Curricular & Instructional Studies
The mission of the Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies is to prepare professional educators to work effectively in diverse settings such as urban, suburban, and rural learning environments.
Scope and Purpose:
A library collection in support of the Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies needs to cover theories, methods and techniques of teaching in various subject areas at the early childhood, elementary, middle school, and secondary education level. It should also include materials in the areas of computer/educational technology, reading/literacy education, technical education, and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The collection should also include materials on the characteristics of learners, as well as the varieties of instructional resources and their uses. Works in the areas of elementary, secondary and technical education, as well as literacy education, should be collected at the research level, while other subjects may be collected at the advanced study level. Material related to the instructional use of educational technologies is collected at the advanced study level and includes works focusing on traditional audiovisual media/DVDs, instructional software and the Internet.
The Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies offers a Bachelor of Science degree in the areas of early childhood, middle childhood, secondary education, and technical education. It also offers endorsements in the area of computer science/technology, reading, and teaching English to speakers of other languages. At the graduate level, the department offers a Ph.D. in education; a master of science degree in elementary education, secondary education, and technical education; and a Master of Arts degree in secondary education (with teaching licensure) and literacy education.
Coverage of early childhood education, primary and elementary education, secondary education, ESL, and literacy education should focus on the United States, with additional coverage of English-speaking societies (notably Great Britain, Australia and Canada) and western Europe as being most culturally relevant to our educational system and traditions. In addition, there should be some inclusion of descriptions of major education systems around the world. Coverage in the area of technical education should focus on the U.S., but may also include works discussing technical education in Great Britain, Australia and Canada.
With rare exceptions, this collection is in English.
Historical treatment of elementary and secondary education from ancient times to the present will be included. However, emphasis in coverage is on the current educational practices in the United States, with additional samples of current theory and practices from throughout the world.
The collection includes historical research, empirical research reports, case studies, policy reviews, research methodologies, theoretical studies, educational technology handbooks, research journals, and theoretical and applied discussions of techniques and materials used for instruction. Curriculum guides or sample school teaching materials (e.g., textbooks, nonfiction books, teaching kits) are covered in a separate policy.
Monographs, journals and significant reference works may be collected in print, microfiche, and electronic formats. Increasingly, print journals may be replaced by their electronic equivalents, which are available through either electronic journal collections or education-related article databases. Videos/DVDs are acquired each year to support the instruction of the department.
Some historical study may be supported by the Center for Research Libraries collections. Empirical studies or courses in techniques of research may draw upon the resources of the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). OhioLINK provides ready access to other Ohio libraries' print and video collections.
Textbooks are not collected unless they are of unique importance historically or conceptually.
Policy Revised: 14 Nov 2002


David Fisher, DEN Guru from Florida, led an amazing session during the Fall VirtCon, titled Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead, where he shared a huge collection of ideas for using technology to build a multicultural learning experience. Here are a few of my greatest take-aways! If you are looking for a way to bring something new and fresh into the new year, this is the recap for you! Watch the full episode for more great ideas for implementing these tools, and more!
– Start with what you know! Comfort with a device leads to less anxiety, which leads to more productivity. We have our hands on our phones every day, so why don’t we take the connection that we have with our smartphones and bring it in to the classroom. Also, if you aren’t sure about handing your phone over to your students, don’t forget about all those phones that are taking up space in your desk drawers (and those of your students’ families). Even if they aren’t still being connected to cellular service, they will run on wifi. If you have wifi at your school, you have a lot of FREE potential at your fingertips.
– Make paper slide videos. The phone is a great way to do this because it’s a no mess upload! This are great for sharing and assessing content, but it’s also a great way for everyone to participate because it eases anxiety. Here is David’s YouTube tutorial.
- Create Stop Motion videos for capturing changes over longer periods of time. Check out apps like iMotion HD (iOS) or Stop Motion (Android). Here are some extra resources for using Stop Motion in the classroom.
- Record your oral reading assessments using an audio recording. You can develop an audio portfolio, check back for errors, show growth, and more.
- Create Photo Conversation Starters from graphics, and use them as prompts for getting great talks started. Using your own photographs will help build familiarity and connections with our students, especially those who are developing language learners. These conversations can then lead to great writing prompts.
- Make Music…. Videos! Discovery Education and Dr. Lodge offer amazing ideas for developing curricular understanding through music. Another great resource that my students love is Mr. Parr’s YouTube channel. He has tons of science songs written to modern songs.
- Video Scavenger Hunts are a lot of fun, too. Try letting students hunt down concepts to share, like a geometry hunt.
Wait, there’s more!
- Check out http://transl8it.com/ for building your own language puzzles to engage students.
- Padlet (the artist formerly known as WallWisher) is excellent for sharing ideas, collaborating among peers, and breaking down barriers for our students who aren’t as comfortable speaking. These are easily shared and archived for reference later! Padlet also easily allows control of visibility for outside people.
- Fake iPhone Text would be a fun way to show a conversation between historical figures or book characters. Short snippets of writing samples, like this, allow students to build confidence and foundational skills.
- Audacity can be a bit intimidating at first glance, but it’s really pretty simple to use. Students can use these to monitor their own reading for fluency, or partner up for a rich experience. Here’s a bit on the basics. Recordmp3 is a super simple alternative, that is web-based.
- Blabberize is another fun way to bring animation to a still image, clip art or photo. Some more recent updates include the ability to create a “group blabber.” Students can share their learning, post to the class website, and more. The possibilities are endless! This would be fun for building characterization of story characters!
- Google Story Builder is an excellent option for understanding story building and character interaction in a fun way. Students must have a clear plan and ability to concisely convey an idea. The music options are also a great way for students to begin gaining command of considering mood when publishing a story.
Learn more with David on Twitter – @davidfisher65


Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE)
CAL partnered with several institutions in the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE), a National Research and Development Center for English language learners. CREATE’s program of research was designed to enhance the empirical research base for Grade 4-8 readers by developing and testing effective interventions that promote content knowledge and language and literacy development; by investigating the features of instruction and types of text modifications that facilitate learning for ELLs; by designing, testing, and delivering professional development that will help teachers implement effective classroom practices; and by disseminating findings and information about effective practices.
Working under a 5-year contract awarded to the University of Houston from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, CAL was involved in two broad areas of research under CREATE. The first, Project QuEST, Quality English and Science Teaching, involved research on a systematic intervention model to concurrently develop science content and language and literacy skills in middle school second-language learners. The second study, Impact of the SIOP Model on Middle School Science and Language Learning, investigated the impact of the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Model on student academic achievement in middle school science, a subject area with high language demands. The SIOP Model is a research-based approach that integrates grade-level content with academic English language development.
CAL also lead dissemination activities for the Center. CREATE organized annual conferences by CREATE investigators on topics related to the center’s work. A capstone conference took place in 2011 that highlighted current research on methods for building literacy skills and oral language development for English language learners across the content areas.


Judith Kaplan Eisenstein
Before she was thirteen years old, author, composer, and musicologist Judith Kaplan Eisenstein was already a significant figure in Jewish history. The eldest of four daughters born to Lena (Rubin) and Rabbi Mordecai Menachem Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, Judith Kaplan was the first young woman to celebrate a Bat Mitzvah publicly in an American congregation on March 18, 1922.
Neither of her parents was American-born. Mordecai Kaplan, born on September 10, 1881, in Sventzian, Lithuania (near Kovno), arrived in the United States at age eight, after a year in Paris. In addition to rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, he earned a degree from City College (New York City) and received graduate training at Columbia University in philosophy and sociology. Lena Rubin, born in Friedrichshaven, Germany (near the Polish border), was brought to New York as a three-year-old child.
Their daughter Judith was precocious intellectually—she learned to read English at age two and a half and began studying Hebrew at age three—and musically—between the ages of seven and eighteen, she studied at the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School) in New York. She also attended the Jewish Theological Seminary Teachers Institute and Columbia University’s Teachers College, where she received her B.S. (1928) and M.A. (1932) in music education. A brief marriage to Albert Addelston, on June 28, 1932, ended in divorce in Reno, Nevada, in September 1933. On June 10, 1934, she married Ira Eisenstein, then assistant rabbi at her father’s synagogue, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism.
From 1929 until 1954, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein taught music pedagogy and the history of Jewish music at Jewish Theological Seminary Teachers Institute. Where teaching and performing materials did not exist, she created them. Her publications include the first Jewish songbook for children, Gateway to Jewish Song (1937), Festival Songs (1943), Songs of Childhood (with Frieda Prensky, 1955), Heritage of Music: The Music of the Jewish People (1972), as well as five cantatas on Jewish themes written with Ira and two song cycles, all written between 1942 and 1974. In 1987, she created and broadcast a thirteen-hour radio series on the history of Jewish music.
In 1959, at age fifty, Eisenstein entered the School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC–JIR), where she received her Ph.D. (1966) with a dissertation on “The Liturgical Chant of Provencal and West Sephardic Jews in Comparison to the Song of the Troubadours and the Cantigas.” She then taught at HUC–JIR (1966 to 1979) and at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia (1978 to 1981).
The Eisensteins retired to Woodstock, New York, in 1981, and to Silver Spring, Maryland, in 1995. They had two daughters, Miriam Rachel Eisenstein, a lawyer with the U.S. Justice Department, and Ann Nehama Eisenstein, a therapist in private practice in New York, and one grandson. A son, Ethan Jacob, was institutionalized very young with severe mental retardation.
Judith Kaplan Eisenstein began her adult life as an important figure in Jewish history. Talented and superbly literate in both Jewish and musical tradition, she expanded the understanding, enjoyment, and dissemination of the music of the Jewish people. She died on February 14, 1996.
Festival Songs (1943); Gateway to Jewish Song (1937); Heritage of Music: The Music of the Jewish People (1972, 1990); The Music of the Jewish People. Set of thirteen audiotapes (1987); Our Bialik, with Ira Eisenstein (1945); Reborn: An Episode with Music, with Ira Eisenstein (1952); The Sacrifice of Isaac: A Liturgical Drama (1972); The Seven Golden Buttons: A Legend with Music, with Ira Eisenstein (1947); Shir ha-shahar [Song of the Dawn] (1974); Songs of Childhood, with Frieda Prensky (1955); Thy Children Shall Return, with Ira Eisenstein (1954); What Is Torah, with Ira Eisenstein (1942).
Obituary. NYTimes, February 15, 1996.
How to cite this page
Baker, Paula Eisenstein. "Judith Kaplan Eisenstein." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on January 25, 2015) <http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/eisenstein-judith-kaplan>.


