ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Impact of School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports on Student Behavior in the Middle Grades
Author: Nocera, Edmund J.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Behavior Modification,Student Behavior,Behavior Problems,Middle Schools,Prevention,Intervention,Discipline Problems,Referral,Suspension,Program Effectiveness,Disabilities,Educational Environment,Surveys,Resilience (Psychology),Feedback (Response),Student Characteristics,Standards,Faculty Development,Qualitative Research,Interviews,Statistical Analysis

Research shows that school-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) can be an effective alternative to traditional reactive, punitive approaches to problem behavior. However, few studies examine the use of the approach as part of a comprehensive school improvement process involving academic as well as behavioral goals, particularly with regard to use of data-driven decision making and data teams. This article describes the efforts of a low-performing middle school in establishing preventative measures and interventions within such a framework. Results indicate a reduction in teacher discipline referrals and student suspensions, including those involving students with disabilities and statistically significant improvement on 30 of 47 items of a school climate and student resiliency survey. In addition, school scores on state mastery tests in both reading and math improved by 25% and 11%, respectively. This study suggests that the implementation of a SWPBS framework may result in improved academic and behavioral outcomes for all students.
The Work of Effective Middle Grades Principals: Responsiveness and Relationship
Author: Gale, Jacqueline J.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Effectiveness,Language of Instruction,School Administration,Administrator Attitudes,Qualitative Research,Grouping (Instructional Purposes),Interviews,Ethnography,Focus Groups,Observation,Credibility,Physical Development,Middle School Students,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Middle School Teachers,Family School Relationship,Leadership Training,Vignettes

Findings from research studies suggest that school leadership accounts for fully one quarter of total school effects on pupils, making it second only to classroom instruction among school-based factors affecting student achievement (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson &amp; Wahlstrom, 2004). While a considerable body of research has analyzed effective school leadership in general, remarkably few studies have examined the leadership of middle grades schools in particular (Anfara, Roney, Smarkola, DuCette, &amp; Gross, 2006), despite the fact that students' performance in the middle grades has been linked to later life success (Balfanz, 2007). The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze middle grades principals' perceptions of effective school leadership. We focus within this article on leadership dispositions in particular, in the interest of space and because the domain remains particularly unexamined within the middle grades literature. We begin with a brief overview of related research and the theoretical framework that grounds our study. We then describe the qualitative methodology employed to pursue our purpose. Next we examine two key areas of our findings on middle grades leadership dispositions: developmental responsiveness and relationship. Finally, we consider the implications of this work for policy, practice and future research.
Who's Really Struggling?: Middle School Teachers' Perceptions of Struggling Readers
Author: Moreau, Leah K.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Middle School Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Reading Difficulties,Middle School Students,Student Behavior,Reading Instruction,Phenomenology,Teacher Surveys,Interviews,Student Evaluation,Student Motivation,Correlation,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Intervention

This study explored middle school teachers' perceptions of struggling readers, including influences such as: understandings of components and factors relating to reading difficulties; views of struggling readers' behaviours and affect; classroom implications of their difficulties; and feelings of both competency and responsibility in the teaching of struggling readers. Using a phenomenological case study approach, survey data from 35 respondents, and interview data from ten participants across three different school districts were analyzed using both a within-case and cross-case analysis method. Identified common themes included teachers' difficulty defining and assessing students who struggle with reading, and tending to attribute the difficulties to factors beyond their control. Teachers realized the correlation between reading difficulties and motivation, but were unsure how to mitigate the ensuing behaviours in their classrooms. Participants believed that middle school students should be competent grade level readers and did not believe it their job to teach specific reading skills in content area classes, as they were constrained by both a lack of knowledge and time. The findings suggest that teachers, both pre-service and in-service, need more education about reading difficulties, classroom strategies and practice. The research indicates a need for more optimal use of specialist teacher time, professional development and literacy coaching.
The Strategy Use of Struggling Readers in the First-Year Composition Classroom: What We Know and How We Can Help Them
Author: Poole, Alex
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Difficulties,Reading Strategies,Freshman Composition,Classroom Techniques,Individual Differences,Cohort Analysis,Metacognition,Self Disclosure (Individuals),Student Surveys,Likert Scales,Time Factors (Learning),Age Differences,Gender Differences,Grade Point Average,Scores,Behavioral Objectives,Notetaking,Achievement Gains,Mnemonics,Questioning Techniques,Difficulty Level,Critical Thinking

