Knowing Literacy:American children are the most tested in the world, and the poor and the less competent are the most tested of all. We keep trying to improve literacy learning by developing new tests with better technical characteristics. But, as we shall see, all of this testing has had, if anything, the opposite effect. Our error has been in approaching the matter as if it were merely a technical problem—as if it were possible, even desirable, to exclude human judgment and values from the assessment process, and as if it were reasonable to treat children as psychological objects. Assessment is a profoundly human, social phenomenon, thoroughly value-laden, and it cannot be otherwise. And in order to draw valid conclusions about a child's learning, a teacher must understand how learning takes place. The very complexity of this is in knowing the available assessment options and understanding their consequences.In Knowing LiteracyPeter Johnston sets forth the theoretical basis for today's assessment practices in the context of contemporary literacy learning theory. This comprehensive text will equip teachers with the knowledge and techniques to assess in ways that help their students develop a more thoughtful literacy.Part One describes the social and educational basis of literacy assessment, and develops an understanding of the knowledge required for accurate assessment, including the connections between a teacher's assessment practices and students' self-assessments.Part Two explores the personal, social, and intellectual nature of literacy and its development-what characteristics to notice and document and what they mean.Part Three illustrates methods of documenting that development in ways that will contribute to the growth of a democratic literacy. These chapters offer examples of checklists, report cards, portfolios, and observation forms, and discuss their possibilities and implications. Two chapters, co-authored with Marie Clay, are accompanied by a CD of children reading. These chapters and the tape show you step-by-step how to make and interpret running records of children's oral reading.Part Four is intended to change the ways we talk about children's literacy development. It provides ways to engage various members of the school community in productive conversations about literate teaching and learning.The final chapter helps us understand how to keep track of literate development without losing our way and forgetting the point of literacy learning.
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A Neurodevelopmental Approach to Number Sense
THIS EVENT HAS PAST. Please click the conferences link in the navigation to see our upcoming events.
All workshops are from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm
You will explore, from a neurocognitive perspective, how young children acquire basic mathematical skills in the elementary school years. Seminar leader Dr. Feifer will explain the specific brain pathways that assist children in being able to recall basic math facts and the order of numbers into sets, calculate multiple-step equations and tackle word problems. You will also examine the relationship between anxiety and mathematical performance, as well as two critical contructs, often overlooked when evaluating students with math difficulty: working memory and executive functions. He will discuss the three primary ways in which numbers are formatted in the brain and the central role of language to expand upon conceptually ordered number sets. You will come away with a better understanding of math disabilities in children along with some critical assessment techniques for these disabilities and more efficient ways to diagnose and remediate math disorders in children.
At this seminar, you will learn information about:
- Introducing a neurocognitive model of math by identifying basic neural codes which format numbers
- Exploring the role of three primary neurocognitive processes: working memory, visual-spatial functioning, and executive functioning, with respect to math problem solving ability
- Introducing the 90-minute assessment model of mathematics, as well as scores of interventions in order to more efficiently diagnose and remediate math disorders in children
- International trends in mathematics and reasons why the United States lags behind most industrialized nations in math and science
- The relationship between anxiety and mathematical performance
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This seminar will be applicable for special education teachers, elementary education teachers, school psychologists, math instructors, private psychologists, administrators and parents.
Steven G. Feifer, DEd, NCSP, ABSNP, is a nationally renowned speaker and author in the field of learning disabilities, and has authored six books on learning and emotional disorders in children. He is a licensed psychologist and has 19 years of experience as a school psychologist. Dr. Feifer is currently on the faculty at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, and is the research coordinator for the Center for Applied Developmental Science and Neuroeducation at George Washington University. He maintains a private practice at the Monocacy Neurodevelopmental Center in Frederick, MD. Dr. Feifer was voted the Maryland School Psychologist of the Year in 2008, and awarded the 2009 National School Psychologist of the Year.


Arts education in American schools has become a hot topic of discussion that has reached even the doors of the White House. What are the reasons for such discussion? Many other schools around the world are surpassing American education on several subjects, including arts education.
According to the National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, most American schools taught some type of arts education to children — up to the age of 18 — from 1930 to 1970. These forms of art education included:
- creative writing
- visual arts
But after 1985, arts education declined in schools, specifically music and visual arts. By 2008, most children did not receive any arts education when reaching the age of 18. This also becomes most prevalent based on ethnic backgrounds with African American and Hispanic children receiving the least amount of arts education, close to 49 percent and 40 percent respectively.
The basic reason for the decline of art education classes involves school budget cuts. When schools receive less funding, classes seen as extracurricular or not being an important part of a child’s educational future to pursue a professional business career become cut out of the basic curriculum.
Why Arts Education is Important
Even government officials and the president in the White House agree that arts education is important to the American youth. Students who have some type of arts education enjoy their classes as they become more engaged in lessons, will have better test scores, and are less likely to drop out of school, according to The White House Blog.
Research performed by the President’s Committee of the Arts and the Humanities has shown that arts education stimulates creativity and innovation, allowing students to develop critical thinking skills that will help them achieve life goals. While arts education should be an important part of the curriculum, it falls upon the teachers and schools to decide how they will teach America’s youth about the arts so that the students will take away valuable lessons that will be useful in their lives.
How Arts Education Should Be Taught
Teachers will always fight an uphill battle in teaching the arts to their classes. Each student comes from a culturally and economically diverse situation, knowing different skill levels and learning styles. So the teacher must become culturally diverse to recognize and acknowledge the differences inside each student while providing instruction that further develops the student’s skills, according to the Annenberg Learner.
While teachers learn and adapt their lesson plans to educate the most students concerning arts education, it also has to be decided on what they should teach and how to integrate arts education with other school subjects during an overly busy school day. Many people would argue that the historical core of the arts should be taught, since students are virtually devoid in knowing the many famous artists and musicians who influenced the American arts culture, according to Quincy Jones on The Huffington Post.
Other educators, such as Dean Richard Kessler from Mannes College, the New School of Music, wonder how to integrate types of art education into the curriculum for schools focused on teaching quality education. On his blog, Kessler asks how can teachers in the K-12 grades focus on rigorous arts education without shortchanging other school subjects or even on specialized art instruction that emphasizes practical art or music training?
As it becomes debated on what types of arts education to provide, everyone agrees that some form is needed in the classroom. This means that schools should not be so quick as to cut out the arts from classes when funding is reduced. Instead, they should encourage students to take part in after-school programs and extra-curricular activities to receive quality arts education.


By Andrea Hart, Teacher
Last November I traveled with nine other Bing Teachers to Anaheim, California, for the seventy-fifth annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Thousands of early-childhood educators, care givers, and advocates met to improve early-childhood professional development and thus improve program practices with young children throughout the nation.
For my three days at the conference, I chose sessions focusing on a variety of topics, such as music, play practices, and literature. One of the most memorable sessions was given by world-renowned scientist, environmentalist, and humanitarian Jane Goodall. She introduced her new program “Roots and Shoots,” which helps children develop care and concern for animals, the community, and the environment. Through sensitivity to the environment, early-childhood educators can help children to become aware of the world around them, to learn more about particular topics of interest, and even to improve on the conditions of the world around them however they see fit.
Another session, given by Eric Hoffman, a Master Teacher at the Cabrillo Community College Children’s Center in Aptos, California, provided much insight into superhero play and the fulfillment it has for young children. Between two and six years of age, children are figuring out their own independence, or power, within peer groups, with adults, and within the world as a whole. Gaining power, leadership, or independence in life is a constant struggle, but a child who plays the role of a fantasy superhero can instantly become “all-powerful.” By supporting such play, teachers and parents can support the child’s power and teach a bit of responsibility at the same time. For instance, the “powers” of flying, super-strength, and even laser-blasting wrists (or, lately, spider-web-blasting wrists) can all be channeled from simply “fighting bad guys” into the admirable work of helping people and rescuing those in trouble. An added plus to this redirected hero play is that it can be easily compared to the work of real people in the community. When this similarity is pointed out to children, they often change the focus of their hero games and assume the responsible and powerful roles of fire fighters, police officers, paramedics, and doctors. With a positive humanitarian focus to their play, whatever powerful role children choose to portray will aid them in understanding how to be a helpful part of a community.
A storytelling session given by Rebecca Isbell, professor at East Tennessee State University and director of Tennessee’s Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning, introduced the benefits of storytelling without a book. Children are bombarded with images but have relatively few opportunities to create their own. Telling a story without any given images provides children a chance to do just this. The creative imagining is further strengthened when a story is told repeatedly so that children can embellish and add to their original images. The more storytelling they hear, the better children become at conjuring their own images. Because they can make more eye contact with a storyteller than with a story reader, children also tend to feel more connected with the story. They remember it better and are more likely to retell it themselves, even tailoring it to their own liking while adding their own original images. Through repeated storytelling, children can become imaginative storytellers themselves.
As valuable as the NAEYC sessions were, the breaks between them were possibly more enlightening. I met teachers from all over the country, discussing with them different approaches to early-childhood education as well as the content of the sessions. I returned to Bing rejuvenated and determined to put all I had learned into practice. Since the conference, I have become a resource for children’s interests in the natural world, more understanding and respectful of children’s hero play, and an enthusiastic storyteller. In addition to all this, I am now a nursery-school teacher who feels connected to the enormous mass of caring early-childhood educators across the nation.


