Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Literacy (K-12)
The online Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Literacy (K-12) is designed to help you advance your teaching abilities. The courses cover a range of educational and leadership topics and are comprised of high quality and innovative curricula that will teach skills immediately applicable in the classroom.
CAGS in Literacy (K-12) Concentration Coursework
This course will address the foundational knowledge that teachers of literacy need in order to understand the reading and writing process for students. In this course, teachers will be exposed to major theories, research, and best practices in the literacy field. Teachers will be asked to draw upon this theoretical and practical knowledge to think about issues of instructional practice. Through engaging inquiry experiences, teachers will become active participants in developing a strong foundational base for literacy instruction for all learners in their classrooms.
This course focuses on the use of assessments in determining a student’s reading and/or writing skills. Teachers will examine, create, evaluate, and reflect on a variety of literacy assessments as they are directly connected to data-driven instruction and student literacy achievement. Each course module will engage teachers in becoming familiar with a range of assessments and how to use data from these assessments in developing lessons and activities that will allow students to learn subject content as well as develop and deepen literacy skills. Teachers will be engaged in the research around assessments as well as how to modify assessments and instruction based on assessments to meet the needs of diverse learners.
This course will provide teachers with the foundational knowledge of how to meaningfully integrate content area literacy into their classrooms. Teachers will be immersed in the most current research surrounding teaching our students to be active consumers of a variety of texts in the content area classroom. Each learning module will be devoted to answering an inquiry question that is based in research and best practice. Teachers will be expected to engage with this material as well as be active learners themselves by demonstrating how this would look in their practice as they deliver effective literacy instruction.
This course will immerse teachers in the theoretical and evidence-based reading and writing connection. Teachers will have the opportunity to explore this connection by examining and applying successful instructional strategies and activities. In addition, teachers will engage with the research that drives effective writing instruction. Each learning module will be devoted to answering an inquiry question that is based in research and best practice. Teachers, regardless of the level or content they teach, will be provided with tools that will help to maintain learners’ literacy development as they read and write to learn or learn to read and write.
This course will address how to engage in differentiated literacy practices to meet the needs of all diverse learners in current and future classrooms. Teachers will be immersed in the foundational knowledge that will assist them creating effective instruction that will assist students who need support in their literacy development. This class will deal with how to approach literacy challenges from the classroom and school levels in a systematic way. In addition, it will address diverse learners both in terms of learning differences (such as struggling readers, English Language Learners, and gifted learners) as well as incorporating a culturally responsive approach to pedagogy.


According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is the primary federal entity for analyzing data relating to education, early reading in children is an invaluable tool with many wide ranging benefits, such as promoting language acquisition and literacy development. Reading will help to prepare young children for school, while providing them with a lifelong educational and enjoyable hobby. Oh, the places they'll go while under the spell of a captivating book! A few simple steps, implemented into their daily routines, is all it takes to promote a lifetime of fulfillment for the entire family.
1. Take Them to The Library!
Most local libraries have a wonderful dedicated childrens reading room, with many age appropriate titles and colorful displays to captivate the young childs imagination. Once the little learners are engrossed in their books, this is an excellent opportunity for mom to slip unnoticed out the emergency exit and head to the local tavern. Countless pleasurable hours can be whiled away over frozen pina coladas, while making suggestive remarks to that yummy barely-legal-age tattooed bartender, who in just the right light, and after you have consumed the proper amount of alcoholic frozen beverages, resembles a young George Clooney. While at the bar, don't forget to slip one of those colorful Drink Specials Menus into your purse to take home to your children. The brightly colored photos of tropical drinks will stimulate the cortex of the childs brain to enhance learning, with the added bonus of introducing new and exotic vocabulary words, such as "tequila" and "slippery nipple".
2. Have Books in Every Room of the House!
The availability of a selection of diverse books in different areas of the home will also help to stimulate the habit of reading in the young child. Have a bookcase or two in the living and family rooms, and perhaps even a stack of books in each bathroom as a reminder to the child to read, read, read. To further motivate the children to read, inform the little darlings that there a few fives spots hidden in the books, and that the money they find can be used at their discretion for candy or video games. This will also help to promote a sense of financial responsibility within the child. The resulting frenzied treasure hunt for the cash will expose the little beasts to an array of varied books, while giving mom plenty of free time to slip into that revealing too-tight leopard print tank top for a refreshing lounge on the deck with a magnum of chardonnay, all the while eyeballing the neighbors shirtless teenage son, as he mows the lawn with his oversize jeans which expose an enticing glimpse of his boxer shorts.
3. Read to Your Children at Every Opportunity!
Reading to a child makes it easier for him or her to develop speech and aids in important vocabulary and pronunciation skills. Get in the habit of reading to your children every day, and also every night at bedtime, or ideally, pay a neighborhood teenager or unemployed vagrant to read to them, since bedtime coincides with the peak activity time on Facebook. These evening bedtime hours are the busiest time on Facebook, and one must constantly monitor the activities of ones several hundred male Facebook Friends. A change of marital status from "Married" to "Single" or "Its Complicated" can occur in a blink of the eye, and one must be ready at all times to seize these opportunities, lest some conniving and scheming woman move in first and lay claim to what could (and should!!) be rightfully yours.
As can be plainly seen, the road to promoting a love of reading and early literacy in children is a simple, yet often overlooked path. By following these few simple steps, your children will soon discover the life long pleasure which reading can give, while greatly adding to the total fulfillment of your life as a woman and a mother. Let reading bring joy to the lives of your children and to you as well!


Societies evolve and change over time. Whether the causes are economic, driven by war, or merely fallout of an evolving political system, the results are the same. New generations have new outlooks and seldom embrace tradition.
So it was in Athens during the middle of the Golden Age, when the Sophists began their rise to prominence. Athens, during that time, had grown more man-centered, not unlike the Renaissance two thousand years later, when traditional views were called into question. The Greeks decided they wanted to rule themselves instead of being ruled by the unseen world of myth.
Wealthy men sought better academic training for their sons and began to look about for professional educators. In the Sophists they found a way to supplement traditional elementary education with the knowledge required to become an influential citizen. “Sophist” originally meant a person who makes it his business to be wise, but later the word was used to designate a class of men who sold wisdom for pay.
The Sophists helped create new currents in intellectual thought – some of which made a permanent mark on human society. What follows is a discussion of these ideas, all of which have had an impact on human history, the concept of political systems, and the relationship of man to his world.
Idea number 1 -- Those who sought teachers for their sons wanted them to develop the skill to gain the voluntary support of other men. What a profound step this was to overcome “might makes right” with logic in a way that would put man on a path to rational behavior. We owe the stable political systems of today to this concept, and, even though men fall back to the use of force from time to time, the world as a whole has accepted the legitimacy of a government based on wisdom instead of force.
The Sophists built a system of higher education in Athens around a concept of Greek culture different from the culture of non-Greeks. There was a sense of pride on the accomplishments of Athens and the power of the new Athenian Empire. Maybe this was overdone and more hubris than pride, but it was a natural result of the position Athens held at the time.
The first well known Sophist was Gorgias (c. 473-386 B.C.) of Sicily, who brought rhetoric to Athens. He traveled throughout Greece, giving speeches for pay, taking impromptu questions from audiences, and answering them. He was particularly fond of taking an absurd position and making it seem stronger than its rational opposite. Gorgias introduced the concept of paradoxical arguments.
Idea number 2 – The Sophists disconnected rhetoric from ethics to the horror of the traditionalists who saw rhetoric only as a technique to support proof of the ideal. This “disconnection” made rhetoric the most valuable tool for debate – fortifying a position with logic instead of arguing its innate rightness or wrongness.
Protagoras (c. 490-420 B.C.), another of the great Sophists, wrote an essay on the Gods where he questioned their very existence. He labeled man as “the measure of all things”. This idea was revolutionary because the traditional view had been that the universe was an objective entity external to man. Similarly, Antiphon (dates unknown), stressed the difference between the laws of men and the laws of nature. He instructed his pupils to “develop their own nature”.
Idea number 3 – These Sophist positions made relativism fashionable. If a man could create his own nature as an individual, then that nature would be different from someone else’s nature and relative to it. Relativism is the subject of much debate today, as a part of the post-modernist milieu. Post-modernists deny universals while their opponents, including the Christian Church, argue for a unity of the spirit.
These ideas are samples of the revolutionary thinking of the Sophists. Unfortunately, their tone became darker during the Peloponnesean War as they shared the starvation and suffering of the Athenian people. Ultimately, their questioning of traditional Athenian values helped undermine the strength of the Polis and push it into decline.


