bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ten- minute makeover
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Each of these seven suggestions can make over your presen­tation skills, give your teaching a lift, and better engage your students. As you become more aware of these lifts, watch and listen for good examples in others. 1. Posture. With feet about shoulder width apart, gently and slowly bend forward as far as you can, rolling your spine downward as you go. Keep your body loose and flexible. Roll up slowly with the image that you are stacking your verte­brae one at a time. Continue lifting through your spine to the top of your head. This posture of tall (a different image from straight) is very powerful. When you are tall and relaxed, you appear confident, courageous, strong. Summon this posture when you want to present the best of yourself. 2. Eye expression. Intentionally soften the area around your eyes. Feel the relaxed openness of your eyes, as if you are breathing in softness. Then, intentionally harden your eyes to see the contrast. Watch yourself in the mirror to spot the dif­ferences. Teaching calls for both expressions. 3. Eye lingering. With soft eyes that welcome listeners as you teach or talk, allow your gaze to linger momentarily when you pose a question or make a statement. Eye lingering avoids a darting look that can project worry or lack of confidence. And eye lingering can offer nonverbal support to the person answering your question or listening to your voice. 4. Gestures. Most of us struggle with how to gesture as we speak. Especially when we teach, our gesturing can be mean­ingful, helping to convey confidence and caring about our topic. Notice others who demonstrate good gesturing. Try their techniques. Aim to use fluid movements rather than jerky ones. Show open hands with palms up. Remove hands from pockets. Sometimes holding a book or paper with one hand makes it comfortable to gesture with the other. 5. Voice projection. Speak to those in the back of the room. Learn to project without shouting. Be vocally expressive as you amplify your normal speaking voice. When listeners struggle to hear, their ability and incentive to learn are greatly diminished.
I is just I
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

