Celebrate Literacy With a Family Night Out
Houston ISD created a wildly successful Read and Rise Family Night Out-and you can too!
By Kaylyn Christopher Times West Virginian
Houston Independent School District (HISD) has been working hard to ensure that their kindergartners will achieve reading competency by the time they reach third grade. No easy task for a district that has grappled with the interlinked problems of underperforming schools and families living in poverty.
So the Houston Area Urban League (HAUL) and HISD got together and came up with a plan. If they could get families excited and engaged in reading and literacy activities before their children started school, the kids would come to kindergarten reading-ready!
HUAL and HISD needed to educate parents about the many ways they can help prepare their children to be successful in school. To do this, they chose Scholastic’s Read and Rise program as their model. Read and Rise is a research-based program designed to bring communities together to support literacy development. It includes take-home libraries for every student, instructional materials for parents, and professional development for facilitators to conduct workshops to educate parents about how to use the program.
Together HAUL and HISD hosted a large “Read and Rise Family Night Out” to introduce the program. The evening was split between larger discussions and breakout sessions. Parents reporting back from the breakouts were encouraged to share what they learned by any method they wanted. They could sing, or act out a scene, or share a personal story. At the end of the evening, families were invited to register for the full Read and Rise workshop series, which allows for a more personalized and in-depth support.
Since that first Read and Rise, Family Night Out, 25,000 parents in Houston have been trained under Read and Rise and 120,000 books have been distributed to children.Click here learn more about Read and Rise.
5 Tips for a Successful Family Literacy Night
Interested in organizing a family literacy night in your community? Here are some of the approaches that made the night in Houston such a big hit.
- Make it a big night out with food and door prizes—a family affair that will be remembered.
- Get people talking about your event. Are there local celebrities or athletes you could invite? Challenge each grade to have the highest attendance.
- Don’t lecture, engage Don't tell parents what they should or shouldn't do. Give them opportunities to participate in activities and share their own stories!
- Emphasize the fun! Ask questions during read-alouds and play hands-on literacy games. Show that reading together can build bonds and memories.
- Let families know they are crucial literacy partners! In plain language, share the research that shows how families can make a big difference in their children’s school years and beyond.


This is a list of the commercially relevant genres in modern popular music.
Applicable styles are classified in this list using AllMusic genre categorisation.
Music comes in many different types and styles ranging from traditional rock
music to world pop, easy listening and bluegrass. Many genres have a rich
www.ask.com/youtube?q=What Are The Different Kinds Of Music&v=AE9fwl6QkGE
Mar 15, 2011 ... Genre of different types of music. ludamancris ... ITS NOT JUST TECHNO ITS
CALLED ELECTRONIC MUSIC. Read more. Show less. Reply 1.
www.ask.com/youtube?q=What Are The Different Kinds Of Music&v=7uxF9CsxW88
Jun 30, 2013 ... Apparently there's a genre of music called "Musical". ... I hate it when you ask
someone "what kind of music do you like"? and they're like - "I ...
Explore Music Genres on AllMusic.
May 4, 2008 ... Avant-garde music - any kind of experimental music incorporated bizarre ideas,
structures or instrumentation. Axé - pop music from Salvador, ...
To answer your questions concisely: * Yes, you can like and enjoy several
different kinds of genres of music. * I think there's some research related to this...
Brass Brass instruments are made of brass or some other metal and make sound
when air is blown inside. The musician's lips must buzz, as though making a ...
More information on various music genres, forms and styles. ... Music Styles.
Different Types of Music. By Espie Estrella · Music Education Expert. Share. Pin.
Different Kinds of Popular Mus essaysMusic is a form of entertainment that is
enjoyed by many. The most popular kinds of music are Pop, Latin, Rock, Jazz


There are inquisitive kids … and then there are youngsters like Peyton Robertson of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who take curiosity to a different level.
Robertson, a third-grader at Pine Crest School and an avid golfer, kept noticing that his tee shots went farther on warm days than on cold ones. And that led to his idea for a device that golfers could use to keep their golf balls warm in cold weather.
For his creative concept, Robertson was recently named one of three winners in the 3rd annual Kids’ Science Challenge. Part of his prize package includes an opportunity to collaborate with University of Southern Mississippi polymer science professor Daniel Savin on a prototype for the golf ball warmer.
“I’ve read about Dr. Savin’s research group online and watched him on the videos that he has made for the Kids’ Science Challenge Web site. He seems not only incredibly smart, but also fun to work with, too,” said Robertson. “I have so many questions to ask him about my idea for a golf ball warmer and about kinetic energy in general. It will be amazing to work in a real lab where we can test some of my ideas.”
Savin said he became involved in the annual challenge when officials with the competition reached out to faculty at Southern Miss.
“For the Super Stuff for Sports category in the challenge this year, their intention was to have a project that relates materials science to the development of sporting equipment,” said Savin. “Southern Miss is an ideal venue because of our Sports and High Performance Materials program. Since I have elementary-age children, I thought it would be fun to participate.”
Robertson, his parents and Kids’ Science Challenge creator Jim Metzner are scheduled to visit Savin and tour the Southern Miss campus May 19-20.
“What struck me was how much these kids were thinking outside the box,” said Savin. “Peyton’s project relates to how the elasticity of a golf ball depends on temperature. When he visits next week, I want to show him some different ways we measure bounciness, and how we can make plastics with different elasticities.”
Robertson's prize package includes: accommodations at the River Ranch Log Cabin Bed & Breakfast in Hattiesburg; a steamboat cruise, city tour and Haunted House Ghost Tour in New Orleans; a microscope courtesy of Boreal Laboratories; polymers kit courtesy of Academy of Science for Kids; K2 helmet, OUuerspace Explorer Kit, Super Snow and Space Sand all courtesy of DuneCraft Inc.
The winning students in this year’s Kids’ Science Challenge (for 3rd-6th graders) were chosen from more than 1,300 entries. The competition, funded by the National Science Foundation, developed by Metzner, award-winning producer of the “Pulse of the Planet” radio series.
For more information about the annual contest, visit www.kidssciencechallenge.com


Multimedia educational products are gaining widespread consumer acceptance. At the same time, many of these products lack a sound theoretical background or instructional quality, and empirical data supporting their educational value are frequently missing. The present experiment with N = 64 participants examined the usefulness of multimedia applications in art education by constructing four different presentations of 12 representational paintings. Various visual effects, such as motion, fading, zooming, and dissolving, as well as spoken text were used to modify the viewers' mode of understanding. The experimental conditions were varied on two dimensions: (a) The adequacy of the visual effects and (b) the additional presentation of verbal information. The findings support the notion that sophisticated multimedia applications assist the viewer in adopting a more elaborate mode of understanding. Few effects on viewers' aesthetic interest in art or quality of aesthetic experience were found. In contrast to the so phisticated use of multimedia, the use of "flashy" multimedia elements did not have any instructional value.
Educators and researchers alike are always looking for more efficient ways of teaching and learning. Among the possible contributions to improved teaching, the potential role of instructional media has been of major interest ever since instructional illustrations, films, video applications, and computer programs became widely available (Clark & Salomon, 1986; Hasebrook, 1998). With the onset of the age of multimedia, it was claimed that this educational tool could contribute to make education more efficient and interesting (Stoney & Oliver, 1998; Clark & Salomon, 1986). Multimedia applications are currently being used in a variety of areas, for instance in second language acquisition (Cardillo, 1997; Plass, Chun, Mayer, & Leutner, 1998), math and science education (Crosby & Stelovsky, 1995; Keyvan, Pickard, & Song, 1997; Zech, Vye, Bransford, Goldman, Barron, Schwartz, Kisst-Hackett, & Mayfield-Stewart, 1998), and instruction for future medical doctors (Kolasa, Jobe, Miller, & Clay, 1999; McGee, Neill, Goldman, & Casey, 1998). While there are psychological theories describing the positive effects of multimedia (Mayer, 1997; Hasebrook, 1998), the educational value of current applications is often questioned. For instance, in his critical review, Lookatch (1997) stated that "today's instructional designer vitas highlight multimedia experience and quasi-experiences and little, if any, instructional design accomplishments" (p. 112). Not surprisingly, perhaps, psychological research indicates that multimedia products sometimes fail to show any advantage over classical learning environments and that they may even prevent students from learning (Hailey & Hailey, 1998; Schnotz, Boeckheler, Grzondziel, Gartner, & Wachter, 1998).
In the authors' view, the sometimes disappointing results found in studies of multimedia applications can in part be attributed to the weak theoretical underpinning of multimedia programs. The theoretical basis should consist of a flexible interplay of two aspects: On the one hand, clear educational strategies in a given domain are necessary for the development of successful learning environments (Lookatch, 1997). Domain-specific instructional goals have to be considered. For instance, while the desired outcome in some domains is an increase of knowledge or enhanced problem solving capacities (Plass, Chun, Mayer, & Leutner, 1998; Mayer, 1997), educational goals in other domains might be the changing of attitudes or fostering of interest. While there is a multitude of possible goals, mere "acceptance" of a multimedia application by users (Teichman & Richards, 1999) does not seem to be a particularly ambitious goal in most instances.
Second, having identified a suitable instructional goal, educational strategies which may or may not include the use of multimedia should be developed. …


