Bands and Music from Sandusky's Past
Oct 7, 2013 at 3:00 PM
This week's history is a preview, or review, depending on when you read it, of my program on Monday at the library on the important role of bands and music in Sandusky's history. And it will be a brief teaser for a video presentation that will premier at the library on November 1. Musical groups not only entertain the people, but they tend to reflect the culture and interest of the people participating, both as entertainers and the entertained.
It is safe to say that music has existed in some form as long as human culture has existed, but music as a profession and a public resource is still relatively new (only a few centuries or so). Sandusky's public music culture arrived in the mid-nineteenth century, brought here most prominently by the wave of German immigrants who began settling in the region mostly after 1848. The first known organized band in Sandusky was the Jaegerband, formed in 1851. As one can guess from its name, the band included German immigrants, and we can guess that the music they played was of German origin.
Several other bands began performing in Sandusky around the same time, and many, if not most, were German-influenced. Some that we know a little about include Professor Himmel's Band (founded 1854), the Sandusky City Band (1859), and the Germania Reed Band (1871). But the most popular band of the era was the Great Western Band. Founded in 1867, the band performed at many functions around Sandusky, as well as in many other places throughout the midwest. From its beginning until it disbanded around 1890, the Great Western Band was often the primary musical entertainment at most public events. Images in the library's collections show the band performing at Sandusky's celebrations of the national centennial in 1876; programs describe their concerts at many public halls and events. The Great Western Band, one of the earliest performing bands at Cedar Point, broke up around 1890, with many of its members reorganizing as the Ackley Band.
Eugene B. Ackley was among the most popular musicians of his day in Sandusky. He arrived in the city as a young man and promptly became the leader of arguably the most popular band in Sandusky through much of the twentieth century. Ackley's Band often served as house band at Cedar Point. The Ackley Orchestra, another of his many musical groups, also played frequently at Cedar Point. Additionally, Ackley eventually led the Cedar Point Orchestra, which played for vaudeville shows and dances at the park's coliseum and ballroom. This would be enough for most people, but Ackley also contributed significantly to the music education program at Sandusky High School, directing the school orchestra on several occasions and contributing a library of music.
Cedar Point faced brief local competition in the 1890s when the Johnson's Island Pleasure Resort was in business. Of course, this competition included the Johnson's Island Band, organized in 1893. After this resort closed just a few years later, it appears that band members reorganized as the William Scouton Concert Band.
Music in twentieth century Sandusky became even more popular and diverse, particularly with the advent of the Jazz Age. The Fox Sisters Orchestra, founded 1906, may have been the first all-woman band in Sandusky. (That needs to be investigated.) The Harmonettes followed in their footsteps twenty years later. In 1933, the Harlemetts, led by Paul Alexander, became the first known African American orchestra in Sandusky. The Boys and Girls Band, under the sponsorship of George Boeckling of Cedar Point fame, gave children opportunity to become musical performers. And of course, locally-performed music continues today, with large ensembles such as the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, and many smaller bands playing clubs and parties.
#1 - The Jaegerband is considered Sandusky's first organized band.
#2 - The Great Western Band was probably Sandusky's most popular band in the late nineteenth century.
#3 - Ackley's Band was a reuglar fixture at Cedar Point; its leader, E.B. Ackley, was Sandusky's foremost musician for much of the twentieth century.
#4 - An all-woman band, The Fox Sisters Orchestra, was founded in 1906.


To Success About
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
2002 - 2003
Steps To Success
Do I need to speak another
language to teach non-English speaking students?
Students who are not English speaking are classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) and the goal is for these students to learn English while still learning content in their home language. Therefore, it is not necessary for the classroom teacher to speak another language in order to teach a LEP student.
Will I receive training to assist
me in working with LEP students?
According to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Consent Decree, all teachers working with LEP students are required to be provided with the appropriate training for their specific teaching assignment. The courses needed and the timeline for completion are tied directly to teaching assignments.
What is META?
META, an acronym for Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy, Inc., refers to an organization that filed a class action suit against the Florida Department of Education on behalf of language minority students. The suit was settled out of court and, as a result, all 67 school districts in Florida must abide by the agreements set forth in the LULAC et al. vs. Florida Department of Education Consent Decree. The purpose of the consent decree is to ensure that language minority students have equal access to all instructional programs and services.
How does this impact teachers?
All teachers who have LEP students in their classrooms are impacted by the training requirements of the consent decree. The degree of training to meet the instructional needs of LEP students is tied to teaching assignments.
How do I find out if I need to
take any courses to meet the META training requirements?
When a LEP student is assigned to a class, the teacher will need training to work effectively with that student. Principals have access to the META screen that tracks the assignment of LEP students and will explain the training that will be needed as the result of the assignment of a LEP student. More specific information is given in the chart on the following page.
Is this the same as the ESOL
The META training is not the same as the ESOL Endorsement although teachers who teach ESOL will need the ESOL Endorsement in order to meet the training requirements of the LULAC Consent Decree. An endorsement is a rider on a certificate that states that the teacher is qualified to teach a specific population or type of student. Teachers who teach ESOL must have an ESOL Endorsement with certification in elementary education, English, or a foreign language. Not all teachers who instruct LEP students need the ESOL Endorsement; only those who teach LEP students language arts and/or reading need the ESOL Endorsement.
The following tips are intended to help teachers work with LEP students:
How do I register for the ESOL Endorsement courses and/or the META training course(s)?
The Division of Bilingual Education and World Languages offers the following courses:
Web-Enhanced ESOL Curriculum and Materials Development
Web-Enhanced Testing and Evaluation of ESOL
Methods of Teaching ESOL
ESOL Issues and Strategies Telecourse, which satisfies the Cross-cultural Communication and Understanding requirement.
Visit www.dade.k12.fl.us/bfls for the schedule of online courses and registration information.
The ESOL Endorsement courses and META training courses are also offered by the Teacher Education Center (TEC). The course schedule and registration information for the TEC courses are included in the TEC Calendar which can be found at www.dade.k12.fl.us/9317/prodev/esolcal.htm or at the school site.


Maps are a great asset to any classroom. You can use maps to enrich the teaching in nearly every subject. Social studies and history often use maps, but you can easily extend maps into your lessons that involve science and literature. Maps can help people students understand the distance between things, the importance of access to waterways, and the reasons that wars have been fought over these things.
When you are teaching English or Language Arts you can use maps to bring stories to life. Showing the students where a story is taking place can help to give a story a parameter or context. You can also have your student map out any geographic points in a story. This can be done with stories that take place in a fantasy world. This is a great way to help your curriculum reach across subjects.
Map and Globe Activities
Map Activities from ProTeacher.org
Maps and Resources from National Geographic
Printable Maps from Eduplace
Large Printable maps from Your Child Learns
Comparing Countries Activities from Education World
Map Reading Activities from EnchantedLearning.com
USA Geography Games
Map Activities from Teacher Vision
In elementary school it is important teach students to read and understand maps. In middle school, maps begin to bring an understanding of the world to your students. Starting with maps of the school and local neighborhoods can help young children grasp the concept of a map and extend their understanding of maps of countries and the world. Using a globe is a good way to demonstrate the distance between places.
Lessons Plans with Maps
Lesson Plan from University of Tennessee about the Importance of Maps
Map Lesson Plans from Geology.com
Map Skills Lesson Plan from About.com’s Elementary Education Site
Create a Country Lesson plan from Education World
Building a Topographic Model Lesson Plan
Floor Maps Lesson Plans
Maps can be a great way to decorate classroom walls. Choosing a variety of maps that focus on different things such as topography, agriculture, and weather can make a big difference in bringing the countries that you are teaching about to life. Additionally they can be a way to bring imagination to life.
Places to Buy Maps