|Hide and Name Game
|Group Activity Idea - Hide and Name Game
Purpose: Promote motor skill development, motor planning and learning new names.
Materials: play tunnels, blankets or sheets, index cards or labels
Activity: To begin the activity have each child write (if possible) his/her name on a name tag or index card.
Place the play tunnels around the room. Drape blankets at various heights over objects such as chairs and desks. All the
children should sit together on one side of the room. Have everyone say their name aloud (or hold name tag up) before
starting the game. Now begin calling one child at a time to perform an activity i.e. "If your name is Johnny crawl through the
tunnel" or "If your name is Johnny, jump around the chair". When "Johnny" is crawling through the tunnel remember to ask
the group "Who is in the tunnel?" to reinforce name calling. Continue calling names so that each child has a turn to complete
a sensory motor skill/activity. If the group is getting restless, have the child who is called be the leader and all the other
children follow that action. For example: "If your name is Johnny, please lead the group and crawl though the tunnel".
When the above activity is complete, have all the children close their eyes. An adult taps one child on the shoulder. This
child gets up and hides in the tunnel or under a sheet. All the children open their eyes. They have to guess the name of the
person who is missing. Continue play until all children have had a turn to hide.
Likes and Dislikes Activity: If you do not need to practice names but would like to get to know the children better, here is
another way to start off the game. Instead of using the children's names make statements such as "if your favorite color is
red, crawl through the tunnel"; "if you ride the school bus jump in between two desks"; "if you like to eat pizza touch your
toes"; "if your favorite subject is recess jump up and down".
Looking for more group activities??? Check out our
Sensory Motor Group Activities A to Z or 25 Instant Sensory Motor Group Activities.
Need some back to school sensory motor activities?
Check out Sensory Motor Activities for Fall (Revised edition).
|All rights reserved.
|Your Therapy Source
|Online resource for special education, pediatric occupational therapy and pediatric physical therapy


Stephen Wolfram is a well-known figure in the sciences thanks to genius inventions like the math problem-solving software Mathematica. Now he's in the news again for a very different reason: He's trying to reinvent web search by making a smart "fact computer" engine.
It's called Wolfram Alpha, and it's pretty much what you're thinking about right now: A computer program that, like the computers from a science-fiction movie, answers with the right facts when you ask it—think Hal 9000, or even KITT from Knight Rider. Wolfram is calling the technology a "computational knowledge engine" and it's designed to answer questions like "What's the 200th number in Pi?" and "What phase is the moon in right now?"
But apparently the system's not like previous efforts at this technology (ahem, Ask Jeeves), which use natural language parsing to determine your question and then simply present the web-search results. Instead Alpha is supposedly revolutionary since it actually computes the answer for you. Inside it has built-in models of how the world works in terms of science, geography, business, people and so on, and it interprets your question and uses its models to calculate an answer.
In fact what Wolfram and his team have done is, after a lot of research, broken down the problem (answering a fact-based question) into a series of small steps, each of which is reproducible and can be used for interpreting different types of question and finding the corresponding answers. And these steps have been programmed into the Mathematica computing engine, along with a natural language program and the "real world" database.
Google solves the problem in the opposite way, by simply searching (with some nifty algorithms, admittedly) the vast sea of websites and delivering a list of "matches." Alpha tries to understand what you mean, and then calculates the answer.
If that sounds weird, it is—at least a little. We're very used to our current way of interacting with web-based data, even though it's still very novel for us. The idea that a search engine needs to be wired to an electronic brain that tries to understand what you're asking before it goes and calculates the answer is strange. Particularly since Alpha seems like it's mainly designed to perform the missing task at the end of a Google search: taking all the matched web pages and compiling the data into a meaningful single answer.
And that, in fact, is probably the reason Alpha's won't be the "next big thing" in web searching for the average user when it's fully revealed in May. Although we obviously haven't used the service yet, the factual results it's designed to deliver seem like they're fairly easy to find with just a few clicks using current search technology. Unless you're talking about very very specific fact requests like "Is the Moon Io in transit across Jupiter's face when looking from Earth?" and you'd have to be a subject matter expert to have to care about that: Hence Alpha could end up with a following in the math and science fields, if it turns out to be a reliable and authoritative information source that accurately and succinctly returns information from its "curated" data.
The real revolution would be if Wolfram could expand the technology to compute the answers to "fuzzier" questions like "Do people like Robert Mugabe?" or "Is it warm in southern France this month?" But that's a far far trickier problem to solve.


This week we have a special guest contribution by Dr. Janice L. Anderson, Assistant Professor of Science Education to discuss her collaborative work on iPadagogy.
Technology is redefining the traditional pedagogical paradigms of K-12 schools. In North Carolina, thirty school districts have adopted one-to-one computing initiatives with the goal of developing students’ 21st century skills – allowing students to learn not only content but also acquire critical skills (e.g. creativity, collaboration, and digital literacy) (Pellegrino & Hilton, 2012). The number of districts implementing 1:1 initiatives will continue to expand as the state of North Carolina moves towards funding only digital textbooks by 2017 (News & Observer, December 16, 2013). However, despite these initiatives, research (e.g. Keengwe, Schnellert & Mills, 2012) has shown that while technology is essential in moving students towards these skills, the existing infrastructure, including professional development, is insufficient to develop the desired outcomes.
UNC School of Education professors Janice Anderson and Julie Justice are leading a team of education graduate students in examining how teachers are integrating iPad technology into their daily classroom practice. Using a design-based research methodology, the iPadagogy research team is working directly with a sixth grade team over the course of the academic year to develop instruction that integrates the technology using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) a framework that builds upon the previous work of Shulman’s (1983) Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) framework.
- The design of instruction
- The enactment of the designed instruction in class
- Reflection on the implementation by the teacher and team
- Re-design based upon the reflections and outcomes for the next iterative cycle of instruction.
The goal is to think about the intersection of technology with PCK and to begin to move away from substitution mechanisms of integration (e.g. using math drill apps instead of using math drill worksheets) typically found in classrooms, moving towards an integration that transforms and redefines instruction.
As part of this work the iPadagogy research team and the participating teachers are:
- Creating a repository of curricular materials including lesson plans, interactive teacher guides and students materials connected to the Essential Standards that have been developed by the teachers and research team and tested in the classroom.
- Developing a resource of iPad applications that can be integrated into classroom instruction that either correspond to specific content topics or can be used in an interdisciplinary context.
- Developing a professional development model that will allow teachers to develop technological self-efficacy and improve upon their integration of technology (iPads) into their instructional practice.
These curricular materials will be hosted by the LEARN NC website and iTunesU Channel. The first installment of the curricular materials will be in Science. The topic will be based upon the standards found in Sixth Grade Science for Sound and Sound Waves. The aim of these materials is to provide a structure for teachers to integrate the iPad technology into their instructional practice. The materials include:
- A brief overview of the content
- A focus on a problem of practice, specific to the discipline, that the technology helps to alleviate
- An overview of using argumentation in the classroom
- The inquiry activities with their supplemental materials
Each of the inquiry chapters will be structured in a similar manner. The beginning will overview the apps being utilized, as well as any other technology used in the inquiry. This will include directions for downloading and starting the app as well as “how to” videos. The lessons themselves are focused on the North Carolina Essential Standards (and Common Core where appropriate) as well as the Technology Tools and Information Standards. Each inquiry was developed using the principles of backwards design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) as well as the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) Model of instruction (Bybee, 1997). Future installments of the iPadagogy Series will include materials for English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Studies.
Guest Contributor: Dr. Janice Anderson
Janice L. Anderson teaches science education courses in the Elementary Education program and the Master of Education program for Experienced Teachers. Prior to joining the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill, she taught biology and anatomy in Ohio and worked in elementary classrooms in Massachusetts. Preceding her classroom experience, she worked in a molecular biology research lab focusing on reproductive endocrinology and biochemistry.


