Digital Commons Network^™

Leaves Ripped From Wet Branches, Edward Hopkins

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The following document includes three short stories collectively titled "Leaves Ripped from Wet Branches."

"A Boy Told Me I Was Ugly." Voices Of At Risk Adolescent Girls On Gender Identity And Dating Roles, Mellinee Lesley Ph.D., Heather M. Kelley Ph.D.

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

Through an exploration of urban middle school girls’ Discourse, this study sought to investigate how at risk females defined their gendered identity. Based on an analysis of spoken and written Discourse in a Third Space writing group, we discovered that at risk girls’ notions of patriarchal dating roles, which were predicated upon ideas of physical attractiveness and “datability,” drove much of their perspectives about gender. This study reveals girls’ strong desire to conform and adhere to dating roles with boys despite their depiction of relationships as tumultuous, necessary, exciting, and inevitably painful. Implications for educators pertain to the importance of …

"Through The Ages: Images That Communicate" : A Medieval Art Museum Curriculum, Flannery Santos

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The museum curriculum proposed here utilizes the Princeton University Museum of Art's collection of medieval art to explore the ways in which images communicate. The curriculum is designed to help middle school students explore the concept that art represents the values and ideas of a culture.

Engaging Readers, Engaging Families : How Can Current Research And Thinking About Reading Engagement And Motivation Translate To The Family Context?, Erin Gordon

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper will provide a review of the research that pertains to reading engagement and motivation in general and offer some ways of considering the research through the lens of the family as a part of the larger educational community. The author also introduces readers to a website for families called "Engaging Readers." This website aims to empower families with resources, information, and opportunities for conversation and collaboration so that they can support their young readers with enthusiasm, confidence, and heart.

An Exploration Into The Gender-Based Achievement Gap In Literacy: Deficiency, Difference, And Teacher, Researcher And Measurement Bias, Theresa Orlandi

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper provides a review of the research pertaining to various explanations and causes for boys' underachievement in literacy.

Towards A Constructivist Grammar Curriculum For The United States, Tyler Crafts Jennings

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The author argues that educators must forge an alternative method to teaching grammar: the explicit, constructivist teaching of grammar within the meaningful context of a writing curriculum.

Climate-Driven Change In Himalayan Rhododendron Phenology, Robert Evan Hart

Dissertations

Phenology – the seasonal timing of life-history events – is a critical dimension of natural history. It is also one of the earliest and most noticeable traits by which organisms respond to climate change. However, these responses are complex, and only beginning to be understood, especially in the montane and alpine environments that are among the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change. Drawing from diverse data sets and employing multiple methodologies, I examined how climate affects phenology in Himalayan Rhododendron spp. Comprehensively monitoring flowering phenology over gradients of season and elevation on Mt. Yulong, China – home to a diverse …

“The Word Was Appropriate To The Moment”: Habit, Language Appropriation, And Alienation Of Feeling In David Copperfield And The Mill On The Floss, Katlin Kocher

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This paper investigates the relationship between memory, language appropriation, and the feeling in George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss and Charles Dickens's David Copperfield. Through analyzing paraphrases and misquotations from myriad characters in each novel, this paper encourages a linguistic community of memory and feeling.

Listening With The Eyes And Body: An Artistic Inquiry To Explore The Needs Of Deaf Adults With Chronic Mental Illness, Malorie Mcgee

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

This artistic inquiry illuminated the values, beliefs, and strengths of a small group of members of the Deaf community diagnosed with chronic mental illness, in the hopes of providing quality mental health care and bridging a gap between the hearing and Deaf worlds. The participants included five Deaf or Hard of Hearing adults with chronic mental illness attending a day mental health program. This study explored how I, as a dance/movement therapy student intern and the researcher, can embody Deaf or Hard of Hearing culture and chronic mental illness to express the strengths of the individuals as well as the …