“That’s disgusting!” “His voice is so obnoxious!” “She is totally ineffective.” Each of these opinions has something in common: the state­ments are absolute, the opinions are delivered as universal truths. When we speak like this, we announce our feelings and beliefs as if there could be no reasonable disagreement. We skew the very real probability of multiple opinions, and we convince ourselves of our “rightness.” Are we all prone to treating opinion, especially ours, as fact? Maybe. What would change for us if we habitually acknowledge that our opinion simply represents “I?” The quotes above do little to elicit communication or invite conversation. “I” in those statements is just “I.” But the “I” seems to imply, “I don’t like it, and you shouldn’t either!” Are we interested in the response of the listener? Do we ask? When we accept that “I is just I,” we humble ourselves to acknowledge we are sharing a perspective, not a decree. Then our language changes. Our perspectives change. We open our­selves to alternative ways of seeing and appreciating co- workers and students. • “She is hopeless” becomes “She seems to struggle with these assignments.” • “He is a bully” becomes “He has some social issues going on.” • “She is a loser” becomes “She is struggling, and I hope she moves past this phase.” Those of us willing to acknowledge that “I is just I” temper our pronouncements about others. That softening of self can be felt inside our skin. We feel it in our eyes. We feel it in our breath­ing. We feel it in our spirit. And when we feel that softening, our vitality returns.
Facing fear
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Do you know what you fear? Some folks know the answer right away. Others need to think about it for a while. Fears have a wide range of characteristics. Some fears may serve, others may hamper. What do you do about your fears? How do they affect you? Many of us had a general fear when we began teaching. We may not have been able to identify what or who we were afraid of, but we were afraid. For teachers, fears of embarrassing one­self, of showing others how ill- informed and unprepared we are, and of being unable to “handle” students’ behaviors are com­mon. The very real fear about safety in schools is, sad to say, a potent concern as well. Some believe that systematically dismantling fear helps. Others recommend that copiously proving how silly fears are can relieve us of them. Some believe additional information helps dissolve fears or puts them into perspective. Have you ever considered how it would feel to be fearless? Take a moment to feel totally fearless. Were you able to do it? What would change if you were at school every day without fear? When our state of mind is not shackled by fear, imagine what we could accomplish. Letting fear consume us, no matter how impending we feel the danger to be, can skew our reasoning and taint our percep­tions. Some of us even fear the fear! When Barbara Brown Taylor stated, “We’d like life to be a train, and it’s a sailboat,” she cap­tured the sentiment that we often fall victim to our own fears and anxieties. We would like a straight, predictable path. But we most often get a path that changes when we least expect it, that takes us places we never intended to go. And sometimes those places we go bring us exactly what we need. So, rather than run from our fears, we can face them. Rather than worry, we can be fearless, even if momentarily. Rather than fret, we can calm ourselves. We can take a moment to consider that, beyond our limited vision, all may be well. Take three deep breaths. Face your fear. Stand tall. Be brave.
Personality preferences
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Each of us likely has mild to strong preferences for certain personalities. And those personalities may or may not be similar to our own. Given the sometimes powerful reactions to personalities in schools, it may be worth thinking about them and considering their influence on us. • A teacher relies on sarcastic humor for interacting with teachers and students. Some like the teasing. Others find it offensive. • A teacher is demure and quiet. Some appreciate the calm. Others distrust the lack of responsiveness to co- workers. • A principal is very efficient and responsible in managing school issues, yet teachers and parents feel slighted by an assumed lack of interest in them. • A principal is so generous, affectionate, and outgoing that teachers begin to wish for a strong disciplinarian, rather than a grandparent figure. Whether we are drawn to or repelled by certain personalities, we are likely to face them in schools. And it is to our advantage to both notice our personality preferences and actively coach our­selves to look and behave beyond them, instead of letting them interfere with our teaching or our collegiality. Exuberant personalities. Quiet personalities. Which do you prefer as friends? Which do you prefer as students? All ages of people, from preschool on, could have personali­ties that repel or ignite our sense of comfort and affinity. This is common, and it is normal. How we act on those feelings, how­ever, can affect the health of our relationships and the effective­ness of our teaching. No matter the level of exuberance or quietness, we would be remiss to gauge expertise, leadership, or friendliness by the mag­nitude of others’ social behaviors. Plus it can be important for us to notice when our own quietness or liveliness has a dampening effect on our teaching, conversations, and group discussions. Personalities can push us away or draw us near. We ben­efit when we treat a person (including a student or teacher) openly and kindly regardless of our initial, instinctive, emotional response to that individual’s personality.
Defining trust
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Imagine yourself saying, “I just don’t trust him.” It’s not an uncommon thing to say. But what conclusions do your listeners draw when they hear that? “I just don’t trust her” can set off all sorts of alarms, all sorts of conjectures. But what does that statement really mean? Is she likely to tell lies, miss deadlines, cheat on report cards? Do you believe she changes her mind frequently, is too friendly, arrives late to school? Not all accusations of “untrustworthiness” are equally dire. Are we willing to become quizzical about an “I don’t trust him” statement? By asking the clarifying question “You don’t trust him to do what?” we can illuminate the meaning. And the accusation of being untrustworthy is almost always worth a closer look. “I don’t trust him to get his work done” addresses a type of trust very different from that associated with “I don’t trust him to deposit all the donated money.” In the same way, “I don’t trust her understanding of the curriculum” involves a different notion of trust than “I don’t trust her to report accurate scores.” Trust is an attribute that is very precious to most of us. We would likely be hurt and worried if we knew that someone had stated he didn’t trust us. And in the close communities of schools, a statement of distrust can usurp goodwill and collegiality. The next time we hear the statement “I don’t trust him,” we could ask, “What has caused you to lose that trust?” Clarifying the accusation could give everyone relief and perspective, including the speaker. When these moments of relief and clar­ity settle into the fabric of our schools, we can feel the revival of energy, vitality, and momentum.
Teacher friendships
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

