title: Looking in: Mapping representations of teachers' discursive writing practices

authors: Dix, Stephanie Margaret

subjects: teaching writing

abstract: Over the past four decades changes in political, social, and educational curriculum policies have created discursive shifts in writing theory and practice. While these policies have historically privileged a particular view of writing over others, very little is known about how New Zealand teachers engage with discourses of writing. Research in the field of literacy has traditionally favoured reading, creating variable opportunities for building knowledge of writing theory and practice, and often leaving teachers querying how to teach writing now.

Employing an interpretive methodology and a qualitative approach, this study sought to understand how a group of New Zealand primary school teachers taught writing in their classrooms at a particular time. The research was conducted in two phases. Phase One employed thematic analysis to identify how the teachers taught writing in their classrooms. The teachers’ self-reported practice described their beliefs about teaching writing, the ways they grouped students for writing, the practices they valued, planning decisions they made and assessment strategies they employed in their writing communities. It became evident that while there were strong commonalities, as a group the teachers demonstrated discursive practices.

The development of a conceptual tool enabled further analysis of the teachers’ talk. Three Writing Discourses, Writer, Text and Social, each representing different ideologies, beliefs, theories and practices, provided a framework to analyse why teachers subscribed to different Writing Discourses. The findings revealed that the teachers engaged in various ways, taking dominant, merging and often conflicting positions which created complex identities for them as teachers of writing. The study argues that when teachers confidently work from a dominant Writing Discourse they present a narrowed perspective that may exclude their students from opportunities to participate in other writing experiences. Enhancement of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, in particular an awareness of the available Writing Discourses, is required for self- reflection and a deepening understanding of “ways of working and being a teacher of writing”.

Phase Two of the investigation, a case study, closely observed one teacher’s enacted practice in her classroom. The case study focused on how this teacher apprenticed her Year 2 and 3 children (6-8 years old) to write a character description. A participatory scaffolding framework (PSFW) was developed for analysis. Key indicators signifying characteristics of scaffolding practice identified in the literature were adjusted to accommodate student responses from the data to interpret teacher-student learning interactions. An analysis of the teacher’s pedagogy demonstrated that dialogic conversations, student participation and negotiation of the task developed powerful learning. A further analytical framework was developed to investigate how the teacher systematically scaffolded learning writing over time. Five factors were identified as crucial for signifying a synergy of participatory scaffolding (SPSFW). The study revealed that the teacher wove layers of scaffolding at the macro, micro and close-up levels. These scaffolding interactions were flexible, complex but connected and responsive to the students’ participation. When students and teacher collaborated in the construction zone, a magical place where minds could meet, it became evident that learning was enhanced but for each of the participants learning was different.

text: Looking in: Mapping representations of teachers' discursive writing practices Over the past four decades changes in political, social, and educational curriculum policies have created discursive shifts in writing theory and practice. While these policies have historically privileged a particular view of writing over others, very little is known about how New Zealand teachers engage with discourses of writing. Research in the field of literacy has traditionally favoured reading, creating variable opportunities for building knowledge of writing theory and practice, and often leaving teachers querying how to teach writing now.

Employing an interpretive methodology and a qualitative approach, this study sought to understand how a group of New Zealand primary school teachers taught writing in their classrooms at a particular time. The research was conducted in two phases. Phase One employed thematic analysis to identify how the teachers taught writing in their classrooms. The teachers’ self-reported practice described their beliefs about teaching writing, the ways they grouped students for writing, the practices they valued, planning decisions they made and assessment strategies they employed in their writing communities. It became evident that while there were strong commonalities, as a group the teachers demonstrated discursive practices.

The development of a conceptual tool enabled further analysis of the teachers’ talk. Three Writing Discourses, Writer, Text and Social, each representing different ideologies, beliefs, theories and practices, provided a framework to analyse why teachers subscribed to different Writing Discourses. The findings revealed that the teachers engaged in various ways, taking dominant, merging and often conflicting positions which created complex identities for them as teachers of writing. The study argues that when teachers confidently work from a dominant Writing Discourse they present a narrowed perspective that may exclude their students from opportunities to participate in other writing experiences. Enhancement of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, in particular an awareness of the available Writing Discourses, is required for self- reflection and a deepening understanding of “ways of working and being a teacher of writing”.

Phase Two of the investigation, a case study, closely observed one teacher’s enacted practice in her classroom. The case study focused on how this teacher apprenticed her Year 2 and 3 children (6-8 years old) to write a character description. A participatory scaffolding framework (PSFW) was developed for analysis. Key indicators signifying characteristics of scaffolding practice identified in the literature were adjusted to accommodate student responses from the data to interpret teacher-student learning interactions. An analysis of the teacher’s pedagogy demonstrated that dialogic conversations, student participation and negotiation of the task developed powerful learning. A further analytical framework was developed to investigate how the teacher systematically scaffolded learning writing over time. Five factors were identified as crucial for signifying a synergy of participatory scaffolding (SPSFW). The study revealed that the teacher wove layers of scaffolding at the macro, micro and close-up levels. These scaffolding interactions were flexible, complex but connected and responsive to the students’ participation. When students and teacher collaborated in the construction zone, a magical place where minds could meet, it became evident that learning was enhanced but for each of the participants learning was different.

