Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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A Quest for Productive Management

Providing our Utmost to Open the Doors for Their Success to Emerge:
Living Life as a Catalyst for Change

amatangelo@austin.rr.com

Professor Judith S. Amatangelo, Professor of ESE/ECE; Cognitive Science

Consultant and Author : Professor Judith Amatangelo has taught at a number of educational institutions and universities including but not limited to her work as a full-time, tenure-track professor at the University of Texas .

Introduction

Whatever the difficulties before us...there will be education reaching out and conquering more and more of the behavior changing patterns of the world for the benefit of all the peoples of the world...Let us resolve that if we win this engagement, we will win magnificently, and if we fail

 we will go down striking shrewed and daring blows...until all the peoples of this planet can

move forward in peace and happiness under the command of their own hearts.  Harold R. W. Benjamin, Under Their Own Command, 1947.

According to Kleinfeld (1995) the significance of unaccustomed personalism in relationships with students states the difficulties experienced by teachers to reconcile the professionalism they had learned with the teaching style they found to be effective. Kleinfeld mentions this same problem being evidenced in other fields where professional expert-to-client roles dictate pragmatic patterns for interpersonal communication emphasized by professionals in roles such as doctors and psychiatrists. An excerpt from

Dr. David Jeremiah's book, How to Be Happy lends evidence to support this viewpoint.   From the chapter on ‘mercy' he states:

I read an article recently about a young nurse who was just getting started in her nursing career. She was thrust into a situation where there was a patient who could show no appreciation or response to her care. The patient's name was Eileen.   She was totally helpless.   She had a cerebral aneurysm causing broken blood vessels in her brain and it left her with no control over her body.   As near as the doctors could tell, Eileen was totally unconscious, unable to feel pain and unaware of anything going on around her.   It was the job of the hospital staff and Eileen's nurse to turn her every hour to prevent bedsores and to feed her twice a day. The way they fed her was with a kind of mush that was fed through a stomach tube.   Caring for Eileen was the most thankless task you could have on the hospital staff.   One day an older nurse came to this young lady who was just getting stated in her nursing career and she said to her, "When its this bad,   the only way you can deal with it is to detach yourself emotionally from the whole situation.   You just have to be cold toward it. You can't get involved because if you do you will just get discouraged and distressed." And so the girl who was so unfortunately crippled was treated more and more as a thing and more and more as a vegetable and more and more as a non-human.   But for some reason the young nurse, decided not to take the low road.   She decided to take a different approach. She decided that she would not treat this person like everyone else had treated her.   So she would come into her room when she was on duty and she would sing to her and she would encourage her and bring her little gifts that she knew could never be opened.   One day when things were especially difficult and it would have been easy for the young nurse to take out her frustrations on the patient, she was especially kind.   It was Thanksgiving Day and the nurse said to the patient, "I was in a cruddy mood this morning, Eileen because it was suppose to be my day off. But now that I am here, I'm glad.   I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing you on Thanksgiving Day. Do you know this is Thanksgiving?"   Just then the phone rang and the nurse turned to answer it.   Out of the corner of her eye she noticed something and looked quickly back at the patient.   She saw something that they had never seen before.   Eileen was looking at her and she was crying. Big damp circles stained her pillow and she was shaking all over. That was the only human emotion Eileen ever showed to anybody on that staff.   And a few days later, she died.   The young nurse closed her story by saying, "I keep thinking about her.   It occurred to me that I owe her an awful debt.   Except for Eileen, I might never have known what it is like to give myself to someone who could never give anything back.   That is mercy.   Mercy is reaching out to those who cannot do anything for you. Mercy is reaching out to those who have nothing to give back to you.   (Jeremiah, 1996)