If we had the choice, some of us would wish our school commu­nity could be a happy group of dear friends. We would support and compliment each other daily. We would host dinners in our homes. We would celebrate weekly happy hours. We would feel that our faculty and staff were more like a social club than profes­sional acquaintances. Yet is it possible for us all to be friends? Is that even desir­able? The expectation that social compatibilities and friendships are unanimous in schools is rarely a reality and almost never sus­tained. So how do we adopt reasonable expectations for the waxing and waning of friendships in schools? We rethink our expectations about friends. Some friends are movie friends. Some are travel friends. Some are confidants. Some were in our lives long ago, and those memories are what sustains our friendship. With some, we almost exclusively share stories of raising children. With others, our friendship is based on being neighbors. Hobbies, exercising, and organizations all can bring us in touch with budding friend­ships in schools. In life, our friends can vary in their levels of enthusiasm, senses of adventure, priorities for advancement, and knowledge of our work. If we expect the same criteria for all friendships, we are likely limiting the quality of our own life experiences. Our “best friend” may not be our best friend in all ways or for all times. And we may even have several best friends. The values of kind, appreciative, and respectful school rela­tionships are priceless. And the vitality and ambiance of our schools depend on them. Can we contribute to that ambiance by pondering the parameters of school friendship both among students and among teachers? Rethinking the designation of “friend” can help us sort out the identities and expectations we have for friends in schools. Embrace the varying depths and characteristics of friendships. Richness resides there.
Don’t take anything personally
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Whatever anyone else says and does, it is about them. Whatever you say and do, it is about you. So writes Ruiz in The Four Agreements. When someone begins a conversation with “Now don’t take this personally,” many of us want to run and hide. We sense that what is coming will not be pleasant to hear. “Don’t take this personally” is often a prelude to criticiz­ing: “That was really awful.” The phrase seems to give the speaker permission to say hurtful things. Would we ever say, “Don’t take this personally, but I think you’re a really great teacher”? Doubtful. Ruiz writes, however, that neither the compliments we wel­come nor the complaints that make us bristle are about us. Only what we say is about us. That’s all. Of the four agreements Ruiz describes, this one seems to surprise and challenge us most. Yet it also may be the most liberating, once we understand and absorb it. Not taking anything personally unbinds us from the thoughts and opinions of the speaker. • When we do not take anything personally, we free ourselves to let others “say what they say” without affecting us. • We do not take others’ opinions as our own. We simply listen curiously. • We are less consumed by others’ words and deeds. We feel a buffer of separation. • We watch, listen, and sometimes wonder what caused a par­ticular reaction. • We look at and examine another’s compliment or complaint as if it were her new sweater. It has nothing to do with us. “Nothing others say and do is because of us” also means that nothing we say and do is because of them. Well, that may be a bit unsettling, right? If I tell you that you are a troublemaker or that you are beau­tiful, wouldn’t that be about you? Nope. My compliments and criticisms are about me and my thoughts, my conclusions. Accepting this idea may take a while.
Grapevine from Grafting
Authors: Dalton David R.
Published: November 2020

The history of cutting deeply into the vascular tissues of one growing, strong, host plant and then inserting a part of another plant in such a way that they join together is called grafting (originally from the Greek, “graphion” referring to the sharpened end of piece to be inserted, the scion). The original cut into the host plant, the rootstock, is made into the vascular cambium of the plant (i.e., that part of the plant stem that contains the meristem, which is the plant tissue made up of undifferentiated cells where growth can take place). The piece to be grafted, the scion, is also cut to its vascular tissue. The vascular joining is called inosculation, and the process can be traced back to the early cultivation of fruit trees. Healthy, fruit- bearing crops from the stock of the scion rather than that of the rootstock are known to result. That is, the meristem adapts. The vascular cambium itself consists of cells that are already partially specialized (e.g., the “xylem” for the woody tissue that carries water and some water soluble mineral nutrients and the “phloem” for carrying carbohydrates and other similar nutrients). The plan is that the undifferentiated cells, as well as those partially differentiated, will accommodate the scion to the rootstock, and the phloem from the root-stock will learn to feed the growing scion graft. Should the graft “take,” the matured scion will, with the advent of photosynthesis (vide infra), return the favor to the rootstock. Both will profit. One story of the grafting process and the interaction between plants and the insects that feed on the plants as applied to the wine industry has been told often. A family of plant par¬asitic insects which are native to North America, the Phylloxeridae (Genus: Daktulosphaira; Species: vitifolia, Fitch, 1855, commonly called “phylloxera”) were involved. Grapevines in North America had built resistance to some members of the Phylloxeridae family and had, apparently, been able to match genetic changes in the insect with their own changes over the years.
The Soil
Authors: Dalton David R.
Published: November 2020

The widespread practices of viniculture (the study of production of grapes for wine) and oenology (the study of winemaking) affirm the generalization that grapevines have fewer problems with mineral deficiency than many other crops. Only occasionally is the addition of iron (Fe), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), and manganese (Mn) supplements to the soil needed. Addition of potassium (K), zinc (Zn), and boron (B) to the soil is more common. And, of course, nitrogen (N) is critical for the production of proteins. Over the years, various transition metals (metals in groups three through twelve [3– 12] of the periodic table, Appendix 1) have been shown to be generally important. These groups include iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu). Many metals are bound to organic molecules that are important for life. Some of the metals, such as copper (Cu) and iron (Fe), are important in electron transport while others, including manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe), inhibit reactive oxygen (O) species (ROSs) that can destroy cells. Metals serve both to cause some reactions to speed up, called positive catalysis while caus¬ing others (e.g., unwanted oxidation) to slow down (negative catalysis). It is not uncommon to add nitrogen (N), in the form of ammonium salts such as ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), as fertilizer to the soil in which the vines are growing. It is also common to increase the nitrogen (N) content in the soil by planting legumes (legumes have roots that are frequently colonized by nitrogen-fixing bacteria). Nitrogen- fixing bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2), which plants cannot use, to forms, such as ammonia (NH3) or its equivalent, capable of absorption by plants. Nitrogen, used in plant proteins, tends to remain in the soil after harvest or decomposition. With sufficient nitrogen present in the soil the growth cycle can begin again in the following season without adding too much fertilizer. In a more general sense, however, it is clear (as mentioned earlier) that the soil must be capable of good drainage so the sub-soil parts of the plant do not rot and it must be loose enough to permit oxygen to be available to the growing roots.
Finishing the Wine
Authors: Dalton David R.
Published: November 2020

