The document discusses expository text structure and its importance for student comprehension. It provides a matrix that describes five common types of expository text structures (description, sequence, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution), including their defining attributes, example signal words, and suitable graphic organizers. The document also offers general teaching strategies for helping students identify different text structures, such as providing explicit instruction on structures and signal words, modeling identification techniques, and having students represent structures graphically.
The spread and abundance of electronic documents requires automatic techniques for extracting useful information from the text they contain. The availability of conceptual taxonomies can be of great help, but manually building them is a complex and costly task. Building on previous work, we propose a technique to automatically extract conceptual graphs from text and reason with them. Since automated learning of taxonomies needs to be robust with respect to missing or partial knowledge and flexible with respect to noise, this work proposes a way to deal with these problems. The case of poor data/sparse concepts is tackled by finding generalizations among disjoint pieces of knowledge. Noise is
handled by introducing soft relationships among concepts rather than hard ones, and applying a probabilistic inferential setting. In particular, we propose to reason on the extracted graph using different kinds of relationships among concepts, where each arc/relationship is associated to a number that represents its likelihood among all possible worlds, and to face the problem of sparse knowledge by using generalizations among distant concepts as bridges between disjoint portions of knowledge.
[Ronald p. morash] bridge to abstract mathematicsASRI ROMADLONI
This document provides information about a mathematics textbook titled "Bridge to Abstract Mathematics: Mathematical Proof and Structures" by Ronald P. Morash. It is part of the Random House/Birkhauser Mathematics Series. The textbook is intended for sophomore to senior level university students and focuses on mathematical proof and reasoning. It covers topics like set theory, logic, relations, and number systems to prepare students for more advanced mathematics courses. The textbook emphasizes mathematical proofs and includes many examples and exercises for students to practice writing proofs. It is designed to be flexible and can be adapted to different course structures and student backgrounds.
This document discusses using scientometric techniques to measure knowledge codification and abstraction in scientific disciplines. It proposes applying these techniques to analyze the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The techniques include mapping knowledge domains using bibliographic coupling, co-citation analysis, and co-word analysis to identify research topics, fronts, and relationships over time. This would help evaluate the degree of codification and abstraction in a field on a high, medium, or low scale. The document recommends initially using co-word co-occurrence analysis on ISI records before exploring other literature-based techniques to further analyze knowledge use and transmission.
The document proposes a mixed approach using existing natural language processing techniques and novel techniques to automatically construct conceptual taxonomies from text. Key steps include identifying relevant concepts and attributes from text, clustering similar concepts, computing relevance weights for concepts, and generalizing concepts using WordNet. Preliminary results suggest the approach shows promise for extending and improving automatic taxonomy construction.
ASSESSING SIMILARITY BETWEEN ONTOLOGIES: THE CASE OF THE CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITYIJwest
In ontology engineering, there are many cases where assessing similarity between ontologies is required, this is the case of the alignment activities, ontology evolutions, ontology similarities, etc. This paper presents a new method for assessing similarity between concepts of ontologies. The method is based on the
set theory, edges and feature similarity. We first determine the set of concepts that is shared by two ontologies and the sets of concepts that are different from them. Then, we evaluate the average value of similarity for each set by using edges-based semantic similarity. Finally, we compute similarity between
ontologies by using average values of each set and by using feature-based similarity measure too.
Machine learning in automated text categorizationunyil96
This document summarizes a research paper on machine learning for automated text categorization. It discusses how machine learning techniques are used to automatically build classifiers that can categorize texts into predefined categories. Specifically, it discusses how machine learning involves using a set of pre-classified documents to learn the characteristics of different categories and build a classifier. This classifier can then categorize new texts. The document also discusses key aspects of text categorization like document representation, classifier construction, and classifier evaluation.
The document describes a new probabilistic topic model called Learning To Summarize (LeToS) that aims to generate coherent multi-sentence summaries by modeling word and sentence transitions between grammatical and semantic roles (GSRs). LeToS represents documents as distributions over topics and GSR transitions, and generates words and sentences. It outperforms LDA on perplexity and generates summaries competitive with state-of-the-art on Pyramid evaluation. However, it has limitations in capturing factual information and understanding queries.
The document summarizes four cases that were appealed to the Texas Commissioner of Education.
Case 1 discusses a teacher whose contract was terminated for failing to provide proper certification. The administrative law judge dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Case 2 involves a teacher who did not have proper certification. The administrative law judge dismissed the appeal, finding that the contract was void without certification.
Case 3 was dismissed because the agency filed the complaint against the wrong party, who was merely an employee and not the owner of the driving school.
Case 4 determines that the commissioner has jurisdiction over an employment contract dispute even though it was non a standard contract, and that failure to record a grievance hearing violated the teacher's
The spread and abundance of electronic documents requires automatic techniques for extracting useful information from the text they contain. The availability of conceptual taxonomies can be of great help, but manually building them is a complex and costly task. Building on previous work, we propose a technique to automatically extract conceptual graphs from text and reason with them. Since automated learning of taxonomies needs to be robust with respect to missing or partial knowledge and flexible with respect to noise, this work proposes a way to deal with these problems. The case of poor data/sparse concepts is tackled by finding generalizations among disjoint pieces of knowledge. Noise is
handled by introducing soft relationships among concepts rather than hard ones, and applying a probabilistic inferential setting. In particular, we propose to reason on the extracted graph using different kinds of relationships among concepts, where each arc/relationship is associated to a number that represents its likelihood among all possible worlds, and to face the problem of sparse knowledge by using generalizations among distant concepts as bridges between disjoint portions of knowledge.
