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- School Governance and Student Achievement: Revealing Factors Beyond the McCarty-Ramsey Model
- The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate the specific superintendent leadership type and underlying factors that support significant student achievement gains in communities where misalignment with the McCarty-Ramsey model exists. Utilizing a mixedmethod research strategy, contributing school districts were identified through a survey developed by McCarty and Ramsey. This survey indicated that districts could show positive student achievement gains while exhibiting misalignment among these factors. While all four types of superintendent leadership style were revealed in the survey, a prevalent superintendent leadership types was associated with the misaligned districts showing significant academic growth. This study indicated the professional advisor or the professional advisor/decision maker superintendent had the greatest achievement results in misaligned districts. The second investigation phase involved school districts that met two criteria: misalignment with the McCarty-Ramsey model, and three years of significant student achievement gains, as measured by the California Academic Performance Indicator. Interviews were conducted with identified school board presidents and superintendents to reveal practices or initiatives promoting these results. The interview protocol consisted of a series of open-ended questions regarding effective leadership and programs. The second finding revealed the effective superintendent focuses efforts on five specific district leadership actions identified by researchers such as Waters and Marzano. More specifically, this study revealed two practices were present in top performing school districts. First, a narrow focus on non-negotiable instructional practices across the district, and frequent monitoring by the superintendent, site and district leadership teams including follow - up debriefings regarding implementation of district expectations. These findings have significance in districts dealing with challenges among the community power structures, board types or superintendent leadership. This research shows that regardless of the political challenges, budgetary issues, or relationship chaos that might exist in the district and community, the professional advisor superintendent who has established clear district …
- Science and Pseudo-Science in Poe's Works
- This study attempts to list subjects in the field of Science, in which Poe had an interest. For the purpose of this study, the writer has divided the field of Science into the following heads: medicine, chemistry, biology, navigation, metrology, astronomy, physics, mathematics, and invention. Pseudo-sciences classified as: psychology, metphysics, phrenolgy, astrology, galvanism, mesmerism, logic reasoning, cryptography, and graphology.
- Scotland Expecting: Gender and National Identity in Alan Warner's Scotland
- This dissertation examines the constructions of gender and national identity in four of Alan Warner's novels: Morvern Callar, These Demented Lands, The Sopranos, and The Man Who Walks. I argue that Warner uses gender identity as the basis for the examination of a Scottish national identity. He uses the metaphor of the body to represent Scotland in devolution. His pregnant females are representative of "Scotland Expecting," a notion that suggests Scotland is expecting independence from England. I argue that this expectation also involves the search for a genuine Scottish identity that is not marred by the effects of colonization. Warner's male characters are emasculated and represent Scotland's mythological past. The Man Who Walks suggests that his female characters' pregnancies result in stillbirths. These stillbirths represent Scotland's inability to let go of the past in order to move towards a future independent nation.
- The Search for Cultural Identity: An Exploration of the Works of Toni Morrison
- Many of Toni Morrison's African-American characters attempt to change their circumstances either by embracing the white dominant culture that surrounds them or by denying it. In this thesis I explore several ways in which the characters do just that-either embrace or deny the white culture's right to dominion over them. This thesis deals primarily with five of Toni Morrison's novels: The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Paradise, Sula, and Tar Baby.
- Searching for a Savior
- This collection of essays includes a preference that investigates the role and importance of setting and character in a nonfiction narrative. The preface assesses the writings of four great authors, examining how each author use setting and characterization to further the purpose of their story. This collection focuses on four different issues that the author has wrestled with for two decades. While “Desperado” is an investigation into the problems within her own family, “Being Black Me” highlights the authors struggle against the racial inequality her hometown. “Voices In The Dark”, the author analyze how the abuse she suffered as a child has influenced her life and contributed to a drinking problem that is explored in a later essay “Alors On Danse”.
- Second Life, Second Chance
- This is a collection of two stories, one fiction and one non-fiction, in communication with one another. Both stories explore how trauma can transform a life. In "Tabula Rasa," Mena is unable to recall her past after being beaten and left for dead. She must choose whether to uncover her past or forget it and move forward with her life. Set in a town run by witches, Mena learns that both choices are dangerous. In "Eternal Second," the narrator recounts the aftermath of her husband's suicide. She explores how trauma invades all aspects of her life. In both stories, women must navigate a new life created by the destruction of the old one.