The end of fermentation, signaled by density measurements, the alcohol-driven death of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain that was used, the cessation of evolution of carbon dioxide, and the generally accepted passage of the several weeks over which time the fermentation has been permitted to extend, is followed by the previously discussed (Chapter 16) process of racking. The racking, as noted earlier, will separate most of the precipitated solids that are present or have developed during the fermentation process (e.g., accumulated seed and twig pieces not previously removed, insoluble carboxylic acid salts, dead yeast cells, and other solids [the lees]) from the fermented juice. But the wine may not yet be clear. Indeed, the wine may need racking once or twice more for clarification before a final filtration to produce the appropriate bright and clear beverage-quality wine. The last, or even a penultimate racking, might be done into an oaken vessel and should be done into oak if a red wine is being finished (European or American oaks are commonly used, but with different results, vide infra). However, it is important that regardless of the color of the wine each racking operation be done as carefully as possible to exclude transfer of solids and oxygen. At this stage of finishing, the oxygen will probably not be utilized in biochemical processes, barring the presence of microbial life, and normal oxidation of phenols and alcohols in the wine will have been inhibited by the presence of carbon dioxide (which replaced the oxygen in the solution during fermentation). Thus, if oxygen is introduced, it is likely that unwanted oxidation products might form. The final racking for white wines (excluding Champagne, other “sparkling” wines, and some specialty beverages to be considered later) is generally carried out so that the beverage can rest for a few months (often with cooling to inhibit deleterious processes occurring as a result of aging) before filtering and bottling.
Build ’Em Up and Break ’Em Down
Authors: Kelly Alan
Published: November 2020

Proteins are not just interesting and significant in food in their intact or even aggregated or complexed states, but often lend their greatest value to food by their disappearance. For example, in cheese, as we discussed in the last chapter, proteins are critical for the coagulation of milk and conversion into curd, and cheesemakers choose the enzymes they use to cause that coagulation specifically for their lack of other impact on the milk protein casein. However, once the cheese is made, the intactness of the casein abruptly becomes a liability, in a sort of cosmic ingratitude, and indeed the cheese will not be considered fit to eat until it is at least partially gone. The reason for this is immediately apparent if the freshly made cheese (of just about any variety) is tasted. Does it taste like cheese? Only if you like your cheese bland and flavored almost entirely of salt. Does it have the texture of cheese? Only if you think cheese should take quite a while to chew while savoring its boring saltiness. This is the taste and flavor of (salted) intact casein curd. So, no one eats cheese in this state, and almost every variety of cheese, from Accasciato to Zamorano, is held for at least some time after manufacture to undergo what is called ripening, during which it develops the flavor and texture we will expect it to have. In the case of the Parmesan shown in Figure 3.1, the crumbliness we associate so closely with this cheese is achieved by a combination of breakdown of the protein network over very long ripening times (often 12 months to 2 years), and a parallel drying out to low-moisture contents (which also concentrates the wide range of compounds produced during such long ripening to give a very strong and piquant flavor). Interestingly, almost all freshly made cheeses enter the ripening stage with similar flavor, but they leave with a ridiculously wide variety of characteristics.
Making (Bio)Logical Connections
Authors: Dasgupta Subrata
Published: November 2020