year: 2014

title: Enzymic approach to eurythermalism of Alvinella pompejana and its Episymbionts

authors: Lee, Charles Kai-Wu

subjects: biology

abstract: The equilibrium model, which describes the influence of temperature on enzyme activity, has been established as a valid and useful tool for characterizing enzyme eurythermalism and thermophily. By introducing Keq, a temperature-dependent equilibrium constant for the interconversion between Eact, the active form of enzyme, and Einact, a reversibly inactive form of enzyme, the equilibrium model currently provides the most complete description of the enzyme-temperature relationship; its derived parameters are intrinsic and apparently universal and, being derived under reaction conditions, potentially have physiological significance. One of these parameters, Teq, correlates with host growth temperature better than enzyme stability does. The vent-dwelling annelid Alvinella pompejana has been reported as an extremely eurythermal organism, and the symbiotic complex microbial community associated with its dorsal surface is likely to experience similar environmental thermal conditions. The A. pompejana episymbiont community, predominantly composed of epsilonproteobacteria, has been analyzed metagenomically, enabling direct retrieval of genes coding for enzymes suitable for equilibrium model applications. Two such genes, coding for isopropylmalate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase, have been isolated from the A. pompejana episymbionts, heterologously expressed, and shown by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR to be actively expressed. The equilibrium model parameters of characterized expression products suggested that enzyme eurythermalism constitutes part of the thermal adaptation strategy employed by the episymbionts. Moreover, the enzymes' thermal characteristics correspond to their predicted physiological roles and the abundance and expression of the corresponding genes. This paper demonstrates the use of the equilibrium model as part of a top-down metagenomic approach to studying temperature adaptation of uncultured organisms.

text: Enzymic approach to eurythermalism of Alvinella pompejana and its Episymbionts The equilibrium model, which describes the influence of temperature on enzyme activity, has been established as a valid and useful tool for characterizing enzyme eurythermalism and thermophily. By introducing Keq, a temperature-dependent equilibrium constant for the interconversion between Eact, the active form of enzyme, and Einact, a reversibly inactive form of enzyme, the equilibrium model currently provides the most complete description of the enzyme-temperature relationship; its derived parameters are intrinsic and apparently universal and, being derived under reaction conditions, potentially have physiological significance. One of these parameters, Teq, correlates with host growth temperature better than enzyme stability does. The vent-dwelling annelid Alvinella pompejana has been reported as an extremely eurythermal organism, and the symbiotic complex microbial community associated with its dorsal surface is likely to experience similar environmental thermal conditions. The A. pompejana episymbiont community, predominantly composed of epsilonproteobacteria, has been analyzed metagenomically, enabling direct retrieval of genes coding for enzymes suitable for equilibrium model applications. Two such genes, coding for isopropylmalate dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase, have been isolated from the A. pompejana episymbionts, heterologously expressed, and shown by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR to be actively expressed. The equilibrium model parameters of characterized expression products suggested that enzyme eurythermalism constitutes part of the thermal adaptation strategy employed by the episymbionts. Moreover, the enzymes' thermal characteristics correspond to their predicted physiological roles and the abundance and expression of the corresponding genes. This paper demonstrates the use of the equilibrium model as part of a top-down metagenomic approach to studying temperature adaptation of uncultured organisms.

year: 2007

title: Improving prediction of potential for treatment completion at Tai Aroha

authors: Astridge Clarke,  Abigail Darcy

subjects: Treatment

abstract: Participant non-completion can be a major problem for treatment programmes. Staff may try to minimise non-completion by deciding who to select for treatment using professional intuition and referral information. It can be difficult for treatment staff to make these decisions regarding the potential for programme completion due to a lack of clear guidelines about what information to consider. This lack of clear guidelines can increase susceptibility to biases, and lead to unreliable and potentially inaccurate decisions. Research has identified ‘simple rules’ that are tools to aid decision-making quickly, effectively, and consistently. Therefore, using past treatment data, we1 aimed to identify predictors of programme completion vs. non-completion at Tai Aroha—a residential treatment programme based in Hamilton—to explore whether a “simple rule” can be developed from information readily available at the time of referral, to support staff decision-making when selecting offenders to attend treatment, with the potential to increase programme completion. We were successful in the development of a simple rule to aid Tai Aroha staff selection decisions. The implications, and limitations of our rule and our study are discussed, and future research relating to simple rules are identified.

text: Improving prediction of potential for treatment completion at Tai Aroha Participant non-completion can be a major problem for treatment programmes. Staff may try to minimise non-completion by deciding who to select for treatment using professional intuition and referral information. It can be difficult for treatment staff to make these decisions regarding the potential for programme completion due to a lack of clear guidelines about what information to consider. This lack of clear guidelines can increase susceptibility to biases, and lead to unreliable and potentially inaccurate decisions. Research has identified ‘simple rules’ that are tools to aid decision-making quickly, effectively, and consistently. Therefore, using past treatment data, we1 aimed to identify predictors of programme completion vs. non-completion at Tai Aroha—a residential treatment programme based in Hamilton—to explore whether a “simple rule” can be developed from information readily available at the time of referral, to support staff decision-making when selecting offenders to attend treatment, with the potential to increase programme completion. We were successful in the development of a simple rule to aid Tai Aroha staff selection decisions. The implications, and limitations of our rule and our study are discussed, and future research relating to simple rules are identified.

year: 2023