One key difference between successful and struggling college readers is their use of strategies. The former can understand challenging texts due to their knowledge of how to apply a diverse range of strategies. In contrast, the latter are frequently unaware of when and how to utilize strategies, and, as a result, often cannot comprehend assigned texts. Problematically, research on successful and struggling college readers' strategy use has rarely taken place in the context of first-year composition. Thus, first-year writing instructors have few tools they can use to meet the needs of the many at-risk students who populate their classes. The following article attempted to help instructors better serve their students by examining the strategic differences between successful and struggling readers in first-year composition courses. The participants filled out a quantitative reading survey called the Metacognitive Assessment of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), along with a demographic profile. The results showed significant differences between the groups overall and on the MARSI's subscales. In addition, successful readers used seven individual strategies significantly more than struggling readers. Explanations for these results are offered, as are pedagogical recommendations for first-year writing instructors.
Empowering Nonsense: Reading Lewis Carroll&apos;s &quot;Jabberwocky&quot; in a Basic Writing Class
Author: Noimann, Chamutal
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Basic Writing,Reading Assignments,Vocabulary Development,Reading Skills,Literacy,Undergraduate Students,Poetry,Remedial Instruction,Remedial Reading

Basic writing and reading students are scared. More than the unfamiliar places, faces, new methods and serious consequences of it all, they are afraid of words. Even if they successfully complete remediation, move on to English 101 and advance to upper courses in other disciplines, our students often face monstrous texts, which they have precious few skills to decipher. The ability to read aright is essential in upper level literature and writing classes, not only because readings provide content that students need to prove they understand, but also because reading model texts allows them to learn by example. In writing courses, we assign readings because they show how it is done when done right. This process does not only mean that readings offer them approaches to structuring a text, they also teach style, tone, vocabulary, correct spelling, syntax, grammar, idioms. In class, we take time to help students uncover all of these wonders and try to mold them into independent readers and deliberate writers, but the lonely, too-short single semester we are allowed with them is never enough to make them truly self-sufficient. In a Basic writing course, &quot;Jabberwocky&quot; teaches vocabulary, reading skills, and literary literacy. Furthermore it teaches self-esteem because it allows students to lower their defenses, relax into learning and build upon their strengths. Students in remediation are not only scared, they are also angry and frustrated because they were placed in remediation and told too many times their writing and reading skills are incompetent. Introducing a Nonjudgmental Awareness initiative in college remediation courses is just as important as it is for ELL courses. Using &quot;Jabberwocky&quot; as part of this program is a clear and natural choice, as it is filled with empowering creativity of thought and process.
On Writer&apos;s Block: A Study of Disciplinary Negotiations in the Faculty Office and Classroom
Author: Scott, Andrea
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing Apprehension,Seminars,Scholarship,Novices,Discourse Communities,Intellectual Disciplines,Expertise,Rhetoric,Case Studies

This reflective essay investigates why writer&apos;s block affects novice and expert writers on a continuum from students in first-year writing seminars to teachers of writing, paying particular attention to the shared experiences of this pair of practitioners. I begin by focusing on my own experiences as a blocked writer making a disciplinary shift from literary to writing studies after receiving my doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Chicago. By setting a literature review of writer&apos;s block against a close-reading of a student case of writer&apos;s block in a first-year writing seminar, I illuminate how the difficulties of becoming an expert writer are shared by beginners and professionals as they are socialized into new disciplines. Through our students&apos; work, we can see the complex disciplinary and rhetorical practices needed to enact scholarly moves, and we can better empathize with their and our own struggles with writing, particularly when we begin new projects or cross over into unfamiliar disciplinary terrain.
Thinking/Feeling: Emotion, Spectatorship, and the Pedagogy of Horror
Author: Whitney, Allison
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Psychological Patterns,Affective Behavior,Emotional Response,Film Study,Mass Media Effects,Literary Genres,Educational Strategies,College Students,Higher Education