UBC child-development expert Clyde Hertzman dies
One of B.C.'s foremost experts on early childhood learning has died in London, England.
Clyde Hertzman, director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) and a Canada Research Chair in population health and human development in UBC's School of Population and Public Health, was 59 years old.
"British Columbia has lost one of its brightest lights in Dr. Clyde Hertzman," Premier Christy Clark said in a statement released today. "His trailblazing work on early childhood and human development attracted global attention. The research he led will continue to change lives for the better."
He was a senior fellow of the Experience-based Brain and Biological Development Programme and the Successful Societies Programs of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. In 2010, he was named "Canada's Health Researcher of the Year" by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
His research focused on how genetics combined with early childhood development can have monumental effects on a person's future, in part because of the way the young brain develops in response to environmental factors. He and his colleagues gathered data on kindergarten-age children, noting that the largest number of vulnerable kids actually come from middle-income families.
Clyde Hertzman discusses how genetics and environment interact in early childhood development.


Motor Skill Development can be Astounding
Motor skill development from six months to one year of age is quite astounding. The skills they learn will help them develop the foundation for walking, running and taking care of themselves.
Fine motor skills are the skills requiring small movements, often by the fingers, and usually take a while to develop. As baby gets comfortable with using his hands, he’ll be able to pick up small items to feed himself or to play. He’ll be able to poke or manipulate small toys or items, or point at things that he wants.
Gross motor skills are the skills requiring large movements, like crawling or sitting. By one year of age, baby will probably be sitting on his own and even use furniture to pull up into a standing position. Baby may stand on his own, crawl or even walk while holding hands. You might even see baby take his first solo steps before his first birthday. Don’t fret, though, if baby isn’t walking by 12 months; many young children don’t until well after their first birthday. Now is the time to make sure that your house is baby-proofed well!
Baby will also start taking interest in doing tasks for himself; feeding himself or helping you dress him by putting out an arm or a leg when you ask.
Encouraging Your Child
While it is definitely slower to let baby feed himself or help you dress him, take the time! Your child will only get better the more you let him practice and encouraging him to do so will give him the needed self-confidence to keep trying.
There are special walkers that you can put baby in that will physically support them as they learn to walk. These walkers can be helpful, though you’ll want to make sure that they are used in a safe spot, one where baby can’t fall down a step or staircase. Also, don’t completely rely on these walkers; baby needs to be out and about trying his skills on his own.


Renowned for her magnificent use of color and form in her landscapes, flower studies and abstract paintings, Georgia O'Keeffe is regarded among the most significant and provocative artists of the 20th century and a key figure in the American modernist movement.
She decided to become an artist at the age of 12. From 1905 to 1906, she attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1907, she went to New York to study oil, pastel and watercolor painting at the Art Students League. In 1908, she saw the first American exhibitions of the work of Auguste Rodin and Henri Matisse at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, known as 291, run by Alfred Stieglitz.
Between 1908 and 1910, O'Keeffe worked as a freelance commercial artist drawing lace and embroidery advertisements in Chicago. During the summer of 1912, she attended a drawing class run by Alon Bement (1876-1954) at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Through him she became interested in the anti-academic system of art education, and for the next six years, O'Keeffe taught it at schools and colleges in Virginia, South Carolina and Texas. Her continuing personal studies led her to her fascination with abstract art. In 1915, she produced a breakthrough series of large charcoal abstractions, with her inspiration being the organic motifs of the Art Nouveau, originating from, what she said were “things in my head.” Stieglitz saw the series in January 1916. Always in search of the new and determined to recognize and foster an indigenous American art, he exhibited them.
O'Keeffe moved to New York in 1918 with the promise of Stieglitz's financial support. They married in 1924 and he exhibited her work almost yearly in New York until his death in 1946. O'Keeffe became interested in the aesthetics of photography as a direct result of posing so often for her husband's camera. She started to isolate certain elements from the photographic process to serve a new purpose of objectivity; utilizing cropped images, isolated detail, telephoto, magnified close-up and the lens malfunctions common to old cameras such as convergence, halation and flare to gain new perspectives on her subjects from angles and vantage-points previously unattainable.
By 1925, O'Keeffe had developed a style from a unique fusion of Symbolism, abstraction and photography. From 1929, she spent her summers painting in New Mexico, reinvigorating her art with the colors, forms and themes of the Southwest. It was Yellow & Pink I is the product of O'Keeffe's interpretation of the landscapes that she encountered from airplanes. As in her flower paintings, O'Keeffe's unusual vantage point is rendered in an elevated perspective transporting the viewer high above the desert river. She reduces the landscape to a pattern of winding shapes with a complete loss of detail, giving her subject a mystical and spiritual meaning that is the essence of her works. In 1949. O'Keeffe moved permanently to Abiquiu, New Mexico, formerly a Native American village, near Santa Fe. During her 98 years, she received many honors and awards, including the American Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts.


Elementary School Teacher
Elementary school teachers instruct one class of children in several subjects. In some schools, two or more teachers work as a team and are jointly responsible for a group of students in at least one subject. In other schools, a teacher may teach one special subject—usually music, art, reading, science, arithmetic, or physical education—to a number of classes. A small but growing number of teachers instruct multilevel classrooms, with students at several different learning levels.
Median Annual Salary
All 50 States and the District of Columbia require public school teachers to be licensed. Licensure is not required for teachers in private schools in most States. Usually licensure is granted by the State Board of Education or a licensure advisory committee. Teachers may be licensed to teach the early childhood grades (usually preschool through grade 3); the elementary grades (grades 1 through 6 or 8); the middle grades (grades 5 through 8); a secondary-education subject area (usually grades 7 through 12); or a special subject, such as reading or music (usually grades kindergarten through 12).
Requirements for regular licenses to teach kindergarten through grade 12 vary by State. For specific state requirements, read 50 States Certification Reciprocity. For more information about becoming a teacher, read our helpful guide, 5 Steps to Becoming a Teacher.
Find a Job
Search our job listings to find Elementary Education teaching positions
From the Editor
Are you a first year teacher looking for support? Or would you like to read about classroom management? Check out these great resources!


The Achievement Gap that exists in this country, in Connecticut, and in Danbury has been gaining much needed attention.
Now more of that attention needs to focus on the importance of a high-quality preschool education, which will help close the gap for our children and lead to their future success in life.
It is part of the Danbury Promise for Children Partnership's mission to do just that. By working with business leaders, health care providers, early childhood programs, schools, and families, the Partnership aims to raise awareness of the importance of early literacy, positive communication, along with good overall health (including behavioral & oral health).
Children are more likely to be on target with literacy development if they are on track with physical, social, and emotional growth, in tandem with cognitive and verbal.
Reading proficiently by third grade is the most important predictor of high school graduation & success in life (Attendance Works & the Campaign for Grade Level Reading).
Early literacy between the ages of birth to 5, and structured literacy from kindergarten through third grade lead to reading proficiency.
Studies have shown that by age 3 there is already a marked disparity between the vocabularies of children, directly corresponding to the education level of their parents, and the number and variety of words being spoken to the children.
Other research has shown how critical those first three years of development are. Sensory pathways (vision, hearing, and touch) develop most acutely in the first six months of life; language pathways peak during the first 10 months of life; and higher cognitive functions peak in the first 3 years of life.
The achievement gap exists in children as young as 9 months old.
That gap closes, however, for children who attend quality early childhood School Readiness Programs and other quality preschool programs.
Communication between pre-kindergarten teachers and kindergarten teachers is crucial. They need to come together to discuss common curricula, including language, reading processes, and core vocabulary.
Pre-kindergarten teachers also need to understand the expectations of kindergarteners. Bridges need to be built between schools, families, and communities.
Parents and families need to be educated on child developmental milestones and positive communication.
Children respond positively to encouragement and praise and need to be in environments where this is emphasized. Positive communication within the family will lead to feelings of confidence, healthy relationships, self-esteem, cooperation, and feelings of self-worth.
Children in healthy home environments will be ready for school and life-long learning.
One of the primary goals of the Danbury Promise for Children Partnership is to foster a cooperative effort within the community so that all Danbury children have an opportunity to benefit from early learning.
Achieving that goal will mean increased success among our students, leading to higher graduation rates, greater preparedness as they enter the workforce and higher job productivity once they are in it, not to mention a greater level of community engagement.
Robin Eckstein is a resident of Brookfield.