[Ronald p. morash] bridge to abstract mathematicsASRI ROMADLONI
This document provides information about a mathematics textbook titled "Bridge to Abstract Mathematics: Mathematical Proof and Structures" by Ronald P. Morash. It is part of the Random House/Birkhauser Mathematics Series. The textbook is intended for sophomore to senior level university students and focuses on mathematical proof and reasoning. It covers topics like set theory, logic, relations, and number systems to prepare students for more advanced mathematics courses. The textbook emphasizes mathematical proofs and includes many examples and exercises for students to practice writing proofs. It is designed to be flexible and can be adapted to different course structures and student backgrounds.
This document discusses using scientometric techniques to measure knowledge codification and abstraction in scientific disciplines. It proposes applying these techniques to analyze the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The techniques include mapping knowledge domains using bibliographic coupling, co-citation analysis, and co-word analysis to identify research topics, fronts, and relationships over time. This would help evaluate the degree of codification and abstraction in a field on a high, medium, or low scale. The document recommends initially using co-word co-occurrence analysis on ISI records before exploring other literature-based techniques to further analyze knowledge use and transmission.
The document proposes a mixed approach using existing natural language processing techniques and novel techniques to automatically construct conceptual taxonomies from text. Key steps include identifying relevant concepts and attributes from text, clustering similar concepts, computing relevance weights for concepts, and generalizing concepts using WordNet. Preliminary results suggest the approach shows promise for extending and improving automatic taxonomy construction.
ASSESSING SIMILARITY BETWEEN ONTOLOGIES: THE CASE OF THE CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITYIJwest
In ontology engineering, there are many cases where assessing similarity between ontologies is required, this is the case of the alignment activities, ontology evolutions, ontology similarities, etc. This paper presents a new method for assessing similarity between concepts of ontologies. The method is based on the
set theory, edges and feature similarity. We first determine the set of concepts that is shared by two ontologies and the sets of concepts that are different from them. Then, we evaluate the average value of similarity for each set by using edges-based semantic similarity. Finally, we compute similarity between
ontologies by using average values of each set and by using feature-based similarity measure too.
Machine learning in automated text categorizationunyil96
This document summarizes a research paper on machine learning for automated text categorization. It discusses how machine learning techniques are used to automatically build classifiers that can categorize texts into predefined categories. Specifically, it discusses how machine learning involves using a set of pre-classified documents to learn the characteristics of different categories and build a classifier. This classifier can then categorize new texts. The document also discusses key aspects of text categorization like document representation, classifier construction, and classifier evaluation.
The document describes a new probabilistic topic model called Learning To Summarize (LeToS) that aims to generate coherent multi-sentence summaries by modeling word and sentence transitions between grammatical and semantic roles (GSRs). LeToS represents documents as distributions over topics and GSR transitions, and generates words and sentences. It outperforms LDA on perplexity and generates summaries competitive with state-of-the-art on Pyramid evaluation. However, it has limitations in capturing factual information and understanding queries.
The document summarizes four cases that were appealed to the Texas Commissioner of Education.
Case 1 discusses a teacher whose contract was terminated for failing to provide proper certification. The administrative law judge dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Case 2 involves a teacher who did not have proper certification. The administrative law judge dismissed the appeal, finding that the contract was void without certification.
Case 3 was dismissed because the agency filed the complaint against the wrong party, who was merely an employee and not the owner of the driving school.
Case 4 determines that the commissioner has jurisdiction over an employment contract dispute even though it was non a standard contract, and that failure to record a grievance hearing violated the teacher's
This document analyzes a 6th grade mathematics module that incorporates Yup'ik culture and addresses goals of multicultural education. The module teaches concepts of proof, properties, perimeter, and area through having students model and analyze the construction of traditional Yup'ik fish racks. Analyzing the module shows how it connects mathematics learning to an authentic cultural activity, allowing Alaska Native students to learn in a culturally meaningful way while meeting state standards. Research found such culturally-based modules improved mathematics achievement for all students, especially Alaska Natives.
Professorial Roles
Dr. Kritsonis has served in professorial roles at Central Washington University, Washington; Salisbury State University, Maryland; Northwestern State University, Louisiana; McNeese State University, Louisiana; and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge in the Department of Administrative and Foundational Services.
In 2006, Dr. Kritsonis published two articles in the Two-Volume Set of the Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration published by SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. He is a National Reviewer for the Journal of Research on Leadership, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA).
In 2007, Dr. Kritsonis was invited to write a history and philosophy of education for the ABC-CLIO Encyclopedia of World History.
Currently, Dr. Kritsonis is Professor of Educational Leadership at Prairie View A&M University – Member of the Texas A&M University System. He teaches in the PhD Program in Educational Leadership. Dr. Kritsonis taught the Inaugural class session in the doctoral program at the start of the fall 2004 academic year. In October 2006, Dr. Kritsonis chaired the first doctoral student to earn a PhD in Educational Leadership at Prairie View A&M University. He has chaired over 18 doctoral dissertations. He lives in Houston, Texas.
Jennifer T. Butcher, PhD Proposal Defense, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Disse...William Kritsonis
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Dissertation Chair for Jennifer T. Butcher, PhD Program in Educational Leadership, PVAMU, Member of the Texas A&M University System.
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Freedom of Expression, Due Process, Rights of Students, Rights of Employees, Unfair Labor Practices, Federal, Regional, State, District Courts - Legal Procedures
Lunenburg, fred c[1]. state mandated performance testing schooling v1 n1 2010William Kritsonis
The document discusses legislation and litigation surrounding state-mandated performance testing. It begins by outlining how states have laws requiring statewide testing and use test scores to determine graduation eligibility. While courts generally defer to state testing policies, litigation can occur if tests are found to lack validity or discriminate against certain groups. The document examines a seminal court case on testing and discusses how subsequent cases have addressed issues like testing accommodations and participation in graduation ceremonies. In conclusion, the author predicts continued statewide testing along with further litigation, and recommends steps states can take to minimize legal challenges to their testing programs.