After World War II came to an end, Japan and the U.S. needed a way to reshape their images and re-establish connections. This link was reconciled, in part, through art, as Japanese artists were encouraged to develop modern approaches to long-established forms of Japanese traditions. Likewise in the West, art audiences were encouraged to value new Japanese artistic expressions as part of a global culture of modernism associated with creative individuality.
The Palmer Museum of Art’s exhibit “Forging Alliances” expresses an idea of a nation attempting to redefine itself as a country rooted in tradition but with modern culture.
All of the works featured in “Forging Alliances” were selected by Christopher Reed, professor of English and visual culture, and Jonathan Abel, assistant professor of comparative literature and Asian studies. Patrick McGrady is the coordinating curator of the Palmer Museum of Art and helped organize the display.
The point of the exhibition is to highlight the role of art in re-establishing friendly relations between Japan and the United States after World War II. During the war, Americans were encouraged to think of the Japanese as violent, faceless and completely dedicated to their emperor, without the ability to think for themselves.
“After the war, Japanese and sympathetic Americans encouraged the production and appreciation of creative and individualistic modern versions of traditional Japanese art forms, especially woodblock prints and pottery,” Reed said. “So that is the theme of this art: individual artists’ creative versions of traditional techniques.”
All of the art in the show is created by Japanese artists, printmakers or potters. The printmakers were part of what was called the “Creative Print Movement,” a Western-influenced trend that used traditional woodblock techniques in modern ways to emphasize the creativity of individual Japanese printmaking artists. All the pieces are part of the collection of the Palmer Museum of Art, where many of the ceramics are on permanent display.
Many of the prints were owned by the library at Penn State, including two prints that came from a Japanese artist, Junchiro Sekino, who came to Penn State to offer workshops. One is dedicated with an inscription in pencil to Professor Bruce Shobaken, who was one of his hosts.
Many of the ceramics were collected by the late art education professor Ken Beittel, who studied in Japan in 1968 and later hosted his Japanese teacher at Penn State. During a sabbatical in Arita in 1967, Beittel studied with Manji Inoue and acquired a collection of post-war ceramics. This kind of interchange was encouraged by governmental and other institutions in the post-war years.
Penn State joins the many who assert that art has the ability to transcend boundaries culturally or politically.
“Our goal in choosing the works was to show how Penn State, like many other American art institutions, was involved in efforts to use art to forge alliances between America and Japan,” Reed said.
Reed said he had the idea for the show three or four years ago, and he and Abel picked the prints two years ago. They worked with students in a class they co-taught last semester to add the ceramics and books and to write the labels. The exhibition served as the subject for their fall 2013 seminar “Mapping Identity, Difference and Place,” in which students researched and provided didactic information for each of the pots and prints on view.
“The intrinsic beauty of many of the prints and pots on display is quite apparent; this is a lovely show to look at, and the Palmer has done a wonderful job installing it,” Reed said. “The story we want to tell about the context in which these objects were made and traveled around the world to be here adds interest to that beauty.”
Beyond the forging of alliances between two nations, Reed said he hopes that art observers also will see how the university has played an important role in this chapter of history.
“We hope that viewers will be interested in this historical episode, in which art played an important role in international politics and diplomacy, and in Penn State’s place in that history,” he said.


At Mississippi Valley Montessori School, we believe in the core philosophy of Maria Montessori and her outstanding research on children’s abilities to learn.
This Montessori philosophy places your child in a classroom atmosphere of inspiration and respect:
- Children are encouraged to follow their own curiosities
- The seeds of lifetime learning are cultivated early in life
- Respect for the interests of other children, and thus other human beings, is taught
- The classroom features spontaneity within an orderly framework
One of the primary distinctions between a Montessori program and a traditional preschool/school environment is that children direct their own learning, choosing among the sections of a well-structured and stocked classroom. This includes specific areas of the classroom or “environment” as:
- Practical Life (fine and gross motor skill development)
- Sensorial (sensory and brain development)
In addition, the programs here at Mississippi Valley help all children to:
- Pursue subjects of personal interest to them
- Learn at a self-challenging pace
- Develop a real love of learning
- Gain confidence in acquiring knowledge independently
- Social skills, including conflict resolution
In the supportive social environment of our school, your child will begin to:
- Learn to respect the rights of others
- Work cooperatively with peers
- Participate confidently as an individual
- Learn self-assurance within small groups and with the entire class
The role of the teacher is to introduce and present materials to the children on a one-on-one basis, but then to remain a silent presence in the classroom. They act as a guide, sage, or mentor, if you will, to the children as they discover their own interests and develop further intellectual curiosity. Children work independently and are encouraged to ask questions as needed.
It is truly remarkable how quickly children at the age of 33 months begin to understand their own interests and develop maturity well beyond their young age. That is what makes Mississippi Valley a truly unique and loving environment for your child.


By the 1890s, over 2,500 new school boards had been created in England and Wales under the 1870 legislation. But there were also some 14,000 committees of management for individual voluntary schools.
This dual system of elementary education was uneven in administrative terms, and voluntary schools were often at a financial disadvantage since they were funded not from the local rates but by direct government grants.
In 1902 Parliament passed a new Education Act, drafted by AJ Balfour (who became prime minister later that year) which radically reorganised the administration of education at local level. It abolished the school boards in England and Wales. All elementary schools were placed in the hands of local education authorities under the control of the county and county borough councils (which had been established in 1888).
In Scotland the school boards survived until 1918 when they were replaced by elected county authorities, and in 1929 by the county councils.
The Act also, for the first time, made significant provision for secondary and technical education. Councils were encouraged, though not compelled, to subsidise existing grammar schools and to provide free places for working-class children. More ambitiously, they could set up new secondary 'grammar' schools. The expansion of secondary education was slow to develop, however, and the schools tended to cater mainly for the middle classes.
Welfare at school
There was much concern both within and outside Parliament that there should be more measures to ensure that children were healthier. In 1906 needy schoolchildren received further assistance under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act. It allowed local authorities to provide meals free of charge when parents could not afford to pay. This power was extended by later Acts, and made compulsory by the Education Act 1944.
The Education (Administrative Provisions) Act of 1907 required education authorities to see that all schoolchildren under their care received a medical inspection.


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Manifestations of America from Two Museum Collections
Babic, Sherry, Clark, Nick, Harnew, Stacey, Kenaston, Sher, et al., Art Education
Interested in reforming schools through the implementation of a comprehensive arts education, Transforming Education through the Arts Challenge (TEAC) provides support and encouragement for educators to partner with community arts organizations. The following Instructional Resource reflects a group effort made up of two TETAC teachers and three museum educators from two museums, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Hunter Museum of American Art, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in partnership with the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Working collaboratively, the team selected a theme based on language arts, social studies, and visual arts standards for 4th and 5th grades. Manifestations ofAmerica presents four views of American experience-artist responses to nature, society, and technological advances. The goal is for students to analyze, compare, and contrast how artists define America. Camel's Hump From the Western Shore of Lake Champlain
by John F. Kensett
About the Period
Prior to the Civil War, artists of the American landscape, known as the Hudson River School, sought to convey its expanse, glory, and infinite potential. The landscape and its conquest, often without regard for natural consequences, helped define the young nation's identity. Artists created depictions of reverence but with the detailed care of naturalists, providing an American geography enhanced by its majesty.
About the Artist
John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, into a family of skilled engravers. His training in graphics rendered him an exceptional draftsman. Eschewing the craft of engraving, Kensett aspired to become a painter. He spent 7 years in Europe studying the Old Masters. This experience profoundly enriched his understanding of painting, but Kensett remained steadfast in his adherence to the American luminist-realist tradition. The artist's work reflects superb draftsmanship, a refined sense of composition, overpowering aerial perspective, and an exquisite palette. Whether across valleys or wide expanses of water, the artist's broad vistas possess a shimmering effect of light that conveys a definite sense of hour and mood.
About the Artwork
Kensett began sketching in the Lake Champlain area in the summer of 1848, and Camel's Hump resulted from these early sketches. The view in the painting is taken from above the village of Westport on the New York shore of Lake Champlain. The cleared land, wagon traveling along the dirt road, and boats on the lake all attest to the spread of civilization across the American land. Set against the imposing background, Kensett's composition alludes to the tenuous balance between the pristine wilderness and encroaching domestication. The warm, golden tonality of the sparkling summer day reiterates the aura of optimism that depictions such as this were meant to convey. Through works such as Camel's Hump, American landscape painting selectively helped to define and elevate the national consciousness of who and what it was.
1. In a large group discussion, express how the geography of a region affects its culture. What is a "manifestation"? How does this work represent a manifestation of America?
2. In small groups, research world events, art styles and movements, and historical background information during Kensett's life. Create a group visual interpretation of the information gathered.
3. Examine information about the Hudson River School artists by using Internet resources, books, magazines, encyclopedias, and others. Place each artist on a timeline with names and dates. Do the artists have similar interpretations of America?
4. As John Kensett's pencil studies became the basis for his picturesque landscape paintings, ask students to keep sketchbooks of pencil drawings and notes for a week recording a visual description of the school's natural environment. …