A number of interesting assembly puzzles can be made from pieces consisting of simply joined cubes in various numbers and arrangements. Piet Hein’s Soma Cube is a notable example, consisting of all the simply joined non-convex polycubes having four or fewer units. Generally, a polyomino or polycube puzzle is presented as an outline or volume to be filled in with a certain set of pieces. It is up to the solver to figure out how to pack the pieces to fill the specified form.
Among the more interesting of the polycube puzzles are the solid pentominoes. The flat pentominoes are commonly used in early elementary education programs, so many readers will doubtless be familiar with them. Extruding the flat pentominoes by one unit in the Z-dimension gives the set of what are traditionally called “solid pentominoes.” They can be used to solve any flat pentomino puzzle, but also to create various 3D shapes. The 3D puzzles are considerably more challenging.
To make a satisfying polycube puzzle requires that the pieces be dimensioned very accurately, so they will always pack closely regardless of their arrangement. To achieve this accuracy with common hand tools is very difficult. However, blank dice provide a convenient and inexpensive source of accurate, precise unit cubes which may be joined to create the various pieces. The use of translucent dice is recommended, both because they look cool and because they’re gauranteed to be acrylic and hence strongly bondable with standard acrylic cements. All the opaque dice I’ve tried to glue have proven highly resistant to adhesives of all types; I suspect they’re made out of polyethylene.Related


This activity is closed to further registration.
Safe, nurturing environment for children to learn, grow and develop social skills during school breaks. With so many demands on today's families, parents need all the support they can get. That's why child care at the Y is about more than looking after kids. It's about nurturing their development by providing a safe place to learn foundational skills, develop healthy, trusting relationships and build self-reliance through the Y values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility.
Monday through Friday: 8:00am- 5:30pm
No care on Monday, January 2.
Activity Age Category
ANT - Sundown Elementary School at ANT Sundown CC Site
YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles:"s


Coming together to instill a love of reading in the next generation
Reading Corps is a free program designed for children ages 4-years-old through second grade to help build literacy skills and foster a love of reading and learning. Activities include reading together, writing, and playing skill-building educational games.
Reading Corps is not a tutoring program in the traditional sense. The program is inspired by the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. It does not offer homework help and it does not cover specific subjects like math. Reading Corps does help your child build literacy skills by engaging them in one-on-one reading, writing, and educational play with a volunteer reading buddy. Volunteer reading buddies work one-on-one with kids for one hour, twice a week for three months.
Students will read to their Reading Buddy, or if they cannot read yet, their Reading Buddy will read to them. They will also practice writing and drawing in a journal to support literacy development. They will play educational games that help build skills and make reading fun. We give three short assessments during the course of the program to track what skills each student may need extra help with. Reading Corps takes place at various sites throughout the community including library branches, elementary schools, and child care locations.
Reading Corps Vision
All children in Arlington will read on grade-level by the end of second grade.
Reading Corps Mission
To impart a lifelong love of reading to Arlington students in grades Pre-K through second while building superior reading and writing skills.
Sponsor a Site
Reading Corps is designed to be sustainable by having sites adopted by a dedicated group of volunteers who will be responsible for running the program at that location with the support and training of the library. We are currently looking for more community partners to adopt a Reading Corps site. If you belong to a group or organization that could be interested in adopting a Reading Corps location, please contact us at the Literacy House.
How many volunteers would we need to adopt a site?
As few or as many as you would like. The more volunteers your organization can provide, the more children you will be able to serve. We have current sites with as few as four total volunteers.
What kind of support do we receive from the library when we choose to adopt a site?
The library will be responsible for providing the site coordinator with a Reading Corps handbook. If preferred, we can provide a site coordinator until one of your own volunteers is comfortable becoming the coordinator. We will also provide all of the training that each volunteer will need. You will have access to library books through a special corporate library card for you to use during Reading Corps as well. The Reading Corps program also has a collection of educational games and tools that you will have access to for Reading Corps. We will work with you to determine which location and schedule best fits the needs of your group and the needs of the community.
Are there any other supplies which we are expected to contribute?
We encourage sponsoring organizations to purchase basic materials for Reading Corps sites, but the library can cover these costs through grants if this is not possible. The material costs for the sites are low, and usually consist of student journals, student folders, crayons, and pencils.
How long is the commitment?
We would ask that an organization sponsor a site for a minimum of one semester, which lasts twelve weeks, though we encourage you to make Reading Corps a long term project for your organization. Each Reading Corps site currently meets for one hour twice a week during the 12-week period, bringing the total volunteer hours per person up to 24 hours over three months.
What volunteer opportunities are there for each site?
Each site would need multiple reading buddies and one site coordinator. The site coordinator would be responsible for coordinating with the site’s volunteers and the library and will have a slightly larger time commitment than a reading buddy. Responsibilities that the coordinator has include recording and submitting assessment and attendance data, ensuring that the site has a balanced number of students and volunteers, and being responsible for any Reading Corps materials used at the site, such as games and library books. We also welcome individual volunteers for all sites, especially those without a sponsoring organization.


To Conserve a Legacy
In our final post for Black History Month, here’s an excerpt from To Conserve a Legacy, a catalog for the major exhibition project of the same name that collected artwork from America’s historically black colleges and universities. The book includes color reproductions of artwork in the exhibition, biographical information on the featured artists, and a report on each university collection, with this excerpt detailing some of the contributions Atlanta University’s Art Annual Competition made to African American art in the 20th century.
In order to understand just how unusual (and often vexing) it was for the white art establishment and public to first visualize and then revere black subject matter, one need only return to those early years of the Art Annual, and read the reviews and commentaries on these “all-Negro” art shows. Disparaging statements that described Atlanta University’s African American art students as “chocolaty,” their subject matter as having a “primitive” quality, and their themes as largely concerned with “racial consciousness and antagonism” were not infrequent, and illustrated just how radical the annual exhibitions were. Boston artist John Wilson—who was included in more annuals than any other African American artist—described works like his Negro Woman (which received Atlanta University’s 1955 Portrait/Figure Award) as “African American versions” of an art that was popularized by the more socially conscious Mexican painters. According to Wilson, Mexican painters like Jose Clemente Orozco dealt with “images of people who were left our or unimportant,” and with “the realities” that racism and capitalism often imposed on the world’s darker peoples and the poor. This particular approach to a figurative art—exemplified in the furtive glance and defiant “non-whiteness” of Wilson’s Negro Woman—forced white viewers of the annual exhibition to acknowledge “an almost frightening racial strength” and, conversely, black viewers to recognize themselves in the art and to visually savor the experience.
After the first three exhibitions, the originator of the Atlanta University annuals, the widely traveled artist and broad-based teacher Hale Woodruff, felt that there would come a time when the art exhibitions would become integrated and, thereafter, appreciated across the historic racial and cultural divides in America, c. 1945. Woodruff’s call for the loosening of the “all-Negro” emphasis of the annual exhibitions was rejected by Atlanta University President Rufus E. Clement, who felt that his institution’s affirmation of the long depreciated black artist (not to mention his confidence in the larger mission of historically black colleges and universities) had not lost its imperative, despite all of the patriotic words and high hopes for racial reconciliation in the postwar years. One might interpret Woodruff’s response to this statement of institutional “focus” (of “self-segregation”) as two-tiered. First, he left Atlanta University (in 1946) to teach in New York University’s art education department: one of the first, tenure-track appointments of an African American art educator by a predominately white university, And second, at the invitation of President Clement in 1950, he returned to Atlanta University to paint a six-paneled mural, The Art of the Negro, for the University’s Trevor Arnett Library.
This painterly “retort” of Woodruff’s—a brilliant mixture of history, theory, figuration, abstraction, territoriality, and universality—culminated with a panel appropriately entitled Muses. In this panel Woodruff (in the tradition of Van Vechten and other chroniclers of celebrated blacks) portrays seventeen black artists of historical and contemporary significance. From the little known, pre-modern artisans of Africa, to the contemporary artists Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, Haitian intuitive painter Hector Hyppolite, and others, Woodruff enacted in Muses a visual “roll call” of black artistic greats, but framed within the entire mural cycle’s painted history of acknowledged traditions, social disruptures, and cross-cultural interchanges. To a great extent, Woodruff’s departing salvo to Atlanta University helped advance one of the original objectives for the Art Annual, providing “stimulus for development among black artists.” What The Art of the Negro communicated to Atlanta University’s audiences and competing artists was that not only were black faces beautiful and exhibition-worthy, but so were black expressions, visions, dreams, and abstractions: artistic avenues that were appealing, evocative, and historically grounded enough to stand alongside an entire community (and, ultimately, a universe) of contemporary art.


Math and a Music Education
Library Home || Full Table of Contents || Suggest a Link || Library Help
|Ivars Peterson (Mathland)|
|Peterson discusses explorations into math and music by Pythagoras, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Leonhard Euler, Johann Sebastian Bach, Frederic Chopin, and twentieth-century composers, and cites a Nature journal article about a study suggesting that a weekly, structured music program can boost reading and math skills in early elementary school.|
|Levels:||Elementary, Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)|
|Math Ed Topics:||Interdisciplinary/Thematic Studies, Psychological Research|
The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education.


Date of this Version
NEBRASKA POLICY CHOICES 1989, ed. Miles T. Bryant, Patricia O'Connell, and Christine M. Reed (Omaha: Center for Public Affairs Research, 1989).
Art education has traditionally been of low priority in Nebraska's-and the nation's -schools. Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) is a new approach that integrates the various facets of art education throughout the general curriculum. DBAE attempts to teach students critical reasoning skills so they may learn to make their own judgments rather than be manipulated through "technological image management." It also enhances the traditional art curriculum through multicultural study. Nebraska's Prairie Visions project can serve as a model to other states, which are increasingly recognizing the value of DBAE.