When teaching horror films, where the primary texts are created to frighten and disturb their audiences, instructors often find it challenging to find pedagogical strategies that are at once effective and responsible. For students not accustomed to horror, the shocking nature of the texts can sometimes be difficult to handle, while even the horror fans in one's classroom, once provoked by new critical approaches and theories, may find themselves newly unsettled even by well-known texts. Since many students have been trained to regard emotional engagement and rational thought as mutually exclusive, particularly in the context of formal education, they often perceive the emotional impact of horror as an impediment to critical analysis. In this essay I will offer practical strategies for helping students to identify, codify, and contemplate their emotional relationships to horror films, and to use those insights in aid of critical, historical, and thematic analysis, both in their written work and in classroom discussion. I will detail assignments and class activities developed while teaching junior-level film and media studies classes on Horror and the Fantastic in the Department of English at Texas Tech University, and explain how these exercises allowed students to contemplate their own experiences of spectatorship, and those of fellow audience members, allowing them to intellectualize a given text without disregarding the importance of feeling.
The E-Book Phenomenon: A Disruptive Technology
Author: Wilson, T. D.
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Research Projects,Electronic Publishing,Textbook Publication,Textbooks,Influence of Technology,Investigations,Retailing,Performance Factors,Cultural Influences,Social Influences,Technological Advancement,Educational Development,Trend Analysis

Introduction: The e-book and its associated technology have emerged as a disruptive technology over the past ten years. The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the consequences of this development, based on the work of the e-books in Sweden research projects. Argument: To explain the impact of the e-book phenomenon we use Winston's theory of technological innovation, with particular reference to the &quot;supervening social necessity,&quot; the combination of factors that turns an innovation into a marketable product. As a result of the technology all aspects of the production, distribution and use of books is affected. Sectoral and cultural variation: The e-book is having different effects in different sectors and in different parts of the world: rapid development in the USA, slower in France and Japan; rapid development in academic libraries, slower development in public libraries, from country to country. These differences suggest that one supervening social necessity may be needed to explain the divergencies. Conclusion: There is a great deal of exaggeration of the impact of the e-book, based mainly on its influence in the USA. Development in other countries is taking place more slowly and differently and in &quot;small language&quot; countries like Sweden, the pace of development, except in academic libraries is likely to be slow.
The Discourse on Printed and Electronic Books: Analogies, Oppositions, and Perspectives
Author: Velagic, Zoran
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Books,Electronic Publishing,Sustainability,Definitions,Reader Text Relationship,Academic Discourse

Introduction: The point of departure for this paper is the twofold analogy (analogy of content, analogy of medium) between printed and electronic books, the aim being to draw attention to the usual perception of their capacities and relationships, to provide a rather detailed analysis of the outcome and sustainability of such analogies and ultimately to indicate the drawbacks involved. Method: The contextual analysis of contents of the key themes is employed; in the articulation of the conclusions, analytic and synthetic approaches are used. Results: The definitions of the e-book are not consensual or sustainable, rather reflect the current developmental phase of the phenomenon. The emphasis is placed upon changes, and continuity is ignored, and it is not seen that the possibility of analogies derives from a long historical development. While the analogy of content is sustainable, for it implies the reproduction of the same discourses in different media, analogy of medium is not, for the interactive capacities permitted by the printed and the electronic medium are different. Conclusions: The e-book discourse has to be expanded by understandings drawn from cognate areas such as book history, publishing studies and in general by those from the extremely useful insights employed in the cultural-historical approach, for all the media functioning in any given period coexist and affect each other.
A National Survey of Early Adopters of E-Book Reading in Sweden
Author: Bergström, Annika
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,National Surveys,Electronic Publishing,Mail Surveys,Demography,Reading Habits,Incidence,Multivariate Analysis,Predictor Variables,Intermode Differences,Preferences,Access to Computers,Statistical Analysis,Reading Interests,Reading Attitudes,Technology Uses in Education