Special Education PPT. - William Allan Kritsonis, PhDWilliam Kritsonis
An IEP (Individualized Education Program) is a written plan developed by a committee to provide specially designed instruction and services for a student with a disability. It must include the student's current performance levels, annual academic and functional goals, the special education and related services to be provided, and how progress will be measured. The IEP team includes parents, teachers, school representatives, and others to determine the student's needs and plan an appropriate education program.
This article discusses cheating in examinations at two Polish universities based on interviews conducted by the author. Students reported cheating for reasons such as too many exams, poor invigilation, and inconsistent grading. Cheating is also seen as socially acceptable by some students due to past authoritarian rule in Poland undermining respect for authority. The article concludes that cheating undermines assessment of students and that universities need new approaches to promote academic integrity.
In 2004, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis was recognized as the Central Washington University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Education and Professional Studies. Dr. Kritsonis was nominated by alumni, former students, friends, faculty, and staff. Final selection was made by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Recipients are CWU graduates of 20 years or more and are recognized for achievement in their professional field and have made a positive contribution to society. For the second consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report placed Central Washington University among the top elite public institutions in the west. CWU was 12th on the list in the 2006 On-Line Education of “America’s Best Colleges.”
Glaeser, susan a colorful field of learners visualizing nftej v22 n2 2012[1]William Kritsonis
This article summarizes a classroom activity designed to help education students visualize how individual learners are influenced by four factors that affect the learning process: cognitive consequences, developmental change, reciprocal causation, and organism-environment correlation. Participants were given play dough in different colors representing the four factors and asked to use it to illustrate connections between the factors on a paper with circles labeled "history". The goal was to demonstrate both the cognitive and practical aspects of understanding diverse learners and how each learner's history is uniquely shaped by the interaction of these four influences.
Chapter 1 Notes - School Law - Dr. William Allan KritsonisWilliam Kritsonis
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, School Law Power Point Presentation, Educational Laws & Policies, Due Process, Employment Law, Personnel Law, Equal Rights, Discrimination, Diversity, Teacher Rights, Termination of Employment
Herrington david_e._serendipitus herring and kritsonisWilliam Kritsonis
This document summarizes a case study of a failed collaboration between university professors and high school teachers to mentor novice teachers. There were several lessons learned from the collaboration:
1. The busy schedules of teachers, principals, and university faculty made coordinating meetings difficult.
2. Large distances between the rural university and suburban high school, as well as faculty members' homes, made regular in-person meetings infeasible.
3. Different expectations between university professors and teachers led to a lack of a shared vision for the collaboration.
The authors recommend that future collaborations carefully select partners based on alignment of needs and availability, use technology to reduce travel demands, and respect all partners' time constraints.
Calais, Gerald j[1]. the multidimensional measure of conceptual complexity nf...William Kritsonis
The document describes a new instrument called the Multidimensional Measure of Conceptual Complexity (MMCC) that aims to assess students' conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium. [1] The MMCC measures conceptual understanding across two dimensions - conceptual depth and conceptual breadth. [2] Conceptual depth reflects hierarchical levels of understanding from acausal to emergent, while conceptual breadth reflects the range of phenomena a causal explanation can be applied to. [3] The MMCC aims to locate students within this two-dimensional space of conceptual complexity to provide meaningful measures of their understanding.
Eunetra Ellison Simpson, PhD Proposal Defense, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, D...William Kritsonis
This document provides an introduction and literature review for a dissertation examining the effectiveness of Title I tutoring programs in elementary schools. It discusses the background of Title I programs and issues with evaluating tutoring effectiveness. The study aims to investigate tutoring program structures and relationships between program ratings and student achievement. Surveys will be used to collect administrator and teacher ratings of tutoring programs at selected elementary schools.
Dr. David E. Herrington & Dr. W. Sean Kearney - Published by NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS, NFEAS Journal, Volume 29, Number 2, 2012.
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Editor-in-Chief, NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS, www.nationalforum.com - Over 5,000 professors published. NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS, Founded 1983
The document summarizes the 1968 Supreme Court case Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. It discusses how New Kent County in Virginia had maintained a segregated school system with one all-white school and one all-black school, despite the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. To comply with desegregation orders, the school board implemented a "freedom of choice" plan that allowed students to choose which school to attend each year. However, no white students chose to attend the black school. The Supreme Court ruled that the freedom of choice plan was not effective at transitioning to a desegregated, non-racial school system and placed the burden of desegregation on the school board.
This document lists 109 articles published in The Lamar University Electronic Journal of Student Research between 2007-2007 that were co-authored by Dr. Kritsonis. The articles cover a range of topics in education including curriculum leadership, postmodernism, economics, instructional strategies, leadership, diversity, and more. Dr. Kritsonis mentored and collaborated with students and colleagues on publishing these articles in order to advance research and writing skills.
Lunenburg, fred c comprehensive assessment of school environments nfeas v29 n...William Kritsonis
The document discusses measuring school environment using the Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments (CASE) framework. It defines school environment as the social, academic, and emotional contexts of the school as perceived by students, teachers, and parents. The CASE model measures school climate, student/teacher/parent satisfaction, and outcomes. It uses validated surveys to assess multiple domains from relationships to safety to academic orientation. The CASE provides a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to evaluating school environment and identifying issues to improve learning and development.
A Genre-Based Approach To The Teaching Of Report-WritingBrooke Heidt
This document discusses using a genre-based approach to teach report writing to students learning English for specific purposes. It describes analyzing the structure of report genres to identify the key components and rules. The document outlines how a program was developed to provide structured feedback on student reports based on these genre conventions. The program standardized the feedback and ensured it addressed all necessary elements. This approach aimed to both teach students report writing structures and facilitate scientific thinking.
Activity And Evaluation Reporting Practices In Academic WritingMichelle Shaw
This document analyzes reporting practices in academic writing through a study of a corpus of 80 research articles from 8 disciplines. It finds that academic writing relies heavily on reporting prior work to establish context and build arguments. Reporting is usually done through attribution of propositional content to other sources using reporting verbs.