BSS was one of the first music programs in the country to embrace the Suzuki Early Childhood Education Curriculum designed by Dorothy Jones. Weekly parent/child classes are offered where parents learn to help their children (birth to 3 years of age) develop an awareness of rhythms, melodies and movements. The SAA registered ECE Teacher helps parents to build a repertoire of lullabies, action songs and nursery rhymes which serve to enrich the learning environment at home.
THE SUZUKI EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAM
Dr. Suzuki believed that a great window of opportunity in a child’s life is opened between birth and the age of three. It is in these first years that visual, spatial awareness and literacy development begins. He also believed that children need nurturing human interaction in order to develop both physically and emotionally, and that parents are the most important influence in encouraging the child’s potential. The Suzuki Early Childhood Education (ECE) Program emphasizes the natural development of the infant from birth. It stimulates a rich, learning partnership between parents and teachers.
The BSS Infant/Toddler Program is based on the ECE syllabus created by Suzuki pedagogue, Dorothy Jones. Parents and children participate in weekly music classes using specially selected music to help the infant develop rhythmic and melodic awareness, as well as memory and social skills. Parents build a repertoire of lullabies, action songs and nursery rhymes which they are able to repeat daily with their children at home. For more information about the Suzuki ECE Program, visit their website at www.suzukiece.com.
WHAT MAKES THE SUZUKI APPROACH DIFFERENT
The unique approach of a Suzuki ECE Program is its goal of creating a benevolent environment that is free from pressure; an environment in which a child can readily gain skills, a sense of purpose in life, an understanding of discipline and an appreciation of beauty. Some differences between a Suzuki ECE Program and other infant music programs are:
(1) Suzuki Trained ECE Teachers are educated in the role that parents play in creating a rich musical environment for the infant and before a baby is born.
(2) Suzuki Trained ECE Teachers believe that the spirit of the child is formed as a result of his/her early environment.
(3) Suzuki ECE Classes recognize the importance of parent education to help parents create a natural and enriched learning environment in the home.
(4) Suzuki ECE Classes devote much time to developing a strong, nurturing partnership between parent and teacher.
(5) All Suzuki Teachers are trained to foster ability development; they do not follow the calendar-driven teach and move on approach used by many traditional teachers.
BSS INFANT / TODDLER INSTRUCTORS
Kela Walton, Infant/Toddler Program Coordinator
INFANT/TODDLER REGISTRATION FORMS
Music for Infants, Toddlers and Parents: Tuesday morning 10:00 Registration Form
Music for Infants, Toddlers and Parents: Saturday morning 8:45 Registration Form
Music for Infants, Toddlers and Parents: Saturday morning 10:30 Registration Form
BSS INFANT / TODDLER PROGRAM CALENDAR
Tuesday – 10:00 am to 11:00 am
February 2, 9, 23
March 1, 8, 15, 29
April 5, 12, 19, 26
May 3, 10, 17, 24
Saturday – 8:45 am to 9:45 am
February 6, 27
April 9, 23
May 7 SPECIAL TIME: 8:45 am-9:30 am
Saturday – 10:30 am to 11:30 am
February 6, 27
April 9, 23
May 7 SPECIAL TIME: 9:45 am-10:30 am
GENERAL POLICIES & INFORMATION
Information – For information and arrangements to visit an Infant/Toddler class, call our Business Office at 743-8728.
Registration – Parents may enroll their child in a BSS Infant/Toddler Class by submitting a completed application form. You may register for Infant/Toddler Classes any time during the year.
Tuition Payment – Tuition is due in full at the beginning of each session. Parents are responsible for bank charges incurred due to returned checks.
Absences – Classes missed by a student are not made up. Cancellation due to instructor absence will be rescheduled by the instructor.


About This Work
Journalists rival teachers in how much they can educate the citizenry, although some consumers of the news view many journalists as being ill-informed, under-informing, or providing an unbalanced representation of scientific issues that have quantitative bases (e.g., evolution and global warming). Schools of journalism have mounted few systematic ventures to improve students' understandings of numbers. Some of our prior research showed that journalists and budding journalists do not adequately appreciate the potential for the catalyzing effects of even a single, critical, statistic in changing citizens' (or their own) views on a social policy, and that journalism instructors find their students' quantitative skills notably insufficient.
We attempted to ameliorate such problems and enhance reporters' numeric and analytic
skills with a curricular module that highlighted evidence and scientific thinking--
and that included elements from our Numerically Driven Inferencing (NDI) paradigm's methods
Although the curriculum required less than 5 hours of in-class instruction, its results are both noteworthy and encouraging. After the curriculum, the students in the experimental condition improved their performance and scored higher than a control group on two central kinds of numeracy measures: on estimation accuracy and on mathematical competence in arithmetic problem solving, simple data analyses, and compounding. It appears that the students also changed their attitudes regarding numerical information, including a more critical assessment of their own skills. Evidence also suggested that after the curriculum, students tended to write more extensively about quantities that are relevant to particular social issues, and to write more extensive critiques of another person's assertions about statistics. Finally, a post-module assessment showed that at least 80% of the students believed that the following year's student cohort should receive a numeracy module something like what they received.
Our findings indicate that even a rather short and broadly conceptual numeracy curriculum can yield results that would seem desirable to journalists, their instructors, and the readers that they serve. The data, as well as feedback received from the participants and their regular instructors, suggest that a longer curriculum would be required to reinforce many of the module's elements--particularly regarding how to better deploy estimation strategies (including how to better disconfirm, critique, and analyze initial estimation hypotheses)--and how to integrate one's improving numeracy skills into one's news writing. We hope that a multi-week module might be implemented in the future.
Dissemination efforts have focused largely on moving toward directly informing those in the journalism education community of our results, and on generating this web site to further inform journalists, journalism educators, and the general populace.
* A typical NDI method is EPIC (in which people Estimate, Prefer, Incorporate-feedback, and Change). See our publications for more information on NDI.


Developing Musicianship through Improvisation: Violin
by Christopher D. Azzara / Richard F. Grunow
© 2012 GIA Publications, Inc.
Learn to improvise with this state-of-the-art book and CD set!
With Developing Musicianship through Improvisation, you will learn to improvise as readily as you would join in a conversation.
Using the tunes in this book, you will build a vocabulary of tonal patterns, melodic phrases, rhythm patterns, and rhythm phrases you can apply to a wide range of music in classical, jazz, and folk styles. You will also read and write music, connecting your improvisation to meaningful experiences with notation.
Each unit contains six components:
1—Repertoire 2—Patterns and Progressions 3—Improvising Melodic Phrases 4—Learning to Improvise: Seven Skills 5—Reading and Writing 6—Learning Solos
Regardless of your musical background, you can play tunes and learn harmony by ear—skills at the heart of improvisation. This intuitive and engaging approach to Developing Musicianship through Improvisation is a major advance in music teaching and learning.
Christopher D. Azzara is a pianist, author, arranger, and Associate Professor of Music Education at the Eastman School of Music. Richard F. Grunow is Professor of Music Education at the Eastman School of Music.
Number of Pages : 104
Item #: G-8218
Price : $34.95
Please share Developing Musicianship through Improvisation: Violin with your Facebook friends.
|Developing Musicianship through Improvisation: Viola||


- Publishing Modernism: The Bauhaus in Print
- July 25 – October 28, 2011
- East Building Ground Level, Library
This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.
Overview: How is it that an art school that was open for a mere 14 years—during which time it suffered chronic financial shortfalls, survived a turbulent political situation, claimed just 33 faculty members, and graduated only about 1,250 students—came to have such a lasting impression on modern design and art education? Yet despite these difficulties (and more), the Bauhaus did precisely that. The personalities involved, some of the leading lights of modernism, surely had much to do with so outsize an influence, as did the school's international focus and the wide dispersal of the staff and student body upon its dissolution. Even more, however, it was the publications the Bauhaus produced that proved vital in spreading its influence; these same publications play a significant role in forming our contemporary cultural image of the school.
This exhibition, drawn from the rare book collection of the National Gallery of Art Library, highlights the works published by the Bauhaus and illustrates how changes in its printing activities reflect the evolution of the school. From a traditional printing shop focused on artists' woodcuts, engravings, and lithographs, to a typography workshop that would ultimately serve as part of an advertising department, we see the growth of the school along with its leading role in the advancement of modernism.
The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar, Germany, in 1919 when Walter Gropius took leadership of both the city's fine art academy and its school of applied arts, and merged them. The school's idealistic beginnings and mission of uniting fine art theory with traditional artisan craft skills is seen in its manifesto, featuring Lyonel Feininger's Cathedral woodcut on the cover. The school's early expressionist period is represented by the printing workshop's graphic portfolios as well as page designs and typography developed for outside publications. A 1923 exhibition catalogue designed by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Herbert Bayer marks a turning point in the mission of the school when, under a constructivist influence, the curriculum was reoriented to marry art with technology.
The ensuing establishment of the Bauhaus Verlag, a commercial publishing venture, and the fact that the 1923 catalogue was printed by machine—rather than in the school's own printing workshop—marks this change in course. This venture proved financially unsustainable, but Albert Langen Verlag of Munich commercially published the series of books called the Bauhausbücher between 1925 and 1930, when the school was moved to Dessau and the printing workshop was replaced by a typography course. Part self-promotion, part modern aesthetics, part educational theory, and part survey of the avant-garde, the books weave an intricate history of the school and the evolution of the curriculum. Beyond this, however, the books themselves demonstrate the very principles that the Bauhaus strove for in the period from 1923 to 1928. Fully embracing technology, the designs for these books reflect thoroughly modern sensibilities with aggressive headings, large numerals, heavy rules, vertical and diagonal text, and bold rather than italic type for emphasis. The final conversion of the Bauhaus into an architectural academy supplemented by an advertising department under the direction of Hannes Meyer can be seen in the journal published from 1926 to 1931. Publishing activities were effectively ended as typography was formally integrated into the advertising department under Mies van der Rohe.
Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.