Story Telling Vs Reading Stories
There is more to telling stories than meets the eye.
I spend a good deal of time and effort finding and recommending books for you guys to read with your kids and parents and teachers around the world are likewise encouraged to read stories to their children and classrooms to enrich the imagination and introduce literacy.
There is so much more to explore through storytelling than simply reading the words aloud off the page of a good book!
Of course, reading is essential to literacy development but storytelling delights and encourages children to listen to the music of words in different ways.
Why Tell a story as opposed to Reading one?
Both reading and telling are great ways to communicate stories to children but the differences between the two are quite considerable for both the parent/teacher and the children listening.
When reading stories, the reader must always be focused on the printed words while occasionally looking at the audience.
In contrast, telling a story gives the teller freedom to speak directly to the children, remaining in eye contact while having the opportunity to watch for their reactions to the story.
It is the teller who makes the story come to life through the sound of their voice and personality combined.
The storytelling becomes almost a personal experience for all involved.
3 Basic rules of children’s stories
- There are three essential elements involved in storytelling;
- the story
- the storyteller
- the audience
- The story itself should be a narrative short enough to be told in one sitting.
- It can be a fiction or non-fiction but more importantly something that the teller is interested in and enjoys.
There really are no limits to what type of story can be told.
Before the written word, storytelling was the only way a person could relate events to other people.
Traditions were passed down from one generation to the next with the use of oral stories.
Even today, libraries are filled with books containing the different folk tales from cultures all over the world.
If it were not for storytelling, these may have been lost and never recorded.
Linking the story to your audience
Linking the story to the audience is up to the storyteller.
The best stories are personal stories because they come from within the teller and I find that my memory (and imaginative additions) is much clearer and provides a wider base for everything from descriptive surroundings to sub-plots and hidden lessons.
However, an experienced teller can learn any story and make it their own (and reading and practicing the tips and hints in the free storytelling technique course will set you on the right path).
The beginner may feel more comfortable with a traditional well known story like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Little Red Riding Hood.
Personal stories however, usually hold the greatest interest for a teller and have the potential to produce the inner most enthusiasm while reciting remembered events – plus : The audience will enjoy the story just as much as the teller enjoys telling it.
Some people are natural born storytellers, but anyone who is willing to practice and devote time and study can become a good one.
There are certain characteristics that a natural storyteller may possess that gives them an advantage.
A creative imagination and a flair for drama will help bring a story to life so the children will be able to visualize in their own minds the characters and setting of the story.
It is also better to be prepared for the sometimes unexpected tidbits the children will want to add to the story themselves. Including their ideas and engaging with the audience will truly make for a successful storytelling session.
There is clearly more to telling children’s stories than one at first thinks and indeed the same can be said of reading stories, but you have to start somewhere right?
I want you to be able to feel confident to tell stories to your children from your memory or made up from your incredible imagination that speak directly to the third piece of the storytelling : your audience!
The great thing is that generally we know our audience quite well which gets us off to a great start and I hope that in coming weeks you’ll start to gain some ideas and confidence and a structure around how you can formulate and tell your own stories to your kids.


This video from Britain is called Ellen Wilkinson Quotes.
By Bernadette Hyland in Britain:
A class fighter of vision and principle
Saturday 1st February 2014
Bernadette Hyland talks to Paula Bartley about her new biography of Ellen Wilkinson
Wilkinson attacked the capitalist system and its responsibility for declining wages since 1900, while the wealth in the hands of the few had grown.
She said that taxes for the rich were being reduced while the poor were the “victims of the profiteer” and finished by saying: “This is not a fight for party but a crusade for the freedom of the human race.”
Paula Bartley’s new book Ellen Wilkinson: From Red Suffragist to Government Minister is a reminder of the amazing life of this working-class woman whose rhetoric in the 1920s is not out of place in the austerity Britain of 2104.
Bartley, a feminist historian, says that “in her day, ‘Red Ellen’ as she became known was arguably the most famous, certainly the most outspoken, British politician.
“She was a fierce left-wing feminist who championed the poor and the vulnerable.”
Wilkinson was born into a working-class family in Ardwick in Manchester on October 18 1891.
It was one of the poorest areas of the city at that time and little has changed in 2014.
She was one of the luckier children born in that area as, after she finished her elementary education, she won a scholarship to Ardwick Higher Grade School – which was later renamed Ellen Wilkinson High School.
Winning a bursary in 1906 she combined studying at Manchester Day Training College for half a week with teaching at Oswald Road School for the rest of the week.
In 1910 she won a scholarship to read history at the University of Manchester, one of the few working-class women to do so at this time. At the age of 16 she joined the Independent Labour Party and began a lifetime of radical activity.
In 1920 she helped set up the Communist Party.
Bartley feels that the role Wilkinson played in the Communist Party has not been recognised. “I knew that Ellen Wilkinson was one of the early members of the Communist Party but had not realised how influential she was in it.
“Indeed the Soviets gave her and Harry Pollitt money to travel first-class to the first Congress of the Red Trade Union International in Moscow. When she returned Ellen helped found the British section of the Red International of Labour Unions, Profintern.”
Wilkinson left the Communist Party in 1924 but maintained a close relationship with her former comrades. Her parliamentary career started a few months later when she was elected as Labour MP for Middlesborough East.
Wilkinson played a significant role in the Labour Party which, as Bartley points out, is reflected in their 1945 manifesto which she co-authored. “Let us Face the Future was a passionate, expressive, radical manifesto which had Ellen’s hand, and principles, written all over it.”
The Labour government of 1945 had a radical agenda based on socialist principles of providing free health care and education as well as nationalising major industries.
Wilkinson was appointed as education minister with the job of implementing the 1944 Education Act.
At the Labour conference in 1946 she said: “When I went to the Ministry of Education I had two guiding aims, and they come largely out of my own experience.
“I was born into a working-class home, and I had to fight my own way through to the university. The first of those guiding principles was to see that no boy or girl is debarred by lack of means … the second one was that we should remove from education those class distinctions which are the negation of democracy.”
Sadly she died on February 6 1947 and did not see the major changes brought in by her Labour government.
Whatever Happened to the Welfare State? The first meeting of the Mary Quaile Club will be on Saturday February 15, at 2pm, at the Cornerstones Community Centre, 451 Liverpool Street, Langworthy, Salford M6 5QQ. For further details see MaryQuaileclub.wordpress.com.


