Western Connecticut State University
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Panel Discussion 'Coming Home'
No full textA veteran shares his experiences as a member of a panel, 'Coming Home.'</p
Where the Huck is Finn? The Hunt for Huckleberry Finn in Hannibal
No full textThe Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri clings to the romanticized notion that it is "America's Hometown." The visitor's bureau, chamber of commerce, and the Hannibal Jaycees strive to portray Hannibal as an ideal oasis for the young at heart. The inspiration for the town's attempt at such pristine preservation is its most famous citizen, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as, Mark Twain. In keeping with the town's nostalgic and romanticized image, city officials have promoted Tom Sawyer, with what they believe to be his endearing shenanigans and humorous pranks, as the ideal boy, and Hannibal, as his idyllic playground. On the other hand, Hannibal has swept Huckleberry Finn and the painful memory of slavery that is associated with his character and his eponymous text under the rug so as not to burden the tourists, townspeople, and the town itself with Hannibal's true slaveholding past and the racism lingering in the present. In doing so, the town of Hannibal has created for itself an extremely profitable tourism business that is, at its root, a disturbingly distorted and completely false representation of Twain's characters, texts, and boyhood hometown.Master of Arts (MA)Englis
Blended Families: What is the glue that holds them together?
No full textA blended family describes a family in which the children are both adopted and biologically born. This type of family has become increasingly popular, and is the new face of adoption. This project outlines why these families are successful and the reasons why they are formed. The project answers the question, "What is the glue that holds blended families together?
Panel Discussion 'Coming Home'
No full textMembers of the audience listen to the panel discussion, 'Coming Home'</p
Panel Discussion 'Coming Home'
No full textA veteran speaks at the panel discussion, 'Coming Home.'</p
Author Talk
No full textUniversity president, Jim Schmotter, introduces Tim O'Brien at the author talk in Ives Auditorium, October 26, 2010.</p
Biodegradable Products are the Future
No full textThis project examines the proposition that through the use of biodegradable products and recycling the United States will eventually be able to achieve environmental sustainability. For this to happen it will require the help from large companies and organizations to change the way they treat natural resource
THE EFFECTS OF READING AND DISCUSSING POETRY ON FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO READ AND VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT
No full textThis study examined the effects of reading and discussing of poetry in a fifth grade setting in a suburban school district in the Northeast. A protocol designed by Nancie Atwell (2006) was used as the treatment in the study utilizing a pretest posttest quasi-experimental design. The sample of convenience (n = 141) was drawn from the fifth grade in a suburban school district in the Northeast. All students were administered the Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996) to measure their levels of motivation prior to treatment implementation. Form S of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test: Vocabulary Subtest (MacGinitie, MacGinitie, Maria, & Dreyer, 2000) was utilized as a pretest to measure vocabulary achievement prior to treatment. Both the experimental and the control groups received literacy instruction in the form of the reader’s workshop model, but the experimental group’s instruction was supplemented with eight weeks of reading and discussing poetry using the Atwell protocol three times per week. Upon completion of the treatment, students were administered the Motivation to Read Profile and Form T of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test: Vocabulary Subtest to measure changes in motivation and vocabulary achievement.
An ANOVA was used to measure the effectiveness of the treatment on both student motivation to read and vocabulary achievement. For both research questions, results of the one-way ANOVA required accepting the null hypothesis. Thus, there were no significant differences in the vocabulary achievement or the motivation to read of fifth grade students who read and discussed poetry on a regular basis using Atwell’s poetry protocol as compared to fifth grade students who did not read and discuss poetry using Atwell’s protocol. Students who received the treatment continued to perform as well as those in the control group who did not receive the treatment.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