At first blush, computing and biology seem an odd couple, yet they formed a liaison of sorts from the very first years of the electronic digital computer. Following a seminal paper published in 1943 by neurophysiologist Warren McCulloch and mathematical logician Warren Pitts on a mathematical model of neuronal activity, John von Neumann of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, presented at a symposium in 1948 a paper that compared the behaviors of computer circuits and neuronal circuits in the brain. The resulting publication was the fountainhead of what came to be called cellular automata in the 1960s. Von Neumann’s insight was the parallel between the abstraction of biological neurons (nerve cells) as natural binary (on–off) switches and the abstraction of physical computer circuit elements (at the time, relays and vacuum tubes) as artificial binary switches. His ambition was to unify the two and construct a formal universal theory. One remarkable aspect of von Neumann’s program was inspired by the biology: His universal automata must be able to self-reproduce. So his neuron-like automata must be both computational and constructive. In 1955, invited by Yale University to deliver the Silliman Lectures for 1956, von Neumann chose as his topic the relationship between the computer and the brain. He died before being able to deliver the lectures, but the unfinished manuscript was published by Yale University Press under the title The Computer and the Brain (1958). Von Neumann’s definitive writings on self-reproducing cellular automata, edited by his one-time collaborator Arthur Burks of the University of Michigan, was eventually published in 1966 as the book Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata. A possible structure of a von Neumann–style cellular automaton is depicted in Figure 7.1. It comprises a (finite or infinite) configuration of cells in which a cell can be in one of a finite set of states. The state of a cell at any time t is determined by its own state and those of its immediate neighbors in the preceding point of time t – 1, according to a state transition rule.
Welcoming Older Students
Authors: Astor Ron Avi , Jacobson Linda , Wrabel Stephanie L. , Benbenishty Rami , Pineda Diana
Published: November 2020

While some practices typically used with young children—such as summer transition programs and home visits—can be adapted to accommodate older students, there are also strategies that specifically address the questions and concerns of middle and high school students and their parents. Often faced for the first time with multiple classes, these students are trying to find their place and adjust to new expectations in several classrooms, not just one. These campuses are also typically much larger, so students need additional time to learn their way around—one tour might not be enough. Even for students who aren’t moving to a new community, the transition into a middle or high school can be a stressful and uncertain time. So having a plan for providing extra support for students who are changing schools during these years can prevent students from struggling and feeling isolated. The Search Institute, a Minneapolis-based research organization, has identified 40 developmental assets that researchers say adolescents need to develop into healthy, caring, and responsible young adults. They are organized into external and internal assets. External assets include conditions such as positive family communication, providing service to others, and having positive adult role models. Internal assets refer to qualities such as being motivated to achieve, reading for pleasure, and having the skills to resist negative peer pressure. Educators working with students who are changing schools during their middle and high school years can consider ways to foster these assets when creating welcoming and transition-related programs and practices. Student leaders who assist in these programs, such as peer mentors and buddies, can also become familiar with these assets—to strengthen their own skills and to benefit students they are trying to support. A variety of strategies exist for welcoming new students who are transitioning during a time when they might be trying to figure out what interests them, what kind of friends they want, and how to solve problems without help from their parents.
The Voices of Parents
Authors: Astor Ron , Benbenishty Rami
Published: November 2020

Parents are important partners in the educational process. Including their views in the monitoring system has multiple benefits. First, parents who believe that the school is interested in their feedback and takes it seriously become even better partners with educators. They feel important, respected, and helpful and may be more willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with school leaders and staff members. Parents are also an impor­tant source of information on their own experiences in the school and on the lives of their children (see Box 7.1). In one school, for example, parents shared that their child’s teachers contacted them only when the child presented difficulties— never when the child did well. Following this feedback, the school changed their policy and made an effort to communicate regularly with parents and to emphasize student gains and achievements— not just problem areas. In another school, military- connected parents expressed a feeling that school staff members did not appreciate their sacrifices and the challenges their children face due to their parents’ military service. This input was helpful in developing a school climate that would be more welcoming to military- connected families and students. Parents can be viewed as the clients of the school. As such, it’s important to cosider their perceptions of school climate and whether they are satisfied with the services their children are receiving in order to retain these families and attract others. When parents think their children might not be safe in school, they will search for other options. Monitoring parents’ perceptions and levels of satisfaction is important in order to make adjustments and to ensure that student families remain loyal allies. A monitoring system that includes surveys for parents— and other opportunities for them to share their perceptions— can also help educators learn more about students’ lives out of school and whether there are any issues that could affect their academic and nonacademic lives in school. Surveys of parents and guardians, for example, can show whether students have someone at home after school or whether parents feel comfortable contacting teachers if they feel there is a problem.
Administrative Records
Authors: Astor Ron , Benbenishty Rami
Published: November 2020