How a Movement Disorder Can Affect a Child's Life
Download MP3 (Right-click or option-click the link.)
This is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT.
We continue our series on learning disabilities with a look this week at a condition called dyspraxia.
Dyspraxia is a movement disorder. The World Health Organization says about six percent of children show some sign of it. The majority are male.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities says people with dyspraxia have trouble planning and completing fine motor tasks. The brain has trouble sending messages to the body to do what the person wants. Something as simple as waving goodbye may be difficult.
There are different levels of severity, and the effects can change over time. Babies may not try to crawl or roll over. They may have difficulty moving just their eyes instead of their heads.
As they get older, children may have trouble walking or holding a cup, riding a bicycle or throwing a ball. Trouble with letter formation or slow writing can interfere with school work.
People with dyspraxia may even have trouble speaking. So imagine the difficulty in learning a sport. Adults can have problems driving a car, cleaning the house, or washing and dressing themselves. Social skills are another issue. People with dyspraxia can have trouble making friends.
Like other learning disabilities, it cannot be cured. Children might be laughed at by other children. Teachers might think they are slow. The problem is not with intelligence but with motor skill development. Yet experts say the result of these reactions can be depression and other emotional problems.
This is one reason why early intervention is important. Children might feel a lot better about themselves if they understand why it takes longer for them to learn to do things.
Experts say it is important for parents to provide help and support to dyspraxic children from an early age. Helping them learn easy physical activities that develop coordination can build their trust in themselves. And simple activities can progress toward more complex tasks. Working with occupational, speech and physical therapists can lead to further improvements.
A person with dyspraxia might also have other learning disabilities such as dyslexia or dysgraphia, which affect reading and writing. You can learn about these disorders at voaspecialenglish.com. We have transcripts and MP3s of our series on learning disabilities. Next week the subject is dyscalculia, a disorder involving mathematical abilities.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Bob Doughty.


A Level Art, Craft and Design
The AS Art, Craft and Design course is separated into two parts. Part A of the course is concerned with the development of skills. You will work through a series of workshops, tasks and short projects to prepare you for the externally set task, which is responsible for 100% of your overall grade and starts in January. You will present your work in a sketchbook and mounted sheets format. Your tutors will track, and provide regular feedback, on your progress. Part B consists of a choice of externally set starting points. You will complete a project in response to one of these.
All materials and equipment needed to complete the course will be provided. Support/reference materials can be accessed on the department internet page and Pinterest.
Method of assessment (coursework, exam, etc.): Work will be internally assessed and will include:
A paper will be issued from the exam board in January and will provide you with a variety of themes to respond to. There will be a choice of written and visual starting points, briefs and stimuli. A response should be based on one of these options.
Percentage of total AS mark: 100%
Method of assessment (coursework, exam, etc.):
There are four assessment objectives that you are marked on. These are outlined below and will be regularly referred to during assessments and discussions about your work.
Art, craft and design is not just drawing and painting, if offers a range of areas and so it is good for students who want to pursue this area with any of the other art disciplines. This area is good for students with a very definite creative flair and links with many other practical areas.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed art this year.”
“This course is a good experience and was extremely helpful with my art education.”
“The teacher was very supportive and helped me develop my ideas.”
“I feel I have been pushed to achieve my potential.”


The Tuneables is an award-winning children's music education DVD and CD series designed to teach the key building blocks of music at a critical time in a child's development. Sponsored by the Music Intelligence Project, this fun, interactive program engages children in songs and activities that provide a foundation of music understanding and growth in intellectual development. Ages 3-8.
Buy your copy today at: www.thetuneables.com/the-music-shop/
About Us » Experts
Dr. Robert Johnson is a career music educator, composer, and performer. After beginning his career as a school music teacher, he earned his doctorate in music from the University of Michigan and held university professor positions for twenty-five years. He began his work with music for young children by developing curricular and instructional strategies that provided substantive music learning and skills development. To support this effort, he identified an age-appropriate repertoire of songs and music literature and created or arranged over two hundred songs designed to teach or reinforce important musical learning. The program was introduced to hundreds of children.
Dr. Johnson advanced the cause of early childhood music education as a university professor by offering courses to prepare teachers, conducting research and sharing the results at conferences, and conducting workshops for parents and caregivers of young children. He utilizes the demonstration class as a means for observers to see first hand how appropriate experience and instruction in music can propel the young child's musical and intellectual development. He emphasizes the importance of selecting and sequencing essential music learning as well as engaging the children in cognitive skills appropriate for the individual child. Dr. Johnson has observed that all children benefit from learning music, and he supports the research findings indicating that the greatest benefit is obtained when learning begins in the earliest years of the child's life.
Patsy Johnson, Ed.D.
Dr. Patsy Johnson is a professional educator who began her career teaching music in the public schools, directing children's choirs, and maintaining a piano studio. These experiences formed the foundation of a music instruction program for preschool children that was expanded and developed over many years. Her direct teaching contact with thousands of children and hundreds of teachers of early childhood music revealed her success in developing unusual levels of musical competence in children. Her reputation has resulted in dozens of requests for workshop and clinics for teachers and for presentations at early childhood education conferences. She incorporated music education programs for young children in private music classes, music programs in preschool settings, and music education courses at colleges and universities.
Dr. Johnson extended her expertise in early childhood education by holding positions as a general preschool teacher of four- and five-year-old children. She then earned her doctorate in education and held positions at universities with graduate programs in educational leadership. As an award winning professor, her courses and research emphasized the importance of a sequential coordinated program of instruction beginning with early childhood throughout the public school years. Her research emphasized the nurturing and fair environments for all learning. She underscored the important role of the arts in a child's intellectual development and incorporated the latest findings of brain research regarding the arts in her courses and lectures.
Drs. Robert and Patsy Johnson have collaborated not only in early childhood music education but also in marriage. Many insights about the benefits of music learning for enhanced intellectual growth emerged as they guided their three children through many of the experiences supported by the Music Intelligence Project. Now, they have moved on to the next generation as they tap in to new technologies while engaging their grandchildren in music learning.


Submitted On: Monday, June 23, 2014
Analyst: Stephens, Diane
Effective July 1, 2014, South Carolina established state-wide reading policy via a law known as the Read to Succeed (RTS) Act. The law is intended to increase the number of K-12 students who are able to comprehend grade level text. The law requires that students have knowledgeable teachers, administrators, and school psychologists; access to diverse texts; time to read; and, as needed supplemental support.
The law requires all pre-service K-5 teachers have 12 hours in reading and pre-service 6-12 grade teachers have six hours in reading. These courses must address a set of “essential competencies” designed collaboratively with faculty from Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and the about-to-be-established state-level RTS Office. In-service K-5 teachers and all special education teachers who teach reading are required to add-on state certification as a Literacy Teacher. They have ten years to do so but must take at least once course every five years. In-service middle level and secondary teachers have six years to take one of the courses which leads to Literacy Teacher. Principals and school psychologists also have six years to take at least one course. All elementary schools must have Literacy Coaches. State monies were provided to either fully or partially cover this cost. Coaches have six years to obtain the state’s Literacy Coach add-on endorsement.
All districts must develop a district-wide reading plan. The plan consists of their answers a set of questions about how they will provide what is needed (e.g., books, time to read, knowledgeable teachers, knowledgeable staff, involved and informed parents) to help ensure that all students progress as readers and are able to comprehend grade-level text.
Within K-5 schools, students must have 90 minutes a day of literacy instruction and all students who need additional support are required to have 30 minutes a day of supplemental support (e.g., book clubs. Across the K-12 continuum, schools are required to provide appropriate supplemental support until students are able to comprehend grade level texts.
Summer reading camps are provided, without cost, to all K-5 students who cannot yet comprehend grade level text.
Schools are expected to work collaboratively with parents/guardians to help them understand how to best support their child(ren) as readers. Schools and communities are expected to collaborate to increase the volume of reading that students do in and out of school. Pre-school programs are also required to help parents learn how to support the literacy development and children.
Third grade students who read at the equivalent of Not Met 1 on the state test (which equates to reading about two years below grade level) are required to attend a summer reading camp. While there are several good cause exemptions, students who are still reading two years or more below grade level by the end of the summer will not be promoted to the fourth grade but will spend a year in a specially designed literacy rich classroom. The decision about grade level competency can be determined by portfolio rather than by a standardized test.


