title: Preparing pupils for peer or group response

authors: Foster, Rebecca

subjects: peer response

abstract: Teaching writing is a complex skill, and one that needs attention if student writing scores across New Zealand are to improve. The teaching of writing has changed over the years from a traditional product approach, where students wrote for the teacher, to a more collaborative approach where students work together as part of a writing community.
Peer or group response is one approach that teachers can use when building a writing community as part of their writing programme. This typically involves groups of students sharing and responding to writing, usually during the revision stage of the writing process. Students use the responses they receive from peers to revise their message, which in turn impacts on the quality of writing produced.
Preparing students for effective peer or group response is a sophisticated process that requires careful planning and preparation. This research used qualitative observations and interviews to investigate some of the ways that four teachers prepared their students for peer or group response in writing. The results of this study suggest that there are a number of ways to prepare students for response in writing and that teachers will coach students how to respond to their own and others’ writing differently, depending on the discourse/s of writing and teaching writing that they consciously or unconsciously subscribe to. This research also shows that response activities motivate students, and suggests the benefits of adopting a school-wide approach and involving teachers in professional development to help develop their identity as a writer.

text: Preparing pupils for peer or group response Teaching writing is a complex skill, and one that needs attention if student writing scores across New Zealand are to improve. The teaching of writing has changed over the years from a traditional product approach, where students wrote for the teacher, to a more collaborative approach where students work together as part of a writing community.
Peer or group response is one approach that teachers can use when building a writing community as part of their writing programme. This typically involves groups of students sharing and responding to writing, usually during the revision stage of the writing process. Students use the responses they receive from peers to revise their message, which in turn impacts on the quality of writing produced.
Preparing students for effective peer or group response is a sophisticated process that requires careful planning and preparation. This research used qualitative observations and interviews to investigate some of the ways that four teachers prepared their students for peer or group response in writing. The results of this study suggest that there are a number of ways to prepare students for response in writing and that teachers will coach students how to respond to their own and others’ writing differently, depending on the discourse/s of writing and teaching writing that they consciously or unconsciously subscribe to. This research also shows that response activities motivate students, and suggests the benefits of adopting a school-wide approach and involving teachers in professional development to help develop their identity as a writer.

year: 2014

title: Fast floating-point processing in Common Lisp

authors: Fateman, Richard J.

subjects: C programming language

abstract: Lisp, one of the oldest higher-level programming languages, has rarely been used for fast numerical (floatingpoint) computation. We explore the benefits of Common Lisp, an emerging new language standard with some excellent implementations, for numerical computation. We compare it to Fortran in terms of the speed of efficiency of generated code, as well as the structure and convenience of the language. There are a surprising number of advantages to Lisp, especially in cases where a mixture of symbolic and numeric processing is needed.

text: Fast floating-point processing in Common Lisp Lisp, one of the oldest higher-level programming languages, has rarely been used for fast numerical (floatingpoint) computation. We explore the benefits of Common Lisp, an emerging new language standard with some excellent implementations, for numerical computation. We compare it to Fortran in terms of the speed of efficiency of generated code, as well as the structure and convenience of the language. There are a surprising number of advantages to Lisp, especially in cases where a mixture of symbolic and numeric processing is needed.

year: 1995-03

title: Reflections on the renewal of music: a polemic

authors: Lodge, Martin

abstract: Pluralism has been accepted as the best broad working definition of the current cultural and artistic situation in the West for some time now. In New Zealand, the debate over 'biculturalism' versus 'multiculturalism' drones on. Commercially this is reflected in both 'market segmentation' and its opposite-attempts at 'cross-over'. Artistically, it has made 'bicultural' works fashionable, as creative
attempts are made to fuse various traditions together, especially the Maori and Western, and nowhere more so than in music. The key to making successful 'fusion' pieces seems to lie in first grasping the essential differences between the musics, then trying to resolve the clashes or accommodate friendly juxtapositions.

text: Reflections on the renewal of music: a polemic Pluralism has been accepted as the best broad working definition of the current cultural and artistic situation in the West for some time now. In New Zealand, the debate over 'biculturalism' versus 'multiculturalism' drones on. Commercially this is reflected in both 'market segmentation' and its opposite-attempts at 'cross-over'. Artistically, it has made 'bicultural' works fashionable, as creative
attempts are made to fuse various traditions together, especially the Maori and Western, and nowhere more so than in music. The key to making successful 'fusion' pieces seems to lie in first grasping the essential differences between the musics, then trying to resolve the clashes or accommodate friendly juxtapositions.

year: 1998