The study develops a taxonomy to categorize reporting verbs based on the type of activity they represent (research/real world acts, cognition acts, discourse acts) and their evaluative function (supportive, tentative, critical, neutral). It finds preferences for certain categories across disciplines. Discourse acts are most common, and research findings are usually reported non-factively without a clear attitude. The variety allows writers to skillfully attribute st
This document analyzes a 6th grade mathematics module that incorporates Yup'ik culture and addresses goals of multicultural education. The module teaches concepts of proof, properties, perimeter, and area through having students model and analyze the construction of traditional Yup'ik fish racks. Analyzing the module shows how it connects mathematics learning to an authentic cultural activity, allowing Alaska Native students to learn in a culturally meaningful way while meeting state standards. Research found such culturally-based modules improved mathematics achievement for all students, especially Alaska Natives.
Professorial Roles
Dr. Kritsonis has served in professorial roles at Central Washington University, Washington; Salisbury State University, Maryland; Northwestern State University, Louisiana; McNeese State University, Louisiana; and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge in the Department of Administrative and Foundational Services.
In 2006, Dr. Kritsonis published two articles in the Two-Volume Set of the Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration published by SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. He is a National Reviewer for the Journal of Research on Leadership, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA).
In 2007, Dr. Kritsonis was invited to write a history and philosophy of education for the ABC-CLIO Encyclopedia of World History.
Currently, Dr. Kritsonis is Professor of Educational Leadership at Prairie View A&M University – Member of the Texas A&M University System. He teaches in the PhD Program in Educational Leadership. Dr. Kritsonis taught the Inaugural class session in the doctoral program at the start of the fall 2004 academic year. In October 2006, Dr. Kritsonis chaired the first doctoral student to earn a PhD in Educational Leadership at Prairie View A&M University. He has chaired over 18 doctoral dissertations. He lives in Houston, Texas.
Jennifer T. Butcher, PhD Proposal Defense, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Disse...William Kritsonis
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Dissertation Chair for Jennifer T. Butcher, PhD Program in Educational Leadership, PVAMU, Member of the Texas A&M University System.
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Freedom of Expression, Due Process, Rights of Students, Rights of Employees, Unfair Labor Practices, Federal, Regional, State, District Courts - Legal Procedures
Lunenburg, fred c[1]. state mandated performance testing schooling v1 n1 2010William Kritsonis
The document discusses legislation and litigation surrounding state-mandated performance testing. It begins by outlining how states have laws requiring statewide testing and use test scores to determine graduation eligibility. While courts generally defer to state testing policies, litigation can occur if tests are found to lack validity or discriminate against certain groups. The document examines a seminal court case on testing and discusses how subsequent cases have addressed issues like testing accommodations and participation in graduation ceremonies. In conclusion, the author predicts continued statewide testing along with further litigation, and recommends steps states can take to minimize legal challenges to their testing programs.
Special Education PPT. - William Allan Kritsonis, PhDWilliam Kritsonis
An IEP (Individualized Education Program) is a written plan developed by a committee to provide specially designed instruction and services for a student with a disability. It must include the student's current performance levels, annual academic and functional goals, the special education and related services to be provided, and how progress will be measured. The IEP team includes parents, teachers, school representatives, and others to determine the student's needs and plan an appropriate education program.
This article discusses cheating in examinations at two Polish universities based on interviews conducted by the author. Students reported cheating for reasons such as too many exams, poor invigilation, and inconsistent grading. Cheating is also seen as socially acceptable by some students due to past authoritarian rule in Poland undermining respect for authority. The article concludes that cheating undermines assessment of students and that universities need new approaches to promote academic integrity.
In 2004, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis was recognized as the Central Washington University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Education and Professional Studies. Dr. Kritsonis was nominated by alumni, former students, friends, faculty, and staff. Final selection was made by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Recipients are CWU graduates of 20 years or more and are recognized for achievement in their professional field and have made a positive contribution to society. For the second consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report placed Central Washington University among the top elite public institutions in the west. CWU was 12th on the list in the 2006 On-Line Education of “America’s Best Colleges.”
Glaeser, susan a colorful field of learners visualizing nftej v22 n2 2012[1]William Kritsonis
This article summarizes a classroom activity designed to help education students visualize how individual learners are influenced by four factors that affect the learning process: cognitive consequences, developmental change, reciprocal causation, and organism-environment correlation. Participants were given play dough in different colors representing the four factors and asked to use it to illustrate connections between the factors on a paper with circles labeled "history". The goal was to demonstrate both the cognitive and practical aspects of understanding diverse learners and how each learner's history is uniquely shaped by the interaction of these four influences.
Chapter 1 Notes - School Law - Dr. William Allan KritsonisWilliam Kritsonis
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, School Law Power Point Presentation, Educational Laws & Policies, Due Process, Employment Law, Personnel Law, Equal Rights, Discrimination, Diversity, Teacher Rights, Termination of Employment
Herrington david_e._serendipitus herring and kritsonisWilliam Kritsonis
This document summarizes a case study of a failed collaboration between university professors and high school teachers to mentor novice teachers. There were several lessons learned from the collaboration:
1. The busy schedules of teachers, principals, and university faculty made coordinating meetings difficult.
2. Large distances between the rural university and suburban high school, as well as faculty members' homes, made regular in-person meetings infeasible.
3. Different expectations between university professors and teachers led to a lack of a shared vision for the collaboration.
The authors recommend that future collaborations carefully select partners based on alignment of needs and availability, use technology to reduce travel demands, and respect all partners' time constraints.