New technology can provide powerful new tools for enriching the lives of poor people and communities in unprecedented ways. At least that was the view of the G8 Digital Opportunities Task Force in 2001. A view that is upheld and further explored in the pages of this book.
With an estimated 850 million illiterate people in the world today, this book explores how new information and communication technology (ICT) supports basic literacy and the information skills crucial for economic and social development.
New Technologies for Literacy Adult Education, published as a contribution towards the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), analyses two interconnected approaches to using ICT to support adult literacy and basic education. The first views ICT primarily as a set of instructional tools to help people acquire the skills associated with traditional notions of literacy. The second treats the relationship between literacy, technology and development in a more integral way.
The authors also consider the implications and options for policy makers in the use – and necessity – of expanded roles for new technologies in literacy development.
Daniel A. Wagner is Professor of Education and Director of the International Literacy Institute, co-founded by UNESCO and the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Director of the National Center on Adult Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert B. Kozma is Emeritus Director, Principal Scientist and Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International.
Also available in the Education on the Move series


I recently had the chance to evaluate an “old school” technology with regard to learning a number of music educational terms and tasks: Cool Cat Cards Complete Music Reading Set. I have to say that I was impressed with their product(s).
Their complete set includes a number of music topics from simple music “basics” to a number of more advanced music topics:
- Music notes up to four octaves
- Note and rest values from whole notes through 32nd notes
- Articulation markings
- Accidental markings
- Dynamic markings
- Intervals from unison to 13ths including altered and unaltered variations
- Basic music terms, symbols, and tempo markings
- Major and minor key signatures
- Chords from tertiary to 6ths and 7ths in every key
I had a chance to work with some of the more “advanced” cards with a couple of beginning college music education students and we had a lot of fun working with them and using them. One of the nice things about these cards are that they are well typeset (visually appealing) and durable -unlike many other music flash cards that I’ve seen both on sale as individual items or included with some of the basic theory books.
One of the things that we struggle with as educators is finding effective ways to help us help our students recall and recognize specific facts, or concepts. Almost all long term learning must start with the recall of information (or in Bloom’s terminology the Knowledge Category of the cognitive domain).
While learning basic music terminology, at the basic level, is sometimes more of a rote type of learning, it is nonetheless the ESSENTIAL foundation to master before we can comprehend, apply, make judgements about, and transfer the concepts to other pools of our overall subject knowledge. I am constantly informing my beginning conduct students about the importance of being aware of all the basic terminology associated with score reading and the associated performance aspects of being a conductor. This acquisition of the these “basics” is no different than any music student starting to “read notes”, learn about intervals, or identify chord structures. Every type of learning aspect starts at the “knowledge” level and expands from there.
The variety of music flash cards offered by Cool Cat Cards not only covers a lot of music related materials, they are visually appealing, durable, portable, and open up a world of creative thinking to develop learning opportunities for aspiring musicians -all at a very reasonable price (and a 60 day money back guarantee).
In addition to offering the basic music sets they also offer card sets for guitar notes (come on! -be a REAL guitar hero!) and percussion rhythm styles. The percussion rhythms are particularly useful for the aspiring set drummer as they include a over 40 standard set rhythms including: Latin, African rhythms, jazz, and rock.
If you are looking for a durable, useful, and versatile classroom learning accessory these cards might be “old school” but they will get the proverbial “job done”. Whether your a teacher, parent of an aspiring musician, or an aspiring musician yourself -these cards are worth a look.
Cool Cat Cards may be found online here: http://www.music-flash-cards.com/


Keys to Literacy Instruction for the NET Generation: Grades 4 to 12 opens links to assessment and engaging cognitive strategy instruction with cutting-edge Net Resources. Educational administrators, upper grades, and secondary teachers learn how to critically integrate and differentiate reading and writing instruction across the content areas through student choice and motivating opportunities on the Internet.
Keys to Literacy Instruction for the NET Generation: Grades 4 to 12 provides teachers with:
The Literacy CLOUD Progress Monitoring Map provides educators with a tool for assessment and creative instruction that focuses on students’ interests and goals. Confidence-building Mastermind Hubs are also introduced for collaborative development of student organization and the review of content area literacy to enhance long-term learning throughout the year.
This reader-friendly book provides analysis and synthesis of literacy integration for professional networking. It features engaging, research-based, practical methods for saving time in the classroom as teachers connect literacy strategies with the Common Core State Standards. The authors highlight critical literacy, literature, and motivating methods for integrating technology to enhance literacy development and promote successful lifelong learning for the NET generation.
Click here to view more texts written by this Author


Your Own Personal Teacher... From the Comfort of Home
Click below to play a sample Core Video from our Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep program. This particular video focuses on regional geography in the United States, including an overview of states and U.S. political geography, as well as some of the most common physical geography features you may be asked to identify on the test, such as well-known mountains, lakes, and rivers.
When you purchase any of our Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep programs, you'll get Core Videos like this one covering every key Geography, Anthropology, Sociology, World History, U.S. History, Government, Citizenship, Democracy, Economics, and Social Studies Processes concept you need to pass. You'll learn the same key subject matter you would in our live classes, as well as strategies for success on the various multiple choice question types you can expect on the exam. Then, once you are confident with the underlying subject matter, you can watch our Smart-STEM Virtual Tutoring videos, in which a tutor will show you how to apply your knowledge to the specific question types you are most likely to encounter on the actual test.
Both our Core Videos and Smart-STEM Virtual Tutoring videos are included in all our Online Prep programs!
Ready to get started? Select your exam below to enroll in Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep and begin studying today!
These Core Videos Are Included in All Our Praxis II Elementary Ed. (Social Studies Section) Online Prep Programs...
Below is a complete list of the Core Videos that are included in all our Praxis II Elementary Education (Social Studies Section) Online Prep programs. These videos have been created by our industry-leading team of Teachers and Subject Matter Experts based on the official Content Specifications published for the Praxis II Elementary Education: Content Knowledge (0014/5014) and Praxis II Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects (5031-5035) exams, along with research and feedback from students and test takers, so you get an engaging, easy-to-use, and highly-focused program that makes the absolute most of your study time and teaches you the exact content knowledge and strategy you need to pass the exam.
- World Geography
- Regional Geography (You are currently viewing this free sample video.)
- Interaction of Physical & Human Systems
- Uses of Geography
- Geography & Man
- Classical Civilizations
- A Modern World System
- Cross-Cultural Comparisons
- Early Exploration of North America
- The Colonial Era
- The War for Independence
- Founding of the Nation and the U.S. Political System
- The Growing Country
- The Civil War & Reconstruction
- The Industrial Revolution
- The Great Depression
- 20th Century Developments
- Forms of Government
- Key Documents & Speeches in U.S. History
- Responsibilities of Citizenship
- The Key Terms of Economics
- Major Effects on an Economy
- The Government & The Economy
- Collecting and Representing Data
- Resource Materials in Social Studies
- Process Skills in Social Studies
Enroll in Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep, and you can begin watching all these Core Videos right now! You'll also get instant access to a host of other great features, including Smart-STEM Virtual Tutoring Videos in which an expert tutor will discuss each question from the science section of your full-length, Praxis II Elementary Education (Version 1) Practice Test, teaching you proven strategies for applying the subject matter knowledge you've gained from our Core Videos to the specific types of questions you are most likely to encounter on the real exam.