Mercy, is it yet another variable to make a difference in the lives of and in the education of   Indians, Eskimos, Whites, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, the blind, the mentally retarded, the physically impaired children, the learning disabled children, the severe emotionally impaired children, the oppressed children, the neglected children, the special needs and at risk children in today's general education classrooms.   Portions of Eileen's case, although quite severe in nature, could in fact apply to teachers who attempt to meet the needs of students who have been shut out and pushed through the system with   lost identities indicative of such low self-esteem that their faces seem to narrowly escape touching the ground as they walk through   school corridors. Racism breeds contempt for such children. From personal experiences, many times the classrooms of these children seem to be the ones with the flickering lights located in the basement of the school or in a portable far removed from the school's main premises.   This leads one to believe that perhaps the administration had adopted the posture that 'when it gets this bad, the only way you can deal with it is to detach yourself emotionally from the whole situation.   You just have to be cold toward it. You can't get involved because if you do you will just get discouraged and distressed.'   (Jeremiah, 1990)   Firsthand experiences of attitudes and beliefs approximating such practices unfortunately have been documented. However, some educators made the choice to reach out to those who appeared to have nothing to give back.   They took the high road!   They made a difference.   They touched eternity and the beatitude of mercy was their claim.( Amatangelo, 2001)

 According to Guy Doud, "You can teach to a wall, but when you help someone to learn, you have to get involved with the whole person."   He loves kids. His job isn't so much to teach as it is to help students learn   (Doud, 1990).    Frank Smith, in Essays Into Literacy, (1983) believes our demonstrating is our own real doing for it is when we are least aware of it that we most demonstrate "how the things we do are done." and "how we feel about them."   Teachers who are interested in the personal anecdotes that   students share, that take time to listen and to respond individually in a 'contact talk' type of fashion where the student does more of the talking and the teacher does more of the genuine listening, demonstrates their valuing of the students and their valuing of their personal lives. Furthermore, "Every adult needs a child to teach-that's the way adults learn."   (Doud, 1990)   

Pertinent to the above references, the study to be discussed and elaborated upon emerged from an initial district-wide plan inclusive of Professional Development and the Site Based Decision Making Process resulting in the determination to become inclusive of teacher ownership with significant input respectful of cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors to enhance curricular relevance for the students affording time to establish cohesiveness within the constructs of the system. Thus, through this process an understanding of the critical relevance and significance of establishing reform goals emerged resulting in an awareness of what it takes to obtain such goals, as well as the significance of teacher input where teachers have a clear sense of purpose, the freedom to identify challenges, diagnose situations and take action.   Teachers also need to be fairly compensated and rewarded for their performance and for tackling outsized challenges with opportunities to grow professionally ( Hess, 2004) and to be given the necessary training to work with special needs populations in the regular classroom. Teaching assistance must be provided to meet the daily individual needs of   each child.   Administrators need to seek out talented individuals who first and foremost love children, view teaching as a vocation and genuinely desire to teach and work with children to foster justice and fairness, for the right of every child to become the best person they can become (Benjamin, 1969).   Teachers must be an uncompromising   fighter to instill successful outcomes for each child they teach having a relentless attitude to go above and beyond the call. The outcomes of reform should manifest creativity and thinking to facilitate and enhance curiosity and the desire to learn. For educators student learning must be the fundamental measure of their teaching performance with a major emphasis upon the rate at which students improve over time (Hess 2004). To provide such outcomes,   the identification of five teacher's roles upon children's' learning and participation have been noted resulting in the establishment of a creative thinking model and the framework for implementation that can be generalized to influence the learning environment for all children. Teachers take on and engage in meaningful roles indicative of   becoming (1.) Providers, (2) Demonstrators, (3) Learners, (4) Observers and (5) Responders where children and teachers establish partnerships in redefining and refining curriculum resulting in the discovery of each child's potential.

As noted in Sonia Nieto's text Affirming Diversity, students have important messages for us. "They challenge us to reconsider prevailing assumptions about learning and teaching."   Thus, if we are to be successful educators we must employ a listening ear.   