Calais, Gerald j[1]. the multidimensional measure of conceptual complexity nf...William Kritsonis
The document describes a new instrument called the Multidimensional Measure of Conceptual Complexity (MMCC) that aims to assess students' conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium. [1] The MMCC measures conceptual understanding across two dimensions - conceptual depth and conceptual breadth. [2] Conceptual depth reflects hierarchical levels of understanding from acausal to emergent, while conceptual breadth reflects the range of phenomena a causal explanation can be applied to. [3] The MMCC aims to locate students within this two-dimensional space of conceptual complexity to provide meaningful measures of their understanding.
Eunetra Ellison Simpson, PhD Proposal Defense, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, D...William Kritsonis
This document provides an introduction and literature review for a dissertation examining the effectiveness of Title I tutoring programs in elementary schools. It discusses the background of Title I programs and issues with evaluating tutoring effectiveness. The study aims to investigate tutoring program structures and relationships between program ratings and student achievement. Surveys will be used to collect administrator and teacher ratings of tutoring programs at selected elementary schools.
Dr. David E. Herrington & Dr. W. Sean Kearney - Published by NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS, NFEAS Journal, Volume 29, Number 2, 2012.
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Editor-in-Chief, NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS, www.nationalforum.com - Over 5,000 professors published. NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS, Founded 1983
The document summarizes the 1968 Supreme Court case Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. It discusses how New Kent County in Virginia had maintained a segregated school system with one all-white school and one all-black school, despite the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. To comply with desegregation orders, the school board implemented a "freedom of choice" plan that allowed students to choose which school to attend each year. However, no white students chose to attend the black school. The Supreme Court ruled that the freedom of choice plan was not effective at transitioning to a desegregated, non-racial school system and placed the burden of desegregation on the school board.
This document lists 109 articles published in The Lamar University Electronic Journal of Student Research between 2007-2007 that were co-authored by Dr. Kritsonis. The articles cover a range of topics in education including curriculum leadership, postmodernism, economics, instructional strategies, leadership, diversity, and more. Dr. Kritsonis mentored and collaborated with students and colleagues on publishing these articles in order to advance research and writing skills.
Lunenburg, fred c comprehensive assessment of school environments nfeas v29 n...William Kritsonis
The document discusses measuring school environment using the Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments (CASE) framework. It defines school environment as the social, academic, and emotional contexts of the school as perceived by students, teachers, and parents. The CASE model measures school climate, student/teacher/parent satisfaction, and outcomes. It uses validated surveys to assess multiple domains from relationships to safety to academic orientation. The CASE provides a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to evaluating school environment and identifying issues to improve learning and development.
A Genre-Based Approach To The Teaching Of Report-WritingBrooke Heidt
This document discusses using a genre-based approach to teach report writing to students learning English for specific purposes. It describes analyzing the structure of report genres to identify the key components and rules. The document outlines how a program was developed to provide structured feedback on student reports based on these genre conventions. The program standardized the feedback and ensured it addressed all necessary elements. This approach aimed to both teach students report writing structures and facilitate scientific thinking.
Activity And Evaluation Reporting Practices In Academic WritingMichelle Shaw
This document analyzes reporting practices in academic writing through a study of a corpus of 80 research articles from 8 disciplines. It finds that academic writing relies heavily on reporting prior work to establish context and build arguments. Reporting is usually done through attribution of propositional content to other sources using reporting verbs.
The study develops a taxonomy to categorize reporting verbs based on the type of activity they represent (research/real world acts, cognition acts, discourse acts) and their evaluative function (supportive, tentative, critical, neutral). It finds preferences for certain categories across disciplines. Discourse acts are most common, and research findings are usually reported non-factively without a clear attitude. The variety allows writers to skillfully attribute st
This document discusses text structure and its relationship to reading comprehension. It defines text structure as the organization and construction of ideas in written material. Understanding text structure is important for comprehension because it allows readers to select relevant details. There are different types of text structures like narrative, expository, descriptive, and procedural. Signaling devices, text cohesion, and sentence-level factors also influence comprehension. Teachers can facilitate understanding of text structure by activating prior knowledge, modeling comprehension strategies, and providing graphic organizers.
This document discusses text structure and its relationship to reading comprehension. It defines text structure as the organization and construction of ideas in written material. Understanding text structure is important for comprehension because it allows readers to select relevant details. There are different types of text structures like narrative, expository, descriptive, and procedural. Signaling devices, text cohesion, and sentence-level factors also influence comprehension. Teachers can facilitate understanding of text structure by activating prior knowledge, modeling comprehension strategies, and providing scaffolds for students.
A Text Analysis Of A Newspaper Article About Konglish Taken From The Korea H...Lori Moore
The document analyzes a newspaper article about Konglish (Korean-influenced English) from The Korea Herald. It follows an overall general-specific pattern. This is signaled by words like "recently" and "increasing amount of attention" in the introduction, establishing a general context. The body then provides more specific details about the study of written discourse and textual patterns. It concludes with another general statement about the implications for language teaching. Within this overall pattern, subordinate patterns include problem-solution, as signaled by words such as "problem" and "solution" when discussing analyzing textual patterns.
Many of previous research have proven that the usage of rhetorical relations is capable to enhance many applications such as text summarization, question answering and natural language generation. This work proposes an approach that expands the benefit of rhetorical
relations to address redundancy problem in text summarization. We first examined and redefined the type of rhetorical relations that is useful to retrieve sentences with identical content and performed the identification of those relations using SVMs. By exploiting the
rhetorical relations exist between sentences, we generate clusters of similar sentences from document sets. Then, cluster-based text summarization is performed using Conditional Markov Random Walk Model to measure the saliency scores of candidates summary. We evaluated our
method by measuring the cohesion and separation of the clusters and ROUGE score of generated summaries. The experimental result shows that our method performed well which shows promising potential of applying rhetorical relation in cluster-based text summarization.
