Western Connecticut State University
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Author Talk
No full textTim O'Brien speaks to an overflow audience at the Ives Center on October 26, 2010
Goodbye Yeats and O’Neill: Farce in Contemporary Irish and Irish-American Narratives
No full textThe book is a study of works by more than a dozen authors, including Roddy Doyle, Nuala O’Faolain, Colum McCann, William Kennedy, Alice McDermott, Mary Gordon and Thomas Kelly. The study argues that farce has been a major mode of recent Irish and Irish-American fiction and memoir-a primary indicator of the state of both Irish and Irish-American cultures in the early twenty-first century
Igniting a Passion for Poetry in Elementary School
No full textThis project explores the importance of teaching poetry in elementary school, to erase the stigmatisms that older students often associate with poetry. The project argues in favor of introducing whimsical poetry to younger students and creating a comfortable and safe environment for students to read and write poetry. Four sample poems accompany the research paper, along with teaching ideas and tips for motivated educators
THE EFFECTS OF USING FOUR POWERFUL COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES IN A GRADUAL RELEASE LESSON DESIGN AND LEARNING-STYLE PREFERENCES ON READING COMPREHENSION AND SELF-PERCEPTION OF STRUGGLING READERS
No full textThis study examined the impact of the Four Powerful Comprehension Strategies on comprehension achievement and reader self-perception of struggling readers in grades three, four, and five. The study also observed the relationship between the intervention and learning-style processing preferences. There is a need for effective reading intervention at the intermediate level to teach struggling readers how to efficiently manage the complexities of comprehension.
This study utilized an experimental research methodology. The 63 participants were the total number of struggling readers identified at one elementary school in an urban school district. All subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group received small group instruction using the Four Powerful Comprehension Strategies in a gradual release lesson design approximately four times a week for 14 weeks, while the control group received alternate intervention instruction.
This research used quantitative analyses to investigate each question. Comprehension was assessed, posttest only, using the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. Student self-perception was assessed, pretest-posttest, using the Reader Self-Perception Scale. The analysis of pretest data determined that no initial difference existed between group means. For both the cognitive and affective measures data were analyzed using separate two-way Analysis of Variances (p ≤ .025) to determine a significant difference in mean scores between the two groups for each dependent variable. These data also were analyzed to determine if a significant interaction existed between the two levels of reading comprehension intervention instruction and students’ Learning-Style Processing Preference (global and analytic) with respect to each of the dependent variables.
It was determined that there was a non-significant main effect between group means of the experimental and the control group for reading comprehension and reader self-perception. Additionally, the results indicated no significant interaction between the two independent variables in relation to either of the dependent variables. Although the analyses indicated no significant differences, the mean scores for experimental students identified as having a global processing preference were higher than the experimental students identified as having an analytic processing preference for both cognitive and affective measures.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
Wander Yonder
No full textThis thesis project includes the first three chapters of the novel Wander Yonder and a
detailed outline of the rest of the book. KGH is a new drug for the youth of Connerport.
The main character, Bobby, goes out with two friends and five strangers to try it and have
a good time. Instead, the eight teenagers from the car wind up with crazy superpowers
belonging to ancient spirits, and are forced to split up when they become fugitives from
the police. Bobby goes on a mission to find his superpowered buddies as he slowly
becomes addicted to KGH. The drug causes him to have hallucinations of a dark future
in which he has escaped from prison and is mistreating the people close to him. Wander
Yonder is the story of a lost soul who learns to take control of his own life. The
electronic archive contains the first three chapters of the novel. The synopsis is on file at the WCSU library
The Effects of the Current Recession on Crime in America
No full textAbstract
The following collection of articles examines the effects of the down turn in the American economy on crime. Through various personal interviews and research achieved through news articles, books, national institutions and televised specials this thesis has been broken into three journalistic pieces. The first article analyzes the broken corrections system in combination with the lack of jobs that have resulted from the current recession. The Manufacturing industry is one of the few that welcomes ex-offenders and nearly 2.8 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2001, drastically affecting the amount of people who reoffend. The second article analyzes the shift in crime to technological crimes. Robberies and burglaries are down even in places that the recession has hit the hardest, but internet scams are running rampant, ripping off everyone, including an elderly New Milford, Conn. woman. The third and final article is a historical contrast to the prohibition of alcohol during the 20's and early 30's and America's current prohibition of marijuana in correlation to their impact on crime. The article also analyzes what a marijuana legalized nation would do to the American economy considering it is already America's number one cash crop
Father Absence and Its Effects on Daughters
No full textAs the divorce rate in the United States climbs to nearly 50 percent, fathers seem to be disappearing from their daughters' lives. Research shows that girls and young women who have an unstable father figure are more liable to unplanned pregnancy, low-self esteem, high school and college drop-out, poverty, divorce and sexually promiscuous behavior. This thesis examines the research linking father absence to daughter problems