- Secular Protagonists in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction
- Although Flannery O'Connor's fiction reflects her religious point of view, most of her protagonists are secular, either materialists, who value possessions, or rationalists, who value the intellect. During the period 1949 to 1964, when O'Connor was writing, the South was rapidly changing, and those changes are reflected in the shift in emphasis from the materialists in O'Connor's early fiction to the rationalists in the late stories. This study of O'Connor's protagonists follows the chronological order of publication. A close textual analysis of the materialists in Chapter II and of the rationalists in Chapter III supports the conclusion that O'Connor was aware of the growing secularity of the South. Whereas some of her protagonists undergo a religious experience, the majority of her protagonists are thoroughly secular materialists or rationalists.
- Selected Poems, with a Comparison of Religious Sonnets of Donne and Hopkins
- This thesis presents original poems by the author, as well as a comparison of the religious sonnets by John Donne and Gerard Manley Hopkins.
- Self-Portrayal in the Plays of Ben Jonson
- The purpose of this study was to discover to what extent Ben Jonson revealed himself in his plays and to explain how this self-portrayal has been effected.
- Semantic Change in Biblical Translation
- Tracing semantic change in various translations of The Bible.
- Semantic Changes in Native English Words
- This study describes meaning changes that have occurred in the native word stock of English. Since no existing studies are devoted solely to investigating semantic change in Old English words, this study tries to illustrate word histories through examples of usage in the past and by a discussion of causes for change.
- Senecan and Other Influences on Six Elizabethan Revenge Plays
- This thesis traces the revival of Senecan tragedy from 1570 to the end of the sixteenth century through some of the earlier translations, adaptations, and imitations, and to evaluate the significance of the final evolution of such works into the Elizabethan tragedy of revenge.
- A Sensory Tour of Cape Cod: Thoreau's Transcendental Journey to Spiritual Renewal
- Predominantly darker than his other works, Cape Cod depicts Henry David Thoreau's interpretation of life as a struggle for survival and a search for salvation in a stark New England setting. Representing Thoreau's greatest test of the goodness of God and nature, the book illustrates the centrality of the subject of death to Thoreau's philosophy of life. Contending that Thoreau's journey to the Cape originated from an intensely personal transcendental impulse connected with his brother's death, this study provides the first in-depth examination of Thoreau's use of the five senses in Cape Cod to reveal both the eccentricities inherent in his relationship with nature and his method of resolving his fears of mortality. Some of the sense impressions in Cape Cod--particularly those that center around human death and those that involve tactile sensations--suggest that Thoreau sometimes tried to master his fears by subconsciously altering painful historical facts or by avoiding the type of sensual contact that aggravated the repressed guilt he suffered from his brother's death. Despite his personal idiosyncrasies, however, Thoreau persisted in his search for truth, and the written record of his journey in Cape Cod documents how his dedication to the transcendental process enabled him to surmount his inner turmoil and reconfirm his intuitive faith. In following this process to spiritual renewal, Thoreau begins with subjective impressions of nature and advances to knowledge of objective realities before ultimately reaching symbolic and universal truth. By analyzing nature's lessons as they evolve from Thoreau's use of his senses, this dissertation shows that Cape Cod, rather than invalidating Thoreau's faith, actually expands his transcendental perspective and so rightfully stands beside Walden as one of the fundamental cornerstones of his canon. In addition, the study proffers new support for previous psychoanalytical interpretations of Thoreau and his writings, reveals heretofore unrecognized historical …
- Sentimentalism and the Survival of the Comedy of Manners as Reflected in the Farces of the Eighteenth Century
- A farce, insofar as this study is concerned, is any afterpiece which has plot, dialogue, and characters. This embraces such widely scattered varieties as burlesque, dramatic satire, pastoral, comedy, and opera. This study embraces more than a hundred farces, the most popular ones of their day.
- Serpent Imagery in William Blake's Prophetic Works
- William Blake's prophetic works are made up almost entirely of a unique combination of symbols and imagery. To understand his books it is necessary to be aware that he used his prophetic symbols because he found them apt to what he was saying, and that he changed their meanings as the reasons for their aptness changed. An awareness of this manipulation of symbols will lead to a more perceptive understanding of Blake's work. This paper is concerned with three specific uses of serpent imagery by Blake. The first chapter deals with the serpent of selfhood. Blake uses the wingless Uraeon to depict man destroying himself through his own constrictive analytic reasonings unenlightened with divine vision. Man had once possessed this divine vision, but as formal religions and a priestly class began to be formed, he lost it and worshipped only reason and cruelty. Blake also uses the image of the serpent crown to characterize priests or anyone in a position of authority. He usually mocks both religious and temporal rulers and identifies them as oppressors rather than leaders of the people. In addition to the Uraeon and the serpent crown, Blake also uses the narrow constricted body of the serpent and the encircled serpent to represent narrowmindedness and selfish possessiveness. The second chapter deals with the serpent as a symbolic force of energy itself. Blake uses the serpent to represent birth, the life force, guardian of life forces, inner strength, resurrection, forces of destruction, and rebellion against tyranny. The Orc figure, a mythological creation of Blake, is the major representative of all phases of energy. He is a Promethean figure of rebellion and often described by Blake as having a "serpent body." His birth represents the awakening of a terrible, uncontrolled energy which will bring war, destruction, and death. He …
- Set for Life: a Novel
- This collection of six chapters is an excerpt from a novel based on the book of Job, as told through the viewpoint of a contemporary woman from Texas. A preface exploring the act of starting over, fictionally and creatively, precedes the chapters.
