Getting Comfortable with Discomfort: Preparing Counselor Trainees to Broach Racial,Ethnic, and Cultural Factors with Clients during Counseling

Counselors’ considerations of racial and cultural factors in the lives and experiences of clients enhances counseling outcomes. Acknowledgement of cultural factors enhances counselor credibility, client satisfaction, and the depth of client disclosure. This article opens with an overview of the Continuum of Broaching Behavior (Day-Vines et al. 2007), continues with a case illustration that enumerates categories along the continuum, provides empirical support for the continuum, and closes with a set of instructional strategies for counselor educators to infuse within a multicultural counseling course.     

Video-stimulated recall as a catalyst for teacher professional learning

The purpose of this article is to examine the potential of video-catalysed reflective practice for supporting ongoing teacher professional learning in numeracy. We explore this potential through a synthesis of two case studies that investigated different approaches to supporting teacher reflection on practice through the use of video-stimulated recall: one case involved a single researcher and a single teacher, and the other case included two researchers working with a pair of teachers. Data were analysed through the use of two conceptual lenses which were synthesised from literature related to levels of teacher reflection and teacher change. The analysis suggests that video-stimulated recall can be an effective medium for promoting teacher professional learning, providing quality reflection and questioning are included as crucial elements of the processes.     

Longitudinal study of the impact of requiring training for students with initially weak spatial skills

ABSTRACT

Three-dimensional spatial skills are a cognitive ability that have been shown to predict success in engineering. Michigan Tech has been offering a course to help students improve their 3-D spatial skills for more than two decades. In previous studies, students who failed a rotations test and enrolled in the course performed better on a number of measures when compared to those who failed the rotations test and did not enrol in the course. A valid criticism of these studies was that the two groups were self-selected. Beginning in 2009, the spatial skills course became a requirement for students who initially failed the rotations test. This paper reports on the results from a longitudinal study conducted to determine the impact of the spatial skills course when no self-selection is involved.     

Early Shared Reading,Socioeconomic Status,and Children’s Cognitive and School Competencies: Six Years of Longitudinal Evidence

This study explored longitudinal associations between early shared reading at 2 to 3 years of age and children’s later academic achievement. It examined the mediating role of children’s vocabulary and early academic skills, and the moderating effects of family’s socioeconomic status. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 4,768). Academic achievement was assessed at 8 to 9 years of age via standardized national test scores of literacy and mathematics achievement. Results indicated that early shared reading was associated with children’s academic achievement directly and indirectly through receptive vocabulary and early academic skills. Also, the frequency of early shared reading predicted the outcome measures, over and above other home learning activities. Associations were stronger among low and middle socioeconomic status groups compared to the high socioeconomic status group. We conclude that shared reading offers unique opportunities for adults to teach young children new words and concepts.     

An Adult “Dyslexic” Learns to Read and Write

Dyslexia is a controversial topic yet, however it is defined, there can be no denying the profound handicap of an inability to read and write, especially for adults struggling to get on in a world where literacy is central. Thus Norma Mudd's case study of Fiona as she develops her control of print is encouraging and, at times, inspiring. Norma draws some wider lessons from Fiona's experience which will be found useful by all teachers of literacy.     

Mexican-Origin Youth's Cultural Orientations and Adjustment: Changes From Early to Late Adolescence

Drawing from developmental and cultural adaptation perspectives and using a longitudinal design, this study examined: (a) mean‐level changes in Mexican‐origin adolescents’ cultural orientations and adjustment from early to late adolescence and (b) bidirectional associations between cultural orientations and adjustment using a cross‐lag panel model. Participants included 246 Mexican‐origin, predominantly immigrant families that participated in home interviews and a series of nightly phone calls when target adolescents were 12 and 18 years of age. Girls exhibited more pronounced declines in traditional gender role attitudes than did boys, and all youth declined in familism values, time spent with family, and involvement in Mexican culture. Bidirectional relations between cultural orientations and adjustment emerged, and some associations were moderated by adolescent nativity and gender.     

A Faculty–Librarian Partnership: A Unique Opportunity for Course Integration

ABSTRACT

Librarians at the University of California, Berkeley have created a partnership with faculty in the teaching of a special course, “Introduction to Environmental Studies.” This class is interdisciplinary in nature, covering science and the humanities, and has offered a unique opportunity for library staff to develop a special program incorporating the teaching of analytical skills along with research skills for specific subject areas. The continuous collaboration with faculty and the challenges of working with students with very varied backgrounds and interests are the main points of discussion in this article.