Schools maintain a variety of records, but these aren’t necessarily analyzed as a source of data for improving school climate. Records of office referrals, suspensions, peer mediation cases, students serving detention, and other incident reports can be examined to learn about disciplinary issues and the school’s response. In addition to getting a sense of how many disciplinary infractions take place in school, it is also valuable to detect changes over time. By examining suspension records over a period of years, school leaders may realize that, along with their efforts to improve school climate and prevent violence, there is also a major increase in suspension rates, an indication that perhaps administrators have used suspension as a major strategy. Given the evidence on the negative outcomes of repeated suspensions, school leaders might reconsider their approach to violence prevention or punishment. Other schools may find that suspensions actually went down when climate improved because fewer students were being disciplined for incidents of violence. While many schools maintain paper records that are difficult to examine and process, others have computerized their reporting system. When computerized databases are available, the potential for educators to learn from the information and make improvements increases dramatically. Careful analysis of existing records can help identify what grade levels of students are most involved in certain behaviors and whether certain students or groups are committing the bulk of infractions. Analyses of these records can also help administrators to understand more about why students are getting in trouble, which students seem to be repeat offenders, and perhaps where and when the incidents are taking place. Absenteeism rates should also be examined in combination with other indicators. Patterns in the data can then be used to see what type of changes might be needed to eliminate the reasons that the students are getting in trouble. These records can also show whether there are certain times during the school year when problems are more likely to occur, such as at the beginning of the year or just before a break.
Google’s Saathi :Women and the Smartphone
Authors: Agrawal Ravi
Published: November 2020

As night fell in the tiny hamlet of Nangli Jamawat, a light glowed within one section of a small two-roomed home, like a soft beacon. The house was rectangular, built of brick with gray cement coarsely patted over its surface. Inside the main room were two wooden beds, side by side. On one, two young children were sleeping soundly, neatly curled into cashews. On the other lay Satish, on his back, as his wife, Phoolwati, readied to join him. A cool desert zephyr had seeped under the door and into the room; human warmth was a welcome relief. In a bare corner, on the cement floor, a thin white wire coiled to a rectangular object that was the source of the light. Phoolwati had set her smartphone down to charge. As she lay down, before she could shut her eyes, the rectangle of light faded into a black mirror. Room, home, fields, village became night. Phoolwati had been the first to show her fellow villagers a smartphone. “Want to see a miracle?” she asked a group of women sitting together and tossing rice on wide bamboo sieves, separating the grain from its residual husk. “There’s this new thing called Google—want to see?” “Goo-gull? What’s that, a game?” replied one of the women blandly, bored, barely looking up as she kept tossing grain. Her name was Chameli. “No, no, it’s a really useful thing. It comes on the mobile,” said Phoolwati, pointing to her smartphone. “If you want to learn about the best seeds to plant, you ask this thing. If you want to know how to get government money to build a toilet, you ask Google. It has all the answers in this world.” Chameli stopped to look up at Phoolwati. She raised an eyebrow theatrically, as if to ask: “Don’t you have anything better to do, woman?” Phoolwati was not deterred. “It has the Hanuman Chaleesa also, set to beautiful music,” she tried again, changing tack to matters of the divine. The tossing paused. The name of their chosen deity, the monkey-god Hanuman, made her audience sit up and take note.
Hello Macaulay: Fixing Education
Authors: Agrawal Ravi
Published: November 2020

“My business is simple,” said Abdul Wahid. “I . . . I . . . P.” He paused. I waited. “Is . . . It . . . Possible.” As he said the words, Abdul Wahid drew in the air a grand billboard for his tutoring company. He paused once again for effect. “Is what possible?” I asked, finally. “Anything. Everything.” And then he added: “It is a cun-sept.” Abdul Wahid was very fond of concepts. Abdul—as he insisted I call him—was the son of a small dhaba owner in Kolkata. Ambitious, he didn’t want to run a loss-making, hole-in-the-wall restaurant like his father, dishing out dal-roti-sabzi to customers who were rude and never tipped. He didn’t want to do the same things every single day. Abdul wanted more. He wanted to be his own man. An entrepreneur. He had dreams that went beyond his father’s street. With the help of his smartphone, Abdul had turned himself into an English-speaking teacher-CEO. And now, with his tutoring company IIP, he wanted to transform education in India. Still, it was clear to me that the past clung to Abdul. He was only twenty-five, but he dressed like a much older man, in a crisply starched white shirt and pleated dark khakis. His eyes were almost comically enlarged by his old-fashioned rimless spectacles. When he moved, he gave off a faint aroma of cardamom; he carried pods in his trouser pocket, just as his father and his grandfather before him. Abdul had a vision for tutoring in India. “I want to make education like a gaming platform. Indian teachers think in 2-D. I want to make it like a planetarium experience. I want kids to see and feel projectile motion. Is it possible? Yes, it is.” Money was scarce in Abdul’s childhood. Back then, his dreams were dull, black-and-white, 2-D, standard definition 4-by-3. His father sent him away to a boarding school in a town in neighboring Bihar. Abdul found the system of rote learning a bore; his teachers were disinterested, playing truant more than he did.
Essential Elements for Promoting Student Voice: An Expanded Framework for Critical Service Learning
Authors: Johnson Annette , McKay-Jackson Cassandra , Grumbach Giesela
Published: November 2020