Today's young children are a generation of computer-literate whiz-kids, in which computer technology is becoming more and more a part of their everyday life--and at an earlier age! The basic skill of "keystroking" is a fine-motor bi-manual skill.
Keystroking while screen watching (which is a kinesthetic ability or the ability to make positional changes without the aid of vision) will be the required skill for years to come. Here are some activities you can do with your child at an early age to develop the skills he or she will need to become "keystroke" efficient.Keystroking Activities
- Reproduce a keyboard layout on posterboard or use the keyboard pattern provided. Enlarge the keyboard pattern on the photocopier to real size and glue onto a piece of cardboard. The "Home" hand position is the middle row of the keyboard as shown. Have child trace the keyboard onto another piece of paper and color in the "Home" keys.
- Now have child position his or her right hand on the keyboard. Let's learn the first four letters in the "Home" position: Pointer--J, Middle--K, Ring finger--L, Pinkie--;.
- Position the left hand on the "Home" keys. Pointer--F, Middle--D, Ring finger-- S, Pinkie--A.
- Now have child position both hands on the "Home" keys and practice keystroking these eight characters by your calling out letters and having child tap the appropriate letter. Keep practicing. Then have child tap the letters while keeping eyes closed.
- Let's learn the next two keys: H and G. Use the pointer finger of your right hand to tap H; use the pointer finger of your left hand to tap G. Practice keystroking these letters. Practice with your eyes closed.
- "Pinkies" are used for the SHIFT keys. You can create an upper-case letter by pressing SHIFT-letter (hold down shift key while pressing the desired letter). Practice.
- Repeat these activities using the keyboard pad. Child watches the screen while typing a given letter, instead of closing eyes. Continue in this way to learn all the "key" positions on the keyboard.
- Now practice pointing and clicking with the "mouse."
- Variation: Learn to play a musical instrument such as a recorder, flute, or guitar!
Excepted from Ready-to-Use Fine Motor Skills & Handwriting Activities for Young Children / Joanne M. Landy and Keith R. Burridge / The Center for Applied Research and Education / 1999
More on: Motor Skill Development


David with the Head of Goliath (1601)
Rome 1603. Images of the Saviour, the virgin and the saints are beautiful and pure, created to win the hearts of the faithful. But then Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio starts to paint. He says the glory of the gospel is that the saviour was made of flesh and blood. And he paints him, and those who were with him, earthier and more physical than anything that has been seen before. His models are taken from the streets, the taverns, markets and brothels. Caravaggio changes forever the sense of what painting could do, how real it could feel. But to some, this was precisely the problem – he was the man who came to destroy painting, to rob it of its spiritual lift-off power.
Caravaggio is part of the BBC art education seriesThe Power of Art providing dramatized reconstruction of the lives of famous artists who have changed the concept of art in history.


New China artworks
Since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese artists embraced the construction of New China. They took Mao's dictum, 'Serving the people, serving the politics' as their motto, and their works reveal proud and happy workers and farmers. During this period, Chinese artists adopted 'socialist realist' modes of expression to depict the new face of China.
All works are from the National Art Museum of China.
Image Gallery Page Navigation
Page 3 of 3
Ducks in Autumn, 1960
Ink and Wash, 69cm x 69cm.
Lin Fengmian (1900–1991), from Mei County, Guangdong province, travelled to France in 1919 to study at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Art de Dijon and then the École Nationale Supérieure des Beauxarts de Paris, majoring in oil painting. After returned to China in 1925, he became president of Beiping Technological Academy of Fine Arts. In 1928, at the invitation of art education expert Cai Yuanpei, Lin went to Hangzhou to take up the position of president of the National Academy of Fine Arts.
After China's War of Liberation, Lin worked as a painter in the Shanghai Chinese Painting Institute. He held many prominent positions in the Chinese Artists Association, including member of the board of directors and executive director, and was a committee member of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles. He later settled in Hong Kong.
When Lin was studying in France, he embraced Western modernism, finding similarities in it to the painting language of traditional Chinese freehand brushwork painting. He became a pioneer of the 'blending of oriental and Western arts', and was at the forefront of the reformation of Chinese painting. This ink-and-wash drawing depicts birds and natural subjects, common in oriental painting. The light brushwork shows the openness and emptiness of sky, land and water.
Red Rock, 1962
Ink and Wash, 104cm x 81.5cm.
Qian Songyan (1899–1985), from Yixing, Jiangsu province, graduated as a teacher in 1923 and taught in primary and middle schools in Suzhou and then at the Wuxi Technological Academy of Arts. In 1957, he was transferred to Jiangsu Chinese Painting Academy, where he became deputy dean and, later, dean. He was an executive member of the board of directors of the Chinese Artists Association, vice-chairman of Jiangsu Chinese Artists Association and committee member of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
With the establishment of New China, traditional Chinese landscape painting, which depicts life idealistically rather than realistically, had to be adapted to serve the new socialist regime. During the process of 'traditional Chinese painting reform', many significant 'landscape paintings of sacred places of the revolution' were produced, and this work is representative of these masterpieces.
The Red Rock village was the site of the Chongqing Office of the Southern Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the Eighth Route Army, and Mao Zedong stayed here when he was attending the Chongqing negotiations in 1945.
The artist has not made a literal copy of the landscape, depicting rocks rather than the yellow earth on the original site, and an ancient cypress (a symbol of the longevity of the Communist Party) on the side of the Red Rock Memorial Hall. Qian painted the plantain clusters in traditional black ink to avoid the clashing of reds and greens, and hence the colour red dominates the work. The bold and spirited nature of this painting is a departure from traditional Chinese art, often criticised as closed and reclusive.
Hard Times, 1957
Sculpture, 46cm x 45cm x 37cm.
Pan He was born in 1925, in Guangzhou. As a young man, he travelled to Hong Kong to pursue his interests in drawing, watercolour and sculpture. In 1949 he returned to Guangzhou and enrolled in the People of South China Institute of the Arts. In 1960, he was transferred to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, where he is currently a professor in the Sculpture Department and deputy dean of the Guangdong Artists Association.
This classic work of the 1950s is a very important example of works expressing the theme of revolutionary history, and frequently appears in educational textbooks. The sculpture of an old soldier playing the flute while a young soldier listens embodies the optimistic spirit of wartime and a belief in the success of the revolution.


Performance art differs from the plastic arts, which use materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be moulded or transformed. A plastic art produces some physical art object. The term 'performing arts' first appeared in the English language in the year 1711.
Types of performing arts[change | change source]
Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers, including actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting and stagecraft.
There is also a specialized form of fine art in which the artists perform their work live to an audience. This is called performance art. Most performance art also involves some form of plastic art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as a plastic art during the Modern dance era.
Music[change | change source]
Music focuses on three career paths, music performance, music education, and musicology (theory, history, etc.). Students learn to play musical instrument, but also study music theory, musicology, history of music and musical composition. In the arts tradition, music is also used to broaden skills of non-musicians by teaching skills such as concentration and listening.
Drama[change | change source]
Drama (Greek 'to do', 'seeing place') is the branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience. It uses speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle—indeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays, theatre takes such forms as musicals, opera, ballet, illusion, mime, Indian dance, kabuki, mummers' plays, stand-up comedy, pantomime, and non-conventional or arthouse theatre.
Dance[change | change source]
'Dance' is also used to describe methods of non-verbal communication (see body language) between humans or animals (bee dance, mating dance), motion in inanimate objects (the leaves danced in the wind), and certain music genres.
Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this is called a choreographer.
The definition of what is dance depends on society, and ranges from folk dance to codified, virtuoso techniques such as ballet. In sports, rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating, ice dancing and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines. Some martial arts have dance-like moves.
History of Western performing arts[change | change source]
Starting in the 6th century BC, the first recorded performing art began in Ancient Greece, ushered in by the tragic poets such as Aeschylus and Sophocles. These poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance (see Euripides). Aristophanes is noted for his satyrical comedies (5th century BC).
By the 6th century AD, the Western performing arts died out as the Dark Ages began. Between the 9th century and 14th century, performing art in the West was limited to religious historical enactments and morality plays, organized by the Church in celebration of holy days and other important events.