Creating the Curriculum
Is there an ‘ideal’ primary school curriculum?
Who should decide what the curriculum is?
Should teachers have autonomy over how they teach?
The curriculum is the heart of what teachers teach and learners learn: effective teaching is only possible with an effective curriculum. Yet in spite of its importance, there has been a crisis in curriculum that has been caused in large part by governments assuming direct control over the curriculum, assessment, and increasingly, pedagogy.
Creating the Curriculum tackles this thorny issue head on, challenging student and practising primary school teachers to think critically about past and present issues and to engage with a new wave of curriculum thinking and development. Considering curriculum construction and its impact on teaching and learning in the four countries of the UK, key issues considered include:
- who should decide the curriculum, its aims and its values
- the extent to which issues in primary education swing back and forth
- Subjects versus thematic organisation, stages and phases, progression, breadth and balance
- prescription versus teacher autonomy
- the key features of effective classroom practice
- strategies for assessing the whole curriculum
- how language in the classroom influences curriculum design
- understanding curricula in the context of children’s social and personal circumstances
- creativity, curriculum and the classroom.
Illustrated throughout with strategies and case studies from the classroom, Creating the Curriculum accessibly links the latest research and evidence with concrete examples of good practice. It is a timely exploration of what makes an effective and meanginful curriculum and how teachers can bring new relevance, motivation and powerful values to what they teach.
168 pages; ISBN 9781136296864
, or download in or
Title: Creating the Curriculum
Author: Dominic Wyse; Vivienne Baumfield; David Egan; Louise Hayward; Moira Hulme; Ian Menter; Carmel Gallagher; Ruth Leitch; Kay Livingston; Bob Lingard


As a former preschool and kindergarten teacher, I can tell you that such writing does not worry me and in fact it lets me know that often children have moved on to the next stage in their literacy development. Often, children "get it right" in the beginning because they have learned to write by copying something that a grown-up has written for them. When children start to write on their own without an example, they will make more errors. They are using their brains to figure things out and that is a good thing! When you watch a preschooler write, you can often see a level of concentration that says, "My brain is working OVERTIME over here!"
What should parents of preschoolers do?
- Avoid making a big deal and correcting your child. Over corrections may discourage your child from future attempts at writing.
- Model writing for your child. For example, when he or she asks you to write their name or a sentence on their artwork, start in the upper left corner so children see the direction of print.
- Sometimes (but not always) point to the words books that you are reading so children learn that text is read from left to write and from top to bottom
- Relax and don't worry! This is an awesome stage in your child's development and if they are taking an interest in writing, NURTURE it rather than over-analyzing it!
What if my child is in Kindergarten and is still writing backwards?
The same rules apply. Up until age seven or eight, children may continue to display mirror writing. Most of the time, children will learn the correct way with lots of practice that they are likely to get when they enter elementary school. If you are still concerned, speak to your child's teacher and your child's pediatrician.
Two Great Resources for Parents and Teachers
Recommended Reading for Parents and Teachers
Cornell, J.M. (1985). Spontaneous mirror writing in children. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 39(1), 174-179.
Cubelli, R. (2009). Mirror writing in preschool - A pilot study. Cognitive Processing, 10 (2), 101-104.


For Teachers & Administrators
What are you looking for?
Product Catalog > Software & Curriculum > Math > Math Course 2 - Decimals & Percents Step by Step
On your way home from school, you tumble into a mysterious underground laboratory.To escape the lab, you must solve a...
Features & Benefits
Numeracy skills start with understanding whole numbers and performing arithmetic operations with whole numbers. For complete numeracy skills, the concepts and use of part numbers must be understood. This is a subject area where many students have some difficulty with the concepts. Without a strong understanding of numeracy skills, students will struggle with other parts of the math curriculum.
Part numbers can be expressed in different forms, as fractions, decimals or percents. Math Course 2, Decimals & Percents: Step by Step covers how to perform arithmetic operations with decimals and percents and how to convert part numbers between fractions, decimals and percents. The use of ratios and proportions and percent problems are also covered in this math help software. A complete list of Topics covered by this Course appears below.
The subject of Decimals is recognized as a complete ‘math strand’ within the math curriculum. Math Course 2 covers 32 learning outcomes which meet or exceed the standards set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for decimals & percents and also correlate to state standards. Decimals & Percents curriculum is spread between Grades 3 and 7 and its concentration by Grade varies by state.
The Course content is organized sequentially so earlier Topics will correlate to the earlier delivery of curriculum. The arithmetic work and problem solving tends to be mostly concentrated at Grades 5 and 6. Consequently, our Grade rating for the Decimals & Percents: Step by Step Course is:Target: 5 & 6, Remedial: 6 and up, Enrichment: 3,4 & 5. Students can progress to grade level and suspend further work or continue to move forward for enrichment.
Each student is pre-tested at the beginning of each Unit (8 Units in this Course) and a lesson plan based on learning needs is developed – no annoying repetition of subjects that are well understood – just what you need to learn.
Decimals & Percents List of Topics
|Unit 1: Decimal Basics
||Unit 2: Adding and Subtracting Decimals |
- Decimal Numbers
- Changing Decimals to Fractions
- Comparison Symbols
- Rounding Decimals
- Changing Fractions to Decimals
- Adding Decimals
- Subtracting Decimals
- Adding and Subtracting Decimals - Word Problems
|Unit 3: Multiplying Decimals
||Unit 4: Dividing Decimals |
- Multiplying Decimals by Tens
- Multiplying Decimals by Tenths
- Multiplying Decimals
- Multiplying Decimals - Word Problems
- Dividing by Tens and Tenths
- Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers
- Dividing Decimals by Decimals
- Dividing Decimals - Word Problems
|Unit 5: Mixed Operations
||Unit 6: Percent Basics |
- Doing Mixed Operations with Decimals
- Doing Mixed Operations with Decimals - Word Problems
- The Meaning of Percent
- Changing Between Percents and Decimals
- Changing Between Percents and Fractions
- Finding Percents - Word Problems
|Unit 7: Percent Problems
||Unit 8: Practical Problems |
- Finding a Percent of a Number
- Adding and Subtracting Percents
- Finding Percent Increase
- Finding Percent Decrease
- Percents - Word Problems
- Calculating Proportions
- Converting Measurements
- Converting Money
Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista
We accept school Purchase Orders
Learning Services Phone: 1-800-877-9378 Fax: 1-800-815-5154 P.O. Box 10636, Eugene, OR 97440


For every student who improves in the course of a year from one category to another, the school earns a point.
Schools also are awarded points for students who maintain the proficient or advanced category for two consecutive years.
“If you remain proficient or advanced for two years in a row, then you get a growth point because it was decided that you were gaining knowledge,” said Maridyth McBee, assistant state superintendent for accountability and assessment.
Finally, schools were awarded growth points if a student in the limited knowledge or unsatisfactory category improved more on tests than the average improvement of all other students.
That was the sticking point for many superintendents. They said the average should be a true average that also takes into consideration students who regressed, thus lowering the bar that a student had to get over to earn a growth point for the school.
The growth measure is intended to recognize the work that lower performing schools do. A school's student population may come in at a lower level of academic performance — due to external factors like poverty, high mobility, single-parent households, foster care and homelessness — yet the school still could be considered high performing because of how quickly students progress in a good environment with excellent teachers and administrators.
No child left behind
Before schools were awarded letter grades, they were awarded points on a scale from 0 to 1,500.
Under the old system — the Academic Performance Index — 227 schools were considered in “need of improvement” the 2010-2011 school year. The needs improvement list is a federal designation of schools that had failed to make enough progress in the course of a year to meet requirements.
The state itself didn't meet the threshold for adequate yearly progress in the 2010 to 2011 school year. The expectations for API scores had steadily been increasing over the years until every school would have been expected to score a perfect 1,500 on the scale in 2014 — a mandate that came with President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation.
Under the new system — the A to F grading scale — 10 schools received F's and 138 received D's.
There were 160 schools that received A's, 841 schools with B's and 594 schools with C's.
“Part of the history I've heard and criticisms around education in the state of Oklahoma is that we've watered down things so much that really we are behind national averages even though we think the state is doing great because of test scores,” said McBee.
She said the letter grading system was established to correlate back to where the state is at in academic performance.
“If we make it so that the hurdle is so easy to get over, what are we really accomplishing?” McBee asked.
The letter grades, much like API scores, are composed of several factors, not just student performance on standardized tests.
But to complicate things further, the letter grades will not be used to satisfy the No Child Left Behind Act. Another classification of schools, one that districts have seen and will be released sometime in mid-December, is being used instead.
McBee said the A to F classification is an easier designation for the community to understand than the new measure for No Child Left Behind.
Edmond Public Schools Superintendent David Goin said he finds it ironic that under the No Child Left Behind Act they have several schools that are labeled as the highest performers — Reward Schools. But under the A to F grading scale that is being sent out to parents and publicized, many of those schools received B's.
“We have nine elementary schools that are referred to as Reward Schools,” Goin said. “This year, of those Reward Schools only three made A's and the reward schools are in the top four percent of achievement.”
Goin said the biggest issue in the calculation is the growth component, particularly in the calculation of growth among the lowest quartile.
He said that it is not in fact an analysis of the bottom quarter of students, but only those students in the unsatisfactory and limited knowledge categories. He said in some Edmond Public Schools that is only 15 to 20 students out of hundreds.
“You're talking about children who, it could be questionable about whether they should be taking the test or not,” Goin said. “Either we have very, very weak elementary education across the state, or there's something amiss with the formula.
“What we've ended up with is an extremely large number of B's in the state and a dearth of A's, and so the span of achievement levels even among your B schools is tremendous,” he said.