Why was the Berlin Wall Built?
By B Sumangal; Illustration by Anup Singh
In 1945, following World War II, Germany was divided into two countries - East Germany and West Germany. East Germany was controlled by the communist regime of the Soviet Union while West Germany became a democracy supported by the United States. Berlin, the former capital city, although entirely within East German borders, was also split into two.
On August 13, 1961, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) decided to block off East Berlin and West Berlin by means of a barbed wire. Streets were torn up, and barricades erected. Rail lines and the subway between East and West Berlin was torn up.
People of East Berlin and the GDR were no longer allowed to enter West Berlin disrupting 60,000 commuters who were employed in West Berlin. Within the year, construction work began to build a solid wall separating the two cities.
By September, people living near the border were forcibly evacuated from their houses. Citizens living in close proximity to the border had to register themselves with the police. Exactly a year after the division, an 18-year-old boy, Peter Fechter, of East Berlin, was shot down by the East Berlin border patrol when he attempted to escape over the wall.
The border separating West Berlin and East Berlin had a total length of 166 km. It cut through 192 streets, 97 of them leading to East Berlin and 95 into the GDR. However since the border division was staggered, a solid 107 km long wall was erected. The wall was made up of concrete segments erected to a height of four metres (roughly 13 feet), with an additional concrete tube on top.
On the side of East Berlin bright illumination lit up the entire area. Further a trench was dug to prevent vehicles from breaking through. Not content with these precautions, the area was patrolled day and night, with a separate corridor guarded by vicious guard dogs, watchtowers, and a second wall. If by chance some one did manage to cross these barriers, they were shot without a warning.
Many families were separated by the erection of this barricade. Relatives who wanted to see their loved ones in East Berlin had to have a valid permit. For 28 years the Wall became a physical separator and cloaked the goings on behind Communist Russia and created a figurative Iron curtain.
In 1989, after months of discussion, East Germany decided to tentatively open the barrier. On November 9, GŁnter Schabowski, leader of East Berlin's communist party, stated that the border would be opened for 'private trips abroad'.
That day, the entire world watched some truly amazing scenes on TV as East Berliners poured through the checkpoints to be greeted by West Berliners. Champagne flowed and people danced on the wall at Brandenburg Gate, the gateway between the two cities.
On November 10, demolition work on the wall began with the aim of creating new border crossings. Two days later, a checkpoint at the Potsdamer Platz was opened, and on December 22, a checkpoint for pedestrians was opened at the Brandenburg Gate. Souvenir hunters hammered out pieces of the wall and chunks of the wall were even sold.
On July 1 1990, an economic, monetary and social union between East and West Germany was formed uniting the two cities. The only reminder of the wall is a red line painted on the pavement at the former 'Checkpoint Charlie' to mark the course of the former Berlin wall.
In August 13 1998, a wall memorial was inaugurated at the Bernauer Strasse (former GDR) consisting of a portion of the Berlin wall.
Why was the Berlin Wall Built? [5W&H for kids]
By B Sumangal; Illustration by Anup Singh
Online Mind Games Tic Tac Toe News for Children Antonyms Kids' Magazine Word Play Poems for children Mind Games Discover Earth Ganesh Coloring Pages Tongue Twister Science Magazine Word Search Game Children's Craft Activities Reference Quotations Stories Folktales Learning Math Fiction for Kids Art for Kids Educational Games Coloring Books Quiz Flash Cards Did You Know? Famous People Computer Quiz Coloring Pages Math for kids Children's Books Environment Kids' Activities 5WH Science for Kids Games for Little Kids Riddles Word Match Children's Crossword Jokes for kids Science Quiz


Early Authors Program
Based on Freire’s (1994) conscientization theories, the Authors in the Classroom program (ACP) was developed to improve the possibility of more equitable outcomes of education for all children. Originated by Ada and Campoy (2003), it was implemented at the early education level under the name, Early Authors Program (EAP) (see Bernhard et al., 2006; Bernhard, Winsler, Bleiker, Ginieniewicz, & Madigan, 2008). The ACP/EAP is a transformative literacy model in which children self-author books or “identity texts” about themselves, their families, and their goals. Scanned photographs and word processing are used to create the books, which allow children, parents, and caregivers to communicate and share their personal experiences. The process of self-authoring books aims not only at enriching children’s print motivation, increasing their vocabulary, and enhancing their phonemic awareness, but also at strengthening links between and among children, their families, and educators. Moreover, the process is geared toward the acquisition of a strong sense of self-worth and pride in cultural identity.
Our team has also involved immigrant parents in self-authoring books, aimed not only at enrichment of their children’s school readiness (in particular, print motivation and increased vocabulary), but also at the strengthening of links between and among children and their families. The process is geared toward the acquisition of a strong sense of self-worth and pride in cultural identity. The focus of the texts written by the parents is on affirming the linguistic and cultural identity of their offspring and covered such themes as, This is Who I Am, the Story of My Name, A Special Person in My Life, and Hopes and Dreams for My Child.
In the Parenting Circles Project, participating parents came to recognize that the act of expressing their thoughts, feelings and knowledge in writing had far-reaching benefits that they could not anticipate for their children and went beyond the immediate reaction they may have had. As the parents witnessed the positive feedback from their children, they began to fully comprehend how this was a new tool for positive communication.
Selected Readings on the Early Authors Program include the following:
Ada, A., & Campoy, I. F. (2003). Authors in the classroom: A transformative education process. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Bernhard, J. K., Cummins, J., Campoy, I., & Ada, A. Winsler, A. & Bleiker, C. (2006). Identity texts and literacy development among preschool English language learners: Enhancing learning opportunities for children at risk of learning disabilities. Teachers College Record, 108(11), 2380-2405.
Bernhard, J. K., Winsler, A., Bleiker, C., Ginieniewicz, J., & Madigan, A. (2008). Read my story: Promoting early literacy among diverse, urban, preschool children in poverty with the Early Authors Program. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 13(1), 76-105.
Freire, P. (1994). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Garcia, C. (2008). Parenting Circles Project: The key conditions for the meaningful engagement of Spanish-speaking parents to support their children's school success. Unpublished Major Research Paper, Ryerson University.
Pinkus, S. (2008). The effect of the Parenting Circles Program on home language retention and parental engagement: The case of a Spanish-speaking parent group in Toronto. Unpublished Major Research Paper, Ryerson University.
Taylor, L. Bernhard, J. K., Garg, S., & Cummins, J. (2008). Affirming plural belonging: Building on students’ family-based plural and linguistic capital through a multiliteracies curriculum. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 8(3), 269-295.