Editing And Revising With And Without Peers: Do Students Produce Better Writing Through Peer Writing Conferences?, Kathleen Busch

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This mixed methods study will investigate the effects of peer-editing as compared to self-editing on a writing assignment. Collaborative practices such as peer-editing have been found in previous studies to improve student writing (Abadikhah & Yasami, 2014; Alfassi, 2009; Baleghizadeh, 2010; Orly-Louis & Soidet, 2008; Storch, 2005; Suwantarathip & Wichadee, 2014; Woo, Chu, & Li, 2013). Although some studies have interviewed students who have engaged in collaborative writing practices like peer-editing, few have also interviewed students in the same study who were assigned to the independent writing condition. This study investigates both student perspectives from those who collaborated to those …

Nebraska Libraries - Volume 3, Number 2 (May 2015)

Nebraska Libraries

No abstract provided.

Preparing English Learners For Academic Language Demands Of Mainstream Mathematics, Tracie Lynn Cavalli

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Secondary English language teachers and content mathematics teachers are called upon to develop the language and mathematics skills of students. English learners need learning methods in place that will aid in learning both sets of skills. This research outlines methods to incorporate language usage into mathematics instruction through incorporating direct vocabulary instruction, problem solving procedures and oral presentations. The research was conducted in a sheltered mathematics classroom over the course of two weeks. Data was collected from pre-­‐ test and post-­‐test scores, students presented problems after following a set of problem solving procedures, and a completing a written assessment where …

A Fire Stronger Than God: Myth-Making And The Novella Form In Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, Chinh Ngo

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Using concepts of cognitive evolutionary theory, the author explores how narrative storytelling manifests itself in Denis Johnson's novella Train Dreams. The novella form is also discussed, focusing on its manipulation of linear time, its naturalization of supernatural elements, and its deconstruction of dichotomous relationships. Utilizing the novella's distinct structural and thematic elements, Johnson's text shows the myth of American expansionism and industrial progress and that of Kootenai holism in collision, resulting in a narrative renegotiation that seeks to affirm coexistence and complexity.

Isthmus=Anchovy, Bradford C. Willingham

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Interested in the serendipitous encounters found in day to day experiences, I aim to complicate the framework that we are born into through the cross pollination of commodity trends, present tense and personal narrative. While these “mash-ups” dwell in the intersections between the real, the fictive and the fantastical, they attempt to put mystery back into the things that we are familiar with. My interest in language as a constructive and deconstructive tool opens spaces where the interloping of texts and objects confuse semantic routine. My sculptures operate within systems constructed through free association, absurdity, and humor: spaces where art …

Perfection, History, And Harmonious Individuality: Herder's Ethical Thought, 1765-1791, Charles Richard Booher

Dissertations - ALL

This work is a study of the ethical thought of Johann Gottfried Herder. I examine the development of his ethics from 1765 through 1791. I contend that the earliest texts express a set of ideas that Herder modified and developed throughout the rest of his work. These are a perfectionist conception of the end of human life, a belief in the centrality of history for ethics, a form of naturalism, and a commitment to the idea that every individual ought to blend their characteristic powers into a harmonious whole. The study considers a set of texts in chronological order. I …

Beyond Able-Minded Citizenship: Embracing Intellectual Ability Differences In Democratic Education, Ashley Taylor

Dissertations - ALL

Within philosophical literature on democratic education, philosophers of education embrace the existence of cultural, religious, racial, gender, and other social differences as important to a thriving democracy. However, they frequently ignore or marginalize the potential significance of ability differences, especially those associated with intellect and reasoning ability. In fact, prevailing understandings of civic engagement within political philosophy, social and educational policy, and institutional practice conform to norms of development, behavior, and civic contribution that assume the presence of able-bodied and able-minded individuals. There is therefore an unchallenged assumption that those who experience significant difficulties in reasoning are unable to perform …

State Of Memory: National History And Exclusive Identity In Contemporary Denmark, John Terrell Foor

Masters Theses

Increased rates of immigration to Western European states over the past three decades have yielded a wealth of literature in the social sciences, much of which has focused on cases of individuals from so-called ―non-Western‖ countries of origin. Immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia often bring with them cultural and religious traditions that are unfamiliar to the citizens of states which receive them. Tensions between majority populations and growing minorities in Western Europe have resulted in skepticism—and, increasingly, hostility—toward immigrants, particularly those regarded as ―"Islamic."