Introduction: Reading literature is believed to be a cornerstone of democracy and good citizenship. With a decline in book reading and an increasing e-book market, it is of importance to follow the diffusion of e-book reading. Method: Data were collected in a large-scale, mail survey of the Swedish population aged 16 to 85 years conducted in 2012. Analysis. Bivariate analysis was used to reveal groups of users with regard to demographics, book reading habits and the frequency of reading digital texts other than e-books. A multivariate analysis was conducted to reveal the explanatory power of the model. Results: The small number of e-book readers found in the study indicates that we are at the beginning of the diffusion process. A limited number of demographic and other variables account for a significant part of the variation in e-book reading. The demographics of e-book readers differ both from traditional book readers and readers of digital newspapers and blogs. Conclusion: The penetration of reading devices in Sweden is high, which indicates a potential for e-book reading to expand and reach beyond the group of early adopters. But the development is also a question of available Swedish titles, not least in public libraries, currently the main channel for distribution to users.
The Acquisition of E-Books in the Libraries of the Swedish Higher Education Institutions
Author: Maceviciute, Elena
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Higher Education,Electronic Libraries,Electronic Learning,Electronic Publishing,Library Materials,Academic Libraries,Literature Reviews,Comparative Analysis,Case Studies,Content Analysis,Interviews,Phenomenology,User Needs (Information),Library Services,Layout (Publications),Barriers,Access to Information,Copyrights,Budgeting,Cost Indexes,Models,Online Vendors,Contracts,Selection Criteria,Ownership,Library Research,Library Administration

Introduction: Our aim is to compare the advantages and problems of e-book acquisition identified in research literature to those experienced by two Swedish university libraries. Method: A literature review was used to identify the main issues related to acquisition of e-books by academic libraries. The data for comparison were collected through case studies in two Swedish universities. Document analysis, interviews and personal experience were used for data collection. Results: The main drivers of e-book acquisition by Swedish academic libraries are the perceived needs of the users. E-books are regarded as potentially useful for solving some of the problems of library service. A number of challenges and problems identified by the participants in the case studies coincide with those that were derived from the literature review. Conclusions: The problems of e-book acquisition in academic libraries seem to be common to the economically strong Western countries. University librarians see certain advantages of e-books for their users and libraries. Publishers and academic librarians expect that e-books would not lose the advantages that printed books offered to them. Hence, publishers restrict the usage of e-books to ensure revenues as if from selling individual copies. Librarians try to regain the same level of control over e-book collections as for printed materials.
Not All on the Same Page: E-Book Adoption and Technology Exploration by Seniors
Author: Quan-Haase, Anabel
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Electronic Publishing,Books,Older Adults,Reading Material Selection,Semi Structured Interviews,Foreign Countries,Coding,Grounded Theory,Technological Literacy,Attitude Measures,Barriers,Innovation,Adoption (Ideas),Familiarity

Introduction: This paper aims to understand the adoption of e-books and e-readers by persons aged sixty and above. This includes an investigation into where seniors are in the stages of e-book adoption. Method: Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in a mid-size city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Analysis: Interviews were transcribed, and coded using grounded theory. Rogers's model of the innovation-decision process was used to inform the data analysis process. Results: The results show three key factors affecting adoption: longing for materiality, technology confidence, and technology exploration. While seniors are interested in e-books and e-readers, see many benefits to their use, and are curious about how they function, the majority perceive this technology as being primarily appropriate for younger generations. Conclusion: The findings have implications for our understanding of the diffusion of innovations amongst the senior population and the development of services geared toward them. E-books and e-readers are technologies that could prove beneficial, aiding with issues related to both portability and convenience. However, e-books do not allow for the sharing of books that this population is accustomed to, and many of them are still on the fence about fully adopting this tool into their reading practices.
Validation of the Visitor and Resident Framework in an E-Book Setting
Author: Engelsmann, Hazel C.
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Books,Electronic Publishing,Use Studies,Academic Libraries,Research Libraries,Users (Information),Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Behavior,Computer Literacy,Foreign Countries

Introduction: By applying the visitor and resident framework on e-book usage, the article explores whether the concepts of a resident and a visitor can help to explain e-book use, and can help to gain a better insight into users' motivations for e-book use. Method: A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted with users of the Social Science Faculty Library, at the University of Copenhagen. Analysis: The empirical data were discussed on the basis of a modified e-book visitor and resident framework. Conclusion: The results showed that the framework can be applied to an e-book context and that it helped to investigate users' behaviour in a new light and to understand better some of the difficulties users meet when they interact with e-books. It is unclear how much the framework can be used to predict user's behaviour in relation to e-books and can ultimately prognoses usage trends.