- Sexist Language in the Popular Lyrics of the Seventies
- The purpose of this study has been to analyze the language of the popular lyrics of the seventies to determine if sexism is used to communicate in various musical genres. Three manifestations of sexist language developed by the Sexism in Textbooks Committee of Women at Scott, Foresman have been used in this study. The lyrics analyzed include 100 lyrics selected from songwriter-singers noted as articulate musical artists of the seventies, 90 songs reaching the "Top Ten" charts (1970-1978), and the top 100 songs of 1978. Chapter I defines sexism and explains three manifestations of sexist language. Chapter II includes examples from seven talented lyricists which illustrate sexism. Chapter III presents an evaluation of sexism in the "Top Ten" lyrics (1970-1978). Chapter IV reveals changes in stereotypic language appearing in the 1978 top 100 lyrics. Chapter V offers summaries and reasons for the findings.
- The Shadowless Soul : Parallel Ideas of Nietzsche and Swinburne
- The purpose of this paper is to point out the parallels of the ideas of Nietzsche and Swinburne with the objective of exonerating Swinburne's poetry from the charge of "intellectual thinness."
- Shakespeare and Early Modern Trauma
- Shakespeare references humoral medical theory and social definitions of gender throughout much of his work. His references to medical practices like purging, the siphoning of excessive emotional fluids to bring the body into balance, are more than allusions to medical theories. Shakespeare's works unveil and challenge early modern approaches to emotional experience, most particularly when it comes to traumatic experiences that overwhelm comprehension. In Titus Andronicus (1592), The Rape of Lucrece (1593), Hamlet (1603), King Lear (1608), and Macbeth (1606), Shakespeare invokes humoral theory to articulate the early modern traumatic experience and to criticize the efficacy of purging in representations of trauma. For Shakespeare, the siphoning of destabilized emotions, through metaphorical and rhetorical practices, has dangerous consequences for bodies coded as feminine.
- Shakespeare and Modeling Political Subjectivity
- This dissertation examines the role of aesthetic activity in the pursuit of political agency in readings of several of Shakespeare’s plays, including Hamlet (1600), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), The Tempest (1610), the history plays of the second tetralogy (1595-9), Julius Caesar (1599), and Coriolanus (1605). I demonstrate how Shakespeare models political subjectivity—the capacity for individuals to participate meaningfully in the political realm—as necessitating active aesthetic agency. This aesthetic agency entails the fashioning of artistically conceived public personae that potential political subjects enact in the public sphere and the critical engagement of the aesthetic and political discourses of the subjects’ culture in a self-reflective and appropriative manner. Furthermore, these subjects should be wary auditors of the texts and personae they encounter within the public sphere in order to avoid internalizing constraining ideologies that reify their identities into forms less conducive to the pursuit of liberty and social mobility. Early modern audiences could discover several models for doing so in Shakespeare’s works. For example, Hamlet posits a model of Machiavellian theatricality that masks the Prince's interiority as he resists the biopolitical force and disciplinary discourses of Claudius's Denmark. Julius Caesar and Coriolanus advance a model of citizenship through the plays’ nameless plebeians in which rhetoric offers the means to participate in Rome’s political culture, and Shakespeare’s England for audiences, while authorities manipulate citizen opinion by molding the popularity of public figures. Public, artistic ability affords potential political subjects ways of not only framing their participation in their culture but also ways of conceiving of their identities and relationships to society that may defy normative notions of membership in the community.
- Shakespeare's Monarchical Views
- The purpose of this study is to treat one aspect of Shakespeare's political views, his views on monarchy as found in the two great English history tetralogies, and to compare them to the monarchical views of his age.
- Shakespeare's Richard III: The Sources for his Characterization and Actions in the First Tetralogy
- A thorough study of the progressive development of the description of Richard in the sources of Shakespeare's play and a comparison of the results of such a study with Shakespeare's portrait may make possible a deeper and clearer understanding of the character of the man as well as some further insight into the methods of Shakespeare's art.