Foundations, Debates, and Approaches in Art Education
EDSE 4100: Methods of Teaching Art (Curriculum & Assessment) This course introduces the historical, cultural, and social foundations of art education. Discussions about the nature of learning in the arts prepare students to develop their own idea-centered arts curricula and embedded assessment strategies. Includes 45 hours of fieldwork.
EDSE 4200F: Problems of Teaching Art (Identity, Community, & Culture in Art Ed.) This arts-integrated course explores the role of identity, culture, and community in multiple arts settings with an emphasis on building community amongst stakeholders in art education (teachers, students, parents, etc.).
EDUC 4300F: Workshops in Art Education (Materials, Methods, & Thematic Teaching) This course provides opportunities for students to practice teaching art with attention to the following concepts: scaffolding learning in the arts; student-driven teaching; teaching with contemporary art; theme-based lesson planning.
Research & Practice: Artists, Educators, Advocates
Art 5300E: Special Projects 1 (Research & Advocacy in Art Ed.) Students
explore current research in art education and how it applies to their
own work. The class culminates in a self-directed research project.
Art 6300E: Special Projects 2 (Teaching & Creating: City Art Lab Practicum) Students investigate the intersection of their teaching practice and artistic practice while working with a group of NYC teenagers. The class culminates with a self-directed art project.
EDSE 0200I: Masters Projects Students develop an independent masters thesis project in conversation with classmates and faculty.
Courses in Education
In addition to coursework in art education, students pursue courses in the School of Education that prepare them to teach in urban schools. These courses emphasize adolescent development, reading and writing across the curriculum, special issues in education, and state requirements for certification.
Courses in Art & Art History
Students select courses in art history and studio art to augment their understanding of the nature of art and art-making in our society.


KNOXVILLE – Though Alice Cooper famously sang “school’s out for the summer,” he failed to come out with the follow-up hit “school’s back in session.” Likewise, when children are let out for summer vacation, they, too, forget that school will start again in August.
According to Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen, education professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the summer break is when children fall behind in reading.
According to Allington, best estimates indicate that 80 percent of the reading achievement gap between achieving and struggling readers occurs during the summer when achieving readers read and struggling readers don’t.
Allington and McGill-Franzen provide five tips on how to encourage your children to read during the summer:
- Explore the Bookstore – Parents can take children on a field trip to Barnes and Noble, Borders or a local bookstore and let them explore the different genres and varieties that may not be offered during the school year.
- Power to Choose – Few adults do much “assigned reading,” particularly for pleasure, so forget about making kids read the “classics” and instead let them choose what they want to read.
- Talk About Reading – Parents can read books they want to or books their child has selected to read to engage the child in conversations about the book. Talking to your children about the characters and action in the book they are reading can help you get to know them better.
- Set an Example – Parents can set aside a daily time for reading and engage in reading themselves.
- Practice Matters – If primary grade children read ten to fifteen books and intermediate and secondary students read five or six books over the summer, they can stem summer reading loss and usually produce a small gain in reading achievement.
McGill-Franzen says that children enjoy reading books within a series because the characters and plots tend to fit into their social and cultural network, and children can easily talk to their peers about series books.
Allington is a member of the International Reading Association’s board of directors. McGill-Franzen, director of the UT Reading Center, has authored books and articles on young children’s literacy development.
Emma Macmillan, 865-974-9409, firstname.lastname@example.org
Whitney Holmes, 865-974-5460, email@example.com


Teacher Collaboration for Professional Learning: Facilitating Study, Research, and Inquiry Communities
December 2009, Jossey-Bass
- Advocate for collaborative teacher learning
- Develop and sustain collaborative research groups
- Organize and conduct productive research projects
- Address issues of ethics, leadership, and group dynamics
- Evaluate and sustain collaborative learning activities
Foreword by Janice F. Almasi.
PART 1 Why Support Collaborative Research?
Chapter 1 Improving Teacher Professional Learning.
Chapter 2 Initiating Educational Improvements.
PART 2 Building a Professional Learning Community.
Chapter 3 Understanding the Inquiry Process.
Chapter 4 Getting Started.
Chapter 5 Staying Productive.
PART 3 Collaborating Effectively.
Chapter 6 Ethical Considerations: Improving Group Dynamics.
Chapter 7 Leadership Strategies for Collaborative Support Groups.
PART 4 Model Learning Communities in Action.
Chapter 8 School-Based and Partnership Communities.
Chapter 9 Networking and Online Collaborations.
Chapter 10 A Districtwide Model: The Fairfax County Public Schools Teacher Researcher Network, Contributed by Gail V. Ritchie.
Epilogue: Supporting and Sustaining Professional Collaboration.
Appendix A Tools and Templates.
Stage 1: Getting to Know Invited Members.
Brainstorming Chart: Whom to Invite to the Group.
Stage 2: Sharing Perspectives and Talents.
Tentative Agenda for Meetings.
Roles Signup Sheet.
Stage 3: Supporting Each Other’s Efforts and Learning.
Stage 4: Exploring the Possibilities.
Ongoing Group Evaluation.
Stage 5: Ongoing Conversations.
Appendix B Reflection Questions.
Appendix C Study Group Exercises.
Appendix D Valuable Resources.
Appendix E Teacher Research Survey.
Cynthia A. Lassonde, Ph.D., a former elementary teacher, is associate professor of Elementary Education and Reading at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Oneonta. Susan E. Israel, Ph.D., is an independent researcher, writer, and literacy consultant. Lassonde and Israel have written many books and articles on teacher research, teaching and learning, and literacy.
Teacher Collaboration for Professional Learning: Facilitating Study, Research, and Inquiry Communities (US $32.95)
Total List Price: US $62.90
Discounted Price: US $47.17 (Save: US $15.73)


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Ability accessory processes aims allied arts applied art appre art appreciation art experience art instruction art object art qualities artistic Bobbitt caesura ciation civic art color compositional drawing construction costume design Curriculum decoration design experience devices dictation dimensional elemen elementary art education elementary schools employed esthesis esthetic appreciation esthetic contemplation esthetic education esthetic experience evaluation free-expression graphic and plastic graphic record Houghton Mifflin Company Immanuel Kant industrial arts lines manipulative material means memory drawing ment mental method of teaching mode motor coordinations motor experience nature object of art observation ornament paper pedagogical percept perceptual learning phase of art pictorial expression plastic art practice present primary grades problem psychology pupil activities purpose representational drawing sand-table schema or symbol Seattle Public Schools selection situations social special method specific structural and motor subject matter teaching drawing teaching representational tion tive utilitarian valuable visual William Chandler Bagley


Post Secondary Planning
The ACT Assessment, or "A-C-T" as it is commonly called, is a national college admission examination that consists of tests in: English, Mathematics, Reading, Science Reasoning. ACT results are accepted by virtually all U.S. colleges and universities. You can register for the ACT online.
The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is a practice SAT test. It measures the critical reading, math problem-solving, and writing skills that you've been developing throughout your life. It does not measure things like creativity and motivation, and it doesn't recognize those special talents that may be important to colleges.
The SAT Reasoning Test is a measure of the critical thinking skills you'll need for academic success in college. The SAT assesses how well you analyze and solve problems. The SAT is typically taken by high school juniors and seniors. Each section of the SAT is scored on a scale of 200—800, with two writing subscores for multiple-choice and the essay.
The SAT Subject Tests (formerly SAT II: Subject Tests) are designed to demonstrate to colleges mastery of specific subjects like English, history, mathematics, science, and foreign language. Many colleges use the Subject Tests for admission, course placement, and to advise students about course selection. Some colleges specify the Subject Tests they require for admission or placement; others allow applicants to choose which tests to take. You can register for the SAT and SAT Subject Tests on-line.
The Grant High School counseling department subscribes to a college and career planning resource called Naviance. All current juniors and seniors have received registration cards and have personalized passwords to access this dynamic college and scholarship search tool. Some of the information available through Naviance includes: college searches, college look-up, college compare, GHS acceptance history, college visitation schedules and scholarship lists. We strongly encourage students and families to explore this wonderful resource. Parents are also invited to use Naviance and can access the website using the link above.