346 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
no census was taken, 60,000 ; of Argentines abroad, 50,000 ; grand total, 4,094,911. The increase of population 1869-95 has been at the rate of 4"6 per cent, per annunj.
By a treaty concluded between the Argentine Republic and Chile in 1881 the latter recognises the right of the former to all the country east of the crest of the eastern ridge of the Andes, including all Patagonia and the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego. Commissioners are now at work delineating the boundary. Disputes have arisen and the Government of Queen Victoria has agreed to act as arbitrator, but the Commissioners have not yet been able to agree as to the question to be submitted to arbitration. Commissioners are also at work on the boundary along the Bolivian frontier.
The capital of the Republic, Buenos Ayres, had a population of 753,000 in August, 1898. Other towns, with populations for 1895, are Cordoba, 47,609; Rosario, 94,025 ; Tucuman, 34,300; Mendoza, 28,709; Parana, 24,261; Salta, 16,600; Comentes, 16,129 inhabitants ; La Plata, the new capital of the province of Buenos Ayres (founded 1884), 45,410; Santa Fe, 24,755 ; San Luis, 9,826 ; San Juan, 10,410.
The immigration and emigration by sea have been as follows in five years : —
Years 1893 1894 1895
1897 . ,
In 1897 the immigrants comprised 38,745 Italians, 13,059 Spaniards, 7,813 French, and 1,876 Germans. Of the total, 21,431 were females.
In the twenty-live years 1873-1897, the total arrivals of immigrants numbered 2,063,232.
In 1895 the number of foreigners in the Republic was 886,895, of whom 492,636 were Italians, 198,685 Spaniards, 94,098 French, 21,788 English, 14,789 Swiss, 17,143 Germans, 2,269 Portuguese, 12,803 Austrians, and 32,184 of various nationalities. By the Constitution of the Republic, all children of foreigners born in the country are Argentine.
Eeligion and Instruction.
Although the Constitution recognises the Roman Catholic religion as that of the State, all other creeds are tolerated. There are 1 archbishop and 5 suti'ragan bishops. For the instruction of the clergy there are 5 seminaries. In 1888 civil marriage was established in the Republic.
Primary education is free, secular and compulsory for children from 6 to 14 years of age. In the capital and the 9 tenitories it is under the charge of a national council of education, assisted by local school councils ; and in the 14 provinces under their resjtective governments. The elementary schools are supported in the capital anil each province by the taxes established in their Education Acts, aided by large subsidies from the general Government. The sums contributed by the general Government and the 14 provinces to the support of the elementary education in the Republic amount to over 10,000,000 dollars. In 1896 there were 2,681 public, 1,034 private, and 34 national primary schools, with, in all, 8,557 teachers and 264,294 pupils. Secondary or preparatory education is controlled by the general Government, which maintains 16 lyceums (one in each province and the capital)^ with 450


Nobody doubts the fact anymore that there is a crisis with South African learners’ bad performance in Mathematics. There are however a lot parents can do from an early stage to ensure that their children succeed. Solidarity Helping Hand’s School support centrum (SOS) has the following tips for parents with children in the lower primary school grades.
According to a study done in 2008 by Naledi Pandor, it was determined that Grade 3 learners achieve an average of 36% for literacy and 35% for numeracy skills. This is clearly indicative of Mathematics problems manifesting at an early age.
According to Hugo Vermeulen of the SOS, parents are sometimes hesitant to help their children because they are not confident about their own Mathematic skills. “The most important thing is that children must have fun. When children associate Mathematics outside the classroom with fun they will also have a positive experience of the subject inside the classroom.”
Here are a few games to consider:
The “Count On” game aims to teach children that they should start at the biggest number when they do addition. For example, ask the child to calculate 4 + 2. He/she must then hold up four fingers of the one hand and then two of the other hand. The child must then count to four and then to six.
One of the most important numeracy skills is to remember Mathematical facts quickly and accurately. The simple fact that one number comes after the other is an important factor in the child’s success. Let the child count to ten and then backwards from ten to one.
Let your child deal ordinary playing cards to a number of “players”. The repetition teaches children to count accurately without using their fingers of paper.
Throw a dice and let your child count out the number on the dice. You can later on use two dices if it becomes easy to count to six.
Hide and count
Use a known number of coins and keep a few in your hand to hide them. Place the other coins on the table. Your child must then count how many he sees and how many you have hidden in your hand.
The guessing game
Write a number between 1 and 100 on a paper and hide it. Your child must guess what the number is. When he guesses, guide him with the words “more” or “less”.
Write down the numbers 1-12 on a piece of paper, one for you and one for your child. Take turns to throw the dices and cross out the number of the dices on the paper. The first one to cross out all 12 numbers wins. This teaches your child how to count to 12 and to recognise numbers.
The SOS was founded in 2012 and the organisation believes that poverty can be conquered by investing in training and education. It starts when the Grade 1 learner learns to do sums. The association already has more than 1 000 members and offers subject support to Afrikaans Mathematics teachers or any person with an interest in Mathematics.
For more information on this association, please contact Hugo Vermeulen at 012 644 4390 or send an email to [email protected].


Students with autism have unique & individual learning needs.
No two students with autism have the same learning needs. This is the nature of autism.
The school provides an education programme that enables our students with autism to access the knowledge and opportunities to achieve their Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals.
Organization for Learning
At Eden School, students are organized into Junior and Senior Years.
Junior Years (7-12 years old)
The focus is on the teaching of core foundational skills. Students are assigned to classes based on their assessed learning goals and level of support needed. They receive individualized instruction in a variety of learning contexts to enable them to develop their skills and independence.
Senior Years (13-18 years old)
Foundational core skills are practiced in authentic vocational and community settings in preparation for transition beyond school. Training in both hard and soft skills is carried out, and regular assessment of learning results in targeted intervention in areas where skills gaps are observed.
The school collaborates closely with the family to promote the extension of skills learnt in school to home and community settings.


Be sure to visit our blog Forever Free to get personal stories and the latest up-to-date information on literacy.
Did You Know?
Language proficiency is the foundation of literacy development
Language development starts at birth
Children who do not have a solid language foundation are at risk for reading delays
How can I help my child develop language? Read more here.
Welcome to the Georgia Pathway to Language and Literacy! Georgia Pathway to Language and Literacy (Georgia Pathway) is a Community of Practice (CoP) of professionals, advocates, and parents who serve deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students throughout the State of Georgia. The mission of the CoP is to advance the literacy proficiency of Georgia’s children who are D/HH and achieve grade-level reading proficiency by the end of third grade for all Georgia students with hearing loss, regardless of their communication modality.
Georgia Pathway is partnered with educators, non-profits, government entities, and other organizations throughout Georgia and the US.


Curriculums Could Include Child Abuse in K-8 Classrooms
Pennsylvania schools could see an addition to their health class curriculum to address child abuse and exploitation.
A bipartisan state House proposal would allow public school districts to teach children, from kindergarten to eighth grade, about child sexual abuse and how to identify the common behaviors of abusers. School districts could use that, or create their own lesson plans. But, parents would be able to review the abuse awareness curriculum, and even pull their kids out of class if they don’t approve of the material.
State Representative Mauree Gingrich (R-Lebanon) cited statistics showing one in four girls and one in seven boys are sexually abused before they turn 18.
“Most of those child victims are either unaware of what‘s happening to them, or understand how to speak out, how to recognize or understand how someone they know, trust, and often, love, would do something like that to them,” Gingrich said.
Those same statistics show that more than 90 percent of the abusers are well-known to their victims.
Gingrich says her bill would allow schools districts to incorporate abuse and exploitation awareness into their health classes lessons that are either designed by district, or by the state.
“Using age-appropriate information that will educate children about the risks and how to recognize dangerous situations and the warning signs of grooming and testing the child before actual abuse can take place.”
Gingrich said adding something to the elementary education curriculum that raises awareness about abuse could help the children who are being preyed upon.
“Most children don‘t possess the skills to verbalize what‘s happening to them and they truly fear that no one will understand them or believe them,” Gingrich said. “The best defense that we can provide our children is knowledge.”