I am including the above references as I wonder what changes we must address in the education of our teachers to manifest and embrace a willingness to take the high road, to employ a listening ear, to get involved with the whole person to discover what would work best to meet individual needs. And so, with the initial pilot study and goals of reform in mind, a research study emerged with results indicative of methods for facilitating and designing programs for enhancing thinking, creativity and communication. This constitutes part two of this presentation where application is evidenced.   In this particular study the emphasis was placed upon meeting the needs of the language learning disabled child where the above teacher's roles have been embraced. This model deals with the impact of   lyrical context, music, and rhyme upon language acquisition via cognitive and associative processes through emphasizing salient contexts. A musical strand, integrated within the constructs of the curriculum to teach emergent literacy and reading through creativity, creative problem solving and thinking encompasses this successful model and provides the basis for a sound methodology. This study came to surfaced when I was asked to observe a kindergarten reading class where I noticed one student who I was told had a history of non-compliant behavior, was off task, and had evidenced some learning difficulties, I decided to model the behaviors that I wanted replicated in that classroom by taking the high road to   discover what would work best to meet this particular student’s needs. This then, fostered the necessary teacher assistance previously referred to, to meet the daily individual needs of each child.   The student’s name for the purpose of this paper is Eric.   Through contact talks and through the implementation of teacher as provider, learner, oberver and responder,   I discovered Eric had a wonderful imagination with a curious mind and an aptitude for story telling but you would never know it unless you embraced the opportunity and invested your time in getting to know Eric. Frustrated and beaten, his enthusiasm for learning was dwindling, as he was not given the opportunities to utilize his talents and invoke his strengths.   His self-esteem was impacted by the negative attitudes of the children around him.   They could complete the papers, respond to the questions posed, stay on task and cause few distractions. They were compliant and exercised school discourse.   Eric for the most part, according to his teacher, did not and his teacher did not offer any guidance or attempt to scaffold activities to help Eric develop successful outcomes. This was in direct opposition to the behaviors identified inclusive of five teaching roles upon children's' learning and participation which influence the learning environment.   From my observations, he desperately needed to feel a part of the group and a member of the class.   In short, my overall goals were to ensure successful outcomes for Eric and to provide a teaching model along with materials for his teacher to implement.

I decided to employ a study incorporating music, rhyme, and manipulatives along with print-based materials. Thus, this study constitutes an effort to consider effective reading instruction through the use of music.   Due to Eric’s inability to recognize the printed words as did his classmates when they were being spoken, I decided to implement materials designed to integrate rhyme, music, manipulatives, and theme into early reading instruction. To do so, I created and illustrated five books all of which contain drawings depicting the printed context where the context rhymes and is further set to melodic lines/music.   I began by bringing in one of the books I wrote and sharing it with the class. Eric seemed lost except during those periods that included music at which time he began to show improvement in word recognition skills.   

The aforementioned educational materials exposed Eric to words in isolation. It exposed him to words in context where the printed text corresponded to the illustrations in the story.   Eric was exposed to rhyming context where the printed text again corresponded to the illustrations in the story.   Manipulatives indicative of the printed context were introduced and included to act upon and to act out the story.   In each of these applications Eric was unable to verbalize the majority of the words.   Only when music was provided could he reliably identify the printed word as he read along with the music.

Clinical Area of Interest

Word recognition is a complicated process.   In the case of children in kindergarten, exposure to the printed word is still relatively new.   Children acquire this skill through various experiences. When they realize success, they begin to rely upon those techniques that enable success.   For Eric, reading success seemed to be fleeting, relative to his classmates. Eric was becoming more discouraged and beginning to withdraw.   I believed that if a method could be identified to nurture success, then greater practice would follow strengthening at least some of the elements that support reading print.   Perhaps training wheels on a child’s bicycle is an analogy of using music to improve word recognition success in this case.   The other components of this complicated process grow in a productive manner as the end justifies the means.   The bottom line: Eric is not mastering this process and my desire is to ascertain what can be done to assist him to ensure successful outcomes.  

The end goal is to recommend follow-up treatment for him and subsequently work with him to keep using the books with the music.   The follow-up treatment may be a remediation approach to reading inclusive of determining what elements are needed for the word recognition process.

Procedure

The class was introduced to two of the characters in the Inside Out ©2002-2005, TM Pending Judith S. Amatangelo Series.

As part of the introduction, the class used manipulatives to go through the Discovery and Sharing Feelings books.    During the follow-along reading exercises, I noticed Eric was not able to keep up with his classmates.   I engaged him separately and discovered he couldn’t identify any of the printed words as I read the story with him.  

After Eric was identified as a special case from his classmates for not being able to follow along in reading the introductory books, I introduced music with the story of another book and noticed that Eric seemed to be able to locate the printed words.  

I wanted to experiment whether music could act as an enabler for him to perform this task with the printed words as the song was played.   I decided to implement three other books which I integrated with music (Walk with Me, I Think I’m Going to the Beach, and Reflections) and wanted to test statistically if a significant difference was apparent between Eric following-along reading with music versus without music.  