They're learning ways to combine technology and music education with the help of an instructor from Scotland.
Sixth grade students at Edison Elementary and Lindbergh Elementary are enhancing their music classes with their iPads.
The technology is part of Project Connect.
Students are beginning to learn and experiment with a variety of music applications including garage band.
"The real bonus of using a touchable interface is that it's so much more engaging than anything else. When you are using books or maybe just using a keyboard, this is all the sounds of it and nothing to stop the creative process," said Neil Johnston.
Johnston, of Store Van Music based in Scotland, is used to composing music for TV, film and video games.
He is taking his passion for music a step further by enhancing music education.
"If they're learning through the music they are listening to, then we are getting it right. I think that is the most effective way to engage learning specifically for music," said Johnston.
Students attend music class 2-3 times a week and by using their iPads, they have learned chord progression and a variety of virtual instruments.
Kids have been picking up quickly on music theory and even creating their own melodies.
"I would say that it is greatly going to enhance and explode. The potential is there for them to just blow it out of the water," said Darren Verbick, St. Joseph School District Fine Arts Department.
Since aquiring the iPads in February, fourth, fifth and sixth grade students are using their iPads daily in the classroom. They have expanded the learning possibilities and have the potential of driving student creativity off the charts.
"I think it's made them more excited about learning, and it's made them learn in a different way - ways that we couldnt provide for them," said Rachel Harrison, music instructor.
Kids are also learning to take notes and even put together virtual book reports on their iPads.
Copyright 2016 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Salary Information for Physical Education Graduates
Most graduates with degrees in physical education go on to work at an elementary, middle, or high school as physical education and health teachers. While there are many more career paths for people with health education degrees, careers as teachers tend to be very popular.
The type of teacher you choose to become should depend on the specific age group you like to teach. How much can you earn teaching at these various age levels? Let’s take a look at the salary information for teachers, based on studies by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Salary Information for Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers
Kindergarten and elementary school teachers typically teach children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old, and their median pay in 2012 was $53,090 per year. In 2012 there were 1,519,700 people working as kindergarden and elementary education teachers and the job growth should be around 12% between 2012-2022.
Salary Information for Middle School Teachers
Physical education teachers interested in working with older children can consider teaching at the middle school level. Middle school teachers build on the foundation that students learn in elementary school and help prepare the future high school students for the more difficult workload. They teach students between the sixth and eighth grades and made a median salary of $53,430 per year in 2012. There were 614,400 middle school teachers in 2012 and the job growth rate between 2012-2022 is expected to be 12%.
Salary Information for High School Teachers
Physical education teachers interested in working with teens should consider teaching at the high-school level. These teachers help prepare students for life after graduation, whether it’s college or working, and usually serve expanded roles as athletic coaches as well. In 2012 there were 955,800 people working as high school teachers making an annual salary of $55,050. This is slightly higher than the salaries of other teachers, but the job growth between 2012-2022 is only expected to be 6%.
As in all careers, the salary of a high school teacher can vary quite a bit based on education, experience, location, sector. Of course, those with more education and experience will, on average, make more money than less educated and younger teachers, and teachers working in private schools will make more than those working in public schools. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual wage of the 90% percentile of high school teachers was $86,720. Listed below are the five states with the top paying salaries in secondary education:
- New York at $75,250
- Alaska at $41,040
- New Jersey at $70,870
- Rhode Island at $69,990
- Massachusetts at $69,340
Making More Money as a Physical Education Graduate
Want to make more money as a physical education teacher? No matter what level you teach at, here are a few tips you can use to earn a higher salary:
- Earn a master’s degree in your field.
- Take on activities responsibilities, such as coaching after school.
- Continue working at a single school throughout your career.
- Work in a high-need area (which also allows you to apply for loan forgiveness programs in some cases).
- Work for a private school rather than a public school.
If you want to work as a health educator, you will likely have to take additional courses as well as complete a certification exam, depending on where you live and the type of employer. A health educator provides and manages health education programs that help people maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Some schools hire full-time health educators with a physical education background.
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, health educators earned a mean annual wage of $53,800 in May of 2011. With a master’s degree, you may earn more. States with the highest employment level in this occupation include:
- New York
However, the top paying states for health educators are
- Maryland at $83,140
- District of Columbia at $74,710
- Georgia at $74,150
- Rhode Island at $66,270
- Delaware at $64,570
List of online physical education degrees
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Ashley Safford and Bre Annabowker don’t have an ounce of Mexican heritage in them.
So to walk into Dos Rios Elementary School on a Thursday afternoon and hear them excitedly talk about Farolitos’ and Rosca de Reyes’ seems a bit off.
But it only takes a few minutes watching the University of Northern Colorado elementary education majors teach fourth- and fifth-grade students all about Mexican culture to realize their American genes don’t matter.
“It’s really important, especially in this community, where their culture is not represented much in school,” said Annabowker, 21, about the need for Mexican culture classes. “This gives them that and says that it is important.”
The two women are members of the Mexican American Studies Club at UNC and have been volunteering for the after school arts program at Dos Rios for about two years now. They were offered the opportunity by their professor Genie Canales as sophomores. Once they started they couldn’t stop.
Canales said the program was her idea and that of Dos Rios teacher Veronica Lucero, who had worked together previously for the annual Festival Chicanalo de Artes, which features Mexican and American art.
“I began offering it up to my students to volunteer, and we are halfway through our third year now,” said Canales, who is a professor of Hispanic studies at UNC. “We believe in planting the seeds of thinking about going to college early. We want kids to see college students of all ages and men and women. And we want them to see role models they can identify with.”
Art was selected to be the focal point of the hour-long lessons because Canales said art gives Hispanics, who historically have not been included in dialogue, a voice. The class is open to all fourth and fifth graders and is free.
Safford, president of the club and recent recipient of the student version of the “Inspiring Women” award, writes all the lesson plans that generally give a historical background of an aspect of Mexican culture and then ties it in with a specific art project.
Thursday, for example she read the story of the Farolitos, which means little lanterns in Spanish. The story was about how luminaries lit the way to Catholic Mass on Christmas Eve in Mexico in the 1600s. Afterward the kids played a game where they formed a train and walked around the cafeteria with their eyes closed, being led by only the women’s voices. It demonstrated how hard it was to find the way using just luminaries. They then made snowflakes, which are also part of the winter celebration and snacked on Rosca de Reyes, a wreath-shaped, candied-fruit bread eaten to celebrate epiphany.
“Even though we just meet once a week, it helps build community understanding that it’s OK to be Mexican,” Safford said. “And if they don’t have any Mexican heritage in them like me and Bre, it helps them understand it is a part of what Greeley is and to celebrate that.”
Sherrie Peif covers education for The Tribune. If you have an idea for a feature, contact Sherrie at (970) 392-5632, by email at email@example.com. Follow her on twitter @sherriepeif.


The framework for multicultural education is relatively new and still evolving. What started, in the 1980s, as a movement to ensure inclusion of the experiences and culture of African-American students has expanded to include women’s voices, LGBT perspectives and people with differing abilities.
The growing diversity of student populations makes recognizing and celebrating the unique cultures of all students more crucial than ever. Multicultural education, as defined by Nieto and Bode in Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education (Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2008), is “[a] process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms the pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and their teachers reflect.”
As a teacher who has cerebral palsy, I enjoy talking with colleagues about ways to broaden discussion and curriculum to include perspectives of people with differing abilities.
How can you create a classroom that embraces disability as part of the multicultural education equation? Here are some tips:
- Recognize and reject ableism at all levels. Ableism (the set of attitudes and practices that regard disabled people as inferior and acknowledge the physically and mentally able body as the “normal” or “right” body) is insidious, as are all forms of discrimination. It’s a distinction that many of my colleagues haven’t considered. But in order to make classrooms physically, emotionally and mentally welcoming to all students, we have to be aware of ableist attitudes among other students. And we must emphasize that disability is simply another difference, like race or gender.
- Authentically and meaningfully include people with disabilities. “Nothing About Us Without Us,” the unofficial motto of the disability rights movement, emphasizes that people with disabilities belong at the forefront of all disability discussion. Assess your students for those who might want to talk about their experiences, but be careful not to single out any student who may not be ready to share. Read literature written by disability activists. Invite members of the community to share their own stories.
- Use course materials that include people with a variety of abilities. When looking to expand your library, consider including books that include people with disabilities. Be mindful of the messages your materials send about disability, and be aware of intersectionality. People with disabilities, like the rest of humanity, come in all shapes and sizes, and should be represented as such.
This is just the start of what I hope will become a long list of strategies. I’d like to hear from you. Include your tips in this blog’s comment area. What will you do to make your classroom more disability-friendly? What have you already done?
Liebowitz is a Pennsylvania college student with several differing abilities, She is majoring in special and elementary education.