A music education program
for minority and low-income area youth
offer quality music instruction to low-income
and minority youth.
the number of young people who participate in
music throughout and beyond high school.
high-school drop-out rates.
chances of participants to enter into
collegiate music programs through mentorship.
provide participants with opportunities to
serve the community through public
teach discipline through music education. By
building the discipline it takes to learn a
musical instrument, we believe that
participants will likely become better
students. Local media outlets report that all
too often there are young people who are
headed down a road of self and community
destruction. It is the hope that the COLLEGE
BOUND MUSICIANS (CBM) program will help to
re-center the individual towards a more
productive future. If we help just one
individual, that one is worth it.
after the successful “Signature
program founded by Dr. Richard Ford,
Professor at Syracuse University
Dr. Mary Webster is the founder of the
College Bound Musicians locally. Reverend
Webster has been an advocate for youth
throughout her career
will be pre-screened and must agree to the
guidelines set forth by the Advisory
will attend formal, after-school music
instruction classes weekly with the
instrument of their choice
and guardians must agree to support the
child fully and allow for and encourage
rehearsal time while at home
of well-maintained instruments
donated by the community.
Apple Music and K-Music have
agreed to function as collection
sites and do any necessary repairs
to the donated instruments.
instrument lessons and/or vocal
lessons (as needed) for minority
and low-income students, grades
7-12 at no cost to the student
or their family.
for students to offer community
service through public performance
at a variety of venues.
(Churches, MVCC, Utica
Monday Night, MWPAI, and Players
career options for participating
youth - recognized through college
visits, planning support, and
or guardian by-in and involvement
by attending performances,
assuring students meet rehearsal
schedules, and participating in
college planning workshops.
Funding for the program is
expected to come from a
variety of sources:
events organized by the CBM
Advisory Board and volunteers
donations in the form of
monetary or gently used
and individual sponsorship of
events and performances hosted
and public grants
CBM is making every effort to keep costs to a
understand that there be will some program costs
incurred. Funds and items received will be used in
a variety of ways:
of musical instruments, as needed, should a
particular desired instrument not be available
from donations received.
paid to music instructors
and snacks made available during after-school
funding will be sought for the direct benefit of
the participants (items above) and also for
completion/improvements to the Players of Utica
Theatre (the home to the College Bound Musicians
Program instruction and instruments are provided
NO COST to participating youth or their families!
How can you help?
CBM with a monetary donation
CBM with the donation of a gently used
a young person to participate in the program
to be a part of the plan – get involved!
support College Bound Musicians
Monetary donations to:
PO Box 29
New Hartford, NY 13413
(Make checks payable to Players of Utica –
in the memo write “CBM”)
Reverend Mary Webster
Instrument donation drop-off sites:
Big Apple Music Plaza
New Hartford, NY 13413
Utica, NY 13501


How refreshing, I think that making learning FUN and stimulating is by far the most effective way of teaching and learners retaining knowledge. PE being my subject specialism, I find a good way of making lessons fun is by planning activities around recent sporting events and encouraging the learners via facilitated group discussions and fun quizzes to analyse games for the use of Sports Analysis, this encourages the students to link their passion for sport with the required learning outcomes for the lessons.
I totally agree. Creative and fun learning is always going to be a winner. A classroom environment that is stress free and inspiring is great for both learner and teacher. As Ellie said, one of the best things about the creativity side of things is the bonus that it adds to learning. Not only will learners discover a new topic in an exciting and imaginative way but they will also be given the opportunity to improve and develop so many everyday people skills (e.g. team work, speaking and listening...).
In my dissertation project at University I looked into the idea of drama taking place in the English primary school curriculum. When researching it was amazing to me how many people said they were terrified of drama lessons in year 7 - and I thought, is it any surprise really? Some children would have gone straight through their primary education without any use of drama and then be thrown in the deep end at one of the most vulnerable and scary ages/moments in their lives. If practical creativity was more common throughout education it wouldn't be such a shock to the system, it would be the norm, perhaps erasing that fear factor that it holds with some learners.
However, I believe some learners may struggle with the creative side of learning but that's why its so important to have variety.
I am all for this!! When at school I have learnt most from the lessons that were most fun! Such as having to writes songs for information needed for my English essays, we then put them to a well known tune. I still remember them 5 years on! I Surely an environment that is stress free and fun will benefit learners most and they will hopefully learn more. I don't see why a fun aspect can't be brought into every subject. However, I do also agree with Emma, that having fun creatively may not suit all learners, so how would you make it fun and beneficial for them?
Ellie how inspiring, and a great point made. I agree that Drama could play a key role in developing the young learners not only on a eduacational level but a social level too. This can also have the potential to encourage some more intrevert learners to participate in group discussions, thus creating a more positive learning environment as a result. The only problem I could see is what area or subject would have to be cut to make room for Drama for the schools that don't have it?


Vocabulary Building by Grade Level
Building vocabulary skills can be fun for kids when you use an interactive multi-media program. Fun, interactive vocabulary building activities are integrated into the language arts curriculum in Time4Learning’s online program which is geared towards preschoolers through eighth graders.
An additional tool for increasing vocabulary skills for elementary students is using vocabulary software. Ultimate Vocabulary provides a focused method for building vocabulary skills for students.
First grade vocabulary exercises on Time4Learning integrate sight word vocabulary with the sounds of the alphabet in decodable stories. The first grade vocabulary words are initially presented within the context of a story or rhyme. Additional first grade vocabulary lessons are part of 22 thematic units covering oceans, seasons, mammals, plants, early America, and more. Students improve reading comprehension by reading or listening to literature with an emphasis on vocabulary building. Teacher’s guides include lesson plans, vocabulary lists and optional printable vocabulary worksheets.
Time4Learning’s second grade vocabulary lessons continue a pattern of vocabulary building by teaching about antonyms, synonyms, and homonyms. Additional second grade vocabulary exercises are presented within 22 thematic units covering insects, rain forests, maps and globes, fitness, and more. Science vocabulary is introduced in units on nutrition, heat, sound, and light. Second graders improve their reading comprehension by reading or listening to literature with an emphasis on vocabulary. Teacher’s lesson plans include vocabulary lists and optional printable vocabulary worksheets.
Third graders using Time4Learning begin their language arts program with enjoyable, animated vocabulary exercises. The initial third grade vocabulary lessons cover synonyms, antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, and homophones. Throughout the third grade language arts program, students are exposed to third grade vocabulary building strategies within the context of reading comprehension exercises. Vocabulary units present themed vocabulary lists covering math vocabulary, social studies vocabulary, science vocabulary, and more. Units based on literature offer printable graphic organizers to enhance the student’s understanding of definitions.
Vocabulary building strategies are emphasized throughout Time4Learning’s fourth grade language arts program. The fourth grade vocabulary exercises encourage students to identify prefixes and suffixes, using this information to determine the correct meaning of a word. Animated fourth grade vocabulary lessons cover synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. Literature-based study of topics such as pioneers, natural disasters, African American poetry, and inventors present themed vocabulary words. Ten concentrated units offer traditional vocabulary lists. Math vocabulary is introduced with vocabulary words relating to quantity and size. Units culminate with a vocabulary test to assess understanding.
Vocabulary exercises for fifth grade Time4Learning students are found throughout the language arts program. Animated fifth grade vocabulary lessons expand students’ understanding of synonyms, antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, homonyms, and idioms. Fifth grade vocabulary words include those with Latin and Greek roots. Ten themed vocabulary lists include eponyms, abbreviations, occupations, and more, with associated vocabulary activities. Units based on authentic literature provide printable vocabulary worksheets and glossaries to promote vocabulary building. Reading comprehension strategies include using context clues to determine the meaning of a word.
Going beyond traditional vocabulary lists, many of Time4Learning’s sixth grade vocabulary exercises are integrated within five literature based units that promote a variety of language skills, including reading comprehension and vocabulary building. Resources provided include vocabulary graphic organizers and printable vocabulary worksheets. Ten concentrated study units present topical vocabulary word lists, such as math vocabulary and science vocabulary. Animated sixth grade vocabulary lessons build on the student’s knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, Latin and Greek roots, idioms, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms.
Seventh graders using Time4Learning expand and apply their knowledge of Latin and Greek roots, idioms, prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms through interaction with animated seventh grade vocabulary lessons. Four literature based units utilize authentic literature and an online vocabulary graphic organizer to build seventh grade vocabulary. A glossary is provided for each of the literature selections to assist in completing the accompanying vocabulary exercises. Each unit includes a related vocabulary list and printable vocabulary worksheets. An extensive “Word Meanings” chapter includes vocabulary activities designed to guide students in using context clues in order to understand text.
In eighth grade, animated vocabulary lessons guide Time4Learning students to review and increase their understanding of root words, prefixes, and suffixes . Additional literature based units provide eighth grade vocabulary building resources such as an interactive assessment activity that focuses on correctly identifying a vocabulary word with its definition. Literature units include related vocabulary lists and printable vocabulary worksheets. Students are exposed to science vocabulary through reading chapters on the eye, hurricanes, and flavors. Additional eighth grade vocabulary activities include the study of informational articles and how word choice affects the outcome of the article.