Given I had noticed that Eric seemed to be completely unable to follow along during repeated presentations of the introductory books and yet quickly found the printed words when, instead of simply reading the words, they were played to music, I decided to try randomization tests (Edgington, 1969) figuring that he may have little residual capacity in terms of recalling the printed word even after he had successfully read along with the music.  

Test Design

This single case experiment design relies on the fundamental requirement of repeated observations of performance over time.   Assessment of performance would be examined against baseline and intervention influences.   Eric’s performance of correctly following the printed words of the story book was to be measured once per day at the same time of day, under either level of the independent variable: the absence or presence of music (i.e., baseline or intervention, respectively).   The measurement would occur after the story line and characters are introduced and Eric has had a chance to gain familiarity with the characters by playing with the manipulatives provided which corresponded to the story.   We would look at the words and the pictures during this activity as appropriate.   I’d make sure that we would get through the book helping him point to the words one time prior to beginning the measurement.   Our daily time slot to perform the test is one half-hour.   The actual performance measurement occurred in the final ten minutes of the time slot when we turn to the beginning of the book and I say “Eric, let’s tell the story again and you point to what we need to say.”    Eric’s score was tallied as he correctly pointed to the word being said or sung at that moment.

Three books (Walk With Me, Reflections and I Think I’m Going To The Beach) were to provide the test one at a time per each session.   Both the particular book used and the level of the independent variable were to be pre-assigned at random to each observation session by drawing cards from a bag.   Each card had a pair value to represent the independent variable level and booklet.   The randomization of the intervention provides the most difficult conditions to experience systematic effect.   The null hypothesis is that Eric’s success rate is a result of a particular occasion but is not influenced by particular conditions – the intervention.  

Given my limited time allotment, I decided to finish this experiment of observing Eric within two weeks.   As mentioned previously, I had confidence from working with Eric and his classmates prior to this experiment that striking performance differences related to the use or withholding of music would continue into these observations.   Hence I determined the minimum effort to observe a statistical probability of 5% or less to reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternate hypothesis that indeed Eric’s success rate is a result of the intervention.

Although I was confident that the experiment would provide statistically significant performance results, I considered what factors might blur the measurement to obstruct correlation between the cause and effect. Temporal sequence between cause and effect can be established if the researcher has control over (i.e. manipulate) the independent variable. Major threats to internal validity usually arise from the existence of rival explanations to the observed relationship.   The following table depicts my consideration of threats to validity of this study.  

Test Results

A    = Baseline (no music read-along)

B    = Intervention (sing-along)

A i = Baseline with i th book

B i = Intervention with i th book

i:  

• = Walk with Me book
• = I Think I’m Going to the Beach book
• = Reflections book

n: Total number of i books = 3

i th book assignment was randomly chosen.

Day:     1             2             3             4             5             6

           B 1         A 2          A 1          B 3          B 2           A 3           

Baseline/Intervention sequence was randomly chosen by drawing from a bag.

Given six independent tests and taking the cumulative results of three at a time, the number of logical combinations possible are 6!/((6-3)! 3!) or 20.   In other words, given six different values and selecting any three at a time, the number of different combinations of the selection is twenty.   For instance, B 1B 2B 3, A 2A 3B 3, and B 1A 1B 2 are three such possibilities. (This is not to be confused with permutations where B 1B 2B 3 would be considered different from B 2B 3B 1.   Because the maximum sum is of interest, the order of the three tests doesn’t matter.)   Since the results were that each intervention score was greater than any of the baseline scores, no other combination of scores could have provided as great an average difference.   Hence the logical likelihood of this result occurring at random (having the three intervention scores be the highest scores) is one in twenty, or 5%.   Therefore the alternative hypothesis is accepted: Eric recognizes printed words while singing along with lyrics significantly better than he does while reading along without music.  

A t-test between the two means yields the following.   Since n=3 for each group A and B, the number of degrees of freedom is df = (n A – 1) + (n B – 1) = 4.   The data above provides a t-test result for independent samples of t(4) = 3.73, p < 0.01.   The t-test thus indicates a more striking difference than the exact analysis of the logical randomization test above (p=0.05) in that the probability of baseline and intervention means being so different by chance is only 1%.   Nevertheless, because the value of the dependent variable is not as coherent as I would like it to be (e.g., I made no provision for repeating words in the booklets that affect the measure; I had no scoring backup to verify the measurement; etc.) and because I feel strongly about the rank of the day to day performance, I prefer to use the logical method of establishing the significance rather than the numerical one with the t-test.   (Time permitting I would have introduced another book so that the number of logical combinations would be 8!/((8-4)! 4!) or 70.   In that case, the cumulative score of the intervention measurements need only to be among the top three possibilities to fit in the p <0.05 level.)  

