A narrative inquiry into the fostering of a teacher-principal’s best-loved self in an online teacher community in China

This study revolves around an organically lived online community of Chinese elementary teachers. The teachers shared their reflective journals and engaged in conversations with the facilitators and also with their peers. Following one participant’s postings over a span of thirteen months helped the research team to narratively explore how the teacher, through reflections and interactions with his other fellow community members, refined his personal practical knowledge and cultivated his best-loved self as a teacher-principal in a rural school in China that lacked learning resources. Highlighted in the discussions are how the participant integrated his personal being with his professional being and eventually became the teacher he wanted to be. This research study adds to the literature about teachers as agents of change. This knowledge contribution, among others related to technology, shows how professional development and the development of teacher identity can be promoted in online teacher knowledge communities. Implications for teacher education are also discussed.     

Speech and the “new” philosophies

Speech philosophy, in the face of the current anti‐intellectualism, deals with the place of rational‐logical elements in discourse. The author argues for the supremacy of reason in communication, and calls for neo‐classical communicative logic fused with the social direction of thought. Such a goal inevitably incorporates value judgments. Thus the intellectual, logical, and ethical components are an unbroken continuum in their expression and effect.     

Telecommunications

SILICON VALLEY FEVER: GROWTH OF HIGH-TECHNOLOGY CULTURE by Everett M. Rogers and Judith K. Larsen (New York: Basic Books, 1984---$19.95)

TECHNOSTRESS: THE HUMAN COST OF THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION by Craig Brod (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1984---$16.95)

THE NAKED COMPUTER: A LAYPERSON'S ALMANAC OF COMPUTER LORE, WIZARDRY, PERSONALITIES, MEMORABILIA, WORLD RECORDS, MIND BLOWERS AND TOMFOOLERY by Jack Rochester and John Gantz (New York: William Morrow, l983---$15.95)

TELEMATICS AND INFORMATICS edited by Indu B. Singh and Jay Liebowitz (Pergamon Press, Fairview Park, Elmsford, NY 10523----$95.00 institutions/$45.00 to individuals, quarterly)

MICROCOMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS: A WINDOW ON THE WORLD by Barbara E. McMullen and John F. McMullen (New York: John Wiley, 1983---$14.95, paper)     

Thornton wilder: Guest star

The purpose of the study was to investigate the dimensions of profane language use in a college student sample. Two hundred and eighty‐three responses to a questionnaire on personal use of “sexual vernacular” were submitted to factor analysis. Results of the factor analysis yielded five dimensions of profane language based upon predispositions to use such words.     

Coaches' encouragement of athletes' imagery use

To investigate whether coaches encourage their athletes to use imagery, two studies were undertaken. In the first, 317 athletes completed the Coaches' Encouragement of Athletes' Imagery Use Questionnaire. In the second, 215 coaches completed a slightly modified version of this questionnaire. It was found that coaches and athletes generally agreed on the relative frequency with which coaches encourage athletes to use imagery across the 4 Ws (i.e., where, when, why, and what). Coaches promoted imagery use more in conjunction with competition than training and injury rehabilitation, and higher-level coaches encouraged imagery use far more than their recreational counterparts. In addition, the level of athlete being coached had a major impact on how much or little coaches encouraged their athletes to use imagery. Coaches encouraged higher level athletes (i.e., international, national, varsity) to use imagery more than club and recreational athletes.