- Shakespeare's Shylock : A Re-evaluation
- This paper will be a study designed to clarify Shylock's position by seeing him in the proper historical perspective. It will examine briefly the role of the Jew in history and in literature prior to Shakespeare.
- Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors Revised for High School and College Production
- This revision of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors is in no way intended to take the place of a serious study of the original work. It is, rather, a revision to make the play a suitable stage vehicle for high school and college drama groups which would otherwise shun it because of the language difficulties involved.
- Shakespeare's Treatment of Source Material in Julius Caesar
- This study of Shakespeare's treatment of source material in Julius Caesar covers sources and influences, plot and diction, the character of Caesar, and the character of Brutus.
- Shakespeare's Troilus and the Critics : A Survey of Twentieth-century Criticism
- This thesis is a study of Shakespeare's character Troilus, from his play Troilus and Cressida, and a survey of twentieth-century criticism.
- Shakespeare's Use of Music
- This thesis explores the use of music in Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies, histories and dramatic romances.
- Shakespeare's Use of the Melancholy Humor
- The purpose of this study is to define what melancholy meant during the English Renaissance, to throw some light on the origins and types of melancholy which became dominant in the thought and literary expression of the period, and to examine the various melancholy types among Shakespeare's characters.
- Shared Spaces: The Human and the Animal in the Works of Zora Neale Hurston, Mark Twain, and Jack London
- Living in tune with nature means respecting the natural environment and realizing its power and the ways it manifests in daily life. This essay focuses on the ways in which respect for nature is expressed through animal imagery in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mark Twain's "The Stolen White Elephant," Roughing It, and Pudd'nhead Wilson, and Jack London's The Call of the Wild. Each author encouraged readers to seek the benefits of nature in order to become better human beings, forge stronger communities, and develop a more unified nation and world. By learning from the positive example of the animals, we learn how to share our world with them and with each other.
- Shaw's Economic Theories as Found in His Plays
- This paper contains, somewhat in detail, Shaw's ideas of the economic relations of man, as they are stated in his political writings and upheld in his plays.
- She "Too much of water hast": Drownings and Near-Drownings in Twentieth-Century American Literature by Women
- Drowning is a frequent mode of death for female literary characters because of the strong symbolic relationship between female sexuality and water. Drowning has long been a punishment for sexually transgressive women in literature. In the introduction, Chapter 1, I describe the drowning paradigm and analyze drowning scenes in several pre-twentieth century works to establish the tradition which twentieth-century women writers begin to transcend. In Chapter 2, I discuss three of Kate Chopin's works which include drownings, demonstrating her transition from traditional drowning themes in At Fault and “Desiree's Baby” to the drowning in The Awakening, which prefigures the survival of protagonists in later works. I discuss one of these in Chapter 3: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Although Janie must rely on her husband to save her from the flood, she survives, though her husband does not. In Chapter 4, I discuss two stories by Eudora Welty, “Moon Lake” and “The Wide Net.” In “Moon Lake,” Easter nearly drowns as a corollary to her adolescent sexual awakening. Although her resuscitation is a brutal simulation of a rape, Easter survives. “The Wide Net” is a comic story that winks at the drowning woman tradition, showing a young bride who pretends to drown in order to recapture the affections of her husband. Chapter 5 analyzes a set of works by Margaret Atwood. Lady Oracle includes another faked drowning, while “The Whirlpool Rapids” and “Walking on Water” feature a protagonist who feels invulnerable after her near-drowning. The Blind Assassin includes substantial drowning imagery. Chapter 6 discusses current trends in near-drowning fiction, focusing on the river rafting adventure stories of Pam Houston.
- Short Stories
- This collection of seven representative original short stories will include four short stories relating to a fictional location in Dallas, the Starry Skies gay country-and-western dance hall. Three short stories set in fabulous, sometimes absurd settings, will follow. A preface dealing with the nature of fictional place and non-fictional place in fiction will precede the collection of short stories.
- The Short Stories of Franz Kafka: Literature-Philosophy
- This examination of Kafka as philosopher will not concentrate on the selection of the "correct" approach to his work, but on his description of reality from all levels of approach. Socially, spiritually, psychologically, Kafka speaks not only as an artist, but also as a philosopher, who sees all levels of a man's existence as a part of reality. The definition of Kafka's prose as literature-philosophy will be based chiefly on an examination of his shorter fiction.