Teachers may copy this with © for their own students. Other copies and/or posting or publishing is NOT allowed without permission. Contact at www.bartelart.com. Links to this page are welcome. Art Education HOME
TITLE OF THE ASSIGNMENT OR TEAM PROJECT _________________________
Directions for students: Give the names of all the others on your team here.
_________________________ ________________________ ______________________
_________________________ ________________________ _____________________
Teams work well when members bring all kinds of contributions. For each attribute below, name the person(s) that were best contributors. You may use initials or just first names so long as there are no duplicates on your team. You may list one or two persons for each item below. You may use each name as often as you wish.
1. Prepares well & brings outside resources? _____________
2. Who made the most creative suggestions and ideas? _______________
3. Who was a good questioner? __________________
4. Who encouraged others to join in with ideas and questions? __________________
5. Who was a careful and positive listener? ________
6. Who was positive, encouraging, and affirming? __________________
7. Who was best at explaining things? ___________________
8. Who has the ability to summarize and clarify? ___________
9. Who brought enthusiasm, energy, and passion? ________________
10. Other (please explain) _______________
11. Who did anything else that you want to mention?
12. Which one or two from your team would you most like to have on your team next time? ____________________
Why would you want this
person on your team again?
If you were the teacher, why
would you use teamwork next time for this kind of assignment or project? Or, explain why you would not use teamwork next time?
This page has some more ideas for teamlearning.


will differ by their associated premium cost, benefit coverage, and out-of-pocket expenses (e.g., deductibles, co-payments). It may be particularly difficult for individuals with poor literacy and numeracy skills to find an insurance plan that meets their needs when faced with many insurance options. Nearly half of all American adults—90 million people—have inadequate health literacy to navigate the health care system (IOM, 2004). Health literacy is “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (Ratzan and Parker, 2000).
Many of the newly eligible health insurance consumers will be individuals of low health literacy, some speakers of English and others more comfortable using languages other than English. Health insurance terms such as “deductible,” “co-insurance,” and “out-of-pocket limits” are difficult to communicate even to those with moderate-to-high levels of health literacy and so health exchanges will face challenges as they attempt to communicate to the broader community. In addition to having to convey some of these basic, and yet complex, principles of insurance, state exchanges will be attempting to adapt to the many changes to enrollment and eligibility brought about by ACA. While these challenges may seem daunting, there are important lessons to be learned from a number of existing programs and research endeavors.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened the Roundtable on Health Literacy to address issues raised in its report Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion (IOM, 2004). The roundtable brings together leaders from the federal government, foundations, health plans, associations, and private companies to discuss challenges facing health literacy practice and research and to identify approaches to promote health literacy in both the public and private sectors. The roundtable’s focus is on building partnerships to move the field of health literacy forward by translating research findings into practical strategies for implementation. The roundtable also serves to educate the public, press, and policy makers regarding issues related to health literacy.
The roundtable sponsors workshops for members and the public to discuss approaches to resolve key challenges. Reports from workshops held by the roundtable include the following:
• Standardizing Medication Labels: Confusing Patients Less: Workshop Summary (2008)
• Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary (2009)
• Toward Health Equity and Patient-Centeredness: Integrating Health Literacy, Disparities Reduction, and Quality Improvement: Workshop Summary (2009)


Music Education in Schools
Music & Arts has a long history of supporting music education in schools. We are proud to announce our new partnership with AMP, The National Association of Music Parents.
Music & Arts is a proud sponsor of AMP – The National Association of Music Parents
AMP – the Association of Music Parents provides you ALL of the information that you need to know to support your child in music and arm you with the tools needed to keep music and the arts strong in your educational community.
AMP is for parents of school aged music students.
"At this time when you are making critical and far- reaching budget and program decisions…I write to bring to your attention the importance of the arts as a core academic subject and part of a complete education for all students. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act defines the arts as a core subject, and the arts play a significant role in children's development and learning process. The arts can help students become tenacious, team-oriented problem solvers who are confident and able to think creatively."
--Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, 2009
Playing an instrument as a kid leads to a sharper mind in old age, according to a new study conducted by Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, a clinical neuropsychologist in Emory's Department of neurology, and her colleagues. The researchers found that those who had played an instrument for a decade or longer scored significantly higher on the tests than those with no musical background.
--Scientific American, 2011
The College Board showed that students who took four years of arts and music classes while in high school scored 91 points better on their SATs than students who took only one-half year or less. (1070 vs. 979, respectively).
--Data from 2009
Nearly 100% of past winners in the prestigious Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology (for high school students) play one or more musical instruments. This led the Siemens Foundation to host a recital at Carnegie Hall in 2004, featuring some of these young people, after which a panel of experts debated the nature of the apparent science/music link.
--The Midland Chemist (American Chemical Society) Vol. 42, No.1, Feb. 2005
What is the Association of Music Parents?
The Association of Music Parents, AMP, is a non profit organization whose mission is to build a grassroots national movement that will Engage and Empower parents and music education supporters to take ownership of our children's complete education, including music and the arts.
AMP will give parents tools and best practices to help champion these curriculums in their local communities, along with proven advocacy strategies to help ensure that ALL children can access quality music education programs.
The AMP website is a repository of information for you to immerse yourself in and share with others the valuable impact music is making in your child's life. You will be able to:
• View impactful videos
• Learn useful advocacy techniques
• View and download all documents in the resource section
• Read thought provoking, poignant, and hilarious blogs
• Pore over critical music facts
• Ask and answer questions
• Participate in webinars and conferences
• Receive discounts on AMP store purchases
AMP also encourages you to share your stories, successes and challenges with other parents and truly build this national community of music parents!
Visit AMParents.org Today!


The Gamification of Education
Digital literacy is the future of communication and commerce and creates learning experiences that develop students' capacities for critical thinking, creativity, imagination and innovation. Digital communication requires skills learned through study of the fine arts, as well as the skills of using new technology. Digital games combine the power of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills in a program that fuses the arts (A) and humanities with hands-on experiential learning into complex eco-systems within, and extending beyond, the game space to involve networks of people in a variety of roles and rich interactions. Learning STEAM skills represents a critical activity within this larger, highly engaging system where the future economy is contingent upon students’ success.
Additional Supporting Materials
- What are some of the best ways to teach creativity, communication and critical thinking skills essential to success in today’s digital world?
- How can we understand the intersection between the arts, technology and game development? And how can we teach this understanding in high school and higher education?
- What are the challenges to making digital learning a reality in education and how do we evaluate the progress?
- How can educators use fine arts to prepare students to articulate and convey their ideas through interactive media and game development?
- Why is a fine art education important to a quality STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education?
- Warren Spector N/A
- Paul Toprac University of Texas at Austin
- Doug Dempster University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts
- Jennifer Ransom Rice Texas Cultural Trust
Caroline Hammond Texas Cultural Trust
Show me another