Teaching Reading Report, Text Structure and ReadabilityGeraldGGerald
This document discusses several factors that affect reading comprehension, including text organization and structure, readability, and the role of teachers. It notes that proficient readers actively use text structure to organize information, while struggling readers do not. Text structure refers to how information is organized, such as main ideas and details. Teaching students to recognize common text structures like compare/contrast can improve comprehension. Readability considers word difficulty and sentence length. The document argues that every teacher is responsible for teaching reading skills relevant to their content area by modeling reading strategies and ensuring students understand the purpose and style of different texts.
Assessing Short Summaries With Human Judgments Procedure And Latent Semantic ...Linda Garcia
This document discusses latent semantic analysis (LSA), a method for representing word meanings and assessing text coherence. LSA analyzes word contexts to estimate semantic similarities between linguistic units like sentences and paragraphs. Research has found LSA scores correlate highly with human assessments of text and summary coherence and quality. The study presented here further tests LSA's ability to assess very short (50-word) summaries of narrative and expository texts, comparing LSA similarity measures to ratings from human experts. Results provide support for using LSA and human judgments together in an automated text assessment tool, though correlations were higher for narrative texts and LSA aligned more with human content ratings than coherence ratings.
The document compares two sets of operators - Michalski's knowledge transmutations from machine learning and Baker's dialogue transformations that model knowledge negotiation in dialogue. It finds some overlap between the operators but also key differences related to the number of agents involved, how strategical aspects are represented, and the relationship between uttered and internal knowledge. The authors discuss how fusing these operator sets could help model collaborative learning and develop human-machine learning systems.
Cooperating Techniques for Extracting Conceptual Taxonomies from TextFulvio Rotella
The document proposes a mixed approach using existing natural language processing techniques and novel techniques to automatically construct conceptual taxonomies from text. It identifies relevant concepts from text using keyword extraction, clustering, and computing relevance weights. It then generalizes similar concepts using WordNet to group concepts and disambiguate word senses. Preliminary evaluations show promising initial results.
This document discusses a study that investigated how individual differences in thinking dispositions may affect student learning from multiple-document science inquiry tasks. Middle school students were given documents about global temperature patterns and asked to understand how and why recent patterns differ from the past. Understanding was assessed through an essay and verification tasks. The study found that reading skills and commitment to logic, evidence, and reasoning uniquely predicted understanding, even after accounting for prior knowledge and interest. This suggests these thinking dispositions and reading ability independently influence how students learn from multiple documents during science inquiries.
Co-word analyses study the co-occurrence of pairs of items (for example, keywords) that are representative in a document, to identify relations between the ideas presented in the
texts.
Analysing Multimodal Intertextuality An Illustrative AnalysisEmma Burke
The document analyzes the concept of intertextuality through a sample text from The Economist magazine. It discusses how a multimodal text relates to and incorporates other texts, especially previous texts on the same topic. The author proposes analyzing the sample text, titled "Mountains still to climb", using Halliday's three contextual variables of field, tenor, and mode to understand its intertextual references and how it relates to other texts on Lloyd's insurance issues published in prior Economist articles. The field examines the subject matter and issues addressed. The tenor analyzes the attitudes revealed. And the mode looks at the visual and verbal conventions used in the magazine.
This study examined the effects of training poor readers in story mapping procedures to improve their reading comprehension. Story mapping is a schema-building technique that teaches students to organize narrative stories using an underlying story grammar framework. Five intermediate elementary students with mild learning disabilities and poor comprehension received story mapping instruction. The results showed that four of the five students improved in their ability to answer comprehension questions about stories and maintained this improved performance after the intervention ended. Three students also showed improved comprehension of more difficult classroom reading materials. The study provides support for using story mapping as an effective technique for improving the reading comprehension of struggling readers.
This document discusses a study that analyzed the textual organization of research articles (RAs) across three engineering sub-disciplines: civil engineering, software engineering, and biomedical engineering. The study compiled corpora of 180 high-quality RAs from each sub-discipline. Using genre analysis, the study identified the typical structure of individual RA sections for each sub-discipline. Statistical analysis was then used to identify significant variations in textual organization that distinguish one engineering sub-discipline from another. The findings provide insights into how each sub-discipline structures information differently in RAs and contributes to better professional communication in engineering.
Word meaning, sentence meaning, and syntactic meaningNick Izquierdo
This document discusses the relationship between word meaning, sentence meaning, and syntactic meaning. It challenges the view that word meaning is the sole source of conceptual content in sentences, and that syntactic structures only provide instructions for combining word meanings. The document argues that syntactic constructions have intrinsic meanings distinct from the words that make them up, and that construction meaning can override word meaning in some cases. It provides examples to demonstrate this, and argues that appeal to constructional meaning enhances theories of sentence semantics.
The document provides a correlation between the 2010 Common Core State Standards and the Kansas Curricular Standards for Reading and Writing for grades K-1. It lists the Common Core standards, followed by any major differences from the Kansas standards. For 1st grade literature, major differences include identifying words/phrases that suggest feelings, explaining differences between story and information books, and identifying the storyteller. For informational text, differences are using text features to locate information and identifying an author's reasons to support points. Foundational skills differences include knowing long/short vowel conventions and decoding multisyllabic words.
1. NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL
VOLUME 26, NUMBER 3, 2009-2010
EXPOSITORY TEXT STRUCTURE
Gerald J. Calais
McNeese State University
ABSTRACT
The demands of the Information Age make it imperative that students currently enrolled
in K-12 are equipped to effectively handle expository text materials if they are to become
viable citizens in today’s highly competitive, global economic markets. Accordingly, this
manuscript focuses on research findings that converge on five of the most prevalent
types of expository text structures that one encounters in today’s reading materials. A
matrix is employed that provides a description, signal words, and graphic organizers
associated with each text structure. General Strategies that teachers can use to enhance
students’ abilities to identify text structure are also provided, as are conclusions.
Expository Text Structure and Comprehension
A lthough text structure is typically divided into two categories
of text, narrative and expository, this manuscript will focus
primarily on expository text structure. Initially, research
findings regarding expository text structure will be discussed; then, a
matrix focusing on specific attributes of five types of expository text
structure will be presented. Finally, general strategies for enabling
teachers to enhance students’ abilities to successfully identify various
types of expository text structure will be provided.