This critical service learning (CSL) model has youth voice as the cornerstone and places it at the center of the approach. The term youth voice describes a strategy in which young people are authentically engaged in working toward changing the systems that directly affect their lives. Instead of their input remaining at the discussion level, youth conceptualize, research, and develop action plans to make recommendations to policymakers. This places youth in a unique position to advocate for their communities, which provides a real- world opportunity for them to learn components of the change process. Practitioners must create a safe and supportive environment to encourage youth voice. The practice environment, including the culture, structure, and group climate, must be intentionally created and sustained to make youth feel safe and supported enough to raise their voices. The youth’s voices, strengths, talents, actions, and achievements are continuously integrated into the CSL approach and are infused throughout all components of every activity, including brainstorming ideas (community web mapping), research, planning, evaluation, decision- making, advocacy, and reflections. In this model, the community web mapping (Lantieri, 1999) is central to the develop¬ment of the students’ voice. The practitioner facilitates the brainstorming for community web mapping. This activity may span three to five sessions and encourages youth to brainstorm about what they would like to change within their communities (or within their schools). The brainstorming session is youth centered and involves little to no adult redirection. This provides a chance for youth to verbalize their ideas without adult censorship. It allows youth to engage in active construction and integration of problem-solving, decision-making, and conflict resolution and may enable them to explore and confront social injustices on behalf of themselves or others. The literature suggests that when youth have authentic CSL experiences, academic achievement and civic competence increase (Howard, 2006; Kielsmeier, Scales, Roehlkepartain, & Neal, 2004). Youth who have these experiences develop a stronger sense of community, improve their prosocial attitudes and behaviors, and learn powerful lessons through social action.
Metamorphic Rocks
Authors: Maltman Alex
Published: November 2020

We come now to the metamorphic rocks, the result of modifications to already existing rock. I’m well aware that this can all seem a bit mysterious. After all, no one has ever seen the changes take place; no one has ever witnessed a metamorphic rock form—the processes are imperceptibly slow, and they happen deep in the Earth’s crust, way out of sight. Why should these changes happen? Well, they are primarily driven by increases in pressure and temperature, so we begin with a look at these two factors. There are sites in the Earth’s crust where material becomes progressively buried. It happens, for example, where a tectonic plate is driving underneath another one, taking rocks ever deeper as it descends. It can happen in the central area of a plate that is stretching and sagging, allowing thick accumulations of sediment. It’s pretty self-evident that as buried material gets deeper, because of the growing weight of rocks above bearing down due to gravity, it becomes subjected to increasing burial pressure. Less intuitive, though, is the fact that this pressure acts on a volume of rock equally in all directions. Imagine a small volume of rock at depth. It’s bearing the weight of the rocks above it, and so it responds by trying to move downward and to spread out laterally. Of course, it can’t because it’s constrained all around by other volumes of rock that are trying to do exactly the same thing. And so the downward gravity is translated into an all-around pressure. It’s the same effect as diving down to the bottom of a swimming pool. You feel the increased pressure owing to the weight of water above, but you feel it equally in all directions. All-round pressure like this can cause things to change in volume, through changing their density, but it can’t change their shape. However, there can be another kind of pressure as well, and this does have direction, and it can cause change of shape. In the Earth, we call it tectonic stress. It comes about through heat-driven motions in the Earth, including the movement of tectonic plates.
Elites, Civil Society, and Inclusive Institution-Building in the Republic of France
Authors: Moore Scott M.
Published: November 2020