Fall Line Leaves: Free Lesson Plan Download
Grade Level: K-2 Art Education Lesson Plan
Art Elements: Line and Color
Art Skills: Drawing, Painting, Warm Colors
Making Connections: Science
* Get more free lessons like this, on our Lessons Page
This lesson is one of the first to introduce Line to 1st grade students in the fall. The goal of the students with this lesson is to produce various line types to create a composition. Because this is one of the very first lessons of the year I do with 1st grade, it is very simple, straightforward, and all of the pieces turn out looking great, and different from one another. I save these and display them in October when the leaves are in their full glory here in Iowa.
Although I do not have an artist connection with this lesson, there is a science component. We talk about how the trees lose leaves in the fall, and what types of colors the leaves change to. This is their first introduction to warm colors, which we will hit in great depth in 2nd grade.


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.
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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 Effectiveness of Reading Intervention Programs and RTI Reading Interventions
Reading Intervention is a way to provide proven help to struggling readers. The earlier the intervention takes place the better, but students of any age can benefit from effective reading intervention programs. A great deal of research has been conducted to find the most effective types of reading intervention. While there has been evidence that several different approaches can be effective, the clear conclusion was that when the issues were a deficiency in decoding strategies and phonemic awareness, the prescribed remediation was explicit, sequential, multi-sensory phonics instruction.
There are a few consistent characteristics of successful reading interventions:
- Research based methods are employed
- Students receive individualized instruction
- Students are given sufficient practice
- Students are given guided reading practice in controlled and expository text
- Teachers receive explicit and continued training
- Ongoing assessment directs instruction
- Instruction is fast paced and students experience success early on
Click on of the links above to see how Reading Horizons meets these qualifications. Click here to go to detailed Response to Intervention (RTI interventions) information and see how Reading Horizons works in all three tiers.
Reading Intervention Programs Articles:
Effectiveness of Phonics for an Intensive Remedial Program
Research results of Reading Horizons used as an intensive remediation for a six week summer program. Learn more >


The Resource Centre contains practical material about good teaching and learning in the tertiary sector. The Resources can come from the Communities and Project Groups on the site. The Resources are high-quality, well-presented, evidence-based, and relevant to New Zealand.
This section includes items relevant to Foundation and Bridging Education, including Literacy, Language and Numeracy (LLN).
Most recent resources about Foundation and Bridging Education
This Ministry of Education report summarises the findings of a project on how different tertiary education organisations teach literacy, language and numeracy skills as part of their programmes. Includes cases studies from five institutions: a wānanga, a polytechnic, two private training establishments, and an industry training organisation.
This project is focused on defining 21st Century skills and developing ways to measure them using technology. It will also address the pedagogical implications and provide evidence on how the skills can best be developed in education.
This research project was commissioned by the Joinery Industry Training Organisation (JITO) to understand learning on and off the job, the connections between them, and where learning support (specifically with literacy, language and numeracy) can be provided.


Module 1: DNA Foundations and Diagnostic Engineering
Lecturer: Jonathan Runstadler
Instructors: Shannon Hughes, Aneesh Ramaswamy, and Agi Stachowiak
TA: Chris Bandoro
In this module, you'll complete two mini-investigations while gaining foundational skills – in laboratory techniques, data analysis, and both written and oral communication – that will serve you well in the remaining two modules. Throughout, host–microbe interactions and their implications for human health will be a unifying theme. You will study two classes of microbes that can be present in the bird gut, whether by ingestion or infection. Some of these microbes are pathogenic (disease-causing), and some may have the potential for zoonotic (inter-species) transfer to humans.
In the primary experiment, you will pool data with your peers to perform a phylogenetic analysis of the bacteria found in two distinct populations of migratory birds. You will look for similarities and differences and speculate about the mechanisms that brought these about. This study has parallels to recent investigations of human microbiome diversity that shed light on variations in metabolism, susceptibility to infection, and other measures of health. More directly, your results may suggest a link between a particular factor in a bird's environment, such as climate or diet, and characteristics of the resulting gut bacterial population, such as the dominant species or degree of variety. And hey, we'll also learn what bacteria you might be exposed to the next time you accidentally encounter bird feces!
In the secondary experiment, you will each design and test primers for diagnosing infection with the fungus microsporidia. Previous research shows that microsporidia infections are common in several bird populations that have contact with humans – aquatic birds that may visit reservoirs or beaches, pets such as parrots and lovebirds, and pests such as pigeons – and it is speculated that zoonotic transfer may occur. Although most people can rapidly clear such an infection, immunocompromised people such as children, the elderly, and HIV-infected individuals are at risk for serious complications. Improving the sensitivity and/or specificity of microsporidia diagnosis could thus be useful in environmental testing and subsequent health care recommendations.
We thank the Runstadler lab for access to bird samples (pre-screened for flu and everything!), and especially Wendy Puryear for helpful technical discussions as this module was developed. We also thank Professor Karen Snowden at Texas A & M University for access to microsporidia spores and for invaluable advice about imaging methods for identifying microsporidia. Finally, we thank the Broad Institute for generously donating microsporidia DNA.
Module 1 Conceptual Overview.
Experimental goals are shown in yellow, related concepts in blue, and related application areas in green. Stars span both experiments, while triangles are associated with a single experiment.
Module 1 Day 1: Microbial DNA extraction
Module 1 Day 2: Diagnostic primer design
Module 1 Day 3: 16S PCR and paper discussion
Note: 1 week between Day 3 and Day 4.
Module 1 Day 4: DNA cloning
Module 1 Day 5: DNA sequencing
Module 1 Day 6: Journal club I
Module 1 Day 7: Phylogenetic and primer analyses
Module 1 Day 8: Journal club II
TA notes, mod 1
Microbiome abstract and summary report
Primer design memo


The Eagle and The Bull
This adventure story begins on the first day of December, 101 B.C.E.,[i][b][/i][/b] as fourteen-year-old Getorix and his father, Claodicos, await execution. “Such a broad and heavy blade will take our heads cleanly at the first stroke,” Claodicos promises in the novel’s opening line. Claodicos, a Celtic leader, is executed after Romans defeat him. Eager to die bravely and honorably like his father, Getorix is furious when he is told his life has been spared. How will he ever show his father that he has the heart of a Cimmeri unafraid of death? Why didn’t the gods allow him to die instead of sentencing him to a life of slavery?
Keltus, a Celtic slave serving Roman officials, is charged with the task of preparing Getorix to serve a thirteen-year-old Roman named Lucius. Getorix decides he will never submit to such a destiny. Several times Getorix confronts Keltus and Lucius, tempting them to battle him so that he might die a noble death. But Getorix is unprepared when he begins to realize that a friendship with Lucius isn’t impossible and they might actually have something to teach each other. After all, they both enjoy stories, especially The Songs of the Adventures of Odysseus, and they both long to live up to their powerful fathers’ expectations.
The author is a teacher at Appalachian State University and senior editor for High Country Publishers. Though this is her first novel, her articles about ancient Roman history and culture, partially based on her travels to Rome, appear in various publications. She began Getorix’s tale while taking a writing course taught by Orson Scott Card. Geary has done extensive research, though some of the historical details seem tacked on rather than necessary parts of the narrative. The book includes a wealth of maps, diagrams, illustrations, sources, biographies of characters, and a useful glossary of difficult terms.
The author’s son designed the cover, adapting the art from a drawing by Caroline S. Garrett, an assistant professor at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, who also provided two other illustrations for the book. Garrett has both a Master’s of Fine Arts and a Master’s in Art Education from Cranbrook Academy of Art and Ohio State University, respectively. She has illustrated several books for children, such as Jeremiah and Jacob’s Dream, and her illustrations have appeared in Ladybug magazine. The illustrations in Getorix help readers visualize the relics, costumes, weapons, and people of ancient Rome.
Getorix will be of interest to readers because many of the themes—love, friendship, honor, freedom, acceptance, cultural conflict, patience—are as applicable today as they were in the past. History teachers will appreciate the book because of its educational value. The authentic setting, dialogue, and characterization beckon readers to travel to worlds of long ago.
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The author provided free copies of his/her book to have his/her book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the author for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love and make no guarantee that the author will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.