The Fourth of July marks 236 years since the 13 colonies seceded from England and became an independent nation. England attempted to block the colonies attempt at secession with military force, but were not able to do so as the colonists won a long and bloody war of secession. 236 years after secession, England is one of our greatest allies. Every year on July 4, we celebrate self-determination and the right to choose one's own government, and the choice made by the colonies to secede from a nation that no longer respected their liberties.
Today, we celebrate George Washington and the colonists as patriots, but that certainly was not the universal view at the time. Had the 13 colonies failed in their attempt to secede from England, our history books would be very different, teaching us that Washington was a traitor and a criminal - just as we now view Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The winners do write the history books, after all.
The irony does not escape me, though, that we view the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States in a completely different light. In both cases, a group of states decided that continued union with a larger entity was destructive to their liberty, and declared that they would be seceding from the larger entity. In both cases the larger entity used military force to prevent the secession. In the first case, the secessionists won the war. In the second case, the secessionists lost. That makes all the difference in how history sees both: secession was moral and patriotic in 1776 but secession was immoral and treasonous in 1860.
The popular and simplistic view of the War Between the States is that a benevolent Yankee army invaded the Confederacy to free the slaves. It was a humanitarian mission to ensure racial equality and end a grave injustice. But Abraham Lincoln's own white supremacist views are conveniently ignored, as was the political charade that was the Emancipation Proclamation. The War Between the States was not about ending slavery. It was an armed conflict over the role of federal power as opposed to states' rights and whether states were really sovereign entities with control over their own affairs.
The federalists won the war, which set into motion the ever-expanding power of the federal government at the expense of both states' rights and individual liberty. The men who founded the country would be shocked at what they see today, when truly local issues such as elementary education are debated in Congress and both major party candidates for President advocating their own views of a single national solution for a nation that stretches across the continent and has a population of over 300 million people. That is unfortunate.
A question settled by violence, or in disregard of law, must remain unsettled forever. - Jefferson Davis
A reasonable level of civility is expected. While it is expected that controversial political and social issues may generate heated debate, there are common-sense limits of civility that will be enforced.
This blog is a family-friendly site. Therefore no cursing, profanity, vulgarity, obscenity, etc. will be allowed. This is a zero-tolerance rule and will result in automatic deletion of the offending post.
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The Tuneables is an award-winning children's music education DVD and CD series designed to teach the key building blocks of music at a critical time in a child's development. Sponsored by the Music Intelligence Project, this fun, interactive program engages children in songs and activities that provide a foundation of music understanding and growth in intellectual development. Ages 3-8.
Buy your copy today at: www.thetuneables.com/the-music-shop/
Music learning, like language learning, must begin early in the child's life. The early years are the period of most rapid growth in brain development. This growth is "wiring" the brain to recognize, remember, and understand the sounds and patterns of music and speech. Individuals rarely develop musical capabilities later in life if their early years did not include learning that involves a rich mix of rhythmic, tonal, and performance skills.
Because music listening skills develop with those parts of the brain that also involve language learning, verbal competence increases along with music learning. Studies have also shown that music learning involving a substantive mix of rhythmic, tonal, and performance skills also enhances the development of those parts of the brain that provide memory, mathematical reasoning, and muscular control. In addition, music learning engages a large section of the brain that overlaps the parts that control general intelligence.
Young children who do not receive the many benefits of substantive music learning at this critical time suffer an irrevocable loss. Young children deprived of important early learning experiences have slowed or even halted intellectual development. This leaves the child with an unrecoverable and diminished capacity for learning important skills and concepts throughout life. This is similar to learning a second language when children, exposed early, have a much greater ability to quickly and easily use that language than those exposed to that language later in life.
For an extended discussion of early music learning, see:
Gordon, Edwin. Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children, 2003 Edition. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2003.
When the question arises as to whether playing recorded background music for young children provides any benefit, the answer must be, "Yes." This is a convenient and pleasurable way to introduce children to the music of their culture and allow them to become familiar with a repertoire of songs and other compositions. In addition, when the music selected for listening is sufficiently complex, like Mozart's, some benefit to increased intelligence may occur. Most importantly, these listening experiences provide the readiness for structured music instruction.
Parents often ask, "What recordings should I have my children listen to?" High on the list of recommendations are compositions by Mozart and his contemporary, Haydn. Among the many reasons given for choosing these two composers, and others like them, is that their music is highly suited to stimulate brain development in young children as well as providing an excellent foundation upon which to develop basic concepts of music.
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Engaging Learners Through Artmaking: Choice-Based Art Education in the Classroomby Katherine Douglas
Pub. Date: 07/17/2009
Publisher: Teachers College Press
This dynamic resource details the philosophy, rationale, and implementation of choice-based authentic art education in elementary and middle schools. To do the work of artists, children need opportunities to behave, think, and perform as artists. The heart of this curriculum is to facilitate independent learning in studio centers designed to support student choices… See more details below
This dynamic resource details the philosophy, rationale, and implementation of choice-based authentic art education in elementary and middle schools. To do the work of artists, children need opportunities to behave, think, and perform as artists. The heart of this curriculum is to facilitate independent learning in studio centers designed to support student choices in subject matter and media. The authors address theory, instruction, assessment, and advocacy in a user-friendly format that includes color photos of classroom set-ups and student work, sample demonstrations, and reflections on activities.
Introduces artistic behaviors that sustain engagement, such as problem finding, innovation, play, representation, collaboration, and more.
Provides instructional modes for differentiation, including whole-group, small-group, individual, and peer coaching.
Offers management strategies for choice-based learning environments, structuring time, design of studio centers, and exhibition.
Illustrates shifts in control from teacher-directed to learner-directed.
Highlights statements by children identifying personal relevancy, discovery learning, and reflection.
- Teachers College Press
- Publication date:
- Edition description:
- New Edition
- Sales rank:
- Product dimensions:
- 6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Table of Contents
Foreword George Szekely ix
Preface John V. Crowe xi
Introduction Introducing Choice-Based Art Education: The Spirit of Artistic Behavior 1
Part I Practice-Based Theory
1 Defining Teaching for Artistic Behavior: The Four Practices 9
2 The Learning Environment 17
3 How to Structure the Class 24
4 Assessing Progress 32
5 Ideas and Motivation 40
6 Exhibitions 47
Part II Studio Centers
7 Drawing 55
8 Painting 61
9 Moving Into Three Dimensions 67
10 More Media Centers 77
11 Smaller and Ephemeral Centers 86
12 Rethinking Art Education 91
Appendix A National Visual Art Standards: What Fourth Graders in Teaching for Artistic Behavior Art Programs Know and Can Do 95
Appendix B Written Planning for the Choice-Based Teacher 99
About the Authors 112
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IT should be "at the core" of the primary curriculum and taught across all subjects, a report by former senior Ofsted inspector Jim Rose says today.
Computing skills are increasing in importance for children and should be taught across the curriculum as well as a standalone topic, the report says.
Under the proposals, primary schools could see traditional subjects such as history replaced by six "areas of learning": understanding English, communication and languages mathematical understanding scientific and technological understanding human, social and environmental understanding understanding physical health and well-being and understanding the arts and design.
The report says, "A sound grasp of ICT is fundamental to engagement in society, and the foundations for this engagement must be laid in primary schools. Along with literacy and numeracy, the use of technology to develop skills for learning and life should be at the core of the primary curriculum."
ICT is not yet providing value for money in many schools, according to the report, and some skills should be taught to children at earlier stages.
"Because ICT has the unique capacity and potential for developing and enlivening all domains of learning, including literacy and numeracy, it should also be taught both discretely to capture its essential knowledge and skills, and through its applications across the whole curriculum to deepen understanding," it said.
Karen Price, CEO of the IT sector's skills council, E-Skills UK, said, "We welcome today's report and the emphasis it places on the role of technology in primary school education. The effective use of IT can really enrich learning for young people.
"Today's generation has grown up with technology and it forms an integral part of their lives. It follows that they have more advanced technology skills at an earlier stage in their lives. We also welcome the report's recommendation that the primary school curriculum should better reflect this."
The full report will be published in March 2009, when the government will decide which of its recommendations to accept.


Coral or Cauliflower? Mystery Image Contest Cultivates Curiosity, Observation
Each month's winner, drawn randomly from the pool of correct entries, receives a pre-determined prize such as an "I [heart] Science" T-shirt or a AAAS Digital Membership. The first winner, Laura McShane, is the Children's Librarian at the Cleveland Public Library. Contestants must be over 18 to enter, but teachers may submit a guess on behalf of their class.
Thurston anticipates that classroom guesses will pick up as the school year gets underway. "Teachers can guide students to identify what observations can be made from the image and to determine clues or characteristics that will help students make an educated guess," she said.
"While the contest is live, very little information about the image is provided. However, once the contest is over we provide a thoughtful description about the image and point teachers to related Science NetLinks resources. All finished contests are archived so teachers can conduct their own contests at any point, not just when the contest is open."
Thurston and her colleagues hope to learn how teachers are using the Mystery Image Contest in their classrooms. To encourage feedback they have started a discussion in their All About Science online group, where teachers can share ideas and suggestions.
Launched in 1997, Science NetLinks was revamped in 2011 to provide new options for exploring its hundreds of lesson plans, online tools, special resource collections and after-school activities for K-12 teachers, students and families. Science NetLinks also features two AAAS news feeds: Science for Kids, which offers student-friendly stories based on reports from the journal Science, and ScienceNOW, the journal's daily online news section.
Content from Science NetLinks is also featured on the Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity.org site, which provides free, Internet-based educational resources and an online community for educators. Science NetLinks receives more than 280,000 visits each month.
Submit your best guess! Science NetLinks mystery image for September [U.S. Geological Survey]


More Ways to Help Wildlife
National Wildlife Federation offers a variety of educational opportunities to engage your students. Explore some of NWF’s other program and build learning about trees to your whole school or community.
For Pre-school – High School
Eco-Schools USA- An international initiative designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. Eco-Schools USA helps schools achieve a smaller carbon footprint, smarter resource consumption, and a curriculum that improves students' academic performance.
Schoolyard Habitats– Creating outdoor learning classrooms and gardens provide an educational learning opportunity which uses all the senses, learning styles and provides practical application of learning principals.
Wildlife Watch – Observing our surroundings is one of the foundational skills we all use. Wildlife Watch takes the love of nature and combines it with observing wildlife and reporting your findings to increase tracking of wildlife in the US as part of citizen science program.
National Wildlife Week– Celebrate the 3rd week in March annually, National Wildlife Week provides teachers and educators with an arrary of thematic activities about wildlife, and what you can do to help them.
For adults and college age students or advisors
Campus Ecology– College Students and Young Adults participate in program to Green their campus and community and learn about Green Jobs in their future. By using practical application to knowledge students learn from participating in knowledge sharing and communicating their success and lessons learned to fellow colleagues across the US.
Certified Wildlife Habitat - Grow your love of trees to a love of nature and wildlife by taking four steps to creating a wildlife habitat in your backyard, neighborhood or other community sites.
Awarding Winning Publications
Ranger Rick - Ranger Rick has been an icon for over 40 years takes us on adventures and increasing our knowledge of wildlife and nature. Share the love of nature with someone you know or sponsor a classroom set of magazines. Help to continue the inspiration and love of nature in the next generation.