The Republic of France is in many ways the archetype of the centralized, unitary state, and its political institutions contrast sharply with those of the federations of India and the United States. Following the Revolution of 1789, the new republic undertook a series of political reforms intended to strip power from the landed nobility and vest it instead with a new set of egalitarian institutions, the basis of which was both centralization and uniformity. The revolutionaries believed that “justice requires the republic to be one and indivisible” (Berger 1974, 8). Inherent to this new model was a concentration of political authority, as well as political, legislative, and judicial powers, in the hands of the central government. In contrast to more decentralized and federal political systems, the French system is intended to tightly bind officials at both central and local levels and to minimize conflicts between them. Consequently, a defining feature of French political institutions is the relative cohesion of elite decision-making. According to one prominent observer, France “provides the prime example of a highly coherent administration, whereas the United States and Switzerland constitute the typical cases of lack of such coherence” (Kriesi 1995, 171). However, during the past thirty years even the French state has become more decentralized, and powers and responsibilities for some policy areas, including water resource management, have been devolved to regional governments. In comparative perspective, the outstanding feature of the French political system is in fact the presence of strong regional governance organizations, including several organized around river basin boundaries, that are among the world’s most successful interjurisdictional management institutions. France’s system of river basin governance organizations, called “water agencies” (agences de l’eau), is by many accounts the most collaborative and participatory in the world. A global survey of river basin governance institutions concludes, for example, that the French system “is remarkable for its longevity, in how it tries to formalize representation . . . and perhaps most important, how it has attempted local and decentralized water management within the centralist state tradition in France” (Delli Priscoli 2007, 17).
Introduction
Authors: Detterman Robin , Ventura Jenny , Rosenthal Lihi , Berrick Ken
Published: November 2020

Unconditional education (UE) is driven by the belief that public schools are responsible for all students. This may seem a foregone conclusion: national trends in education never seem weary of exclaiming that no child shall be left behind, that all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education or, more recently, that every student shall succeed. The concept of unconditional education is not new. However, public schools have yet to fully deliver on its promise, failing to build truly inclusive systems of care capable of serving students with the most exceptional needs. The UE model, as presented in this book, serves as an organizing framework for education leaders who are looking to reshape their schools in order to better meet the broad range of needs of their students, families, and staff. This book may appear to focus only on students with the most exceptional needs. That focus, however, is not limited. UE is founded on the belief that improving the educational experience of our most vulnerable children, in the end, benefits all children. Its aim is to create learning environments where students receive the support they need when they need it, not only after they have reached a certain, designated threshold of failure. UE seeks to build truly engaging and exhaustively positive environments where all students, their families, and the school’s staff feel safe and deeply connected to the community, laying the foundation necessary for academic success. This is a book about transformational change in schools. Such change, by its very definition, requires a fundamental shift in the way schools do business. To be even more clear: this is a book that seeks to disrupt the well-established ways in which schools operate, from the daily experiences of students, families, and staff to the organizing structures that influence them, such as schedules, discipline practices, working conditions, service delivery, and physical space. This is a book about how to create actual changes within actual schools.
Assessment
Authors: Detterman Robin , Ventura Jenny , Rosenthal Lihi , Berrick Ken
Published: November 2020

By now it should be apparent that unconditional education (UE) is both comprehensive in its scope and ambitious in its goals. This chapter will help outline the formative assessment process that has been created as a means to inform high-quality program planning and implementation and summative assessments used to measure the extent to which the model promotes positive outcomes for students and schools. The two overarching goals of implementing this model are (1) to increase the academic performance and social-emotional well-being of the most struggling students and (2) to increase the capacity of schools serving highly stressed communities to deliver effective interventions through the implementation of a transdisciplinary multi-tiered framework. The second goal relates to capacity building and systems change within the school community itself; while the first relates to the outcomes these changes bring about. More information about the model’s overall theory of action can be found in the logic model in Appendix 7.1. The logic model also highlights the four key components of UE and the implementation strategies related to them. These key components are as follows: …System efficiency, resources match the level of identified student need and schools are able to leverage braided funding, including general education, special education, and mental health dollars. Coordination of services, a transdisciplinary team reviews data, assigns students to intervention, and monitors their progress. Universal supports/Tier 1, a culture and climate team engages in a schoolwide assessment and planning process explained in great detail later in this chapter. Targeted and intensive supports, data-informed, high-quality interventions are implemented with fidelity and monitored for effectiveness…. The strategies related to these four key components are expected to influence a set of comprehensive, long-term outcomes. These outcomes measure the extent to which the model has improved school culture and climate (as measured by the School Climate Assessment Instrument), increased academic achievement (as measure by standardized tests), improved behavior outcomes (as measured by suspension rates), and increased attendance. While data are reviewed at the end of every school year, it is not until the third year that a substantial impact on these long-term measures is expected.