- The Significance of Animals in the Life and Writings of Lord Byron
- It is the purpose of this research to explore the role that animals played in both the life and writings of Lord Byron. The first areas of concentration are on the specific examples of Byron's affection for animals and on the psychological aspects of this love. Secondly, the thesis attempts to explore the symbolic importance of animals in relation to Byron and his works. Finally, the research is focused on Byron's concepts and ideas, which he frequently illustrated and clarified by animal symbolism.
- The Significance of White in the Literature of the Western World
- It is the purpose of this thesis to examine some of the literature of the Western world as it uses one color-related element: white, and to suggest whether or not this use of white is significant in that literature.
- The Significance of William Blake's Poetry in Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth
- William Blake's poetry in Cary's novel plays an integral role, and it is the purpose of this thesis to discuss the significance of Blake's poetry in The Horse's Mouth.
- Significant Parallels in the Heroes of John Dryden and Lord Byron
- This thesis includes a study of common historical and biographical elements in the lives of Dryden and Byron, a comparison of the literary principles and achievements of Dryden and Byron, a study of the concept of the hero, and a comparison of the heroes of Dryden and Byron.
- Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's Treatment of Women in Four Social Plays
- The purpose of this thesis is to survey Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's treatment and development of the leading women in four of his most highly regarded "social" plays. Their texts will be analyzed carefully in order to arrive at answers to the following questions: What problems do these women confront and how do they attempt to solve them? What are the factors which determine their success or failure? Are their failures due to inherent flaws in character or outside influences? To what extent do these women control their destiny? What common traits do these women possess and in what respects do they differ? What is Pinero's idea of women's role in society, and what is his idea of women in general? What can one learn of Pinero's art from a study of these women?
- The Sky in Our Mouths
- I believe that poetry has survived for thousands of years because it provides people with a transpersonal connection that they can't find elsewhere. I look for poetry that is more than an emotional expression, more than witty word play, and more than an interesting observation. I want poetry to give me that inspirational spark, that glimpse into a world beyond my own. Poems that succeed in doing this force me into a perspective that I haven't previously imagined by yoking together two or more seemingly disparate elements. This tension between the old elements and the new link between them creates energy for the poem. This poetic nexus contributes to the transpersonal experience that I seek.
- The Slavic Aspects of Joseph Conrad
- Since the problem of criticism of Conrad has deteriorated often into a case study of supposed or imagined abnormalities, this study will survey this body of criticism and then attempt to place in proper perspective the various elements which comprise Conrad's artistic individuality. This thesis is intended to present an over-all view of the artistic individuality of Conrad, coupled with a more intensive interpretation of representative novels to illustrate this individuality.
- Social and Political Conservatism in Joseph Conrad's Fiction
- The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the evidences of Conrad's conservative tastes and beliefs as indicated by his way of life and his associations, and to show, further, that this conservatism is revealed directly and indirectly in his stories and novels.
- Social Backgrounds of the Characters in Willa Cather's Novels
- The purpose of this study was to examine and evaluate the various influence that have helped to make the characters in the works of Miss Cather what they are.
- Social Criticism in the Works of John Steinbeck
- This thesis is a study of John Steinbeck's observations and opinions during twenty-eight years of writing about the relationships between people of difference economics and social classes.
- The Social Hierarchy of the South in the Works of William Faulkner
- The Myth of the Old South, like all myths, contains some elements of truth, but like all myths, it contains some things that are not true. Faulkner has used those parts of the Myth that are true, but he has repudiated and in many cases destroyed those parts of the Myth which he has found to be the product of imagination rather than history.
- Social Problems Found in Edith Wharton's Novels
- The purpose of this thesis is to discover the extent of Edith Wharton's use of social problems in her novels.
- Social Problems in American Drama from 1930 to 1940
- My purpose in this work is to examine the major social problems with which the playwrights of the decade between 1930 and 1940 have dealt.
- Social Reform in William Godwin's Novels
- This thesis discusses the social and economic conditions which influenced the novels of William Godwin, and looks at his works and their criticisms of the conditions of the age.
- The Solitary Dissenter : A Study of Emily Dickinson's Concept of God
- The province of this paper, therefore, is to reveal Emily Dickinson's concept of God which resulted from her personal confinement and subsequent delving as a "solitary dissenter."
- Some Aspects of Vachel Lindsay's Americanism as Reflected in his Writings
- This thesis discusses the life and writings, particularly the poetry, of Vachel Lindsay, with an emphasis on his Americanism.
- Some Constructive Ideas in Swift's Gulliver's Travels
- This study attempt to find in swift's Gulliver's Travels some constructive ideas which were far in advance of his time. This thesis elaborated on contemporary ideas of education, birth control, and government in order to show how much the present age has thought and written about these subjects, and to throw on this background Swift's thoughts, which are not elaborated.