Quartz is an igneous rock made out of molecules of silicon and oxygen atoms held together in a crystal pattern. All of the silica and oxygen that make quartz came originally from the insides of stars, and it shot out of the stars when the stars exploded as supernovas. Then the silica formed part of a nebula, a dust cloud floating in space.
Nobody knows exactly how the silica got to Earth from the nebula, but once it did, it sank down under the lighter elements of Earth (oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon) but stayed above the heavier elements (mainly iron). So silicon got stuck in the middle - not in the core, but not on the surface either. In this middle zone, it was hot enough to melt rock. Most of the silica on Earth is still in this melted state. Only a little of it has gotten close enough to the surface to cool down and become solid rocks like quartz or granite.
There are many different kinds of quartz, depending on exactly how it cooled down. Some kinds have large crystals, and some have very small crystals. Small amounts of other materials that get into the stone can give it colors - quartz with a little iron in it is a pink color or a purple color called amethyst. Some kinds of quartz are nearly transparent (you can see through them).
When people want quartz today to make things out of, they often make it themselves in hot furnaces, rather than digging it out of the ground. By controlling the process, people can make perfectly even quartz with no irregularities. People use perfect quartz to make digital watches and computer microprocessors. Most glass is made by melting sand made of tiny bits of quartz. People also use quartz crystals in various religious ways.
Quartz also often becomes a part of other kinds of rocks. Some igneous rocks, like granite, have quartz in them. Some sedimentary rocks, like sandstone and limestone, also contain quartz. And some metamorphic rocks, like marble, have quartz in them too.
To find out more about rocks, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Science for Kids home page
Kidipede home page


So you’re thinking about a career in music?
Whether your interests lie in music education, performance, industry, or any number of other venues, the field of music provides countless opportunities for finding a fulfilling and rewarding career. On these pages are a collection of resources designed to help students, parents, teachers, and all those curious, in discovering the many possibilities.
You may want to begin by reading our Glossary of Careers for complete descriptions of numerous music career options. Our “Careers in Music” online brochure also gives insight into specifics for 16 career fields, such as the recommended training, skills, personal qualifications, and average salaries. As you continue to explore the other pages, the information and resources you will find delve deeper into performing and teaching careers, the music industry, the study of music, continuing education, teacher certification, and much more.
The links below provide a further look into music careers in general, after which we hope you will visit the other areas of this site. Then, when you start to ask yourself “Should I study music?” take a moment to read “What it Takes To Be a Music Major.” The links and resources on our Web site will help you make the decision on going into the music field.
Along with the resources on this site, you can find additional music career information by visiting the following:
- Berklee College of Music — Concise descriptions of music related careers of all kinds.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — The Occupational Outlook Handbook provides helpful information about several music careers, including salary and employment outlook. Look under M for music careers.
- NAfME Publication, Exploring Careers in Music, 2nd Edition. An in-depth guide to music careers, featuring a section on technology, a directory of resources, and contributions from current professionals in the music field.
The below publications and others can be found on Amazon.com:
- Opportunities in Music Careers, Revised Edition By Robert Gerardi, with Foreword by Dr. Billy Taylor; VGM Career Books, The McGraw-Hill Companies; ISBN 0071387161 (hardcover), ISBN 007138717X (paperback)
- Great Jobs for Music Majors, Jan Goldberg; The McGraw-Hill Company; 2nd edition (2004) ISBN: 0071411607 (paperback)
Note: Web sites linked from this site are listed for information purposes only. Their inclusion does not constitute endorsement of their content by the National Association for Music Education.


Online Special Education Classes
Students will learn to support children with physical and learning disabilities, allowing them to enjoy the same opportunities extended to their peers in both public and private schools. They will become familiar with the way inclusive education gives these children a sense of belonging without ignoring their need for additional individualized attention.
The curriculum will address the following areas:
Students will be introduced to the most common disabilities, which are known as high-incidence disabilities. They include language impediments and learning disabilities. In addition, students will learn about the resources that allow children with disabilities to succeed in standard public classrooms.
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Students will also become familiar with a small group of disorders with unknown causes and early onset, such as autism spectrum disorders, Rett syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder. They will learn to recognize the symptoms and promote early intervention.
Emotional and Behavioral Support
Effective educators have strategies and systems that help kids with special needs control their emotions and cope with frustration. Students will therefore learn how to provide social skills training, administer therapy, and develop reward systems that reinforce good behavior with points or prizes.
Students will become familiar with the wide range of adaptive or assistive technologies that help people with disabilities perform challenging tasks. They will learn how to guide the use of the equipment and tools that help students, like augmented keyboards, cochlear implants, and machines that interpret eye movement.
Inclusive education combines assistive technologies and established support systems to enable kids with disabilities to attend standard public schools. Students learn that children with disabilities can thrive in an inclusive setting if they receive appropriate supplemental support.
Other vital skills acquired include:
Students will discover the importance of coordinating the efforts of all allies of a child with disabilities. They will foster collaboration among parents, general education teachers, and special education teachers.
Planning and Organization
Students will gain the foresight to meet the various needs of people with disabilities by proactively preparing behavioral systems, supportive therapy or appropriate assistive technologies.
To become successful instructors, students will need to think outside the box and identify the subtle distinction in needs among children with disabilities. They will use their creativity to present educational topics in novel ways that are more accessible to people with disabilities.
Written and Verbal Communication
Students will learn how important it is to present their spoken and written ideas in a clear manner. These skills prove extremely valuable in a special needs environment because communication disorders are prevalent among children with disabilities.
Special Education Law
Special education courses present an overview of special education laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Through these lessons, students will learn about the aid available for children and the procedures that can make them eligible for those resources.
Online Early Childhood Education Courses, Online Elementary Education Courses, Online ESL Courses, Online Teaching Courses


By Anna Guido
In Ancient Greece, little boys played with riding toys and little girls played with dolls.
Using artifacts such as these - on display now at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Eden Park - helps teach today's students about the lives of children in ancient Greece.
"It helps make it more real," said Barb Patterson, a K-6 art teacher at Clovernook Elementary in the North College Hill School District. "It gives them something they can relate to."
The traveling exhibit, "Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past," is at the museum through Saturday.
Linda Kuenzli, an art and art history teacher at Winton Woods High School, tries on a victory wreath she made during the workshop, Let The Games Begin: The Ancient Olympics.
(Enquirer photo/GARY LANDERS)
The exhibit is part of a three-day teacher institute this week in which 90 teachers are learning how to develop techniques for engaging students in the study of art.
Charlene McGill, a sixth-grade language arts teacher at All Saints School in Montgomery, plans to take her lessons back to school and work with social studies and art teachers on a cross-curriculum study of ancient Greece.
The goal of the teacher institute - in its second year - is to make teachers aware of the museum's collection of art from ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, and to learn to use permanent and traveling collections as resources in education.
John H. Oakley, co-curator of the "Coming of Age" exhibit and chairman of the Department of Classical Studies at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., was Tuesday's keynote speaker.
He said the idea for the exhibit grew out of the "scholarly world's" desire for more information about children's lives in ancient Greece.
The exhibit has more than 120 art objects and artifacts - including toys, painted vases, and figurines - dating from about 1500 B.C. through the Hellenistic period under the Romans (about 100 B.C.).
The pieces are organized under themes related to children's lives: myth, household, education, work, play, ritual, and transition to adulthood.
Oakley was asked to help put together the exhibit for Dartmouth College. From there, it went to the Onassis Cultural Center in New York before coming to Cincinnati.
About the program
The Cincinnati Art Museum received another boost in art education this month with receipt of a $62,000 Learning Through the Arts Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The grant will be used to fund a two-year program teaching children how to learn through exploration of original art at the museum.
The program will focus on visual arts, children's literature and performing arts for children ages 3-8.
For information on education programs at the Cincinnati Art Museum, contact Emily Holtrop, curator of education for school and teacher programs, at 639-2879, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.
2004 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
Weiser: Are they chanting 'Jerry' or 'Kerry'?
Kerry portrayed as a hero
Text of Sen. Edward Kennedy's speech
Son of goat herder addresses Dems
Text of the keynote address by Barack Obama
Kucinich delegates weigh their choice
Even reruns beat politics
Gannett News Service convention coverage
Enquirer's election section
TOP LOCAL HEADLINES
Languishing on the riverfront
Bengals lawsuit provokes outrage
Disabled man mistreated by E-check staff
Gay-rights supporters file for repeal
AllOut mag debuts Aug. 19
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Drake halts TV ads paid by levy
UC targets potential lung cancer gene for treatment
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Deters cleared, aides guilty
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Local news briefs
I-471 study to include new ramps at each end
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CPS rethinks suspensions
Greeks give lessons
Neighbors news digest
GOOD THINGS HAPPENING
Summer charity helps children, elderly cool off
Arthur Church was Democratic activist, lawyer
Ralph Clark headed Cincinnati Bar Assn.