Chatting With Chapey
by Dr. Geraldine M. Chapey
What Makes A Sound Basic Education?
In a Manhattan State Supreme Court, Judge Leland De Grasse's ruling that New York City public schools lacked adequate funding to afford their students a sound basic education has stirred a debate. Parents, teachers, legislators, administrators, youngsters and even Mayor Guiliani were engaging in conversations about "What makes up a sound basic education in the world of the 21st Century?"
According to Judge De Grasse, a sound basic education states that every student should be able to vote and to serve as a juror. Such civic engagement demands the ability to evaluate complex issues, to absorb new facts and concepts and to have the skills and abilities to communicate such facts and concepts to others in addition to being able to deal with complex issues that require verbal reasoning, math, science and socialization skills.
Sustained employment requires skills and competencies that would prepare a student to succeed in college or in the current labor market in jobs that would require merely an entry-level capacity.
On street corners and in living rooms New Yorkers are struggling with the answer to such questions as "Does New York City manage its funds well?" and "Does New York City fund its local public schools adequately?"
Back in 1993, a group led by Michael Rebell formed a coalition of citizens calling the movement "The Campaign for Fiscal Equity" (CFE). Eventually the CFE brought the state to court charging that New York City's public schools lacked adequate funding and eventually found its way to Manhattans State Supreme Court before Judge Leland De Grasse.
Among the findings of Judge De Grasse that helped him to frame his decision were: New York City has 75 percent of New York States minority children and 84 percent are enrolled in the city's public schools. Large numbers of these children live in poverty and are at risk. Present state aid formulas shortchanged schools in spending less on education than those of other localities around the state. Judge De Grasse found that the vast majority of New York City's at risk children do not receive the intervention services they need and "are placed in schools lacking basic resources necessary for a sound basic
education." New York City therefore has failed to provide the opportunity for a sound basic education according to the judge.
The court calls for the reorganization of schooling and funding to provide "the foundational skills that students need to become productive citizens capable of civic engagement and sustaining competitive employment." According to the De Grasse decision, a sound basic education must ensure the resources necessary to provide qualified teachers, administrators, appropriate class size, suitable curricula, materials, books, technology, adequate school buildings, resources for special needs children and a safe orderly environment.
A target date of September 15, 2001 has been set up to permit the reforming school financing and governance and to redress the constitutional and regulatory violations set forth in the decision.
Meanwhile the debate will continue at conferences, local meetings in town
halls, in school buildings and in legislative chambers. Just what is a sound basic education will be the subject of these debates in the months to come.


One of the challenges that has always faced Barry Kolman, professor of music at Washington and Lee University, is teaching the fundamentals of music theory to students who know nothing about music and often find it a very dry subject.
His solution? He's written his own book on the subject. "The Language of Music Revealed," Kolman's first book, was published earlier this year by Universal Publishers.
"Quite honestly, music theory can be drier than the Sahara desert," said Kolman. "It's not like music history where you can play a Beethoven symphony, an excerpt from an opera, or jazz and rock and roll. Even with the excitement I try to bring to the class I was finding the subject boring myself."
Six years ago, when Kolman couldn’t find a textbook he liked and that engaged the students, he decided to write the book himself. Initially aimed at his students, he also wanted the volume to be useful to any intelligent reader who wants to learn to read and write music.
"You would be surprised at how many amateur composers there are who like to write songs," he said. "Maybe they can plunk out a melody with one hand on the piano. This book will teach them how to play harmony with their left hand, and which chord goes better with a certain part of the melody and why."
Kolman included a lot of graphics, cartoon characters and a few jokes here and there to guide the reader through music theory. "I introduce a cartoon character to act as a guide, and he appears throughout the book in many manifestations," he said. "Sometimes he's stern, sometimes he's a jokester and sometimes he introduces a brand new concept in an unusual way. But each time he appears, he's really helpful. It's an approach to learning music theory you won’t find anywhere else."
Kolman introduced the book to his Music 100 class last year in manuscript form, receiving positive feedback from the students along with some suggestions that he incorporated into the final version.
Kolman conducts the University-Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra (USSO), along with teaching music fundamentals, introduction to music, applied clarinet, and conducting. He is a frequent guest conductor of orchestras around the world.
He received his B.Mus. in music education from the Crane School of Music, his M. Mus. in clarinet performance from Illinois State University and his Doctor of Arts degree in conducting from the University of Northern Colorado and was awarded the Dean’s Citation for Excellence for his graduate research.
"The Language of Music Revealed" is available at bookstores and online, as well as at W&L's University Store (http://bookstore.wlu.edu).


American Reading Company’s Leveling System maps out the reading field for both books and readers, integrating Common Core Standards for reading acquisition with a deep knowledge of the demands of literature and informational text for students, grades K through 12. The color-coded system is grounded on a review of more than 100,000 books evaluated with the following three questions in mind:
- What does the reader need to know and be able to do to understand this book?
- What supports does the text offer an independent thinker and problem solver?
- What challenges does this text present to a reader who is comfortable with other texts at this same basic level?
The Leveling System has been successfully field-tested in more than 1,800 schools across the country with hundreds of thousands of readers, making it possible for students to easily find books they can enjoy and read successfully—books that allow them to improve their reading through reading.
IRLA: Independent Reading Level Assessment FrameworkFormative Assessment Framework for Teaching and Learning Built on Common Core Standards
The Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) is a unified standards-based framework for student assessment, text leveling, and curriculum and instruction. The IRLA includes every Common Core Standard for Reading, both in literature and informational text, as well as those Language standards key to reading success, for students in grades PreK through 12.
Establish Baseline Level for Every Student
The IRLA will help you establish a baseline proficiency level for each of your students. The baseline level is the highest level at which a student can demonstrate proficiency without teacher help. This is the level at which you can expect the student to perform at proficiency on high stakes testing.
Develop an Action Plan to Ensure Reading Proficiency for Every Student
The IRLA will help you show students where they are, where they should be, and what skills and behaviors lie in between. Through regular conferences, you will be able to outline and track a course of correction, acceleration, or maintenance, for each student and his or her family.
Monitor Progress Towards Goal
The IRLA allows you to track progress in real-time. Each standard has been assigned a points value relative to the amount of time it should take a student to acquire that skill or concept. In each formative assessment conference, teachers score students on any standards they have mastered, allowing teachers and schools to track rate of reading growth for every student.
Built on Common Core Standards for Reading
Comprehension: Literature and Informational Text
- Active Reading Strategies
- Key Ideas and Details: Basic understanding
- Craft and Structure: Vocabulary, Text Organization, Literary Elements
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare/Contrast, Analyze, Synthesize, Evaluate
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
- Engagement and Independence
- Home Reading Routines
- Reading Across Genres
Foundational Skills: Reading Standards K–5
- Print Concepts
- Sequential Phonics/Decoding Skills
- Word Recognition (Power Words and Tricky Words)
- Fluency and Self-Monitoring
Vocabulary: Language Standards 2–12
- Word Recognition
- Literary and Technical Vocabulary
- Word Structures and Etymology
- Figurative Language
- Domain-Specific Information