The landmark passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India. For the first time in India’s history, children will be guaranteed their right to quality elementary education by the state with the help of families and communities. Few countries in the world have such a national provision to ensure child-centered, child-friendly education to help all children develop to their fullest potential. An estimated eight million children (6 to 14 years) in India were out-of-school in 2009.
“India is home to a growing urban population that can be mobilized into demanding that the goals set forth in RTE become reality. We must continue the momentum to achieve this objective and the middle class, as well as the media, can help raise their voices to keep RTE firmly in the national spotlight,” said UNICEF India Representative Karin Hulshof. “We hope to have 500,000 people sign-up for the campaign by 24 January, Girl Child Day.”
The campaign is being launched by UNICEF, with the support of the Government of India, at www.awaazdo.in. “Awaaz Do” means “Speak Up” in Hindi and is symbolized by a megaphone logo. Using technology and social networking allows citizens to get actively involved and demand the rights for children who are excluded and marginalized.
Those who sign up serve as champions for the cause and help build awareness through social media forums including email, Facebook, SMS and a photography contest. UNICEF celebrity ambassador, Priyanka Chopra, and Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development, have signed up as an Awaaz Do champions to garner support.
Several corporate and media houses have partnered with UNICEF to endorse the cause. Tata Teleservices, Barista Lavazza, Park Hotels, Tupperware are urging their customers to speak up. Disney network and Chandamama are asking their viewers and readers - primarily children - to spread awareness on the campaign. Many leading corporates, like CPA Global, are encouraging their employees to sign up. Radio City 91.1 and Planet RadioCity.com are connecting with each one of their listeners across its 20 stations to take the online pledge and be part of the change. Photography and short-film contests are also being organized with prizes sponsored by Canon.
Millions of children, both girls and boys, will benefit from the RTE Act ensuring quality education with equity. The initiative is a ripe platform to reach the unreached, with specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a “disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor.”
RTE focuses on the quality of teaching and learning, which requires accelerated efforts and substantial reforms. Creative and sustained initiatives are crucial to train more than one million new and untrained teachers within the next three to five years and to reinforce the skills of in-service teachers to ensure child-friendly education.
“UNICEF is working with the Government of India to outline a roadmap for implementing RTE at the national and state level. However, the success of this act is also largely dependent on collective action,” said Urmila Sarkar, UNICEF’s Chief of Education. “The Awaaz Do campaign is a platform for the combined voices of the government, the corporate world, the media and individuals to become an undeniable force to ensure every child is in school.”
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org
For media queries and more information, please contact:
Angela Walker, Chief, Advocacy & Partnerships
Geetanjali Master, Communications Specialist
Sonia Sarkar, Communication Officer


"I would wish to fit you for that world in which you are destined to live."
Liberal Arts & Careers
Graduates entering the workforce in the next decade can expect to be changing careers at least three times in their lives, many even more. The skills and qualities necessary for success and adaptability in work life are developed through the liberal arts curriculum at Seton Hill, which is required as a part of every degree program. These include:
In a rapidly changing and unpredictable job market, college graduates must create their own futures. Coupled with the depth achieved through study in a chosen major, the liberal arts curriculum prepares students not only to land their first job, but to step confidently into a lifetime of career opportunities.
Liberal Arts Curriculum
Basic Composition and Seminar in Thinking & Writing focus on writing, communication and critical thinking - foundational skills for success in college as well as life. The unique and intensive approach at Seton Hill combines examination of cultural identity with an emphasis on oral, written, technological and interpersonal skill building.
Connections provides an introduction to university life in general and Seton Hill life in particular, including strategies for academic success and information on campus resources.
Artistic expression courses allow students to tap into their imaginations and enhance their skills in key areas such as communication, reflection and self-awareness. Courses are offered in disciplines of writing, music, dance, theatre and the visual arts.
Faith, Religion & Society studies the role of faith and spirituality in human development. Students explore religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and examine the role that religions play in shaping human societies – topics important for global citizenship in a world increasingly influenced by the power of religion.
Courses in language study, western culture, U.S. cultures and global perspectives require students to develop an awareness of cultural, historical and global issues. This cultural analysis, focusing on issues related to social privilege, oppression, class, gender, race, ethnicity and religion, provides students with foundational knowledge and critical perspectives that are essential for effective citizens of the twenty-first century. Topics are explored through various cultural lenses including art, music, literature, philosophy and theology.
Students in mathematics and science courses engage in inquiry through the use of quantitative skills such as logic, algebra, geometry and statistics, or through scientific research and analysis of data. This base of knowledge and skill is crucial to the analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills that are vital in both the professional world and everyday life.
In philosophy and theology courses students exercise critical and creative thinking to develop a system of informed values and to explore the faith tradition of Christianity. Students choose from a variety of courses to find one best suited for reflection on their own spiritual journeys, and to examine contemporary life through the lenses of ethics, faith and reason.
Senior Integrative Seminar guides students through a cross-disciplinary capstone experience that aids them in integrating their educational experiences, accomplishments and personal value system, and in demonstrating their fulfillment of the University Learning Objectives.
Throughout the Seton Hill experience, students also learn entrepreneurial skills such as goal setting, risk-taking, flexibility, teamwork, transferring knowledge into behavior, and sound decision-making. These skills are introduced during the first year, honed through special assignments in the major, and assessed through a senior capstone project.
Information literacy skills are developed beginning with the Seminar in Thinking and Writing, and information literacy concepts are integrated throughout the major curricula and liberal arts courses. These ensure that students leave Seton Hill able to access, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources.
Total credits = 39 - 48
Total result = Skills for meaningful success in professional and personal life.


Value of Literature-Based Instruction for All Students
There is growing evidence favoring literature-based programs for students
experiencing difficulty. Literature offers a rich background from which to
learn vocabulary, to accumulate knowledge about written language, and to
develop literacy skills (Morrow, O'Connor, & Smith, 1990). Literature-based
programs provide a meaningful basis from which to learn skills and strategies
(Tunnell & Jacobs, 1989). Literature-based programs can lead to increased
use of literature for independent reading and improved attitudes toward reading
for students experiencing difficulty in learning (Morrow, 1992). Literature-based
programs can also result in higher test scores for those students (Roser, Hoffman,
& Farest, 1990).
Gifted and Talented Students
Gifted students benefit from an environment that encourages risk taking,
learning by trial and error, and finding solutions to real problems.
Teachers can meet the needs of gifted students by equipping them with strategies
for locating resources, by observing and facilitating students' independent work,
and by finding ways for them to contribute to the larger community of the classroom
and school (Cohen, 1987). Within the context of literature-based programs, there are
many such opportunities.
Students Acquiring English
Students acquiring English need a strong and supportive context for learning, one in
which they can experiment with language without fear of failure, one in which the
acquisition of literacy in a second language is seen as an exciting and meaningful
endeavor (Rueda, 1991).
Teachers can encourage students to enhance their oral and written communication with
activities such as dramatization and art. In conversations, they can focus on the message
students are conveying rather than elements of form, grammar, and pronunciation (Allen, 1991).
Literature and literature-based instruction provide a rich source of language, vocabulary,
and syntax in a way that oral language alone cannot. A thematic organization of literature
offers ways to extend linguistic support and to offer a variety of reasons to read, write,
and talk (Allen, 1991).
Students of Diverse Cultural Backgrounds
Students learn best and are more highly motivated when the school curriculum reflects their
cultures, experiences, and perspectives (Banks, 1989). Studies demonstrate that the school
performance of students of diverse cultures can be increased when steps are taken to create
for them culturally familiar and comfortable classroom situations (Heath, 1983). Perhaps the
best documented example of this is the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP), with
native Hawaiian students (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). One of the features of traditional
Hawaiian culture is that storytelling is a group rather than an individual activity. When
classroom practices were restructured to include this type of cultural interaction pattern,
dramatic gains in student literacy were seen.
In addition to the academic gains that can be achieved by motivated students with healthy
self-concepts, addressing diverse cultural backgrounds in literature also helps students to
develop social sensitivity to the needs of others and to understand the similarities as well
as differences among people (Norton, 1990). This, in turn, helps students better understand
See also Multicultural/Diverse Perspective Instruction
Go on to Meeting Individual Needs of All Students References
Back to Organizational Patterns
Reading/Language Arts Center |
Education Place |
Copyright © 1997 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms and Conditions of Use.