Research Findings Regarding Expository Text Structure
Whereas narrative text is normally a story whose primary
function is to entertain the reader, expository text’s essential function,
in contrast, is to inform the reader (Weaver & Kintsch, 1991). Text
structure per se refers to a text’s organizational attributes that operate
as a pattern for guiding and aiding readers in detecting critical
81
2. 82 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________
information, plus the logical connections between a text’s ideas
(Seidenberg, 1989).
Textbooks, journals, encyclopedias, essays, and numerous
magazine articles are typical examples of expository text that learners
must read in school. Seidenberg (1989) asserts that successful school
achievement is highly dependent upon students’ ability to understand
and formulate such diverse expository prose. When reading content
area material (e.g., social studies, math, science), learners need to
distinguish amongst various types of text structure (Vacca & Vacca,
2008). While story grammars have been the major focus of research on
narrative text structure, research focusing on expository text structure
has encompassed a much broader array of organizational patterns.
Prevalent types of expository text structure include description,
sequence, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, and problem and
solution (Vacca & Vacca, 2008). Each category of expository text
structure exhibits a specific organizational pattern that reflects various
types of relations between critical textual information; moreover, each
type of expository text pattern employs specific signal words that are
unique to each type (e.g., next, first, last, and additionally are signal
words used in the sequence pattern).
According to Kintsch and Yarborough (1991), research
suggests that learners perform significantly better on measures of
global comprehension or macroprocesses (e.g., main ideas or topics)
rather than on local comprehension or microprocesses (e.g., facts)
when reading well-structured expository text.
Zabrucky and Ratner’s (1992) research findings suggest that
expository text and narrative text differentially effect readers, with
expository text definitely more difficult than narrative text regarding
both comprehension, as measured via recall, and comprehension
monitoring. Their study revealed that text type impacted both good
and poor readers’ recall and comprehension monitoring. Inconsistent
passages prompted significantly more look-backs for narrative than
expository passages, implying that narrative passages’ inconsistencies
3. Gerald J. Calais 83
were more transparent than expository passages’ inconsistencies.
Expository passages also proved to be more difficult than narrative
passages for students when verbally reporting on passage consistency.
Students’ expository passages were reread more frequently than
narrative passages when reading passages without inconsistencies,
indicating that expository passages were more problematic than
narrative type.
Despite the high positive correlation between reading
comprehension and well-organized text structure, text structure alone
may be inadequate to promote reading comprehension because an
additional pivotal dimension is essential: awareness of, or sensitivity
to, text structure. According to Weaver & Kintsch (1991), the
performance results of learners who read appropriately structured,
lucidly cued text and who were assessed through measures of global
comprehension (e.g., main ideas) indicated that learners acquainted
with text structure significantly outperformed those who lacked
familiarity regarding text structure. Pearson and Fielding (1991)
corroborated the aforementioned study’s findings by observing two
systematic findings: First, students familiar with text structure recalled
more appropriate information than students who were unfamiliar with
text structure. Second, in recalling text, significantly more good
readers than poor readers follow the author’s text structure.
Research further suggests that students differ not only in being
aware of text structure but also in being aware of different text
structures. For example, Graesser, Golding, and Long (1991) found
evidence that students are far more aware of narrative than expository
text structure. On the other hand, Zabrucky & Ratner (1992) found
that narrative text structure is both easier to recall and comprehend
than is expository text structure. In addition, Englert and Thomas
(1987) showed that students’ awareness of text structure even differs
in terms of the different types of expository text structure. More
specifically, they found that among four different categories of
expository text structure that students were significantly more familiar
with sequence text structure than with enumeration or description text
4. 84 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________
structure; they also found that both enumeration and sequence text
structure were easier than comparison and contrast text structure.
Finally, they also discovered that awareness of expository text
structure appeared to be developmental because older students’
awareness of expository text structure was significantly greater than
that of younger students. Having discussed research findings about
expository text structure, the next section discusses a matrix that
provides information about five dominant types of expository text
structure.
Five Types of Expository Text Structure Matrix
Figure 1 below provides information associated with five
popular types of expository text structure commonly employed in
materials used for students in K-12 classrooms: description, sequence,
comparison and contrast, cause and effect, and problem and solution
(Vacca & Vacca, 20). Upon examination, the matrix in Figure 1
describes each text structure along three dimensions. First, it describes
unique attributes associated with each text structure and also provides
an example of where and how it is used. Second, the matrix provides
specific examples of signal words associated with each type of text
structure. Third, various graphic organizers are suggested as a means
of graphically representing or explicating information reflecting each
of the text types. It should be noted that only one example was
provided for how and where a specific text type could be applied;
naturally, other examples as well as other disciplines could have
equally applied. In addition, the list of signal words typically
associated with each text type and the suggested ways to graphically
represent each text type are not meant to be exhaustive. Note, too,
how many dimensions are associated with the cause and effect text
pattern.
5. Gerald J. Calais 85
Table 1
Five Types of Expository Text Structure Matrix
Text Description Associated Graphic Organizer
Structure Signal Words
Description Resembles an outline by For example, Bubble map, spider
providing information for instance, map, network tree,
(attributes, examples, such as, in semantic word map,
facts, features) about a addition, looks semantic webbing,
topic based on criteria like, in back of, modified Frayer model,
such as importance or to begin with clustering, cubing,
size. Herringbone technique,
concept of definition
Example: A science book
may describe an animal
cell or a volcano.
Sequence Implicitly or explicitly On (date), first, Series-of-Events
indicates the numerical second, last, Chain, continuum
or chronological order in then, finally, scale, cycle, timeline,
which facts, events, or initially, flowchart
concepts occur by tracing preceding, not
the evolution of the topic long after
or the steps entailed in
the sequence.