Music is Movement: A Study into Aspects of Movement Representation of Musical Activities among Preschool Children in a Dutch Music Education Setting
Thesis or dissertation
University of Exeter
Musical activities are at the centre of Music on the Lap, a Dutch approach to early childhood music education. The present study takes an in-depth look at the role of movement in these musical activities and thereby focuses on the representation of musical elements through movement. This study has among its aims the raising of more awareness for the conscious use of movement in early childhood music education. Departing from an embodied approach within an interpretative design, the premise of the current study is that movement should be considered an important form of kinaesthetic representation through which preschool children can come to understand and learn different aspects of music. The musical movement responses of children aged 18 to 36 months in a regular Music on the Lap setting were investigated. The musical movement behaviour of the children, during specific musical activities, was captured on DVD and the individual responses of 27 children were analysed. Interviews with the participating teacher provided important additional information. Through microanalysis of the children’s movements, the study arrived at a theoretical interpretation: movement responses to music can be considered enactive symbols, creating direct and indirect representations of musical characteristics. To further musical learning the movements should be firmly based in a temporal framework of aural and verbal connotations in order to stimulate purposeful movement responses. This temporal framework should be structured by the teacher through a process of appropriate movement models and verbal guidance to arrive at meaningful movement actions, which can consequently generate implicit and explicit musical kinaesthetic and musical representational knowledge. In this process the children are actively participating to construct with body and mind their own musical knowledge.
Dutch Foundation Toddlers and Music
To view the accompanying DVD material please request a copy of the hardbound thesis from the Library's main catalogue.
PhD in Education
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An exploration of media violence in a junior-high school art classroom
Abstract:This article reports a classroom investigation into how a group of American junior high-school students understand, interpret and act upon a social issues-based art curriculum designed to explore issues of media violence. Using critical pedagogy, the research goals were to establish students' attitudes, values, creative skills, learned concepts, and/or opinions on media violence; and to illuminate and evaluate the issues-based curriculum approach. The study took place in the art workshop of a Saturday Art School programme at a midwestern university in the United States. A finding was that the young participants' attitudes towards media violence coincided with some of the views of postmodern educators concerning protectionist approaches to media education. Some challenges for implementing a social issues-based curriculum orientation were identified, for example the complexity involved in examining a given social issue.
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: University of Houston, USA.
Publication date: March 7, 2007
More about this publication?
- The International Journal of Education through Art is an English language journal that promotes relationships between art and education. The term 'art education' should be taken to include art, craft and design education. Each issue, published three times a year within a single volume, consists of peer-reviewed articles mainly in the form of research reports and critical essays, but may also include exhibition reviews and image-text features.
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SchoolArts is a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for educators in the visual arts since 1901.
Issue link: http://www.schoolartsdigital.com/i/218040
Looking & Learning Creating Pull-out Resource Creating is the act of bringing something into the world, whether it is a sculpture, performance, drawing, painting, poem, story, or craft. A rtists and art educators spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing creativity and how it works. While everyone is capable of creating something, not everything that we make is creative. For example, you can create a painting or a craft by following step-by-step instructions that end with a pre-determined product. Artists are mostly interested in the kind of creating that brings new and imaginative things into the world—things that might not otherwise exist. The unique and imaginative works of Odilon Redon and Allison Schulnik are examples great examples of art that approaches materials and subject matter in innovative ways. Allison Schulnik, Cat Head, 2011. Oil on linen, 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm). Private collection, image courtesy of ZieherSmith, NY and the artist. About the Artists/Artworks Odilon redon (1840–1960), Spring Odilon Redon was strongly influenced by Romantic literature. His early works from the late 1800s were predominantly dark visions of composite creatures and haunting dreams found in Romantic poetry and novels. He even dedicated one portfolio of prints to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. After 1890, however—embracing bright color and influenced by the post-impressionists—he abandoned printmaking as his chief art form in favor of painting, and produced beautiful and lyrical, yet haunting works that embodied subjects ranging from antiquity to Christianity to allegorical subjects such as Spring. In his painted work, as in his printmaking, he created an extremely personal vision that had a profound impact on modern artists in the early 1900s and continues to influence artists working today. Allison Schulnik (b. 1978), Cat Head Allison Schulnik earned her BFA degree in experimental animation, but her work spans the fields of animation, painting, and performance. Her imagery is reminiscent of the horrific yet beautifully painted visions of James Ensor, Frank Auerbach, and Francisco de Goya. Her alternate realities combine subjects from the circus, cemeteries, and medieval Dance of Death figures. While Schulnik's evil clowns, hobos, and skeletal figures literally drip paint, the content of her paintings are not as compelling as the surfaces themselves. Schulnik's morphing subjects occupy a curious realm between three-dimensional and two-dimensional art, and in the end, her work is a tour-de-force in celebrating the medium rather than the subject matter. Schulnik's animations are a brilliant documentation of the artistic process in action, as her sculpted figures transform wildly, layering colors and materials in a sequence that exemplifies the act of creating. schoolartsonline.com 23


In an app being promoted by student Russell Layng, kids can compose their own musical pieces and they can see their piece performed by an animated band. (Illustration from Music Learning Lab)
Russell Layng, a rising senior majoring in philosophy at Tulane University and a jazz drummer, is spending his summer promoting a new teaching tool app that he hopes will make effective, early music education accessible for children everywhere.
He is co-founder and general manager of Generategy, a company in Seattle, which this summer released Music Learning Lab
, an app that prepares learners for music appreciation, using music software such as GarageBand, and further music instruction privately or in school, Layng says.
“With the launch of Music Learning Lab, Generategy has an opportunity not only to foster the success of many budding musicians, but to demonstrate the real potential of apps in education. Our goal was not simply to make learning music fundamentals fun, but to help kids find the fun in learning and making music,” says Layng.
“Through three different sections, Learn, Create and Play, Music Learning Lab offers a balanced, well-rounded approach to music education.”
In the Learn area, 14 lessons of increasing complexity teach foundational music skills. The Play area comprises 3 mini-games to practice and extend these skills. Rewards specific to music learning are built into the program to keep learners motivated and engaged: completing lessons and levels unlocks up to 15 instruments and nine backing bands to use in the Create area.
According to Generategy co-founder Paul Andronis, a learning scientist who trained in classical piano for 18 years, “Traditionally, music instruction starts with concepts that are difficult to master without certain skills. We identified these necessary skills — higher and lower pitch discrimination, interpreting sounds and melodies as written symbols, interpreting written symbols as sounds — and designed the lessons in Music Learning Lab using methods that combine our love and knowledge of music with principles derived from basic learning sciences research.” Andronis is a psychology professor at Northern Michigan University.


Books and Articles:
Abbott, S., and C. Grose. "'I Know English So Many, Mrs. Abbott': Reciprocal Discoveries in a Linguistically Diverse Classroom." Language Arts 75, no. 3 (1998).
Da Silva, K. E. "Drawing on Experience: Connecting Art and Language." Primary Voices 10, no. 2 (2001). Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.
Diamond, B., and M. Moore. Multicultural Literacy: Mirroring the Reality of the Classroom. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman, 1995.
Fassler, R. "'Let's Do It Again!' Peer Collaboration in an ESL Kindergarten." Language Arts 75, no. 3 (1998).
Harris, V. ed. Using Multiethnic Literature in the K-8 Classroom. Norwood, Mass.: Christopher Gordon, 1997.
Neuman, S. B., and K. Roskos. "Play, Print, and Purpose: Enriching Play Environments for Literacy Development." The Reading Teacher 44, no. 3 (1990). Newark, Del.: International Reading Association.
Spangenberg-Urbschat, K., and R. Pritchard, eds. Kids Come in All Languages: Reading Instruction for ESL Students. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1994.
International Reading Association
National Council of Teachers of English
National Association of Education of Young Children
Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Ability (CIERA)
National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)


Online Consultation on Education in Post-2015 Agenda Concludes
3 March 2013: The online consultations as part of the Global Thematic Consultation on Education have concluded. This Global Thematic Consultation considers: lessons learned from reviewing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) Initiative; persistent and emerging challenges and their future implications; and input into the nature of the post-2015 framework.
Online consultations took place from 10 December 2012 to 3 March 2013, on the World We Want 2015 platform, in four key areas: equitable access to education; quality of learning; global citizens, skills and jobs; and governance and financing for education. Summary reports are available online for the first two topics.
According to the summary, the consultation on equitable access to education discussed, inter alia: education access, quality and relevance; poverty as hindering education; the role of education in development and rural empowerment; equal opportunities for girls; and education governance, financing and training. Participants supported a continued focus on free, universal and compulsory education with a shift to focus on quality, retention, enrollment and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable groups.
The consultation on quality of learning discussed, inter alia: balancing foundational skills with broader outcomes on learning quality; obstacles to the quality of learning, including poverty, political will, shortages of quality teachers and cost; and policies and interventions, especially to support marginalized groups and promote gender equality; and the role of different actors. Participants supported free-standing, specific education goals that recognize education as a basis for achieving human rights and other goals and include qualitative and quantitative indicators.
A High-level Meeting (HLM) on Education, convening on 18-20 March 2013, in Dakar, Senegal, will review the consultation findings, identify gaps and opportunities and examine education policies. The HLM is expected to produce a final summary report to contribute to the UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP) and intergovernmental consideration of the post-2015 agenda.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) co-lead the thematic consultation on education, which is supported by the Governments of Senegal and Canada. The Education Consultation is one of 11 consultations on key topics related to the post-2015 agenda. [Education Consultation Website] [Summary Report of the e-Discussion on Equitable Access to Education] [Summary Report of the e-Discussion on the Quality of Learning] [Education for All Initiative] [UNESCO Website on Education in Post-2015]


