Transforming curriculum leadership: vice principals in independent Christian elementary schools /

The literature on the vice principalship characterizes the position as one filled with clerical record keeping and student discipline and paints a picture of role conflict and general discontent. Research suggests that vice principals desire to take on a more significant role, specifically a role in curriculum leadership. Using open-ended interviews, a focus group interview, document analysis, and my research journal, I have explored the work ofa group of vice principals who have taken on the role of curriculum leader in independent Christian elementary schools in Ontario. When asked to explain their understanding of curriculum, the participants referred to written programs of study. However, their leadership activities reveal a broader understanding of curriculum as something that is in fact dynamic in nature. This leadership is enabled and shaped by their middle position on staff that combines the authority of an administrator and the credibility of a teacher. Although this dual identity creates tension, it also provides opportunities for genuine curriculum leadership. As middle leaders, the participants in this study often pull together or connect elements of the curriculum (teachers, principals, and programs) that have become separated. Such connective leadership is characterized by transformational (Van Brummelen, 2002) tendencies. This research suggests that the further along the continuum one goes from the understanding of curriculum as planned (Eisner, 1994) to acknowledging a lived curriculum (Aoki, 1993), the more transformational one's leadership style becomes.

The waning of the two giants: the electoral decline of the Italian Christian Democratic Party and the Italian Communist Party

Italy is currently experiencing profound political change. One aspect of this change involves the decline in electoral support for the Italian Christian Democratic Party (DC) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI), now the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS). Signs of the electoral decline of both parties began to appear in the late 1970s and early 1980s and accelerated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The pr imar y purpos e of th is thes is is to expla i n the electoral decline of the DC and PCI/PDS in the last decade. The central question being addressed in this thesis is the following: What factors contributed to the decline in electoral support for the DC and PCI? In addition, the thesis attempts to better comprehend the change in magni tude and direction of the Italian party system. The thesis examines the central question within an analytical framework that consists of models explaining electoral change in advanced industrial democracies and in Italy. A review of the literature on electoral change in Italy reveals three basic models: structural (socioeconomic and demographic factors), subcultural (the decline of the Catholic and Communist subcultures), and pol i tical (factors such as party strategy, and the crisis and collapse of communism in iv Eastern Europe and the former soviet Union and the end to the Cold War). Significant structural changes have occurred in Italy, but they do not invariably hurt or benefit either party. The Catholic and Communist subcultures have declined in size and strength, but only gradually. More importantly, the study discovers that the decline of communism and party strategy adversely affected the electoral performances of the DC and PC!. The basic conclusion is that political factors primarily and directly contributed to the decline in electoral support for both parties, while societal factors (structural and subcultural changes) played a secondary and indirect role. While societal factors do not contribute directly to the decline in electoral support for both parties, they do provide the context within which both parties operated. In addition, the Italian party system is becoming more fragmented and traditional political parties are losing electoral support to new political movements, such as the Lega Nord (LN-Northern League) and the Rete (Network). The growing importance of the North-South and centre-periphery cleavages suggests that the Italian party system, which is traditionally based on religious and ideological cleavages, may be changing.

Sermon : the question of war with Great Britain, examined upon moral and Christian principles /

Joseph Dana was also considered as the supposed author.

Lini Richarda Grol Fonds, 1946-2007

Lini Richarda Grol was originally born in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1913 and immigrated to Canada in 1954 after working as a nurse in South America for three years from 1951 to 1954. She was granted her first Canadian passport in 1961 and worked full-time as nurse at the Welland County Hospital. While nursing she would enroll in writing courses at McMaster University and Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, now Ryerson University. Eventually she decided to dedicate herself to her writing and artwork and began to only work as a nurse part-time and then later opened the Fonthill Studio to devote herself to her writing and artwork full-time. Her status as an immigrant and career as a nurse provided inspiration for much of her writing and she frequently tackles the experience of the female immigrant in her works. Her first publication was in 1938 in a small literary and women’s magazines in Holland and Belgium and her first work of poetry was entitled Stive Gedachten. None of these publications exist in this archive. Her most well-known publication, Liberation, centers around her experiences leading up to and after the liberation of Holland during World War II. Grol was, and continues to be a prolific writer in the Niagara Region and has been published in the Welland Tribune, Pelham Herald, Thorold News, Parent Magazine, Dunville Chronicle, and various Christian publications and literary newsletters and journals. Grol also started her own poetry magazine entitled Canadian Poets Pen Club to help aspiring writers get published. Perhaps her most recognized achievement was the inclusion of one of her poems and the recognition of her novel Liberation into the Thank You Canada Day celebration in May 1970. Grol participated in many local writers’ groups such as the Welland Writer’s Club, and the Canadian Author’s Association. Grol was membership secretary for the Canadian Author’s Association in 1984. She also founded a writer’s club in 1995 in her retirement home, Holland Christian Homes where members meet to talk about their poems and short stories either in English or Dutch. Participating in and creating a writers’ community is integral to Grol’s identity as an author and can be related to the feelings of isolation she felt as an immigrant to Canada. Grol also hosted her own television shows entitled Discovery with Lini Grol which featured guests, usually local artists and writers, and Holland en Hollanders a cultural program for Dutch immigrants. Grol’s most recent activities include the publication of a one act play entitled Peppermint Problems [1996] and a short story entitled “When our War started in Rotterdam” [2004]. In 1994, she moved to Brampton, Ontario into a Christian retirement center called Holland Christian Homes. For further biographical information about Grol see two books contained within this collection Women of Action [1976] and Something About the Author [1976].