But is this type of tension inevitable? Are difference and …

Smartphones: A Game Changer For Psychological Research, Wei Wang, Jibo He

Publications and Research

As technology continues to advance and smartphones continue to grow in popularity, we argue that smartphones have rapidly evolved as a suitable tool for psychological research. In this editorial, we will first briefly introduce the technological and social features possessed by smartphones that are ideal for psychology research. Then we distinguish two approaches to use smartphones for research, highlighting the external and internal validity of each approach. We further discuss computer skills and analysis methods needed for research with smartphones.

Visualizing Words And Knowledge: Arts Of Memory From The Agora To The Computer, Seth D. Long

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines rhetoric's fourth canon--the art of memory--tracing its development through the classical, medieval, and early modern periods. It argues that for most of its history, the fourth canon was an art by which words and knowledge were remediated into visual, spatial forms, either in the mind or on the page. And it was this technique of visualization, I argue, that linked the canons of memory and invention throughout history. In contemporary rhetorical theory, however, memory palaces and mnemonic imagery have been replaced with a conception of memory grounded in psychology and critique. I argue that this move away …

Characterization Of The Older Adult Refugee Population At Thomas Jefferson University’S Center For Refugee Health (Crh), Kathryn Beldowski, Md, Neesha Patel, Md, Brooke Salzman, Md

Department of Family & Community Medicine Presentations and Grand Rounds

Background

• Established in 2007, the CRH has served over 1,000 refugees of all ages as they resettle in Philadelphia, PA.
• Research about refugee populations generally focuses on infectious disease, women’s health, pediatrics and mental health, with minimal research on the older adult refugee population.
• The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics of the older refugee population served by the CRH, focusing on chronic disease, smoking status, immunization and cancer screening rates, and presence of geriatric syndromes.

An Exploratory Examination Of Spirituality And Black Student Academic Success At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Sheika N. Square

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has identified spirituality (Riggins, McNeal, & Herndon, 2008) as an important component of academic success for Black college students. Other factors researched include first year/ freshmen experiences, mentorships, faculty–student engagement (Caboni and Adisu, 2004), rigorous high-school curriculums, and summer bridge programs (Palmer, Moore, Davis, Hilton, 2010). Much of the research on college student success provides a comparison between Blacks, Whites, Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans (Caboni and Adisu, 2004; Carey, 2005; Palmer, Moore, Davis, Hilton, 2010; Townsend, 2007). However, few studies deal with Black students solely, and the influence of spirituality on the academic success within that one …

Erichtho’S Mouth: Persuasive Speaking, Sexuality And Magic, Lauren E. Devoe

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since classical times, the witch has remained an eerie, powerful and foreboding figure in literature and drama. Often beautiful and alluring, like Circe, and just as often terrifying and aged, like Shakespeare’s Wyrd Sisters, the witch lives ever just outside the margins of polite society. In John Marston’s Sophonisba, or The Wonder of Women the witch’s ability to persuade through the use of language is Marston’s commentary on the power of poetry, theater and women’s speech in early modern Britain. Erichtho is the ultimate example of a terrifying woman who uses linguistic persuasion to change the course of nations. Throughout …

The German Jewish Post-Holocaust Novel: Narrative And A Literary Language For Loss, Corey Lee Twitchell