|Closing the learning gap||Obama: Lengthen the school day, expand aid to early childhood learning and intervene as early as sixth grade to provide struggling students with special course work and counseling. Would offer families tax credits to help pay for college.||McCain: Provide grants to help district and charter schools replicate successful programs, particularly those with waiting lists. Would also make it easier for private companies and agencies to open charter schools that increase competition for district schools.|
|Money||Obama: Add $18 billion4 a year to education, to come from what is now being spent on the Iraq war, delaying some NASA programs and other inefficiencies in government spending.||McCain: Keep existing federal education budget, but redistribute the money to more effective teachers, schools and programs.|
|Standardized testing||Obama: Develop models to help states create more sophisticated evaluations that test and track student problem-solving skills in more subject areas. Create different tests that more precisely measure the knowledge and progress of students still learning English and students in special education.||McCain: Find private agencies to develop models to help states create more sophisticated evaluations that test and track student problem-solving skills in more subjects. Require every child, including language learners and special-education students, to take the same test to make sure schools maintain the same high expectations for all students.|
|Teachers||Obama: Work with teachers' unions to make teaching a more competitive, lucrative and innovative career that pays based on performance.||McCain: Find a way around union contracts that stand in the way of making teaching a more competitive, lucrative and innovative career that pays based on performance.|
Sara D'Annunzio, 7, a second grader at Sahuaro Elementary school works on an exercise.
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Explore potential strategies.
Students have very different background knowledge and skills.
You may have students in your class with very different background knowledge, skills, and motivations. Differences within your student population can spark rich learning opportunities when group members bring their various perspectives and skills to bear on the project and teach one another. However, without proper planning, differences in skill-level and abilities can also create problems. One of these problems is known as Common Information Sampling (CIS). This is the process by which individuals within groups “dumb down” their own expertise in order to find a common ground with students lacking that expertise. When CIS occurs, groups become less, rather than more, than a sum of their parts.
If there are skills (for example, facility with a particular software, experience with a specific research methodology, mastery of a technical vocabulary) that your students simply must have to succeed in assigned projects, make this clear in the course description and again on the first day of class. Students without the designated skills then know they must either make up the missing skills and knowledge on their own time or not take the course.
Consider administering a diagnostic pre-test in the first week of class to assess students’ relevant prior knowledge. If a small number of students lacks critical background knowledge, you might consider advising those students to (a) fill the gaps in their knowledge by doing remedial work on their own or (b) drop the class. If a larger group lacks the necessary knowledge, you might designate a class period or special tutorial (led, perhaps, by a TA) to cover the critical material. If the majority of your students lacks essential background knowledge, you should plan on teaching it yourself. While this might mean that you have to scale back your expectations for the course as a whole, that is preferable to pushing ahead before students have the proper foundational skills.
One possible strategy to compensate for uneven skills among your students is to compose groups with an eye towards balancing knowledge and skills. For example, if you know a subset of students in your course is particularly weak (or particularly strong) in a specific area, you might put these students into different groups to prevent any one group from suffering or benefiting unduly. This also provides opportunities for stronger members of each group to help bring weaker members up to speed.
Whether this is a good solution in the context of your particular course will depend on the nature and extent of skill disparities among students. If the disparities are such that members of the group can reasonably teach one another, balancing knowledge and skills can be a good idea. If the disparities are truly significant, it might make better sense to group students according to ability. For example, in a class with graduate and undergraduate students, creating skill-based groups might make better sense than distributing skills across groups.
Uneven skill sets can be an asset when group members bring different experiences and knowledge to bear on a task. Highlight to students what skills each of them brings to the group, perhaps by having them collectively complete a group resume (Barkley, Cross & Major, p.39). Some instructors involved in service learning or project courses use these group resumes as a way for student groups to present themselves to outside clients.
After identifying the range of skills students possess, structure the assignment to make it advantageous for the group to draw on these skills. Take, for example, a computer-aided design course, in which there are both computer science majors (with strong technical skills) and design majors (with strong aesthetic/design skills.) If the course assignments include projects in which these skills must be combined, and each group includes both computer science and design majors, students find themselves in a situation where they must (a) exercise their particular talents to accomplish the task and (b) communicate what they are doing to peers outside their discipline. Depending on your goals for the assignment, it might be sufficient for each group member to contribute expertise from his own discipline. If the goal is for students to learn to apply a set of skills outside their disciplinary expertise, however, then the assignment must be designed so that students cannot confine their contributions to those areas where they are already comfortable, but must develop their skills in new areas. To facilitate this, you might require students to switch roles at certain points in the semester, so that the computer scientists must make or justify design decisions and the designers must apply programming skills. You might also require a paper from individual students explaining what they learned from doing the assignment, so that you can assess the extent to which they have developed skills they did not originally have.
This site supplements our 1-on-1 teaching consultations.
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Students may choose from four areas of undergraduate study:
Elementary Education prepares students to become teachers in kindergarten through ninth grade classrooms.
An intensive semester of professional experience in an area school, prior to a student teaching experience, brings the theory and practice of education together. During student teaching, teacher candidates participate in a professional seminar that helps them prepare for job interviews, certification procedures and more.
Elementary Education majors may elect to add middle school endorsements by taking two additional education courses.
Secondary Education students major in one of five major teaching areas of the contemporary high school: Science/Biology, Social Science/History, English/Language Arts, Mathematics and Music.
Secondary education teacher candidates take classes in middle school psychology and curriculum to earn middleschool endorsements.
Music Education majors complete music content course requirements, education courses and field experiences to be certified to teach music in grades kindergarten though 12.
Special Education continues to experience one of the highest rates of teacher shortages.
Students in this major receive preparation to earn Learning Behavior Specialist I Certification. Specialized coursework and four separate field experiences lead to certification in prekindergarten through 12th grades.


Musikaliskt lärande som social rekonstruktion. Musikens och ursprungets betydelse för föräldrar med utländsk bakgrund.
Musical Learning as Social Reconstruction. Music and Origin in the Eyes of Immigrant Parents
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Studies in Music Education
Förlag: Musikhögskolan i Malmö, Lunds universitet
In Swedish higher formal aesthetic education, students from ethnic mi-norities are significantly underrepresented. This also seems to be the case in music education for younger children. Accordingly, the relation-ship between music education and the ethnic diversity of the contem-porary Swedish society, not reflected in the selection of students to the Swedish music and culture schools, is of vital importance for research. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate music education in the eyes of immigrant parents, by examining the narratives of parents with non-Swedish backgrounds on the significance of music in their families. The specific aims of the study is to investigate how these parents de-scribe (i) the presence and role of music in their everyday lives and how it relates to their origin, and (ii) the importance of music learning to their children. The theoretical framework rests on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and his definitions of various forms of capital: cultural, social, economic and symbolic capital. Furthermore his concept of habi-tus has been useful in order to understand the musical upbringing and the impact of the music in peoples’ lives. Qualitative in-depth inter-views were undertaken with 12 parents, six women and six men, now all living in Sweden, but with their background in eight different count-ries. The results are presented in three parts: (i) portraits of the par-ents and their backgrounds; (ii) the parents’ own narratives on music and music education and (iii) an analysis adopting the concept of social mobility. The discussion consists of perspectives on the practice of music as a potential tool for social success and integration of the chil-dren. It emphasizes the concepts of identity and music as a potential tool for social reconstruction. Class remobility, the reclaiming of social position through the next generation, and its possible impact on the upbringing of the child are also themes in focus. In conclusion, the complex interactions between teacher and parent, parent and child, student and teacher, three parties trialectically creating and nourishing teaching situations, are elucidated.
Lilla salen, Musikhögskolan i Malmö. Lunds universitet.
- Petter Dyndahl (Professor)
- Class remobility
- Social reconstruction
- Social immobilization
- Social mobility
- Music education
- Immigrant parents
- Cultural diversity.
- Göran Folkestad
- Eva Saether
- ISSN: 1404-6539
- ISBN: 978-91-976053-7-3


Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.
There are so many wonderful benefits to both body and soul when children
have the chance for a good art experience. I hate to raise any issues that
might fuel somebody's argument against making art available in our schools.
However, if we are not well informed, things could happen that really would
threaten our programs.
I have always been very emphatic and strict about the dangers of lead
poisoning as well as uranium oxide (both of which I found in a public school
cabinet when I first started teaching ceramics). However, many other
chemicals are very common, but their dangers are less well known. As art
teachers we work with these materials everyday for many years. We owe it to
ourselves as well as our students to be informed (whether or not our college
About a year ago I got a phone call from the wife of a former student (he
was too sick to call). Her husband has been a public school art teacher and
operated his own pottery studio in the summer since about 1970. His symptoms
were somewhat vague and came on gradually. His poisoning is very rare,
almost unheard of, so it is very difficult for an average doctor to
diagnose. Eventually, he got so sick he could only be up for about three
hours per day. Eventually, laboratory tests at the Mayo Clinic confirmed
that he has a combination of cadmium and cobalt poisoning.
Cadmium poisoning is fairly common among artists and there are is debate
about making it illegal to sell cadmium based paints, but cobalt poisoning
is very rare. The danger of cadmium is so well documented that paints for
children generally do not use it. Professional paints may use toxic
materials in order to be more permanent (fade resistant). Paints and glazes
sold today at least have warning labels if they contain cadmium.
Cobalt is a very common and reliable blue colorant for glazes and paints and
is sold without warning. Many potters would be lost without it. According to
current information, cobalt can be toxic if inhaled, but apparently it is
safe to touch or to ingest. We are learning more about these things every
year, so we can never assume that today's facts are reliable. Fired glazes
are felt to be entirely safe.
In the case of my former student, he was a smoker, he may have inhaled both
cobalt and cadmium from the cigarettes that got contaminated by his fingers.
He is currently in therapy and showing gradually improvement as the
treatment removes the accumulated toxins from his system. Fortunately, he
didn't die directly from this, but his quality of life has been seriously
I have discussed this with other potters including the former editor of
Ceramics Monthly. None of them have ever heard of cobalt poisoning among
potters. I believe this is because we now have laboratory tests sensitive
enough to detect the causes of illnesses that were once simply impossible to
diagnose. In the past there would have been no way to attribute the illness
of a Wedgewood (where lots of cobalt blue is used) employee to cobalt
because there were no lab tests to prove it.
To help my students (and you) get reliable information about safe practices
in the art studio, I have posted the following web site. It has links to
well written papers in each art discipline. You can find the hazards in your
favorite studio area whether it be woodworking or papermaking. Do yourself a
big favor. Bookmark (Favorite) it for your summer reading. Avoid an incident
that could jeopardize all the good we do in art education.
Best wishes as you bring another school year to a finish in the art room.
May we all have a safe and productive summer in our studios.