As discussed in the previous section of Test Design, each administration of the test was performed daily at the same time, by the same person, and under conditions that would vary randomly for any of the randomized tests.   Given the randomization and the striking performance differences among baseline and intervention measurements, I don’t believe any internal validity issues (e.g., contemporaneous events affecting the measurement, learning or sensitization reactivity, variation of measuring instrument) threaten the statistical or logical cause and effect conclusion – music enhances Eric’s performance.

Summary

The test results indicate that music does enable Eric to participate in following the story line and recognizing printed words.   Eric can participate as part of the class.   Eric’s behavior has changed from avoidance to participation in class activities.   This is definitely a critical step in fostering successful outcomes.    The more confidence and positive experiences he enjoys with the printed word, the more often he’ll engage in reading activities.   According to Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson, 1985, one of the first goals in early literacy development is the nurturing of positive attitudes toward reading.   Those attitudes usually result in voluntary readers.   There is also empirical evidence that voluntary reading correlates with success in school (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1985; Greaney, 1980; Taylor, Frye, and Marugama, 1990).   Morrow (1983) found that in comparison with children whose interests in books was low, kindergartners who demonstrated a strong interest in books scored significantly higher on standardized reading readiness tests and were rated higher by teachers on work habits, general school performance and social and emotional development.

It should be noted herein that the manner in which Eric has difficulty with word recognition skills remains.   He continues to have difficulty with word analysis skills concerning the use of phonics involving the use of letter and combinations of letter sounds referred to as phonemes associated with their corresponding letter symbols referred to as graphemes and with structural analysis for decoding indicating to me that he may be dyslexic.   I have recommended that Eric be tested to further delineate his learning disability.   

With respect to this study, the randomization design works because performance changed dramatically with each day of assessment. Reversal of performance was evident when treatment was withdrawn, i.e., Eric could not identify the printed words well without music.   I considered just using one book and alternating baseline and intervention repeatedly to show some residual effect.   I decided to try to keep the learning interesting to Eric, however, and stuck to the usage of the three books.   This presented a little bit of a pedagogical challenge.   In my mind I wanted to present one book and complete it prior to addressing the next book since I designed these materials to be thematically based.   However that approach would have nullified the tenet of randomness and reduced the statistical power of the experiment.   (Just consider the t-test: the sample size would have dropped to a value of three representing the number of differences between the performance on each book with or without music rather than six individual, independent scores.) More importantly, I think the variety was enjoyable for Eric.

From the effort described herein, I would like to consider the question: “Does music increase the frequency of self-initiated reading, and if so, why?”   Perhaps I can monitor Eric’s reading habits to investigate that curiosity and provide him with reading material; some of it would include music and others would not. Eventually I would like to queue into the mental processes that will provide his self-initiation of reading print.

I have a particular interest with integrating music into instruction and would like to investigate further what constitutes effective use of music for improving the young child’s reading development.   The following question has particular interest: “Does music emphasize the sound of phonemes so that their related printed representation is underscored to our memory storage process?”   Through single case studies I feel I can establish hypotheses channeled towards critical mental process development and their enhancement.   Eventually, then, I would like to move the single case findings to larger sample size research designed to address external validity and to generalize the effectiveness of these enhancements to young elementary school student populations.  

In closing, although the materials implemented with Eric showed promise, he still remains in an educational environment which does not support his particular learning style nor specific needs. As previously stated, his teacher was certified and had several years of experience but lacked the most significant skills necessary for meeting the educational needs of her students. She was in need of teacher assistance to enable her to address the significant problems evidenced.   I wondered however, how university programs could begin to train teachers to acquire the desire to adopt, internalize and implement the characteristics noted within the introduction to this paper and how can teachers already in the field who lack these characteristics could acquire the desire to be a molder of dreams, to adopt, internalize and implement them?   We must teach to the heart of the learner's disposition creating within one's presupposition, the critical awareness of significant purpose to impact life forever.