Example: A science text
discusses the steps in the
life cycle of a butterfly.
A history text explains
the events that led to the
Great Depression or
WWII.
Table 1 Continues
6. 86 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________
Table 1 Continued
Text Description Associated Graphic Organizer
Structure Signal Words
Comparison/ Specifies similarities Similar to, Compare/contrast matrix,
Contrast (comparison) and/or different from, double bubble map, Venn
differences (contrast) however, in diagram, ladder map,
among objects, common, flowcharts, semantic
events, facts, although, not feature analysis,
concepts, etc. only…but also analogies
Cause and Demonstrates how Consequently, Single cause and single
Effect facts, events, or therefore, effect, single cause and
ideas (effects) because, as a multiple effects, multiple
materialize due to result, since, causes and single effect,
other facts, events, if…then, thus, multiple causes and
or ideas (causes). leads to multiple effects,
Herringbone technique,
Example: A science cycle, a string of slightly
book explains the overlapping circles,
causes and effects of central concept with
a tornado. cause and effect
explanations
Problem and Reveals the This led to, Problem/Solution outline,
Solution evolution of a because, flowchart, IDEAL
problem and the problem is, Problem Solving
solution (s) to the if/then, Framework, task analysis,
problem. consequently, fuzzy cognitive maps,
nevertheless, establishing problematic
Example: A science accordingly situations, discussion
chapter discusses the webs
problem of global
warming and asks
for proposed
solutions, or a social
studies chapter
discusses the
problem of slavery
in the Old South and
asks for proposed
solutions to avoid a
Civil War.
7. Gerald J. Calais 87
General Strategies for Identifying Expository Text Structure
From a practical standpoint, there are a variety of strategies
that the classroom teacher can utilize to enhance students’ abilities to
identify and employ expository text structure for both reading and
writing (Simonsen, 1996):
(1) Initially advise students that expository texts exhibit specific
text structures. Inform students that various organizational
patterns (e.g., sequence, description, comparison and contrast)
are used to compose expository texts (e.g., science, social
studies, and math textbooks) and that text structures are what
organizational patterns are called.
(2) Provide students with explicit classroom instruction when
introducing them to signal words and five common types of
expository text structure: description, sequence, comparison
and contrast, cause and effect, and problem and solution.
Inform students under what specific circumstances certain
signal words (e.g., first, second, initially) can be used to
identify specific text structures (e.g., sequence) while reading
various content areas or when composing expository text.
(3) Scaffold instruction with sample paragraphs corresponding
with the five common types of expository text structure and
provide students with focusing questions. The teacher could
provide students with different clues, supports, and focusing
questions while endeavoring to distinguish amongst the five
types of text structure typically found in various content texts,
such as sample situations of where and when these text
structures are usually applied. Also, let students know that the
same topic could be written by using one of several types of
expository text structure. For example, WWII could use
description, sequencing, or cause and effect. Let them also
know that at other times, a specific text structure serves as the
most powerful way to discuss a topic. For example, if asked to
write about the American Revolution, the French Revolution,
8. 88 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________
and the Russian Revolution, that comparison and contrast
would probably be the single most effective way to
compose/discuss this topic.
(4) Model writing strategies that focus on specific types of text
structure. For example, while writing a paragraph depicting a
specific text structure, the teacher could describe what s/he is
doing.
(5) Model a metacognitive strategy: think-alouds. Initially, the
teacher models this strategy; then the students are encouraged
to demonstrate this strategy while trying to identify text
structure, such as identifying the textual clues used in a given
text while they attempt to identify text structure.
(6) Have students explicate text structures by using graphic
organizers while reading and writing. For example, the teacher
models the graphical representation or explication of specific
paragraphs while one reads or writes expository text.
Conclusions
The demands of the Information Age, which has
ushered in gargantuan quantities and varieties of information,
make it imperative that students currently enrolled in K-12 are
equipped to effectively handle expository text materials if they
are to become viable citizens in today’s highly competitive,
global economic markets. Modeling and teaching our students
how to perceive the five most common types of expository text
structure (description, sequence, comparison and contrast,
cause and effect, and problem and solution) while reading, how
to employ them while writing, and how to charter or explicate
them while reading and writing will enhance their chances of
achieving a successful future. Fortunately, teachers have a
variety of strategies at their disposal for methodically
9. Gerald J. Calais 89
familiarizing students with expository text structure while
reading or writing.
REFERENCES
Content literacy: Text structure (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2008,
from http://www.literacymatters.org/content/text/intro.htm
Englert, C. S., & Thomas, C. C. (1987). Sensitivity to text structure in
reading and writing: A comparison between learning disabled
and non-learning disabled students. Learning Disability
Quarterly, 10, 93-105.
Graesser, A., Golding, J. M., & Long, D. L. (1991). Narrative
representation and comprehension. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P.
Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading
research (Vol. 2, pp. 171-204). White Plains, NY: Longman.
Kintsch, W. & Yarbrough, J.C. (1982). Role of rhetorical structure in
text comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74,
828 834.
Pearson, P. D., & Fielding, L. (1991). Comprehension instruction. In
R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.),
Handbook of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 815-860). White
Plains, NY: Longman.
Seidenberg, P. L. (1989). Relating text-processing research to reading
and writing instruction for learning disabled students.
Learning Disabilities Focus, 5 (1), 4-12.
Simonsen, S. (1996). Identifying and Teaching Text Structures in
Content Area Classrooms. In D. Lapp, J. Flood, & N. Farnan
(Eds.), Content area reading and learning: Instructional
strategies (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Using text structure (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2008, from
www.nea.org/reading/usingtextstructure.html
Words That Signal a Text's Organizational Structure (n.d.). Retrieved
September 15, 2008, from
www.somers.k12.ny.us/intranet/reading/signalwords.html
10. 90 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________