Recreate van Gogh's Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh was a famous painter who paved the way for many modern artists. He had a unique style of painting, in which he used unusual lines and colors to create pictures of familiar things like flowers or furniture. His style of painting was exaggerated and somewhat unrealistic, using bright colors and bold brushstrokes. Your child can learn more about Vincent van Gogh’s influential style of painting by creating an homage to Starry Night, one of van Gogh’s most beloved paintings.
What You Need:
- White drawing paper
- Glittery star stickers
- Watercolor paints
What You Do:
- Start by taking a look at artwork by Vincent van Gogh at your local library or going online and using the Internet. Help your child find a picture his famous painting, Starry Night.
- Encourage your child to look at the lines and colors in the painting. What does he think of the painting? Does it make him feel happy, sad, excited? See if he can name all the colors he sees, honing his color recognition skills!
- Invite your child to create his own Starry Night-style painting with the help of some crayons and star stickers! Have him start by selecting crayons in different shades of blue, white, yellow and gray.
- Then, with a sheet of white drawing paper, have him draw sweeping circles and curvy, wavy lines to represent the starry night sky.
- Now it’s time to sparkle! Give your child some shiny star stickers to peel and press onto his paper.
- To finish his painting, your first grader can cover the whole thing with blue, purple, and black watercolor paint. The brightly-colored crayon and sparkling stars will shine through!
Sarah Lipoff has a K-12 Art Education degree and enjoys working with kids of all ages.


History of the Art Department
In 1906, one year before Pablo Picasso painted Demoiselles d’Avignon in Paris, and two years before photographer and impresario, Alfred Stieglitz, exhibited works by European avant-garde artists Rodin, Matisse, Cezanne, and others in his 291Gallery in New York City, Georgia State Normal College, later renamed Valdosta State University in 1993, was founded in Valdosta, GA.
Seven years later, in 1913, on the eve of the outbreak of World War I, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, also known as the Armory Show, opened at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City. In the same year Frances Ruth Carpenter, Georgia artist-teacher and graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, began teaching art and manual training at Georgia State Normal College, a teacher training institution for women in South Georgia.
Energized from living and studying in New York City when modernism was brewing, and coupled with her studies at Columbia with Arthur Wesley Dow, Carpenter brought new ideas about art and teaching to South Georgia where she and her small handful of female students first had classes in Converse Hall, later moving to West Hall.
Carpenter’s thirty-six year career would last until her retirement in 1949 where she and her students would feel the effects of World War I, experience flappers and the Jazz Age in the 1920s, tighten their belts in the 1930s during the Great Depression, support the war effort during World War II, and afterwards welcome men studying on the G.I. Bill to the former all women’s college campus.
Today, nearly 100 years after Frances Ruth Carpenter first started teaching art at Valdosta State University, much change has occurred. The Department of Art is now housed in the Fine Arts Building and the University Center South. The department has increased from a handful of female students in 1913 to a diverse population of more than 200 students at present. Finally, a department that began with one faculty member has now blossomed into one with seventeen full-time faculty members whose careers have been inspired by past artist-teachers like Frances Ruth Carpenter.
Paula L. McNeill
Associate Professor of Art - Art Education


Fine Arts Programs in Elementary Schools
For all Texas public school students, art learning begins in kindergarten. Elementary programs provide sequential art content and unique learning experiences at each grade level. Elementary students produce creative and imaginative pieces that:
- Develop perceptual skills
- Use a variety of media in multiple activities
- Reflect knowledge of art history
- Show art as an expression of cultural experience
- Foster skills of evaluation.
In the primary grades, art helps students become more aware of their physical environment, extend and develop the use of the senses, and utilize inventive thinking. Art programs support individual interpretation of ideas, thoughts, and feelings and provide opportunities to work in a variety of media. Teachers encouraging students to explore and express their responses to artwork.
In kindergarten through grade 2, students create two- and three-dimensional artworks, including drawings, paintings, prints, and constructions (e.g., puppets, masks). Art experiences utilize creative problem solving by encouraging children to be original and imaginative. Group projects allow students to exchange ideas and to work collaboratively. As students encounter art and produce their own art, they begin to understand that people often have different responses to similar experiences.
In grades 3-5, teachers build on students’ art knowledge and experiences, and the Art TEKS become more complex. At times, instruction must be individualized. Students who have had limited involvement with art begin with basic processes. As understanding grows, so does the ability to express ideas and respond to visual forms. Visits to museums and galleries are a good way to supplement sequenced class instruction, and they also foster interest in art and help students relate art to everyday life.
Students continue to develop visual literacy. Experiences that develop students’ awareness of line, color, texture, and form are fundamental to the grades 3-5 program. Examining the design, structure, and function of natural objects and of works of art enables students to appreciate art and make informed personal choices about art in their lives.
Third, fourth, and fifth graders continue making two- and three-dimensional art, including drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, fiber art, jewelry, photography, film projects, and electronic media projects. As students approach adolescence, they have an increased desire to apply art elements, design principles, and art techniques to their own creations. Their works reflect more deliberate decision making than earlier works, and they describe their thinking and artistic processes using more specific art vocabulary.
Developing sincere, informed art appreciation by interacting with contemporary and historic artwork is a key aspect of early art education. Furthermore, it can be a means for students to understand and value cultural diversity.
Significant learning in art is possible only when educators give careful attention to time and scheduling. Sufficient time must be available for teachers to teach and for students to learn the Art TEKS.
Districts make decisions about time allocations, meeting patterns, and class sizes. Time allotted to art includes instruction in art concepts and skills, completion of work, and distribution and cleanup of materials. Art education requires individualized instruction in a laboratory situation. Large numbers of students reduce the effectiveness of teaching and learning. A maximum of 25 students per class is suggested.
The specialist needs one duty-free planning and preparation period per day with scheduled intervals between classes. Classroom teachers may escort students to and from the classroom, providing security for the students and time for the art specialist to set up for the next class. The specialist may require additional assistance when the class contains students with special needs.
Specialists assigned to multiple campuses need an additional period for travel, record keeping, materials management, and preparation of multiple art laboratories. An additional benefit of having an art specialist as part of the faculty is flexibility in scheduling conference periods for elementary classroom teachers.
A quality art room is visually attractive and has the necessary equipment, supplies, and materials to teach the TEKS. Art spaces are flexible enough to be used for large group, small group, or individual activities. The art specialist has a well-stocked art room while another comparable room is also available for other teachers to use when teaching art. Outdoor workspace adjoining the art rooms allows for outdoor extension activities. Adequate storage space for supplies, materials, equipment, and works-in-progress is essential. Both open and closed storage is provided.