First and foremost, educators must adopt an internalized belief reflecting a personal philosophy that all children can learn and the school is responsible for serving them. They must truly believe they can and will make a difference choosing to build upon each child's strengths while acknowledging their weaknesses. Intensive, relentless instruction may be required of many special needs populations thus flexibility within the curricular demands of the general education setting must be reexamined and modified to meet individual needs. Dedicated service is a key component along with a system that emphasizes an ongoing need for in-service training, staff development and technical assistance. In addition, a committed responsiveness to families is needed where administrators and educators alike encourage active family involvement. Responsibility should not rest solely upon the educators, but upon the shoulders of all who are responsible for the child's education including administrators, parents and the community at large. The educational setting should not be the first priority in meeting the special education needs of the child. Decisions should initially rest upon the determination of identifiable strengths and weaknesses and then upon a continuum of services that will best meet the child's needs. Observations and reassessments must be ongoing to ensure the child's ultimate success.

Educators in today's schools need to reexamine their teaching roles to enable them to meet the individual needs of all children placed in their care. Such roles include teacher as providers, demonstrators, learners, observers and responders where children and teachers establish partnerships through parent-child and teacher-child interactions to determine methods of personalizing educational experiences which are inviting and offer real involvement through direct, purposeful experiences. Opportunities for children to connect and to relate previous experiences to existing events must be incorporated into daily activities. Positive responsiveness towards students' attempts at task completion should be given intermittently and not held back until final task completion. Scaffolding for success while a child attempts tasks completion nurtures successful outcomes. This can motivate a child and create an eagerness to learn.

Furthermore, student input is essential via various modes of communication. The educator's role includes acting as a participant, implementing the use of contact talks as well as engaging in an attitude of an ongoing learner. Let us now examine each of these specific roles.

To sense one's purpose in structuring an environment to ensure successful outcomes portrays the role of the 'provider.' Of course, teachers formulate a plan to implement the curriculum at hand. Within their planned framework should be opportunities for a range of experiences pending the specific developmental levels encompassed within their entrusted population. Full support, no risk environment, with meaningful and purposeful, hands-on involvement, depict the goals of the 'provider' role.

The role of demonstrator is a most powerful role to enact. Here we can teach through example. We can model our enthusiasm for learning and our eagerness to learn. We can model acceptance and teach our students to be supportive and to truly listen to what another person has to say. We can demonstrate the fact that we are not afraid to make mistakes but it is through our mistakes that learning emerges.

Being an educator can sometimes cause one to feel they must be 'all-knowing' to their students. 'Teacher-as-learner' is indeed a unique perspective to adopt but it is probably one of the most important roles to undertake for we have much to learn from the children we teach and we must always afford time and opportunities to allow them to show us what they know and what they can do.

The power of observation should be emphasized within the domain of every teacher training program. It should be considered a vital skill needing to be developed in an ongoing, nurturing fashion. It must be fostered through a variety of teacher-training activities for it is through making observations that we come to recognize and to perceive what the children in our care are trying to do so that we may in turn appropriately respond and meet their needs.

With respect to special needs populations, being a 'teacher as responder' is most significant. It calls educators to reexamine the situation or circumstances at hand to decipher what the child is attempting to do at any given moment. Thus, a teacher might wish to offer help, to generate a statement that will guide a child to reach their own conclusion or to offer suggestions to appropriately guide a child towards task completion. The teacher might sense the need to encourage a child at any given moment. These are all examples of responsive teaching.

Finally, I would like to share the following story as a catalyst for change.

There was once a man who hungered for the meaning of life. In his search for the ultimate freedom, his heart's desire was to become wealthy. Poor as he was he knew this couldn't possibly come to pass. Each day he would search the streets for food but on this day, his search would lead him to the essence of his desires. On this day, he would discover his wealth!