The Yamaha Method
Principles Fundamental to the Yamaha Method
From "Yamaha Music Education System: celebrating 50 years of growth." American Music Teacher | August 1, 2005| Kathy Anzis
Group Lessons: Teacher + Children + Parents
"I believe that music should not be competitive, but should be a means of fostering friendships. Music provides a context in which goodwill may be exchanged..." Kawakami, Genichi. Reflections on Music Popularization. (Tokyo: Yamaha Music Foundation, 1987): 6
Lessons are taught to a group of students (typically 8 to 10 per class) and, in the case of the Junior Music Course, one parent attends with each child. This format motivates children and provides an opportunity to develop ensemble skills and cooperation within a supportive community of friends and parents. With their peers, children become part of a musical team making music together. With their teacher and parents, the group becomes a musical community.
The group format, in conjunction with the musical content, brings joy and fun to the learning process. Students who attend class with their friends have extra-musical reasons to return every week. The camaraderie that grows contributes to tight, expressive ensemble performances at advanced levels and promotes long-term involvement in music.
Parental attendance facilitates accelerated growth. The parent/child partnership is active, not passive. Each partnership develops into a mini-ensemble, where co-learning, co-practicing and co-discovering can be enjoyed in class and at home. The entire family hears music shared between two members and often is motivated to join in the fun. In fact, when younger siblings of students become students themselves, we often find their sense of pitch is more developed than that of other entering students. They have heard the language of music at home and already have begun to absorb it.
Comprehensive Music Education
The JMC curriculum is broad compared to typical private piano lessons. Children sing solfège, play the keyboard, sing songs with lyrics, move to music, play rhythm and keyboard ensembles and participate in "music appreciation" activities (initially a non-analytical experience). They develop diverse musical skills without prematurely focusing on one instrument or style. This approach allows students to choose their future musical path when they are more physically and mentally mature.
Music is a Language
The method assumes music is a language children can learn naturally in the same way they learn their spoken and written language: we hear, we imitate, we speak and we read. You will find a parallel sequence played out in JMC classes throughout the world-children hear a melody or harmony, sing it in solfège, play it on the keyboard and then learn to read it.
The aural awareness of four- and five-year-olds is more developed than their manual dexterity and visual skills. Therefore, the Yamaha approach for this age group focuses on aural training versus emphasizing piano technique and reading. While early lessons cover the basics of keyboard technique, technical study is more actively undertaken in upper- level courses when students are developmentally ready. Likewise, the introduction of reading and theory takes place gradually in a timely and contextual manner. When students are intellectually ready, it is explained in academic terms what they have sensed and experienced musically at a young age.
The Yamaha Method employs "Fixed-Do" solfège (without altered syllables) in both ear training and keyboard activities. Fixed-Do enables a child to connect a specific pitch and syllable, such as middle Do (middle C), with a specific key on the keyboard. Aural training using Fixed-Do helps children internalize pitch, resulting in a strong relative pitch sense and, in many cases, perfect pitch. Consequently, in JMC classes one will observe students singing solfège by ear and eventually playing keyboard by ear.
Solfège is the core of the Yamaha Method; students absorb this musical vocabulary and use it in both beginning and advanced courses. Solfège becomes each student's first musical voice. In every class, teachers sing melodic patterns and chords that children imitate. Solfège sessions at the teacher's piano account for approximately 15 to 20 minutes of a 60minute class. Through singing solfège, students begin to acquire a sense of pitch, rhythm, meter, harmony, form, phrase structure, key, articulation, dynamics and mood.
By the end of two years in JMC, students have built a substantial vocabulary of solfège, having sung 50 melodies and numerous chord progressions using the I, IV and V7 chords in the keys of C major, G major, F major, D minor and A minor. Aside from developing musicianship, these solfège experiences prepare children to play in these five keys. In fact, children experience singing in a key for approximately one semester prior to playing in that key.


The General Education Program at American Indian College is based on the following Core Competencies: Biblical and Theological Studies, Oral and Written Communication, Scientific Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis, Social and Human Behavior, Civic and Community Engagement, Technology and Information Literacy, Human Values and Ethical Reasoning and Health and Wellness. The program is designed to develop intellectual skills that will enhance the student’s professional, civic, and personal life. Students will learn how to analyze the world around them from different perspectives, how to communicate their ideas and understand the ideas of others, how to solve problems, and how to apply their knowledge to real-world projects. (42 Credits)
Listed below are the objectives with corresponding courses.
Biblical Studies & Theology – 9 credits
Students will demonstrate a basic knowledge of the persons, geography, and stories contained within the Biblical text.
- BIB 113 – Old Testament Survey
- BIB 123 – New Testament Survey
Students will demonstrate and apply a basic knowledge and comprehension of Pentecostal Biblical doctrine.
- THE 113 – Essentials of Pentecostal Theology
Communication Skills – 12 credits
Students will produce persuasive and informative oral presentations in diverse settings using an appropriate style and delivery.
- COM 243 – Fundamentals of Public Speaking
Students will identify and use rhetorical strategies (i.e., invention, arrangement and style) in the processes of analyzing and composing texts; produce effective written, visual and oral texts, given diverse purposes, genres and audiences and explain the importance of ethical communication as practiced within academic, civic and professional communities.
- ENG 103 – English I
- ENG 113 – English II
Students will analyze and interpret literary text and support that analysis and interpretation with evidence.
- LIT/ENG 123 – Introduction to Literature; Or
- LIT 343 – Native American Literature
Scientific Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis – 7 credits
Students will solve problems using basic mathematical concepts including use of numbers and the structure of number systems, theories of mathematical operations, linear equations, polynomials, factoring, exponents, roots and radicals.
- MAT 213 – College Algebra; Or
- MAT 203 – Business
Students will investigate the fundamental principles of the natural sciences and apply scientific methods of inquiry to explain the natural world from a Christian-world perspective.
Students will engage in free and open inquiry that fosters mutual respect across multiple cultures and perspectives.
- SCI 213 – Biological Science; Or
- SCI 223 – Physical Science
- SCI 211 – Biological Science Lab
- SCI 221 – Physical Science Lab
Social and Human Behavior – 3 credits
Students will describe and explain findings derived from the application of fundamental principles of empirical scientific inquiry which is biblically integrated and culturally relevant to illuminate and analyze social and human behavior.
- PSY 123 – Introduction to Psychology; Or
- SOC 113 – Introduction to Sociology
Civic and Community Engagement – 3 Credits
Students will investigate the people and events corresponding to a specific time period of American history (pre-Spanish American War, post Spanish American War, or American Indian History) and relate their findings to current conditions.
- HIS 113 – American History I; Or
- HIS 123 – American History II*; Or
- GOV 213 – American Government*; Or
- HIS 223 – History of the American Indian
*Elementary Education majors are already required to take HIS 123 and GOV 213 as part of their program of study related to subject matter competency. The General Education choices for Elementary Education majors will therefore be HIS 113 or HIS 223.
Technology and Information Literacy – 3 Credits
Students will use research resources effectively and incorporate the information obtained into their academic and creative endeavors. They will demonstrate their ability to locate, evaluate, organize and use research material from a broad range of sources. Student will be able to format and document source material in properly constructed papers, presentations, and a variety of visual formats.
- TEC 163 – Business Technology; Or
- TEC 173 – Educational Technology
Human Values and Ethical Reasoning – 3 Credits
Students will interpret practices and principles that contribute to strong learning, life skills, academic socialization, and integration of Biblical values as practiced within the American Indian College community.
- PSY 103 – College Success
Students will develop a capacity for active citizenship, ethics, social responsibility, personal growth, and skills for lifelong learning in a global society.
- PSY 103 – College Success
Health and Wellness – 2 credits
Students will demonstrate knowledge of, participate in, and perform basic physical education and wellness activities.
- PED 121 – Physical Education I; And
- PED 141 – Physical Education II; Or
- PED 202 – Total Wellness


Music education at Lewis provides a well-rounded, whole child approach for grades K-5. There are extended music opportunities beginning in 2nd grade with piano keyboarding and the use of midi keyboards. In 3rd grade students can join recorder club. 4th graders have the opportunity to join a string ensemble to learn violin in a group setting. 5th graders can join concert band and audition for the Orff performance band (Boomin’ Beats) that plays xylophones, metalaphones, and percussive instruments.
Music lessons for all grades incorporate both Orff and Kodaly methods of music instruction. The Orff method involves singing, clapping, dancing and instrumental work for children to create their own music. The Kodaly method uses voice as the primary instrument and draws from authentic folk music and composed works through sequenced instruction to develop children’s skills and capabilities.


ERIC Number: ED477613
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2003-Dec
Reference Count: N/A
Using Drama and Theatre To Promote Literacy Development: Some Basic Classroom Applications. ERIC Digest.
In light of factors that hinder teachers in the use of drama and theatre in classroom application, this Digest explains the "myths" of drama and theatre and focuses on their effect on children's literacy development. In addition, rather than presenting a "tour de force" of resources, this Digest highlights some readily applicable strategies for classroom application. It discusses the confusing terminology; the necessity of dramatic activities; facilitating effective dramatic activities (dramatics story re-enactments, drama activities that promote vocabulary development, and incorporating process drama into writing instruction); and the myth of "playful" dramatic activities. (Contains 12 references.) (RS)
Descriptors: Class Activities, Cognitive Development, Drama, Elementary Secondary Education, Literacy, Theater Arts, Vocabulary Development, Writing Instruction
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication, 2805 E. 10th St. #140, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698. Web site: http://eric.indiana.edu; Tel: 800-759-4723 (Toll Free).
Publication Type: ERIC Publications; ERIC Digests in Full Text
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Bloomington, IN.
Identifiers: ERIC Digests
Note: ERIC/REC Digest number 187.