Cockcroft - Mathematics Counts, 1982
This is one of many Harvard references to useful online references for the Level 5 Maths ADTLLS, Developing Role of Numeracy / History of Mathematics essay. (Part of Module 1: Approaches to Mathematics learning and teaching). The retrieval date is when I first used it.
Cockcroft, W. (1982), Mathematics counts: report of the Committee of Inquiry into the teaching of mathematics in schools. London: HMSO. Retrieved on 31 December 2008 from http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/cockcroft/
Here’s how I used the reference in my essay:
Twenty years later, Cockcroft, in ‘Mathematics counts’ (1982), a report into the teaching of mathematics in schools, considered Crowther’s original definition of numeracy and concluded that it now [in 1982] had quite a different meaning.
‘The association with science is no longer present and the level of mathematical understanding to which the words refer is much lower’. (1982, 2:37)
He went on to state that being ‘numerate’ goes beyond the ability to do arithmetic and must also include using such skills in everyday practical situations. Interpreting graphical material and the usefulness of mathematics as a communication tool were also stressed: ‘…mathematics provides a means of communication which is powerful, concise and unambiguous… ’ . Indeed, communication was given as ‘the principal reason for teaching mathematics to all children’. (Cockcroft, 1982, 1:3)
Cockcroft devoted several chapters of his report to discussion of adults’ mathematics needs out of school. He noted that most employers were satisfied with the skills of school leavers and that, overall, employers most valued the ability to calculate mentally. Interestingly the importance of mental maths at work is reiterated more than 20 years later in research by both Hudson (2007, p10:5.3.1) and the Confederation for British Industry (2006, p6).
A small research project commissioned by Cockcroft to inform his report – later verified by a much larger Gallup poll (Sewell, 1981, cited in Cockcroft) – confirmed that maths anxiety impacted on all social groups and educational classes.
‘The extent to which the need to undertake even an apparently simple and straightforward piece of mathematics could induce feelings of anxiety, helplessness, fear and even guilt in some of those interviewed was, perhaps, the most striking feature of the study.’ (Cockcroft, 1982, 2:20).
The report also recognised that motivation, once in employment, was a major factor in boosting employees’ numeracy skills. Nonetheless, it was also clear that lack of mathematical ability had prevented some from applying for jobs or from following training courses. (Cockcroft, 1982, 3:48 and 2:30)
Specific skill deficiencies earmarked by Cockcroft included misunderstanding percentages, improper use of calculators, the inability to read charts and timetables and a lack of understanding of metric and Imperial measures (1982, 2:19-30). Interestingly, map reading was considered ‘quite good’; one wonders whether a similar survey today, with the wide use of satellite mapping systems, would produce the same results.
Thus the beginnings of numeracy, as we know it today – i.e. relating mathematics to everyday life and work – arose from Cockcroft’s highly influential report. He certainly recognised the importance of relating mathematics to everyday life: ‘Our concern is that those who set out to make their pupils ‘numerate’ should pay attention to the wider aspects of numeracy and not be content merely to develop the skills of computation’. (1982, 2:39)


In 1935, Dr. Montessori found “cosmic education” as an ideal support for normal development in children over the age of about six. This cosmic framework of learning involves the total interrelated functioning of the whole, which is now a popular topic of discussion and well-integrated at the theoretical level into Montessori elementary education and beyond.
Unfortunately, applying cosmic education in practice has been largely limited to interrelating subject matter for academic learning only, leaving aside its far more important spiritual dimension to adapt children to their unique time, place and function in harmony with laws of nature. The primary obstacle for using this aspect of cosmic education is a fundamental lack of context for understanding Dr. Montessori’s experience of normal being.
Since 1907, Dr. Montessori sought to describe her original experience of normal being within a conventional context, only generally associating this context with the prior indefinite scientific research of Itard and Seguin. However, what is “normal” from the perspective of Montessori’s original experience simply does not exist in a conventional context. Committed practitioners must therefore create the proper context for true normal being without the benefit of proper understanding of its essential nature and conditions.
For over 25 years, IMS has been committed to creating the distinctive context for Montessori’s normal being, gradually evolving the language and technology for its effective communication to others. In 2003, a major breakthrough occurred in this research with the completion of a comprehensive technology.
While this knowledge will eventually be detailed in full-text format, IMS has been seeking to apply it to overcome such practical problems as wide-spread poverty and abusive child labor throughout the world. This research has now evolved into the “Character Teaching” (CT) project, which aims to resolve the cause of these problems by providing a proper context and means for the normal character development of poor working children.
Besides a formal model school component, the CT project offers informal tutoring in the streets with poor working children. This informal component employs a novel exchange of value concept; i.e., the child giving a small amount of time for instruction in exchange for receiving a small amount of money. Repeating these exchanges frequently over time, the children involved will acquire experiences and habits of behavior that bring about qualities of integrity, patience and self-respect, which can become deeply incorporated into their whole basic character for life.
In 2006, Lee Havis, IMS executive director, submitted a paper presenting the critical contextual issues for understanding cosmic education to an international congress sponsored by Montessori-Europe. It will be held at Belgorod State University (Belgorod, Russia) on May 15-18, 2006.
The Havis paper, entitled Understanding Cosmic Education by Overcoming Practical Problems, highlights the experiential nature of understanding normal being. It also suggests how to apply this experiential understanding to create normalizing conditions in practice, using the CT project as a practical current example.


The disciplines of science and art are intertwined in more ways than you can imagine. The benefits of using art to communicate science is articulated beautifully in Communicating Science Concepts Through Art: 21st-Century Skills in Practice by Sandy Buczynski, Kathleen Ireland, Sherri Reed, and Evelyn Lacanienta.
In an article published two weeks ago, Buczynski et al. (2012) explain how it is necessary for the next generation of scientists to communicate using more than words. They explain that the scientists of the future will need to use artistic means of communication that include “illustrating, animating, videography, cartooning, and model building” (Buczynski et al., 2012).
To show how art can be used to reinforce learning in science, they cite the results of their work with students at a college prep academy. Students were taught how to use fundamental art techniques as tools to aid their comprehension of science content.
Buczynski et al. (2012) explain how they and the academy’s art teacher put into practice the five conceptual art strategies identified by Julia Marshall (2010). The academy’s art teacher taught students how to draw, how to observe angles, how to observe positive and negative spaces, and how to observe patterns and textures (Buczynski et al., 2012). Students were also taught how to shade, how to create form and how to apply highlights using colored pencils, graphite pencils, charcoal and ink pens (Buczynski et al., 2012).
The authors then incorporated Marshall’s art strategies into lessons about the human body, the scientific process, science communication through popular culture, and botanical exploration.
Briefly, here are the conceptual art strategies Buczynski et al. (2012) used and how they used them:
- Depiction – Seventh-grade students were asked to apply their new knowledge about “scale, shadow and proportion” (Buczynski et al., 2012) to observe and draw the human body. This strategy was employed to move students away from the usual “stick figure”-type of thinking often observed in science lab notebooks.
- Projection – Students were asked to predict the outcome of a scientific event using hand-drawn images instead of words.
- Reformatting – Utilizing art forms from popular culture, students were asked to reformat scientific content into “a comic book, magazine, advertisement or film” (Buczynski et al., 2012).
- Mimicry – Students were assigned the task of becoming botanists by mimicking how botanists collect information in the field.
- Metaphor/Analogy – Students were asked to create a visual metaphor to describe how the digestive system works.
Buczynski et al. (2012) explain how they evaluated student work and what they learned from implementing each of these strategies. To learn more about their study, visit your local college library to get a copy of their new article or buy this article online for 99¢ from the National Science Teachers Association.
Real-life Science Communicators
This week I had the opportunity to attend the annual conference of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI). As expected, my appreciation for what scientific illustrators do has increased yet again. Scientific illustrators are a significant force in the field of science communication and their contribution to this field knows no bounds. From children’s books, to outdoor sculpture, to magazines, to cultural exchange (take the virtual tour), they make science and the natural world easier to understand through everything they do.
This year the conference theme was Scientific Illustration: Frontiers Past and Future. Featured were presentations about explorers and natural history artists from the past and presentations about how scientific illustration is used and created today in the 21st century.
Learn more about the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators at www.gnsi.org.
Looking for a scientific illustrator to work on a project? Visit Science-Art.com, a resource connecting artists and art buyers in the nature, science and medical community.
The host of the GNSI conference this year was the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). The Illustration Department at SCAD offers a minor in scientific illustration and is doing their part to create the next generation of science communicators. Learn more about this wonderful school and their students at www.scad.edu.
Buczynski, Sandy and Kathleen Ireland, Sherri Reed and Evelyn Lacanienta. 2012. Communicating science concepts through art: 21st-century skills in practice. Science Scope. 35(9): 30-35.
Marshall, Julia. 2010. Five ways to integrate: Using strategies from contemporary art. Art Education. 63(3): 13-19.