"A few scraps of food to spare." he would say as he looked directly into the eyes of passers by. On this day no one gave and the poor beggar hungered for the slightest morsel of food. He walked on throughout the village and soon found himself entering the outskirts of town towards a place he had never been before. There was a small house at the edge of town. Upon knocking at the door, an elderly man answered and invited the beggar inside. The elderly man sat in silence and listened as the beggar pleaded with him for even a small morsel of food. "I haven't had a thing to eat all day." the beggar explained. The elderly man lifted up a sack from a drawer and inside he put a small loaf of bread, some cheese and two pieces of fruit. The beggar rejoiced and was forever grateful. The elderly man instructed the beggar not to eat the food until he arrived back at the village. The beggar agreed but couldn't help himself once he left the elderly man's house. He reached inside the sack and ate up the cheese almost in a single gulp! He finished the bread almost as quickly as he ate the cheese. And soon he began eating the fruit when he discovered it... a beautiful diamond! The diamond sparkled in the moon lit sky and the beggar could hardly believe his eyes! Surly this was a mistake on the elderly man's part he thought. "Oh, what riches could be mine!" thought the beggar. The beggar walked on and on down the road towards the village dreaming about the many things he could buy with this precious gem! As he approached the village he felt sadden with the thought of the elderly man, alone in his house. He felt guilty for thinking of keeping the diamond knowing it wasn't meant for him. The beggar began to walk back towards the outskirts of town intent on returning the diamond to its rightful owner. Upon approaching the door he saw the elderly man sitting in his chair. The elderly man immediately rose to meet the beggar. "Why have you returned?" asked the elderly man. The beggar put forth his hand and slowly opened it to reveal the beautiful, sparkling diamond. The elderly man began to smile. His eyes sparkled. His face became flushed. He looked at the beggar and said, "Why are you offering this diamond to me? " The beggar was quick to point out the fact that he knew the gem was not intended to be for him and he just couldn't keep something that was not his! The elderly man gently took the beggar's hand and slowly closed his fingers around the gem saying, "This is the most valuable thing I have in this world and I wish you to have it." The beggar looked into the elderly man's eyes, tears streamed down his cheeks. He stood motionless looking down at his hands. Then, after several moments had passed, he said, "Sir, I would prefer to have something of even greater value than the diamond itself." But the elderly man became sadden explaining he had given the beggar the diamond, the most valuable thing he owned. The beggar looked into the elderly man's eyes and said, "Sir, I realize you have given me the diamond, the most valuable of your possessions but the gift I desire the most, is not the diamond but your heart's desire to give the diamond away."   (Amatangelo, 2000)

References

Anderson, R.C., Hiebert, E.H., Scott, J.A., and Wilkinson, I.A., 1985. Becoming a Nation of Readers. Washington, DC: National Institute of Education.

Anderson, R.C., Wilson, P.T., and Fielding, L.G., (1985, December).   A New Focus on Free Reading. Symposium presentation at the National Reading Conference, San Diego.

Benjamin, Harold R.W. 1947. Under Their Own Command. New York: Macmillan

Doud, Guy. 1990. Molder of Dreams. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers.

Edgington, E. S., 1969. Statistical Inference: The Distribution-Free Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill,

Greaney. V. 1980. Factors Related to the Amount and Type of Leisure Reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 337-357.

Hess, Frederick, M. 2004. Common Sense School Reform. New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macillan

Jeremiah, David. 1996. How To Be Happy. San Diego, CA: Turning Point   Nieto, Sonia. 2000. Affirming Diversity. New York, N.Y. : Longman

Kleinfeld, Judith. 1995. Effective Teachers. In Lance Roberts and Rodney Clifton (Eds.) , Crosscurrents Contemporary Canadian Educational Issues. Nelson: Canada

Lindfors, Judith Wells. 1991. Children's Language and Learning. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon Publishers

Morrow, L.M. 1983. Home and School Correlates of Early Interest in Literature.   Journal of Educational Research, 76, 221-230.  

Peddiwell, J. Abner. 2004. The Classic Edition: The Saber-Tooth Curriculum. New York, N.Y.:The McGraw-Hill Companies

Senge, Peter. 2000. A Fifth Discipline Resource: Schools That Learn. New York, N.Y. Doubleday Dell Publishing Groups, Inc.

Smith, Frank. 1983. Essays Into Literacy. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann Educational Books

Taylor, B.M., Frye, B.J., and Maruyama, M. 1990. Time Spent Reading and Reading Growth. American Educational Research Journal, 27, 351-362.

Van Steenlandt, Danielle, Editor. 1998. The Journey to Inclusive Schools: An Overview of Inclusive Education in the Context of the Salamanca Stateman and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education for UNESCO, Brussels: Belgium: Inclusion International

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