The National Curriculum for Music
Cain, Tim (2006) The National Curriculum for Music. In, Philpott, Christopher and Spruce, Gary (eds.) Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School: a Companion to School Experience, 2nd edition. Abingdon, UK, Routledge, 42-54. (Learning to Teach in the Secondary School).
Full text not available from this repository.
Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School is intended to support student-teachers, newly qualified teachers and more experienced music teachers in their professional development.
Topics covered include:
-the place of music in the curriculum
-the nature of musical learning
-planning, managing and assessing musical learning
-school examinations and music
-music outside of the curriculum.
One of the main premises of the book is that music needs to be taught 'musically', with specific reference to both the nature of music itself and its metaphorical significance. It is important that music itself guides what goes on in the music classroom if we are to motivate our pupils and help them to fulfil their potential as musicians.
This book will help student-teachers to develop their subject knowledge, teaching skills, understanding of the wider issues and their ability to reflect on classroom practice.
|Item Type:||Book Section|
|Keywords:||music education, music curriculum, national curriculum|
|Subjects:||L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum
M Music and Books on Music > M Music
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
|Divisions:||University Structure - Pre August 2011 > School of Education > Professional Practice & Pedagogy
|Date Deposited:||15 Jan 2007|
|Last Modified:||27 Mar 2014 18:27|
|RDF:||RDF+N-Triples, RDF+N3, RDF+XML, Browse.|
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ERIC Number: ED385862
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1995
Reference Count: N/A
Cooperative Learning Activities for Language Arts: Challenging.
Jasmine, Grace; Nader, Lillian
Designed to introduce teachers to cooperative learning techniques in the language arts, this book presents 24 activity units--12 on outer space (including the exploration of space and its many adventures), and 12 on "inner space" (the mind, the emotions, and the brain). After an introduction and overview, the first section of the book gives teachers all the information they need to make cooperative learning part of their curriculum, including overview materials, organizational charts, instructions, blackline and reproducible masters, and advice about how to introduce cooperative learning to the students and their parents. The second section of the book presents the 24 units, each of which begins with a teacher page explaining the purpose of the unit, the skills to be applied, materials needed, suggested procedure, and processing and evaluation activities. To address the varying skill levels of students, each activity unit also includes advice on simplifying or expanding the activities. The third section provides: (1) information to help teachers set up an assessment program that will work hand-in-hand with the activities in the book; and (2) ideas for classroom publishing along with a list of eight real markets for student writing. (RS)
Descriptors: Class Activities, Cooperative Learning, Elementary Education, Language Arts, Learning Activities, Lesson Plans, Space Exploration, Student Evaluation, Units of Study
Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 6421 Industry Way, Westminster, CA 92683 (TCM 652: $12.95 plus shipping and handling).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher; Books
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: Intrapersonal Communication


A fascinating and rigorously researched account of the ideas and influence of the artists and teachers who brought about the major advances in national art education during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The outstanding artists to whom the Author gives special attention are: Walter Crane, C.R. Ashbee, R. Catterson-Smith, W.R. Lethaby, Fred Burridge and Fra Newbery. These adherents of Morris believed in the unity of the arts and crafts and in one of the central tenets of the Arts and Crafts movement: namely, that work should represent pleasure, rather than a resented duty. Furthermore, the same disciples insisted upon the students working from memory, as well as from life; together these approaches brought impressive gains for visual education.
This highly informative work examines each follower of the movement in turn and also looks at the role played by progress in Glasgow. The book concludes by confronting the dilemma faced by teachers of art and design, which has arisen from the contemplation of the ideas of Sir Herbert Read and the promoters of Conceptual Art.


When you think of art in the early learning years, most likely finger paintings and hand prints come to mind; however, there is so much more to it than that. Learning is influenced by art. When an idea is reinforced by action, we tend to remember it better, and children are the same way.
Art tools, such as coloring pencils and paint brushes, help young children learn how to grasp, just as they would a writing utensil. This is an important pre-writing step that cannot be missed. When using shapes to create a dinosaur or discovering the use of different shapes in daily activities lays a foundation for math topics that will come later in their education. Children love art because they can get messy and let their creative juices flow. The teachers prepare a variety of art activities each day that correlate with daily lessons, bible stories, and special events happening in each child's day. In addition, our Kindergarteners attend art class twice a week. The art class works on building understanding of art concepts and appreciation of the subject.
Art in Early Childhood Education
This article has a lot of great information on the importance of art education. It goes over the socio-emotional impact, the effects art has on cognitive and motor development, as well as the art experience for a preschooler.
Art Influences Learning
This article really breaks down how an art activity and process can enhance the learning process by reinforcing learning concepts.
This site has TONS of art project ideas from crafts, to clay, and anything inbetween. If you are feeling artsy and looking for a fun project to do with the kids, this is a great resource.


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


According to the child development experts at Kids Health, by 4 years of age, most preschoolers can write some letters, name the letters that begin some words, match sounds with letters and even write short words. While it's unlikely that your little learner has the ability to write a book report or read a book by herself, she can begin developing early literacy skills. Keep in mind that teaching your 4-year-old to read and write won't happen overnight. Instead, it is a gradual process of skill building.
Items you will need
- Lined paper
- Thin white paper
Teach your budding reader who to recognize the letters. Chances are that your 4-year-old already knows the alphabet. If that's not the case, use a rhyme or the "Alphabet Song" to help him remember the letters.
Make an alphabet strip out of cardboard and markers, writing each letter in a bold color to ensure that your little one has mastery of letter recognition. Point to each letter and say the name. Have your child repeat the letter name. When she gets the hang of that, add in a lesson on sound recognition. Say the letter name and have your preschooler make the sound.
Read age-appropriate books together. Choose a variety of books that feature pictures and words such as "Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book" by Dr. Seuss, "Beach Ball" by Peter Sis or "Farm Alphabet" by Jane Miller. Ask your child to point out specific letters and match the sounds, such as "B" is for "ball."
Continue reading the same books repeatedly. This will give your child the opportunity to become familiar with short words such as "cat" or "dog." While your preschooler most likely won't have the skills to read all of the words in the picture books, he might have the ability to repeat words that he sees regularly and say the beginning sounds of the words.
Continue the literacy development with a writing lesson or two as you are helping your preschooler read. Make a deck of alphabet cards that she can trace as she is beginning to learn how to write.
Write each capital letter of the alphabet on separate pieces of cardboard. Make the letter bold and thick enough for the child to see easily. Place a thin piece of white copier paper over the cardboard. The letter will show through. Give your child a pencil or crayon and have him trace the letter on the white paper. Repeat this step with new pieces of paper until your child gets the hang of the letters.
Give your child lined paper and help him write the letters with a thin marker, crayon or pencil. Continue with this exercise until your child feels comfortable writing at least some -- such as five or six -- letters. It's not likely that your 4-year-old will master writing the entire alphabet right away. Start with simple words or her name.
- Give your little one plenty of opportunities to engage in writing and reading related play. Stash notepads, notebooks, pencils and crayons around the house on play tables or the kitchen table. Encourage your child to write, or scribble, to his heart's content.
- Keep your home library full of picture books. make reading part of play time by having her take a break from the piles of toys and pick up a book. While reading to your child is invaluable, he can browse the pages by himself as well.
- Talk to your child regularly, introducing new vocabulary words as you do.
- Avoid dumbing down early literacy activities. Don't use baby talk or overly juvenile versions in lieu of the real vocabulary.
- Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images


We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.
This is not the style of book I would normally choose to read. It’s academic background is clear from the start. Most obviously through the writing which is much more verbose than most other books on practice reviewed here. It is not an easy read. However it is definitely worth the perseverance to complete.
The book is based on research conducted in 1998, comprising a series of interviews with ‘popular’ musicians. Each of these musicians is at varying stages of development – some in their early teens and others who have had notable performing careers.
One of the main thrusts throughout the book is the difference between formal and informal learning approaches. Formal practices include structured instrumental lessons, regular practice and use of sheet music, what we would traditionally call classical lessons. The informal approach is made up from self-teaching, copying, choosing music that is liked and irregular practice.
A perceived benefit of the informal approach is the development of aural ability through liking, copying and ‘playing by ear’. Green does concede that formally trained musicians do develop an equivalent level of aural skill albeit at a slower pace.
Green also offers some interesting insights on technique. Her research indicates that in the early stages of informal learning technique is given much less priority than making music. This is completely at odds with the traditional classical approach. However it is also argued that less formally trained musicians do develop an appreciation of the importance of technique, albeit at a much later stage.
Interestingly Green found that those musicians who had learned in a loose, unstructured, informal way went on to become teachers who taught in a very structured way. Why as learners did they prefer a free approach but as teachers implement structure on their students?
Marked differences in practice routines were also noticed. For the ‘popular’ musicians there was no sense of regular practice or aiming for any goals. That is not to say that a lot of practice did not take place. Using time as a measure sometimes these people would do many hours in a day but then not practice at all for several weeks.
Aside from the verbose style the other slight concern I had was the size of sample taken in this book. All research was conducted amongst only 14 musicians. Whilst interviews appear to have been thorough I would liked to have seen a wider pool of people used to give more weight to the findings.
There are some good resources at the end of the book which I shall be adding to the bibliography section of this stie.
Those who have received a traditional classical schooling I think will find much to ponder in this book. Is the structured, technical approach the best way to teach? Or can more enjoyment and engagement be achieved through freer methods?
Overall I would highly recommend this book. If you read it I hope you find yourself questioning as I do the divide between strict and free learning methods.
How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education by Lucy Green, (2002, Ashgate, ISBN: 978-0754632261) is available from:[amazon asin=0754632261&template=htp price]


A Plan for the Improvement of Reading Skills and for the Development of Personal Images Through Art, by Patricia Flynn
Guide Entry to 79.04.04:
The purpose and direction of this unit is to develop a reading plan through art that will encourage learning. This rationale is based upon the research that emphasizes combining language and visual learning processes that encourage growth in both the right and left brain hemispheres. Art education has an integral place in the education of children; it offers an opportunity to represent thoughts and feelings through visual images. In this unit, drawing and color are combined with the reading skills of spelling, selecting details, finding main ideas, ordering the sequence of events, and drawing conclusions. Stages or levels of artistic development are outlined in the unit. Four of Grimmís fairy tales are described and discussed in the narrative. Sample lesson plans for each of the four stories are followed by bibliographies and a classroom materials list.
(Designed for art classes at the Middle School level.)


