies and institutions dealing with the elderly have only limited time, money, and personnel with which to plan and implement educational programs. Yet a basic knowledge of aging and death and dying seems to be essential for those working with older adults. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on short‐term educational programs on death and dying and aging in order to offer practitioners some guidance for efficiently structuring programs to bring about desired changes in these areas. From 15 selected studies, 3 aspects of such programs are reviewed and analyzed: the length of the intervention, the type of treatment, and the nature of the target group involved.     

ADULTHOOD AND REMINISCENCE: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Although reminiscence is a behavior common to all ages, research to date has been conducted only with older adults. This study sought to explore the phenomenon with adults of various ages with the anticipation that comparative information would lead to a better conceptualization of the behavior and its functions. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference in what adults reminisced about, why they reminisced, or how they reminisced with respect to age, sex, education, or socioeconomic status. A sample of 309 adults ranging in age from 18 to 90 were asked to complete a survey exploring various aspects of reminiscence. Analysis of variance and chi‐square were used to assess differences in reminiscent behavior across age, sex, education, and social class. There were no systematic differences with regard to education or social class. On several dimensions sex emerged as a more important variable than age, suggesting that age may not be as important a consideration in simple reminiscence as has been previously assumed.     

Emergence of a Unique German‐Israeli Academic Exchange Programme: Attributes and Dilemmas

This article describes a unique student exchange programme that has been operating for more than five years and which links students in the Department of Non-formal Education at Beit Berl College in Israel and students in the Department of Social Work at Fachhochschule Wiesbaden in Germany. The uniqueness of this programme lies not only in the co-operation between countries but mainly in the form of a professional study programme involving two educational institutions having different approaches and with different methods for the training of social workers that are embedded in different socio-cultural atmospheres and historical traditions. On top of these complexities, there was the need to cope with the question of how to rebuild relations between two societies loaded with the historical heritage of the Holocaust. The focus of this article is on the emergence and the development of the programme and on some of the dilemmas with which it was faced.     

The impact of cultural,ethnic, and national variables on attitudes towards the disabled in Israel: A review

Studies in Israel relating to attitudes of various ethnic, cultural and religious groups towards the disabled were reviewed. The results indicate that although there were differences in attitudes towards the disabled, these differences appear to be a function of interaction effects between many other variables and not necessarily only related to ethnic, cultural, and religious affiliation.     

E-mentoring: Using Computer Mediated Communication to Enhance the Mentoring Process

The information age is changing the dynamics of many relationships, including mentoring. This article defines traditional mentoring according to its function and effectiveness and then expands the definition of mentoring to include computer-mediated communication (CMC), or e-mentoring. We propose that e-mentoring holds promise for redefining mentoring relationships and changing the conditions under which mentoring is sought and offered. E-mentoring could potentially make mentoring relationships more available to groups that have previously had limited access to mentoring. Benefits of and barriers to e-mentoring are considered, as are strategies for establishing an e-mentoring relationship. E-mentoring resources are reviewed.     

Teachers' Professional Noticing

Teachers' instructional practice is pedagogically vulnerable when not anchored within detailed and comprehensive observation and understanding of students' immediate responses during instruction. Professional noticing ability, then, is central to, and integrated within, teachers' ability to provide instruction appropriately adapted to students' immediate needs. This article explicates a model of expert noticing for literacy instruction and relates this model to the characteristics of microadaptive teaching decisions. Characteristics, for example, that distinguish expert from less expert noticing during literacy instruction include detailed hypothesizing, breadth and depth of elaboration, observation of learners' metacognitive behavior, and identification of pivotal events. Teacher noticing ability is generally not related to years of experience, but can be learned through participation in sustained, multilevel professional development with an explicit focus on noticing ability. This complex learning integrates teachers' pedagogical and content knowledge with observation of student behaviors, and supports teachers' learning from practice.     

Raised Serum Lactate Dehydrogenase associated with gangrenous small bowel volvulus: A case report

Usually CPK, CK-MB and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes are measured in blood during the period of myocardial infarction. The changes in LDH assay indicates duration of the infarction. The level of lactate dehydrogenase is 500 times greater in tissue than those found in serum. A small mass of damaged tissue causes leakage of enzyme and increases its level in serum. Any cause of tissue break down/hemolysis which is sufficiently severe can produce LDH pattern similar to that in myocardial infarction. We report this case of small bowel volvulus showing significant increase in LDH. It may be due to tissue necrosis which increases the level of LDH in serum.     

Excluding students from classroom: Teacher techniques that promote student responsibility

Students who continuously misbehave are frequently excluded from class, allowing them time to reflect on their inappropriate behavior. This paper examines students’ perceptions of the teacher’s behavior toward them prior to, during, and after the exclusion, focusing on teachers’ explanations, punishments, and follow-up conversations. The results indicate that students who do not accept responsibility for being excluded think that their teachers’ are to blame. To convince students to accept responsibility for their acts, teachers must explain why the exclusion is necessary, warn and punish before excluding a student, and hold a follow-up conversation, highlighting the impact of the misbehavior on classmates.