ERIC Number: ED410007
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1994
Reference Count: 0
Why Is Everybody Always Picking on Me? A Special Curriculum for Young People To Help Them Cope with Bullying (for Ages 8-12) [and] Why Is Everybody Always Picking on Me: A Guide to Handling Bullies for Young People.
Webster-Doyle, Terrence; Russ, Adryan
These curriculum materials include a leader or teacher's guide for helping 8- through 12-year-old children cope with bullying, a text for students, and a poster illustrating ways for children to react to bullies. The teacher's guide presents 16 lessons for teachers to use in the classroom. Four of the lessons are role plays through which direct experience can enhance students' understanding of bullying. The other 12 lessons are: (1) What Is a Bully?; (2) How Does Bullying Affect Us?; (3) Why Do Bullies and Victims Exist?; (4) Earthlings: Creatures Who Fight To Survive; (5) How Can We Stop Bullying?; (6) How Victims Can Become Winners; (7) How bullies can become winners; (8) Awareness is everything; (9) How Bullying Affects World Peace; (10) Understanding Aggression; (11) Seeing Yourself As Peacemaker; and (12) The Power of a Questioning Mind. The lessons typically include questions to ask students, stories to read to students, and activities for students to do. The student text consists of 10 chapters. The first eight of these chapters are related to lessons from the teacher's guide. These chapters typically include stories, questions, instructions, suggestions, and role plays. Chapter 9 provides further activities for understanding bullying, and chapter 10 proposes a list of questions to stimulate further thought on the topic of bullying. (BC)
Descriptors: Aggression, Bullying, Change Strategies, Conflict Resolution, Curriculum Guides, Elementary Education, Elementary School Students, Interpersonal Competence, Lesson Plans, Peace, Peer Relationship, Role Models, Role Playing, Teaching Guides, Textbooks, Victimization
Atrium Society Publications, P.O. Box 816, Middlebury, VT 05753; phone: 800-848-6021 (Curriculum Guide, $49.95 plus shipping and handling; Young People's Guide: paperback: ISBN-0-94241-22-5, $14.95; hardcover: ISBN-0-94241-23-3).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Learner; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Students; Teachers
Authoring Institution: N/A


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On Warfare in Antiquity:
History of the Art of War, Volume I Warfare in Antiquity by Hans Delbruck.
Ancient and Medieval Warfare by Oliver Lyman Spaulding and Hoffman Nickerson.
Delbruck is well regarded and will give you more information than most students ever get. Both the above are old, so you should also examine a recent work: The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece by Victor Davis Hanson.
Davidson, Thomas. 1894. The Education of the Greek People and Its Influence on Civilization. I like this book. It is about the evolution of civilization since ancient Greece. The philosophy of Socrates and the philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, when combined, gave a plan for living that works. In only 229 pages, this book can be only the broadest-brush outline treatment of such a broad subject, but it is very good.
Educational Curriculum of the Ancients as Described in the First circa 50 Pages of: Campbell, Andrew A. 2008. The Latin-Centered Curriculum: A Home Educator’s Guide to a Traditional Classical Education, 2nd ed. Non Nobis Press.
I. General education
I.A. Elementary education
I.A.1. The three Rs.
I.A.2.a. Language mechanics and parts of speech
I.A.2.b. The great historical and imaginative literary works of the culture, especially the epic poets
I.A.2.c. Memorize poetry commemorating the deeds of the culture’s heroes.
I.A.2.e. Lyric poetry
I.A.3. The mathematical arts
I.A.3.a. Arithmetic (including business math)
I.A.3.c. Astronomy (including weather signs)
I.A.3.d.i. The scientific study of harmonics and music theory
I.A.3.d.ii. Vocal, instrumental, and moral instruction
I.B. Rhetorical education
I.B.1. A graded series of written exercises (e.g., paraphrase, simile, example, quotation)
I.B.2. Lectures by rhetoric teachers
I.B.3. History texts (not history as a discipline but as examples of rhetoric)
I.C. Physical training in preparation for military service
II. Higher education
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Two hundred and fifty Hamilton County school administrators, pre-K and kindergarten teachers will gather on Tuesday to learn more about how to help students develop the skills they need to get a successful start in school. The first Pre-K/Kindergarten Institute will meet from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at the University Center on the campus of UTC.
Educator Jonathan Fribley will be the keynote speaker. Mr. Fribley is a long-time early educator, coach and mentor from St Cloud, Mn., who leads professional development focused on young children’s language and literacy development, adult-child interaction, and children’s thinking. Mr. Fribley recently joined the Center for Early Education and Development at the University of Minnesota and is in the last year of a 4-year early literacy project with the United Way of Miami. He believes, as Garrison Keillor says, “Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted.”
“Kindergarten is where students really start to read,” says Becky Coleman, director of Literacy for Hamilton County schools. “We are using data from Read 20’s Kindergarten Screening Tool to help us assess what students know and don’t know so that we can target our instruction to the needs of students. We want every student to be successful, and this is the way to make that happen.”
The Hamilton County Department of Education and Read 20 worked together to develop the innovative and much–needed Kindergarten Screening Tool to determine how well a child is prepared as he/she enters kindergarten. The screening tool is research-based and uses a holistic approach including all developmental domains: language, cognition, fine motor, gross motor and social/emotional.
It measures age-appropriate academic skills – for instance, can the student rhyme two words like “cat” and “hat” – but also measures whether a student can stand on one foot or take turns talking in a conversation.
“Skills like these provide the basis for success in school,” says Shawn Kurrelmeier-Lee, Hamilton County’s chief reading officer. “Gross and fine motor skills are important for holding pencils and drawing letters, and social skills are important for listening and successful classroom interactions.”
Most four-year-olds will not have mastered all of these skills, but the more skills they know, the easier it will be to master the all-important task of learning to read, said officials.
Aggregate data from two years of using the Kindergarten Screening Tool will give teachers at the Institute an idea of overall student preparation, and will help pre-k teachers know what they need to work on before they pass their students on to kindergarten classrooms.
"The Kindergarten Screening Tool has proven to be a unique and valuable resource,” says Ms. Kurrelmeier-Lee, who reports getting requests from all over the country for copies of it.
In addition to assessment, other topics covered at the Kindergarten Institute will include Guided Reading; Shared Reading/Room Arrangement/Purposeful Practice and Writer’s Workshop.
The Pre-K/Kindergarten Institute is an outgrowth of the Scenic City Literacy Conference and continues a partnership between Read 20, Hamilton County schools, and UTC. This year, the United Way of Greater Chattanooga is joining the partnership as well.
Read 20 is a public/private partnership promoting literacy skills for early childhood, in an effort to create a community of readers, and in support of Hamilton County's community literacy goals. Since it was created in 2006, Read 20 has distributed 492,702 books, interacted with over 290,991 children, confirmed at least 47,401 adults reading with children every day and provided resources and training for 2,919 teachers in area public schools and day cares.