Debates in Art and Design Education encourages student and practising teachers to engage with contemporary issues and developments in learning and teaching. It introduces key issues, concepts and tensions in order to help art educators develop a critical approach to their practice in response to the changing fields of education and visual culture.
Accessible, comprehensive chapters are designed to stimulate thinking and understanding in relation to theory and practice, and help art educators to make informed judgements by arguing from a position based on theoretical knowledge and understanding. Contributing artists, lecturers and teachers debate a wide range of issues including:
Debates in Art and Design Education is for all student and practising teachers interested in furthering their understanding of an exciting, ever-changing field, and supports art educators in articulating how the subject is a vital, engaging and necessary part of the twenty-first century curriculum. Each chapter points to further reading and each section suggests reflective questions to help shape art educators’ teaching. In particular, Debates in Art and Design Education encourages art educators to engage in research by providing an essential introduction to critical thinking around contemporary debates.
Acknowledgements List of figures Notes on contributors Introduction Nicholas Addison and Lesley Burgess PART 1 Cautionary Tales 1. Art and Design Education at the Crossroads John Steers 2. The Hijacking of Creativity: the dilemma of contemporary art education jan jagodinski PART 2 Debates within the Classroom 3. Questioning Creativity Olivia Gude 4. Critical Race, Multicultural Art Education Christine Ballangee Morris 5. Symbolic Representational Processes: a case for embodied practice Gemma Cozens Response To Cozens Yiannis Hayiannis 6. ‘Strangely delivered by pyrates’: illustration and the National Curriculum Pam Meecham PART 3 Debates Beyond the Classroom 7. Cultural Diversity, Creativity and Modernism Rasheed Araeen 8. From Trance-like Solipsism to Speculative Audacity? Young people’s learning in galleries today Emily Pringle 9. Critical about Design Helen Charman PART 4 Debates In-between 10. Art Practice as a Form of Research in Art Education: towards a teaching artist practice Panagiotis Dafiotis 11. Art, Academe and the Language of Knowledge Claire Robins PART 5 Forever Changes 12. Art Education ‘as if’ for Future Flourishing: three analogies between human beings and types of creative grammar Leslie Cunliffe 13. Learning, Truth and Self-Encounter Dennis Atkinson References


Music has ties to every human endeavor and contributes to our daily well-being throughout our lives. It marks the special events and adds a special dimension to the quality of our lives that cannot be obtained from any other source.
The trained musician can distinguish the pitch, duration, intensity, tone, and color of sound. Music professionals understand the structure of music, as it is found throughout the world and have a perspective on its many centuries of development. Recognizing that today's musicians must be equipped with an understanding of a full range of diverse styles, an innovative, comprehensive musicianship program is now incorporated into the curriculum of all music majors at San Diego State University. The music program has received national attention and is regarded as being a strong program that teaches every student to function as a conductor, a performer, a coach, an editor or an arranger. The music program includes hands-on experience in five other world music cultures and provides students with training to sight-read, sight-sing, improvise, compose music, and use computer technology.
The music curricula are designed to fulfill the needs of all students with an interest in music. Comprehensive musicianship, the history of music, private studio instruction, composition (both traditional and electro-acoustic), piano, and ensemble performance are required. Other program features include vocal and instrumental literature, vocal and keyboard pedagogy, class voice, fundamentals of all the instruments, conducting, teaching techniques, and world music.
The Bachelor of Music program is for those students who have professional ambitions in music or seek a foundation for graduate study leading to teaching in a college or university setting.
For students who are interested in preparing for a career as a music specialist in elementary or high schools, the School offers a Bachelor of Music in music education which prepares them for the required state credential. Students are strongly encouraged to include a second major or a minor in this program.
The Bachelor of Arts in music is a liberal arts degree. The course work has less emphasis on the rigorous demands of performance and enables students to obtain a broad understanding of music. Students are strongly encouraged to include a second major or a minor in this program.
- Student organizations such as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (professional), Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma (band service), Sigma Alpha Iota and the Music Educators National Conference student chapter (music education professional) are open to music majors.
- Facilities - The 78,000 square-foot music building, completed in 1970, includes a 300-seat recital hall, rehearsal rooms for instrumental and choral organizations, an electronic music studio, 24-station multi-media computer lab, three computer/internet-connected class piano labs, a listening library of over 14,000 titles available for faculty/student study, 54 individual practice rooms, approximately 160 pianos and 800 other musical instruments.
- All music students have access to the Multi-media Interactive Fine Arts Technology laboratory, linked to students and faculty in art, dance, drama, film and music.
- Students may participate in numerous performance opportunities. There is a wide variety of instrumental ensembles from which to choose: a symphony orchestra; six bands; jazz ensembles, percussion ensembles, piano ensembles, woodwind, and brass chamber music ensembles; guitar ensemble; new music ensemble and world music ensembles.
- There are also opportunities to participate in vocal ensembles such as the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and Opera Theatre.
- Undergraduate and graduate scholarship awards are available to qualified new students determined by auditions each year. The amounts of the scholarships vary from half to full tuition in addition to awards. Applications may be downloaded from The School of Music and Dance Web site.
The need for trained musicians is more easily understood when we consider the many avenues of activities open to them. For a list of possible career opportunities, visit the Careers Services Web site.
One hundred percent of our graduates with a Bachelor of Music in music education and the single subject teaching credential are placed in teaching positions within one year of graduation.
You can view more complete information regarding the Music program in the General Catalog. All students are responsible for reading and knowing the information pertinent to their areas of study available in the General Catalog. It contains requirements for all academic majors, course descriptions, policies, and regulations governing progress at the university. Catalogs are distributed at all New Student Orientation programs. To order a General Catalog, call (619) 594-7535.


Schott Music For Children Teacher's Manual by Doreen Hall
Theory & Notation Education for Children
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Explains Orff's music education methods for teachers looking to add his fundamentals to their curriculum.
This book was written in response to a constant demand by educators, music teachers and parents who wanted to know more about Music for Children, in particular how did Orff's ideas differ from existing "methods" and how could teachers develop these ideas. Doreen Hall provides the answers to these and other fundamental questions about Orff-Schulwerk in this concise booklet, which is a natural extension of her work on the first english adaption.
There are important chapters on: the instruments; rhythm and speech; lesson planning; giving demonstrations, etc. Illustrated. Introduction • The Instruments • The Body as an Instrument • Rhythm and Speech • The Debelopment of Rhythmic and Melodic Ostinati • The Canon • The Rhythmic and Melodic Rondo • Lesson Planning • Giving a Demonstration
- Author: Carl Orff
- Author: Doreen Hal
- ISBN: 9783795726300
- Width: 5.75"
- Length: 8.25"
This is a must-have for music educators working with the younger generation. Order now.


Studio Partner - Sound Construction | Deconstruction | Reconstruction
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Any process that encourages a person to listen more discriminately, particularly to sounds of the environment. The term was originally used by R.M. Schafer in his book Ear Cleaning (Toronto, BMI Canada, 1967) to contrast with the traditional practice of ear training in music education which concentrates on the identification and reproduction of intervals, chords, melodies and so on.
A single sound of definite, recognizable PITCH. It also refers to the SONORITY or the quality of TIMBRE of a particular sound or sounding instrument. In British musical usage the word is also employed to refer to the INTERVAL of a major SECOND.
The device, successor to the MAGNETIC WIRE recorder, which since the 1940s (when it was called the sound mirror) has been the most commonly used means of storing and reproducing an AUDIO signal.
Although often employed interchangeably with ACOUSTICS, the term might better be restricted to the technology dealing with the practical applications of SOUND, as distinct from the pure science of acoustics. (It will be noted, however, that the contemporary acoustical engineer or acoustician is often mostly involved with the practical applications of sound.)