Welland Canal Survey of Lands Christian May, 1831

Updated survey description of William May's land created by The Welland Canal Company. The land is now in the posession of Christian May as he was the heir for the property. The drawing for the property is the same drawing that goes with Peter May's land. It is marked as 'D' on that drawing. The land is described as 1 acre, with no roads on the property. Click on 'detail' for Peter May's property to see the map.

Sermon : the question of war with Great Britain, examined upon moral and Christian principles

Joseph Dana was also considered as the supposed author. Bibliogr. Printed by Snelling and Simons

Letter from George Cran regarding a Christian mission in India, 1803.

George Cran was the son of a farmer in the parish of Forgue in Aberdeen Shire, Scotland. He became a member of the church at Huntley, Scotland where his devotion to God inspired him to become a Sunday school teacher. He subsequently became a member of the London Missionary Society. In 1801 he was sent to study at the seminary in Gosport, England where he spent two to three years. His desire was to preach Christ to the “heathens”. Messrs. Ringeltaube, Des Granges and Cran were designated to work in India. No ships for the East India Company would grant passage to missionaries due to the open hostility of the government therefore they set sail from Copenhagen on April 20, 1804 and reached Tranquebar on December 5th, 1805. Cran and Des Granges were designated to supervise the churches in Tinnevelly and they were to begin a mission among the northern Circars. This would have meant that they would have to work in two different places which would have separated them by over 500 miles. The society didn’t seem to be aware of the vast hindrances that the missionaries had to face. Cran and Des Granges decided instead to work in Vizagapatam where they were welcomed by many of the European residents. They conducted English services for which they were paid a monthly salary by the governor. They also conducted services for the natives and opened a school for native children. By November of 1806 a mission house had been built and a “charity” school for Eurasian children was opened. Cran and Des Granges were also diligently studying the native language and they began to translate the Bible into Telugu (spoken by the Hindus who live along the lower basins of the Kistna and Godaveri Rivers). In November of 1808 Cran was almost killed by a fever which left him severely weakened. He was only partially recovered, but accepted an invitation by the general who commanded the local district to accompany him on a journey around the province. The journey proved to be too much for Cran and he died on January 6th, 1809. He is buried at Chicacole, India. He is remembered for his successful work at Vizagapatam and his translation of the Bible. The fact that it was 27 years after the arrival of Cran before a single native was converted attests to the fact that this was a very difficult undertaking. The London Missionary Society was formed in 1795 in England by evangelical Anglicans and nonconformists. It is a non-denominational society and now forms part of the Council for World Mission. with information from The Voice of God to the Churches a Sermon on the Death of George Cran, Augustus Des Granges and Jonathan Brain by David Bogue and The History of the London Missionary Society 1795-1895 by Richard Lovett

Using Poetry, Story, and Reflection to Understand Professional Self After Personal Loss

This research investigated professional identity transformation after personal loss. Through autoethnographic methods, I explore how my personal experience of my sister’s breast cancer and death affected my identity as a diabetes educator in the health culture. I discover a transformation of a professional who focuses on evidence-based medicine to a professional who values connection, therapeutic alliance, and mindfulness with patients and self in the diabetes education encounter. Using a holistic perspective on transformational learning, I integrate the poem “Wild Geese” to a collection of written narratives to connect my personal loss experience to my professional life. By unpacking the generated stories and using poetry, I conduct a process of critical and self-reflection to discover how my identity as a health professional has transformed and what makes meaning in my role as a diabetes educator in the health culture. I consider concepts of a conscious self, social relations and language and discover themes of knowledge exchange, food, and empathy as forms of language expression. These language expressions are not present in my professional life as I focus on rational, logical facts of evidence-based medicine and standardized education methods. Through this reflexive process, I hope to understand how my professional practice has changed, where I place an importance on connection, therapeutic alliance, and mindfulness. I move away from always “doing” in my professional life to focus on my state of “being” in my professional world. Rather than knowledge acquisition as the only factor in professional development, this study contributes to an understanding of additional qualities health professionals may consider that focus on the patient education encounter.

Christian Education and the Ethics of Authenticity

A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the concept of authenticity in Christian education. The study was situated in the context of Christian schools in Ontario. Some of these schools have experienced declining enrolment and all of these schools face the challenge of being distinctive in a secular culture. To investigate the potential of the concept of authenticity for reclaiming the vision of Christian education, interviews were conducted with 3 experienced principals of Christian schools. Data analysis yielded an emergent conceptual framework of authenticity consisting of 5 concepts: authorship, relatedness, reflection, autonomy, and excellence. Authenticity was found to be a useful tool for school analysis of both the deep structures and the surface structures within Christian schools. To offset unauthentic tendencies that can arise within these schools, this study calls for an intentional use of the lens of authenticity to expose these tendencies and revitalize core expectations. Through the narratives shared by the Christian school principals, the study also develops a picture of the role of authentic Christian education in the development of the authentic Christian person.