Although an online bachelor’s degree in education and a teacher certification are sufficient to teach in most states, many experienced educators are pursuing online master’s degrees in education. Accredited online master in education programs are designed to enhance educational skills and knowledge and prepare experienced educators for leadership positions such as principal and instructional coordinator. However, educators interested in teaching at colleges and universities typically pursue a PhD in education, rather than a master's degree. Many online master's degree education programs require only a thesis for experienced educators, but schools often require students without prior teaching experience to complete a student teaching internship as well to gain classroom experience.
For most students, a strictly online master's will suffice. However, if you are interested in educational psychology, a hybrid of online and brick-and-mortar classes is recommended. Read More
Table of Contents
Choosing a specialization before entering a Master of Education program will help you choose the right program for you. Many programs offer study in child studies (psychology based), community development and action, education policy, elementary education (typically includes a licensure course for a direct class to classroom program), higher education administration, learning and instruction, urban studies, reading education, special education and more.
Some of the most common areas of specialization include:
Typically, a master’s degree in education takes about 2 years to complete. This equals about 33 quarter-credit hours of coursework.
Some types of classes that you may take include:
Most master’s in education programs require the following:
Candidates for online master’s education programs should normally have either a bachelor’s degree in education or in a related field, including Educational Psychology, Early Childhood Development, Elementary Education, Curriculum and Instruction and Counseling.
The route many K-12 teachers take to the classroom is attending undergraduate school and graduating with a BA with an education emphasis. This emphasis typical requires additional credits of study.
However, many education professionals choose to pursue a Master of Education in order to widen the scope of their job opportunities, to get into administration or simply for the additional education. With a total of 6.2 million teachers in America, education is a big field that is essential to the long-term success of the entire country. Some career options include:


AU hosts NGSS and ELA Common Core Standards workshop for area teachers
On Tuesday, April 23, Aurora University hosted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core Standards: Fulfilling the Shared Responsibility, a workshop for area elementary, middle and high school teachers. The workshop was designed by experts in the NGSS and ELA Common Core Standards, and facilitated by educators that have undergone training in implementation of these standards.
NGSS is an initiative led by the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Achieve that focuses on developing K–12 science standards across all disciplines and grades with the goal of providing all students an internationally-benchmarked science education. The ELA Common Core Standards focus on creating the next generation of K-12 standards in order to ensure that all students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school.
The workshop was attended by approximately 50 local educators, who were provided with an overview of science and literacy standards, with an emphasis upon their cross-disciplinary intersections. Focus was placed on how to best design curricula in the sciences that emphasize literacy development, and how to best implement literacy standards in the language arts that reinforces student achievement in sciences.
“The main goal of the workshop was to help teachers from various disciplines view the common core standards in science and literacy as an integrated curriculum rather than as disjointed subjects,” said Saib Othman, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Educators participated in hands-on activities and collaborative discussions throughout the workshop to further explore implementation of the standards with colleagues across academic disciplines and grade levels.


The needs of all students of the Titusville Area School District are addressed by the administrators, guidance counselors, department chairpersons, and individual teachers participating in an annual review of curricula. They then make recommendations to the School Board of Directors for changes and additions to course offerings. Each grade level has a specific role in fostering the educational process.
Early Childhood Curriculum
The Early Childhood Learning Center, constructed in 1991, houses the district’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, the district made an even greater commitment to early childhood education by offering full day kindergarten. Although the same curriculum is taught, teachers have more time to incorporate activities. Additionally, the program has been enhanced by the Action Based Learning Lab program in Physical Education. Learning in full day kindergarten is tied to kinesthetic motion. These changes have been funded primarily through the Pennsylvania Department of Education Accountability Grant.
The elementary schools are committed to fostering the basic skills of communication through a balanced literacy program that includes phonics as well as reading and writing instruction. Instructors and administrators have implemented measures that promote improved performance in reading, writing and math. Such measures include the use of technology, such as Smart Boards, the introduction of math manipulatives, and the formation of reading and math clubs and summer programs, such as Partners Achieving Learning Success (PALS) Club. Supplemental reading instruction is provided through the Title I Program and subsidized with Federal dollars.
Middle Level Curriculum
Another goal of the District is to provide a developmentally responsive middle level school which provides a curriculum that is challenging, integrated and exploratory. There are three significant components of a middle level curriculum. First, it enables students to discover their abilities, talents, interests, values and preferences. This self-knowledge helps students prepare for adult life, not only in terms of vocation, but also as family members and citizens (NMSA, 1998). Second, all courses and activities are taught in a way that reveals opportunities for making contributions to society. Finally, experiences acquaint students with enriching, healthy, leisure-time pursuits.
High School Curriculum
Titusville High School has been accredited by the Middle States Association for more than 75 years and maintains an academic standing comparable to many larger schools in Pennsylvania. Students in the senior high school may elect to follow an academic, arts, business education or vocational-technical curriculum. Students choosing four years of college preparatory study, frequently acknowledge that their teachers prepare them well to compete academically at the college level. Business education students acquire proficient office and machine skills throughout their experience, which allows many of these students to be placed in cooperative job settings. Vocational students may choose to enhance their vocational education at the Venango Technology Center located in Oil City. For those who prefer to stay at the high school, career-based curricula in Art, Computer Programming, Family and Consumer Sciences and Technical Education are also available. The administration and staff have developed a transition program for incoming ninth graders to ease the challenges of moving from the middle school to the high school. Integration of the various curricular areas has also been a focus. The schedule is designed to accommodate the integration of English and social studies on several levels, as well as advanced math, physics and technology education. Computers and other types of technology are available across the curriculum for students.


The National Association for Music Education states in The National Standards for Arts Education, “Every course in music, including performance courses, should provide instruction in creating, performing, listening to, and analyzing music, in addition to focusing on its specific subject matter.”
The National Standards for Music Education unify us as music educators, yet many of the standards, as well as their implementation, remain highly contested by some educators. In my experience, content standard one is often left just for choirs to cover, as if instrumental music students did not benefit from the aural aptitude created by regular singing in the classroom. Content standards three and four, I believe, are the most forgotten standards for music educators. “Improvisation? Oh yeah, we do that in jazz band,” and “Composition? Yeah, students copy down a couple of measures in their Standard Of Excellence books,” just doesn’t seem to cut it in an educational era so focused on assessment. Assessment aside, however, I also believe that music lags in the content creation category versus the visual arts. Can you imagine a painting class where students learned how to use paints, brushes, and canvas, were exposed to beautiful pieces of artwork, but never got the chance to create their own artwork? I can expose my students to great wind band compositions by the likes of Frank Ticheli and Mark Camphouse, but without the chance to create their own music through composition and improvisation, students cannot fully appreciate their musical craft.
But when do we have time to do all of this? We need to make time for composition and improvisation, much like we make time for fundamentals. We all probably know a director or two that just run repertoire over and over again, without any pause for reflection or adequate time spent on fundamental-building. They choose not to make time to address tone quality and intonation, just like many of us choose not to make time for some of these under-addressed national standards.
One of the many reasons we choose not to make time for these standards is that we feel overwhelmed by the quantity of skills we need in order to be effective music educators. Becoming proficient on all of the instruments, being an effective communicator and conductor, and developing one’s own musicianship are all incredibly time-consuming skills that take years to develop. It’s no wonder that many of us don’t feel comfortable with improvisation and composition; after all, isn’t it the performance majors and composition majors that need to hone those crafts? I completely understand many of these frustrations; that’s why MusicEdForAll.com will try to provide hands-on, take-back-to-your-classroom resources to help engage students in meaningful music-making and critical thinking.
Content Standards for Music Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
5. Reading and notating music
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
7. Evaluating music and music performances
8. Understanding the relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture
From National Standards for Arts Education. Copyright © 1994 by Music Educators National Conference (MENC). Used by permission. The complete National Arts Standards and additional materials relating to the Standards are available from MENC: The National Association for Music Education, 1806 Robert Fulton Drive, Reston, VA 20191; www.menc.org.


The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LA Phil), the USC Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) announced a research collaboration to investigate the emotional, social and cognitive effects of musical training on childhood brain development.
The five-year project will give USC researchers an opportunity to provide new insights and add rigorous data to an emerging discussion about the role of early music engagement in learning and brain function.
Through a collaboration with the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles at Heart of Los Angeles (YOLA at HOLA) program, a partnership between the LA Phil and HOLA, which provides free instruments and musical training to children from the Rampart District of Los Angeles, researchers with the BCI — led by neuroscientists Hanna Damasio and Antonio Damasio at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences — will track how children respond to music from the very onset of their exposure to systematic, high-intensity music education.
Starting when the children are between the ages of 6 and 7, to ages 11 and 12, the researchers will use standard psychological assessments and advanced brain imaging techniques to track brain, emotional and social development. The group of children involved in the YOLA at HOLA program will be compared to a control group of children matched in age, socioeconomic status and cognitive abilities but with no musical training.
All children will be followed for five consecutive years, providing a rare chance for researchers to discover the effects of musical training on emotional, social and cognitive aspects of development as they actually occur, rather than inferring later-life effects. The BCI team began working with YOLA at HOLA students last month.
USC University Professors Hanna and Antonio Damasio, directors of the BCI and the Dornsife Neuroimaging Institute at USC, and professors of psychology and neurology at USC Dornsife, will supervise the study. The BCI’s Assal Habibi, herself a musician and a neuroscientist, and Beatriz Ilari of the USC Thornton School of Music, a musician and music educator, along with graduate students and research assistants, will work with YOLA children and their families, collecting data for the assessments.
Research results and summaries of findings will be reported to the scientific community and will be made available to the public.
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