Popular education in those days was at the lowest possible ebb. In 1837 there were in all the private and public schools of the provinces only one-fifteenth of the total population. In Lower Canada not one-tenth could write. The children of the habitants repeated the Catechism by rote, and yet could not read as a rule. In Upper Canada things were no better. Dr. Thomas Rolph tells us that, so late as 1833, Americans or other anti-British adventurers carried on the greater proportion of the common schools, where the youth were taught sentiments “hostile to the parent state” from books used in the United States—a practice stopped by statute in 1846.
Adequate provision, however, was made for the higher education of youth in all the provinces. “I know of no people,” wrote Lord Durham of Lower Canada, “among whom a larger provision exists for the higher kinds of elementary education.” The piety and benevolence of the early possessors of the country founded seminaries and colleges, which gave an education resembling the kind given in the English public schools, though more varied. In Upper Canada, so early as 1807, grammar schools were established by the government. By 1837 Upper Canada College—an institution still flourishing—offered special advantages to youths whose parents had some money. In Nova Scotia King’s College—the oldest university in Canada—had its beginning as an academy as early as 1788, and educated many eminent men during its palmy days. Pictou Academy was established by the Reverend Dr. McCulloch as a remonstrance against the sectarianism of King’s; and the political history of the province was long disturbed by the struggle of its promoters against the narrowness of the Anglicans, who dominated the legislative council, and frequently rejected the grant made by the assembly. Dalhousie College was founded in 1820 by Lord Dalhousie, then governor of Nova Scotia, to afford that higher education to all denominations which old King’s denied. Acadia College was founded by the Baptists at Wolfville, on a gently rising ground overlooking the fertile meadows of Grand Pre. The foundations of the University of New Brunswick were laid in 1800. McGill University, founded by one of those generous Montreal merchants who have always been its benefactors, received a charter in 1821, but it was not opened until 1829. The Methodists laid the foundation of Victoria College at Cobourg in 1834, but it did not commence its work until after the Union; and the same was the case with King’s College, the beginning of the University of Toronto.


Looking for some spring themed science for kids? You’ll definitely want to explore chromatography using coffee filters and markers. The results from this science experiment can even be used to create a colorful butterfly craft for kids!
Follow our Science for Kids Pinterest board!
Most kids are used to mixing colors with paints or play dough, but have your children had the chance to try separating color mixtures? In this science experiment for kids we’ll be exploring chromatography (separating mixtures). We’ll use coffee filters to separate the various pigments in markers to see how each color was created! (This post contains affiliate links.)
Science for Kids: Chromatography Butterfly Craft
Materials for Science Experiment & Butterfly Craft
- Non permanent markers (Over the years I’ve found Mr. Sketch markers work the best in this experiment.)
- White coffee filters
- Cups of water
- Black pipe cleaners
Procedure to Chromatography Science Experiment
1. Choose one marker to experiment with first. (Hint~ black and brown are the most exciting!)
2. Take one coffee filter. Put it on a newspaper or some kind of material to protect your table. Draw a thick circle around the center of the coffee filter where the ridged part meets the flat center. Use a pencil to write the color of the marker being used right in the center. (You’ll want to know what the original color was being used, and the pencil won’t smear and will remain intact after the experiment.)
3. Fold the coffee filter in half and then in half again, resulting in a cone shape.
4. Get a short glass of water. Pull apart the cone shaped coffee filter so it balances right on the glass with the tip of the cone just touching the water. (Be sure NOT to let the marker circle go in the water, just the uncolored tip of the coffee filter cone.)
5. Let it sit and watch what happens as the water begins to flow up the paper.
6. Repeat with different colored markers. Here are ours starting out…
… and just about done!
7. After the water has reached the outer edge of the coffee filter, place it on a newspaper to dry. (Lucy and her friend enjoyed illustrating their predictions on paper while waiting for each color to finish separating.)
Directions for Using Coffee Filters to Make the Butterfly Craft
1. Cut your black pipe cleaners in half.
2. Take one coffee filter and scrunch it up in the middle.
3. Wrap a black pipe cleaner around the center.
4. Shape the ends to form antennae.
5. Tie a string to the center and hang!
Watch it in action!
Question to Spark More Curiosity & Critical Thinking
What colors do you see? How many colors do you see? Which one do you find most interesting? Why?
Don’t forget to follow your child’s lead and let your him/her explore some more! Lucy and her friend wanted to try all the different colors to see if they’d separate. They wondered if the marker would separate on just regular paper and came up with a way to try it out.
After the experiment was complete, the thinking continued! Lucy’s friend was determined to have the butterflies balance just right when tied on the string. We tried different placements of the string to see the different ways we could get the butterflies to hang.
Want to go even further?
Even more activities to inspire creativity and critical thinking for various ages.
- Collect black markers from different brands. Complete the experiment with each. Compare the results.
- Record your observations by creating a picture or chart showing what you discovered.
- Make a list of more questions you came up with as you completed this experiment.
- Some related books: White Rabbit’s Color Book, Little Blue and Little Yellow, Mouse Paint


Art at Seldens Landing
Art is the most ancient and basic form of human communication. The need to communicate visually is within every human being to some degree, and it is crucial for an advanced-thinking society to continue to foster these internal needs on an academic level. Here at Seldens Landing, we use art class to allow students to exercise these basic human needs, as well as foster important developmental motor skills and creative thinking skills. As illustrated in Daniel Pink's book, "A Whole New Mind", for a society to succeed, it must strive to make art education and creative thinking a top priority. Art is far more than decorative - it allows us to learn about the world and about ourselves through the use of visual language. At Seldens Landing we understand this and implement this understanding within the art curriculum.
15 Things Your Child Learns from Art:
1. Develops creative thinking.
2. Provides means of communication and self-expression.
3. Serves as an emotional release.
4. Strengthens the self-concept and confidence.
5. Increases self-understanding.
6. Heightens aesthetic awareness and sensitivity.
7. Enhances the ability to visualize.
8. Provides problem-solving/decision-making opportunities.
9. Develops appreciation for the individuality of others.
10. Leads to the integration of the individual.
11. Serves as a balance to classroom activities.
12. Aids physical coordination.
13. Develops work habits and a sense of responsibility.
14. Aids the adult in understanding and helping the child.
15. Generates joy.


About 2.5 million British youngsters have been inspired to progress into 'real' music-making after playing musical console games like Guitar Hero, Singstar and Rock Band.
The new report by the UK's largest music charity Youth Music states that these games are having a dramatic effect on children taking up a instrument for the first time.
The research found that 19 per cent of young people said they now play an instrument because they were inspired to do so after playing a music-based console game.
Of the 12 million young people in the UK, aged between three and 18, more than half play music games on computer consoles.
Andrew Missingham, a music industry expert who carried out the report, said: "The music games are popular because they are family friendly and inclusive.
"And it is this take-up of the games that is credited with the take up of musical instruments, the development of transferable musical skills and even the development of performance confidence.
"This research for the first time shows conclusively that young people are being inspired to make their own music by games that first piqued their interest."
The SingStar franchise hit 12 million unit sales in April 2008.
Playing music games help young people develop confidence in performance, and introduce many of the skills required to play other instruments - such as dexterity, inter-limb co-ordination, hand-eye co-ordination, pitch and rhythm.
The limits of console games means people turn to real instruments.
Christina Coker, chief executive of Youth Music, said: "We have established that there is a huge potential audience of new musicians and music-makers out there playing these games. "Now, we and others in the music education community, should be capitalising on that interest and encouraging young people to take up real instruments. "But we should also be thinking about how we can incorporate consoles and games into 'traditional' music education and be more open to embracing these tools in our teaching."


The importance of quality libraries: What the research says
Sent to The Economist, Dec 2
“Checked out” (Dec 3) asks us not to “underestimate the symbolic role libraries play as a visible public good.” Libraries play much more than a symbolic role.
Study after study has shown that reading achievement is higher when children have access to better school and public libraries, that is, libraries with better holdings and with qualified staff. This has been shown for individual states in the US, for the US as a whole, and internationally. The reason is simple: More access to reading material results in more reading, and more reading results in more literacy development.
Quality libraries are especially important for children of poverty, because they have very little access to books at home. The library is often their only source of books. Unfortunately, studies also show that children of poverty are the least likely to have access to quality libraries, and are consistently the lowest scorers on reading tests.
Throughout the world, politicians make pious pronouncements about the need to improve children’s reading ability, while at the same time they refuse to invest in the primary and most obvious means of making this happen.
University of Southern California
“Reading achievement is higher ... literacy development”: McQuillan, J. 1998. The Literacy Crisis: False Claims and Real Solutions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann; Lance, K. 2004. The impact of school library media centers on academic achievement. In Carol Kuhlthau (Ed.), School Library Media Annual. 188-197. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. (For access to the many Lance studies done in individual states, as well as studies done by others at the state level, see http://www.davidvl.org/research.html); Krashen, S. 2004. The Power of Reading. Portsmouth: Heinemann and Westport: Libraries Unlimited; Krashen, S. 2011. Protecting students against the effects of poverty: Libraries. New England Reading Association Journal 46 (2): 17-21.
Children of poverty: Feitelson, D. & Goldstein, Z. (1986). Patterns of book ownership and reading to young children in Israeli school-oriented and nonschool oriented families. The Reading Teacher, 39, 224-230; Di Loreto, C., and Tse, L. 1999. Seeing is believing: Disparity in books in two Los Angeles area public libraries. School Library Quarterly 17(3): 31-36; Neuman, S.B. & Celano, D. (2001). Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities: An ecological study of four neighborhoods. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 1, 8-26.
Economist article: http://www.economist.com/node/21541063?fsrc=rss%7Cbtn