Models for reflection and learning : a culturally inclusive response to the infomation literacy imbalance
Hughes, Hilary E., Bruce, Christine S., & Edwards, Sylvia L. (2007) Models for reflection and learning : a culturally inclusive response to the infomation literacy imbalance. In Andretta, Susie (Ed.) Change and challenge: Information literacy for the 21st century. Auslib Press, Blackwood, pp. 59-84.
Administrators only | Request a copy from author
This chapter focuses on an apparent information literacy imbalance between many university students’ well developed digital skills and less developed critical awareness. The adverse effect of this imbalance on their learning may be intensified by students’ differing cultural, linguistic and educational experiences. In addressing this imbalance we propose an information literacy approach, underpinned by a series of conceptual models, which fosters the reflective use of information for learning in a dynamic and culturally diverse higher education context. The models presented in this chapter combine principles of reflective practice, action research and information literacy in a framework that provides a sound theoretical base for fostering a critical approach to information use for learning. They are intended to be used both with and by learners and they have an inclusive orientation that accommodates cultural, linguistic and educational differences. Information literacy educators may find them useful as a basis for analysing learners’ needs and for designing and implementing evidence-based information literacy responses. Learners may use the models to scaffold their ongoing information literacy development or to monitor their research progress.
Impact and interest:
Citation counts are sourced monthly from and citation databases.
These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science® generally from 1980 onwards.
Citations counts from theindexing service can be viewed at the linked Google Scholar™ search.
|Item Type:||Book Chapter|
|Additional Information:||For more information about this book please refer to the publisher's website (link above) or contact the author: firstname.lastname@example.org|
|Keywords:||Information literacy, Information use, Internet searching, Reflective learning, Conceptual models, HERN|
|Subjects:||Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES (080000) > LIBRARY AND INFORMATION STUDIES (080700) > Librarianship (080706)
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES (080000) > INFORMATION SYSTEMS (080600)
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > EDUCATION (130000) > SPECIALIST STUDIES IN EDUCATION (130300) > Specialist Studies in Education not elsewhere classified (130399)
|Divisions:||Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Education
Past > QUT Faculties & Divisions > Faculty of Science and Technology
|Copyright Owner:||Copright 2007 Auslib Press Pty Ltd.|
|Deposited On:||18 Apr 2007|
|Last Modified:||22 Aug 2012 14:05|
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Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University want to ensure that socially disadvantaged children around the world have the same opportunities as other children — and are looking at ways in which language plays a role.
"A large number of language minority and other socially disadvantaged children struggle with learning to read in a second language," said Keiko Koda, director of graduate studies in the Modern Languages program at Carnegie Mellon and a world-recognized expert in the field. "Because failure to achieve adequate reading proficiency denies access to the essential tool for learning, those children suffer academically and increasingly fall behind in their schooling. Identifying any resources available to the children is crucial for alleviating their learning problems."
Despite a rising cry across the globe to make education rights accessible to everyone, research-based evidence of how literacy acquisition occurs in these diverse contexts is still sparse. Enter Koda and her students.
"I think working under the strong guidance of Keiko Koda on this biliteracy program has given me an opportunity to do research with an incredible group of students and faculty truly committed to helping children who are grappling with learning to read more than one language," said Pooja Reddy, a fourth year doctoral student whose research focuses on the biliteracy development of multilingual children from the urban poor communities of India. "This is extremely important for educational development because there are growing numbers of children across the world expecting to be able to acquire literacy skills in languages that may not be their native ones."
Much of the group's work focuses on literacy acquisition in two or more languages, the development of second-language communication skills, and "instructional interventions" in foreign language classrooms.
Children learn to analyze language forms early in their lives and use this analytic ability — referred to as metalinguistic awareness — to figure out how meaning is coded in their language. This ability later serves as a critical foundational competence in literacy development. The ability is vital because learning to read entails systematic deduction of how spoken sounds are organized and coded graphically in the writing system. Once developed, metalinguistic awareness can be shared across languages.
"Because of its abstract nature, it is difficult to test — let alone teach — metlinguistic awareness," Koda said. "Our goal is to establish reliable methods of identifying and measuring metalinguistic awareness in school-age children learning to read in diverse combinations of languages."
She added, "We are hoping to provide researchers and teachers a means of assessing and describing metalinguistic awareness and, in so doing, promote higher quality research and instruction for biliteracy learners."
An example would be computer games designed to promote pattern detection. For example, children are asked to identify five words out of 10 with a common graphic element — for example, the "-er" in teacher, singer, dancer, driver — and then figure out what these words have in common in their meanings.
"We want to ensure that instructional activities are designed to provide children opportunities to use their meta-linguistic ability to analyze words, phrases and sentences in learning to read," Koda said.
"We are hoping to see the systematic incorporation of the instructional tactics that encourage teachers to identify, and use to the fullest, all possible resources readily available to their students."
Related Links: Modern Languages | College of Humanities & Social Sciences
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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Workshop 1 –
|Grade & Subjects:||Year 1 - Grade 8, Science and Social Studies;
Year 2 - Grade 7 - Science
|Demographics:||Middle school in an inner city setting|
|Classroom:||3 sections, 90 students total; 90% African-American and Hispanic|
|Science Teaching:||90 minute sessions on alternate days of the week|
|Curriculum:||Developed by teacher|
|Other:||Third year teaching middle grades, background in elementary education|
Things to ponder before and after Workshop 1:
AssignmentIn preparation for Workshop 2, please interview a few of your students (2 to 5 students). Have some boiling water available at the beginning of each interview. Say that you are boiling water, and you would like the interviewee to tell you what is in the bubbles that form at the bottom of the pot or beaker or flask. Then ask how he/she thinks that substance has formed.
Record the results of your first question for Assignment 1 on the enclosed chart.
Data Table – Assignment 1
|Substance in Bubbles|


AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS (ABS)
NAME OF COLLECTION
The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS)
The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) was designed to assess the levels of literacy skills in Australia, and to analyse the relationship between literacy skills and social and economic status. ALLS was part of an international study being coordinated by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and is a source of internationally comparative data on participation in adult education and training.
ALLS aimed to assist in the development and evaluation of policies relating to literacy, lifelong learning and education and training. Information from the survey will be used by federal and state government departments with responsibilities for education and training; industry associations; academic researchers; and others. Nearly 9,000 people aged 15 to 74 years across Australia completed the survey in 2006. They were provided with material printed in English, and asked to complete a set of 'everyday' tasks requiring comprehension and simple arithmetic such as using a bus timetable and adding up the cost of a meal from a menu. Responses to the tasks were then used to derive literacy skill levels.
ALLS collected data under the broad topics of socioeconomic and demographic information, language spoken, parental information, employment history, literacy and numeracy practices at work and in daily life, self-perception of reading, writing and numeracy skills, participation in education and learning in the last 12 months, general health and well-being, and use of information and communication technology. This information is supplemented by an assessment of five literacy scales. They include two literacy scales (prose and document), a single numeracy scale, and a problem solving scale through a series of exercises that respondents are asked to complete. A scale measuring health literacy proficiency will be produced as a by-product of the exercises used to measure the scales mentioned above. Data items contained within these topics are capable of being cross classified with Data Items Relevant to Migrants and Ethnicity.
The predecessor to ALLS - the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was first conducted in Australia in 1996 as the Survey of Aspects of Literacy (SAL). The 1996 survey reported only three literacy scales (prose, document and quantitative) of which only prose and document are comparable with the most recent survey.
ALLS, conducted between July 2006 and January 2007, allows comparison of 2006/07 literacy skill levels with those reported in 1996, and comparison of Australians' literacy skills with those of other countries participating. The ABS will conduct another survey of adult literacy, the Survey of Adult Competencies (SAC) from October 2011-February 2012. Conducted as part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to be held in 26 countries, the results are expected to be released in late 2013, and will again allow comparison of skills over time and between participating countries. SAC extends the concepts of literacy, numeracy and problem solving to a technology-rich environment. SAC also seeks to provide greater information about individuals with low levels of competency by assessing reading skills.
DATA ITEMS RELEVANT TO MIGRANTS AND ETHNICITY
- Country of birth
- Year of arrival in Australia
Language related variables of the non-English speaking population include:
OTHER DATA ITEMS COLLECTED
- First language spoken
- Main language spoken at home
- Proficiency in spoken English
- Self-perception of current reading and writing skills in non-English language first spoken
- Self-perception of current reading and writing skills in second non-English language first spoken
A full list of data items collected for
is available in Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, Australia: User guide, 2006
(cat. no. 4228.0.55.002).
For further details on scope, geographic coverage, data availability and publications, methodology, classifications and concepts visit the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey
entry in the Directory of Statistical Sources
For more information on the 2006/07 ALLS visit Current Household Surveys.
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service.
Phone: 1300 135 070
Fax: 1300 135 211
Post: Client Services, ABS, GPO Box 796, Sydney 2001


In addition to Tom Au's answer on the Meiji Restoration above, is the break down of the central coordinating mechanisms of the Tokugawa or Edo Era that preceded the Meiji Era. In ca 1600, Japan was unified under a military regime (bakufu or Shogunate) led by the supreme military leader, the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu who had his castle in Edo (now Tokyo). The system set up by the Tokugawa regime functioned for ca 260 years as a strict caste society. There were four castes (with the shogun and his top leaders above all four): samurai, peasant, craftsmen, merchants. There was one caste below, the untouchables or eta, who dealt with anything related to death including tanning.
Peasants comprised the vast majority of the population (ca 80%) and owned the land; the economy was based on rice production. Other commodities (barley, millet, soy, etc) were traded but rice was like gold today. Merchants were essential to moving goods around the country (including seeds and new technology for improving harvests) and developed skills in handling / storing commodities (including sake, silk, soy sauce, dried fish and items made by the skilled craftsmen). A money economy developed in the merchant caste and many of them became skilled in banking and a small futures market developed in Osaka. Over time, merchants accumulated wealth while many a high-class samurai went hungry. The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa's 1956 film) depicts some aspects of the life at that time including the rigid caste system and masterless samurai (ronin).
By the mid-1800s the Edo system was increasingly strained: the top samurai caste (and those above them) owed massive debts to the bottom caste (merchants). In today's world, it is not unlike the power (that is money) that multinational corporations have/control vis-a-vis many national governments. In short, the Edo Period was ready to breakdown, and the arrival of Matthew Perry's Black Ships from the USA helped it along that path.
During the Tokugawa / Edo Period, high-ranking samurai became skilled at bureaucratic management of the complex rice economy. At the same time, many low-ranking samurai seized opportunities in the money (gold and silver) economy such as schemes to create more land through landfill so they then could become land owners and gained the option to become wealthy peasants. Some of the more impoverished samurai relinquished their samurai status altogether and became bankers and traders. Some of Japan's early zaibatsu (financial cliques organized as family-owned holding companies) were founded with a strict code of honor, such as the House of Mitsui, patterned on samurai society.
Skilled samurai and merchants became essential to the early organization of the Meiji Era. (In the mid-1800s, educated males were ca 50% of society, females ca 15%.) Many former samurai with bureaucratic knowledge created the new government and naturally the modern military. Many leading merchants helped create a modern financial system including a new central bank, the Bank of Japan. Edo Period Japan had been closed off to trade and influence from outside, and so to remedy that gap, various missions to learn about the world were initiated. The most famous of these was the Iwakura Mission lasting from Dec 23, 1871 until Sept 13, 1873. The main aims of the missions were to renegotiate the unequal treaties that Japan had been forced into with the US and many European countries and to learn about the technology, science, social and economic structures of those modern countries. The learning that was brought back to Japan influenced how the country was modernized over the coming decades. By 1900, for example, 90% of the population was enrolled in elementary education.