States have the major role in putting MDG programmes in place
India’s achievement in poverty reduction is one of the leading factors in the global action against poverty. The Millennium Project Report states that “with more than 2.3 billion people in these two countries (China and India) alone, their major advances in poverty reduction drive developing world averages.”
India’s Tenth Five-Year Plan (2003-2007) included targets of human development that can be monitored, consistent with, but more ambitious than the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2008-2012) proposes state-specific targets. The Government has launched several large programmes with regard to the MDGs. The areas that require redoubled efforts include literacy, nutrition, maternal mortality and child mortality. The responsibility of implementing most of the social sector programmes relating to the Goals lies with the provincial governments.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, with an annual allocation of $2.5 billion, guarantees 100 days of work to every household. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has allocated $7 billion over a seven-year period to provide basic services to the urban poor in 63 major cities. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Campaign), launched in the year 2000, is a national programme to make elementary education accessible to all. The National Rural Health Mission is focused on basic health-care delivery systems through a synergistic approach focusing on sanitation, water, nutrition, and health care.
A major task for India is the improvement of service delivery and capacity development, at district and local levels, in order to implement and monitor very large programmes. Social, economic, and political inclusion, decreasing the incidence of violence (gender/caste-based) and reduction of regional disparities require concerted efforts to promote greater access of vulnerable groups (such as women, dalits, tribal groups, and religious minorities) to basic services, including credit and social security, opportunities for decent work, and participation in decision-making. The Eleventh Plan addresses these challenges through a mix of resource allocation, incentives for institutional reform of the delivery system, and public-private partnerships.
Critical policy and plan documents of State Governments, such as Annual Economic Surveys and the Eleventh Five Year Plan, now have human development reporting integrated into them. At the state level, Madhya Pradesh has had a series of Missions on health and education, including iodine deficiency, since the mid-1990s. Since 2006, the government of Maharashtra has focused the Maharashtra Human Development Mission around the MDGs. Its objective is to meet the eight Goals in 12 districts ranking low on the Human Development Index. Additionally, the concept of human development is being increasingly integrated into district planning through district-specific Human Development Reports (HDRs).
The Government of India has identified 250 such districts for which a Backward Regions Grant Fund provides financial support for district planning and programme implementation. At the city level, the Delhi HDR has specified Delhi Development Goals, customizing the MDGs to a purely urban context. At the national level, a concerted effort is being made to implement the Eleventh Five-Year Plan in collaboration with civil society organizations across the country.
Last updated 25 August 2008
Click to learn more about organizations, projects and individuals on the ground from Scientists Without Borders.


For years, experts have emphasized that the earliest years of a child’s life are crucial to literacy development. Research has indicated that reading to a baby or toddler can vastly improve the child’s later achievement in school. Other studies have demonstrated that a child’s educational success rests upon how well he reads and writes.
Is there a perfect time to learn?
Based upon these studies, some well-meaning parents and educators have taken the leap that early reading is best. Suddenly, the “Mommy Wars” have taken an ugly twist, with parents drilling two-year-olds with flashcards, and pricey preschools guaranteeing that children will be reading by the time that they are four years old.
Parents whose three, four or five-year-old children are not reading may feel pressured that their kids are doomed to struggle through school for years. Some parents choose to send their young children to day care centers and preschools, hoping that a professional educator can do a better job of helping their little ones measure up.
How parents can help
Just like potty training, sleeping all night or walking, learning to decode words requires children to reach certain levels of maturity and intellectual development. Oddly, many parents worry that their child is behind in reading, but they are perfectly relaxed about waiting to toilet train until he shows readiness. Just like in all early childhood endeavors, reading skills will be best achieved with the tender help from parents.
What should a parent do while waiting for the child to develop?
If a child is not truly ready to read, parents cannot force him to learn. However, this does not mean that the child is not able to learn and develop important cognitive abilities in the meantime. Other things to think of to help your child acquire basic learning skills include:
-Instill a love of books by reading him well illustrated, exciting books that appeal to the child’s interests
-Use words that the child may not know and explain the meanings of these words
-Keep learning opportunities short and fun
-Avoid pressuring the child or making him feel like he is a failure
-Encourage him to ask and answer questions
-Severely limit television and video games
How to tell when your child is ready
Each child develops in a unique way. Some children are zipping through books at age four while others still struggle to sound out words at age six. Both are perfectly acceptable and normal rates of development. However, children do show certain signs of readiness for gentle reading instruction. If a child is interested in letters, words, books and writing, he is in the earliest stages of reading readiness. At this stage, children will learn to spell their names, write down familiar words and “read” favorite books from memory. Children who are ready to learn basic reading skills understand that the markings on the page of a book stand for words and can make stories come alive.
Can parents teach their children to read?
Once a child is showing reading readiness, parents can begin some gentle reading instruction. Website research for methods to use is a good first step to take, as new techniques and valuable teaching tips will help any parent, even fist-timers, become a great reading tutor. Parents should let their child lead the way and not push him. Mom and Dad can patiently explain the correlation between letters and sounds, and they can demonstrate how to string the sounds together to make words. Eventually, children will read by sight, but showing a child how to sound out words is a useful early skill.
Parents should be patient and encouraging during the learning process because it can take months and years for a child to become fluent. The important thing is that the child is progressing as a reader. Whether a child learns to read at age three or at age six, as long as he can read well and enjoy books, he will likely do well in school. For parents of small kids, reading should be a fun experience rather than a grueling task. Involved, excited parents can make the process of learning to read a happy memory rather than an onerous chore.
Ann Bailey has taught two children of her own to read, and shares these helpful hints with other parents. The Reading Row website for teaching reading skills is available for any parent who wants to enrich their own understanding of their child’s needs and become better integrated in their youth’s educational foundation.


A proton is a tiny particle, smaller than an atom. Protons are too small to see, even with an electron microscope, but we know they must be there because that's the only way we can explain how atoms behave. To give you an idea how small a proton is, if an atom was the size of a football stadium, then a proton would still be smaller than a marble.
Pretty much all of the protons in the universe probably got made very soon after the Big Bang. At first there was no stuff, just a lot of loose energy shooting around everywhere in the form of photons (light) and larger particles like photons called bosons. These early bosons had tons of energy and a lot of them broke apart into protons and anti-protons. Most of these protons and anti-protons eventually lost energy and hooked back up into bosons again, but some of the anti-protons seem to have gotten lost somewhere, and all the mass in the Universe comes from these left-over protons.
All protons, everywhere in the universe, are exactly the same, and pretty much all of them are inside atoms. Different atoms have different numbers of protons; what makes an atom be a helium atom, or a gold atom, or an oxygen atom depends on how many protons it has, not what kind they are.
Protons make the nucleus, or center, of an atom. The simplest atoms - hydrogen atoms - have a nucleus made of just one proton. But most atoms have more than one proton, and at least one neutron to go with each proton.
Protons are actually made of even smaller invisible particles, called quarks. Each proton has three quarks, two up quarks and one down quark. A strong nuclear force sticks the quarks together. Most of the mass of a proton comes from this strong nuclear force, rather than from the quarks.
Because a proton has two up quarks and only one down quark, it has a positive charge, like the positive end of a magnet. Two things that have positive charges push away from each other, so the protons in an atom are always pushing away from each other. They need the neutrons to pull them together. The neutrons help to stick the protons together, using the strong nuclear force. The heaviest atom that exists in nature is uranium, with 92 protons. Even the neutrons and the strong nuclear force can't hold together more protons than that for more than a few seconds.
To find out more about atoms, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Science for Kids home page
Kidipede home page


How is technology used in your classroom? It depends on who is in the driver’s seat. Is it teacher driven, or student centered? It makes a profound difference! Integrating technology effectively involves the intentional design, development and implementation of resources or tools that best suits an instructional purpose. It’s not about how many video clips you can show, or how many PowerPoints you can run, in fact…it’s not really about you. It is more about the ways in which students are actively engaged to learn.
So…. how do you actively engage your students with technology in your classroom? The foundational skills needed for the SOL tests often involve lower level Blooms taxonomy, but upper level Bloom might be just what’s needed. Don’t get me wrong….skill and drill programs like Fasttmath serve a definite purpose. For other content areas, working with abstract ideas might require a different approach. Projects, or activities taught through small groups or work in centers can provide tremendous learning opportunities. Maybe you could have students blog about a particular topic, useVoice threads, , use digital cameras and pictures or video to generate digital posters, short videos or other products. How about creating a digital newspaper or participating in a virtual field trip…. the list is endless. The point is that the students are actively engaged in a task where they are thinking, doing, learning, producing… not simply watching a video or copying notes displayed by a document camera blindly into a notebook.
It requires a shift in thoughts and teaching habits, stepping out of the driver’s seat and into the passenger seat. If you have never tried it, you are in for a surprise. You will find that your role will change from the sage on the stage to that of a facilitator. For some, that is a huge shift. It’s hard to let go. You can do it! Once thoughts and practices have been adapted, the stage is set for transformation to occur. The transformation will probably involve some or maybe even all those educational buzzwords that you keep hearing about like differentiation, collaboration, Marzano strategies, modalities… you know the ones that I am talking about. It’s not easy, but it is rewarding, and can help students in so many ways.
In our school division, we have a wealth of resources, tools and support to afford such transformation. There are computers everywhere…labs, classrooms, and COWS (laptop carts). There are doc cams,digital cameras, data projectors, Promethean boards, voice recorders and other gadgets, plus a plethora of software like kidpix, Kidspiration & Inspiration Software, PowerPoint, Word, Publisher, PhotoStory, Movie Maker and much, much more. We have TRTs who are ready, willing and able to help you make it happen. Want to brainstorm some ideas? Need someone to help you co-teach a technology integrated lesson? Your TRT is there to assist! To see what you can do with technology in your classroom, start small. Adapt. Grow. Keep trying new things. Keep adding new tools to your teacher tool box. Next thing you know, you will have a wealth of high quality, student centered technology activities that provide meaningful learning experiences.
You want to get effective technology in use in your classroom? Get out of the driver’s seat. Explore ways to adapt your practices. Work with your TRT. Add tools to your toolbox. Use the resources, tools and support to facilitate a transformation in yourself and your classroom.