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how a constellation of German Jewish post-Holocaust novels confronts the paradox of recovering and recuperating lost stories of Holocaust victims. I analyze how works by Edgar Hilsenrath, Jurek Becker, and Fred Wander reveal a preoccupation with the innumerable stories and testimonies of the individuals who did not survive the Nazi Judeocide to contribute to the archive of experience. These novels gesture toward an epistemological alternative to this loss: they consider possibilities for recovering the unarchivable. These German Jewish authors employ a particular cluster of varied narrative strategies: the dialogic, linguistic and cultural elements of Eastern European Jewish …

Truth, Knowledge, And The Value Of False Belief In Plato, Nicholas Ryan Baima

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I challenge common readings of Plato according to which epistemic vice is either always bad, or is merely beneficial for non-philosophers. On my reading, false beliefs and defective forms of reasoning can benefit everyone in two ways. First, there are commitments--to care for the health of your soul, to care for the well-being of other human beings--that a person needs to have in order to live well, and a reliably good life requires that these commitments be entrenched and unwavering. For those people and soul-parts that lack philosophical understanding, some falsehoods can help sustain these crucial normative …

Stories In Mind – The Relationship Between The Narratological Categories Of Order And Time And The Reader’S Cognitive Structures As Exemplified In Büchner’S Play Woyzeck, Marc Breetzke

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Urban Herders: An Archaeological And Isotopic Investigation Into The Roles Of Mobility And Subsistence Specialization In An Iron Age Urban Center In Mali, Abigail Chipps Stone

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relationship between mobility and urbanism in an Iron Age West African city. Isotopic and archaeological evidence reveal complex relationships among mobility, sedentism, and the livestock economy of Jenné-jeno, one of the earliest and best known urban systems in sub-Saharan Africa (occupied ca. 250 BC to AD 1400). Drawing on excavations at the ancient city of Jenné-jeno and those conducted at two neighboring sites (Tato à Sanouna and Thièl), and on serial, intra-tooth isotopic analysis (87Sr/86Sr, 13C, 18O) of cattle, sheep, and goat teeth, this analysis shows that multiple populations involved in animal husbandry, from seasonally mobile …

Parlance, Perception, And Power: An Inquiry Into Non-Standard Language Use In Digital Media, James Thomas Jarc

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the effects of Internet slang use (inclusive of slang, initialisms, abbreviations, emoji, and hashtags) on perceptions of source credibility among constituents of nonDrit organizations. The author hypothesized that a user’s level of comfort/fluency with digital media would impact how they perceive organizations that use non-standard language online. This study used a content analysis of social media posts from 2 national organizations to analyze patterns of non-standard language use, and applied the engagement index (EI) to quantify constituent engagement actions with those posts on 3 social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). An accompanying survey revealed correlations between …

Executive Committee - Agenda, 5/14/2015, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Identity-Focused Second Language Acquisition: A Systematic Review Of Classroom Applications, Heather Lynn Stockton

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project is, what does research say about identityfocused second language acquisition (SLA) as applied in the classroom? The aim of this study is to provide stakeholders in ESL contexts with an overview of existing research on identity-focused SLA with particular emphasis on classroom applications. This information is investigated in the hopes of uncovering practical tools and strategies for educators to use in support of both SLA and identity development. Identity-based SLA is defined and discussed using Bonny Norton’s (2006) five beliefs about identity as a framework. Twenty-four studies with classroom applications of identity-focused SLA …

Text Analysis: Sentence Initial Adverbials In A Second Grade Language Arts Book, Sherri Kathleen Silva

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research questions addressed in this text analysis are: What are the forms and functions of sentence initial adverbials?, What is the frequency of each?, and What is their relationship in the second grade Mondo language arts curriculum book Up and Away! Taking a Flight? This study investigates, classifies, quantifies, describes, and analyzes sentence initial adverbials with the goal of increasing linguistic understanding of the forms and functions of this language structure. The guiding principles of Schleppergrall’s functional language analysis discussed in The Language of Schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective and Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics were employed to analyze the …