Boca Raton Museum of Art
The Museum's lesson plans have been written to assist classroom teachers in applying the Visual Arts across the curriculum. Each lesson focuses on an academic skill that correlates with the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards and the Florida Standards.
One of the objectives of the Museum's Education Department is to expand the educator's ability to apply the Visual Arts to their curriculum by providing lesson plans, modeling arts integration for school staff through workshops and guided tours. We strive to build students' self-esteem by giving them the tools to view and discuss the visual arts and thereby enhance their own self-expression. These lesson plans are intended to enlighten and inspire students, as well as familiarize them with the wonderful works of art that reflect the feelings and observations of numerous artists who have produced visual masterpieces.
It is the Museum's goal to have the students, teachers, parents and the community-at-large, use its vast collection of art works as an educational resource. While it is always worthwhile to visit the Museum, we believe it is equally valuable to bring the Museum into the classroom and are pleased to offer these outstanding lesson plans to you and your students.
Please feel free to download these plans and images from our website for use in your classrooms. Be sure to revisit our website often for additional lesson plans, images and educational materials.
The Boca Museum of Art Education Department


Sorting is one of my favorite activities to do with young people in the library at the beginning of the school year. It encourages scientific and critical thinking and it's a great way to reinforce the concepts of the Dewey Decimal system. Each year I place piles of different types of books on the library tables and my only instruction to students is to work together to "sort the books." I give them 2 minutes to sort the books and then I ask for a group member to share how they sorted the books and why. Most of my younger students will sort according to color and size. The older students are more sophisticated and tend to sort by subject. I repeat this procedure until we have completed 3-4 cycles of sorting. By this time, it becomes challenging to figure out new ways to sort the books...but this is where their creativity comes to play. Try this activity with your little ones and see what they come up with.
This Big Universe title, Sort it Out!, by Barbara Mariconda is a perfect book to read just before the sorting activity.
[show_avatar email@example.com align=left] Keisa Williams (aka Ms. K) is a K-5 School Librarian at Monarch Academy, a public charter school in Oakland, CA. She is certified in secondary and elementary education (MLIS and MEd) and loves collaborating with teachers and integrating technology into her library lessons. She considers herself a “Technology Diva” and “Gadget Junkie”.


Season of Giving Book List for Children
Sharing quality literature is a wonderful way to introduce new ideas and start conversation with children. The following books feature stories of kindness and empathy. Incorporate these books into story time all year round to reinforce the valuable lessons highlighted during the Season of Giving. With the help of our friends at Sprout, we have included some great learning opportunities to add in with each reading!
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
Learning opportunity: Ask your child about his favorite blanket or stuffed animal. Encourage him to draw a picture of it and to write how it became his favorite.
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Learning opportunity: Ask questions! What did your child like and dislike about this story? How did he feel about the way the story ended? Invite him to act out the story, first as the tree and then as the boy.
A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams
Learning opportunity: When you are reading this book, keep count of and discuss all the ways that people are generous to each other in this story.
Under the Lemon Moon by Edith Hope Fine
Learning opportunity: Explore how it feels to get gifts — and to give them. Invite your child to help you list the different acts of kindness demonstrated throughout the story. Who showed “empathy?” How do you know?
My Friend Is Sad by Mo Willems
Learning opportunity: After reading this book, make a list of ways your child thinks he can help people who are sad.
Meet Aunt Panda by Nancy Baku
Learning opportunity: Promote generosity, creativity, respect for nature and the value of family. Play music and invite your child to paint with his fingers his favorite place to play outside. Encourage him to name his artwork and help him to write the title.
Giving by Shirley Hughes
Learning opportunity: Introduce the meaning of the word “give,” and the concept that everyone has something to give. Create a set of feelings flashcards by cutting out pictures of people from magazines that represent the emotions you want your child to learn. Glue the emotion pictures on the front of index cards and write the name of the emotion on the back. Have your child guess the emotion and try to replicate it.
For further language and literacy development try highlighting the new vocabulary words in each story. Talk about what “empathy” means (compassion, the ability to understand another’s emotions and situations) and use examples from the books to teach the children about it as you are reading. Discuss how one character helped another in the story. Ask questions about what other signs of kindness the children heard in each story you share.
Do have a book about kindness and giving you would recommend to other parents? Tell us your suggestion in a comment below.


The Importance Of Perceptual-Motor Development
You have probably found that your three-year-old child loves to run and jump and hop and throw.
Even though she isn’t yet ready to qualify for the Olympic Games, she wants your attention (“Watch me! Watch me!”) and your applause (“Good job!”) after completing a three-inch high jump or a six-inch long jump.
But childcare experts will tell you that these activities and requests for approval are more than “play.” These activities are an important part of developing perceptual-motor skills.
When childcare and early learning experts speak of perception and perceptual development, they are referring to the brain’s ability to interpret information received through the senses (sound, sight, taste, smell and touch).
In many activities, a child’s muscles must work in conjunction with his or her physical perception of the world around him (eye-hand coordination, for example). The ability to combine motor activity with perception is referred to as perceptual-motor skill.
Perceptual-motor skills play an important part in later school-related activities such as reading, writing and arithmetic as well as sports.
The foundations for perceptual-motor development are laid during the early childhood years. That is why it’s smart to focus attention on your child’s development of fine- motor skills (finger dexterity, for example) and gross-motor skills (activities involving the larger muscles) during this particular period of their lives.
You, your daycare, infant child care experts, preschool or early childhood learning centers have probably noticed over the past few months that your child’s fine-motor skills are improving. For example, she can now pick up very small objects with her fingers; but she is still somewhat clumsy at times.
When doing a simple puzzle, for example, she may see a piece that clearly belongs in a certain space. But her fingers somehow cannot get it to fit correctly. She may even pound the piece with her fist to try to make it fit.
Parents and child care providers can tell many stories of three-year-olds who love to stack objects on top of one another. In fact, they can sometimes build remarkably tall towers. In building these towers, they are improving their visual and fine-motor skills.
But since they haven’t yet learned that the largest objects must go on the bottom, the whole tower may come crashing down when they try to put a large object on top.
There is also dramatic improvement in the child’s gross-motor skills such as walking, running, jumping, and throwing.
It probably won’t surprise you that researchers and childcare professionals have found that three-year-olds have a higher activity level than at any other age in their life cycle. They run, fall, roll, get up and then run some more. Even though we all may find it a bit exhausting at times, remember that it’s this spurt of energy that’s teaching them how to maneuver their bodies through the world at large.


Bringing reading strategies home from a family literacy workshop: Two case studies of parents and their children reading together
Abstract (Summary)In recent years there has been increasing attention to the field of family literacy. A number of qualitative and ethnographic studies (Taylor, 1982; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988, Paratore, 1999, 2001 Auerbach E. R., 1989, 1995; Rogers, 2002) have documented the importance of the family in the acquisition of literacy within the context of the home. These two case studies of Denise and Shrieffe address the question of whether and how parents who are introduced to reading strategies in a family literacy program use these strategies in their own home when they read with their children. The use of a qualitative paradigm (Teale, 1986) enabled me, as a family literacy teacher-researcher, to document the home teaching by these two parents and to generate broad questions that would help describe these reading interactions. This study suggests several conclusions. First, a reading intervention designed by a family literacy teacher for parents who are enrolled in a family literacy program needs to take into consideration a parent's personal literacy needs as well as any fabricated literacy support strategies a parent displays when interacting with his/her children while reading. Second, parents not only adopted the reading strategies to use as they read with children at home, but also adapted the strategies, changing them to better meet their own child's literacy needs and stage of literacy development. Third, parents transformed themselves from silent observers of their children's literacy learning to active participants in it, reading with their children and offering them reading support. Fourth, school-based literacy instruction transferred from the school to the homes of the families by the family literacy teacher-researcher, added new understandings to the home literacy environments of both families. Lastly, the role of teacher-researcher required me to attempt to understand complex questions about the intersections of reading and families' lives by using rich qualitative methods of analysis. This study contributes to a further understanding of family literacy reading as a way to help shape parent/child literacy interactions and ultimately, the parent and child's literacy learning. This study also has implications for curriculum design in family literacy programs in the United States. That is, to advocate for a family literacy teacher expanding her role to include responsibilities of modeling literacy strategies and skills in the homes of the parents and children as well as introducing children's literature and other learning materials.
School Location:USA - Massachusetts
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Date of Publication:01/01/2005