As a classroom teacher, I often focused on what my students did during a class period. If I wasn’t wondering about what they did, I wondered about what information I needed to give them. Less often, I wondered about their thinking and how I might help them to think about their thinking. Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison helps classroom teachers who want to cultivate classroom environments rich in thinking.
The book is broken into three parts:
- Part One – looks at kinds of thinking and how improved practices for uncovering student thinking can impact student achievement and classroom culture
- Part Two – provides detailed processes for implementing thinking routines into your classroom
- Part Three – showcases classroom practice and common difficulties in implementing thinking routines
While I read through Part One on the kinds of thinking, I was struck by the similarities between the thinking list and the comprehension strategies that have been listed in Harvey and Goudvis’ work. In the following list, the first item is the thinking types recommended in Making Thinking Visible and the second item is from Harvey and Goudvis’ Strategies that Work.
- Observe and Describe = Summarize
- Explain and Interpret = Infer
- Making Connections = Activate and Connect
- Capture the heart and from conclusions = Summarize or Determine Importance
- Wonder and Ask questions = Question
- Uncover complexity = Synthesize
Good thinking and good thinking about reading are the same process. I wonder if students know the thinking work they do when they read is something they can do with other learning as well. I wonder, if we talked about these ideas as ways of thinking instead of reading comprehension strategies, if we would see students transfer the skills to other areas or if they are already doing so.
In this brief video, March Church talks about the importance of cultivating good thinking in our classrooms.
Part Two has a wealth of interesting thinking routines for teachers to try. The section is divided into three parts: thinking routines for introducing or exploring new ideas; routines for organizing and synthesizing; and routines to dig deeply into ideas.
A few examples from the many routines in Part Two include: the traditional KWL (Know-Want to Know-Learned) structure re-worked as Think-Puzzle-Explore – a thinking routine for introducing new ideas. Concept Maps are structured into Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate – a thinking routine for organizing and synthesizing ideas. Sentence-Phrase-Word is a few familiar literature circle roles expanded and worked on collaboratively to allow students to dig deeply into ideas.
Part Three, Making Thinking Visible, allows teachers to be the “fly-on-the-wall” in a few teachers’ classrooms as they start to use and reflect on using some of the thinking routines. It is interesting to see the challenges faced by the teachers and the ways in which they used their own experiences and interactions with their colleagues to improve their practice.
Some of these thinking routines can make for very productive teacher learning group or collaborative inquiry group work within our division. Using a new routine to facilitate better thinking, and then talking with a group of colleagues about what worked and what didn’t, would support me when the new work I was trying didn’t go as well as I hoped. Whether you want to work on reading comprehension, writing, math, or art, Making Thinking Visible is a book full of great routines and tips for improving student understanding within our classrooms.


Contact: Science Press Package
American Association for the Advancement of Science
'Protein police' search your food
When you eat beans and rice, you make the "protein police" in your brain happy because you are eating a meal that supplies the ingredients your body needs to make proteins. These protein ingredients are called "amino acids."
Click here for a high resolution photograph.
When you eat beans and rice, you make the "protein police" in your brain happy because you are eating a meal that supplies the ingredients your body needs to make proteins. These protein ingredients are called "amino acids." You need proteins to grow into the next shoe size, to grow into your next hair style and to grow your finger nails. Proteins are also necessary for a wide range of general body maintenance tasks, including the replacement of worn out cells.
In a new study in the 18 March 2005 issue of the journal Science, scientists explain the biological chemistry behind the "protein police" in the brains of mice and rats. If certain amino acids are missing from their food, the rodents' brains can detect the deficiencies 20 minutes after they start eating.
The brain's "protein police" are on the look out for shortages of "essential amino acids" which are protein building blocks that can not be made and must be ingested in food.
Some foods, including many animal products, contain essential amino acids – and when the protein police detect these amino acids, they are happy and keep quiet. Most plant proteins, however, are missing at least one of kind of essential amino acid. By combining the right plant foods - like when humans eat beans with rice – you can get the right balance of amino acids from plant sources.
If you are lucky enough to have all the beans, rice, tofu, meats, cheeses and grains you could ever want, the protein police in your brain may never take action.
But people with certain health problems, as well as people who have access to a limited variety of foods, may have their food urges influenced by the protein police in their brains.
By studying wild and laboratory animals, scientists are learning more about how the protein police operate to try to avoid amino acid deficiencies.
For example, a rat living inside a warehouse filled with corn has more food than it could possibly eat. Even so, the rat's protein police make it go out and find other food because corn does not provide all the necessary protein-making ingredients.
In the new study, the scientists discovered that animals and yeast use a similar technique to detect protein building blocks.
The fact that many different creatures, from primitive yeast to humans, have a similar ability to detect shortages in protein-making ingredients highlights the importance of maintaining the ability to build proteins.
Making proteins is about number three on the list of most important tasks for an animal's survival, said Science author Dorothy Gietzen from the University of California, Davis in Davis, California. Oxygen and energy are the only more immediate needs most creatures have.
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Science is published by AAAS, the non-profit science society.


The Meaning Makers:The Meaning Makers is about childrenâ€™s language and literacy development at home and at school. Based on the Bristol Study, â€œLanguage at Home and at School,â€ which the author directed, it follows the development of a representative sample of children from their first words to the end of their primary schooling. It contains many examples of their experience of language in use, both spoken and written, recorded in naturally occurring settings in their homes and classrooms, and shows the active role that children play in their own development as they both make sense of the world around them and master the linguistic means for communicating about it. Additionally, this second edition also sets the findings of the original study in the context of recent research in the sociocultural tradition inspired by Vygotskyâ€™s work and includes examples of effective teaching drawn from the authorâ€™s recent collaborative research with teachers.
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Rent The Meaning Makers 2nd edition today, or search our site for Gordon textbooks. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Multilingual Matters.


The scale used or key of a piece is represented on the music staff by an icon called the key signature. Western music uses primarily major or minor scales, which are seven notes. If you play all the white keys on the piano starting with C you can hear what a major scale sounds like. But if you were to play only the black keys on the piano, you would hear a different scale — the pentatonic scale — a scale or mode that uses only five notes per octave. If you start on D# on the piano you would have a pentatonic minor scale. If you would begin on F# you would have a pentatonic major scale. These are two of the more common pentatonic scales. (See illustration)
Many composers have used the pentatonic scale especially in folk traditions — from Celtic music to gospel music to ancient Greek music and from Afro-Caribbean traditions to Chinese music and jazz traditions. The Javanese Gamelan and the Ethiopian Krar — a five or six-stringed Bowl-shaped lyre from Eritrea and Ethiopia — are tuned in the pentatonic scale.
Impressionistic composers such as Debussy, used the scale liberally as did Chopin famously in his Étude in G flat major Opus 10 No. 5 the Black Keys Étude and Ravel used it in Ma Mère L’Oye (Mother Goose Suite.) Perhaps the scale sounded a little exotic to them!
Chopin Etude Opus 10 no. 5 “Black Keys”
Ma Mère L’Oye
The Hungarian people are very proud of their historic folk music. Composers Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók traveled to the remote villages of Hungary to catalog, research and write down the folk music of the Hungarians, which had been preserved solely as an oral tradition. They found that Hungarian “peasant music” often does not use a regular meter and uses the pentatonic scale with a strong rhythmic steadiness or tempo giusto! These features differentiate “Hungarian peasant music” from that of any other nations.
Bartók studied over 300 melodies. The more modern tunes used for dancing, featured pentatonic turns with frequent leaps of the interval, or distance between two notes, of a fourth (or four notes). Hungarian gypsy music is quite distinctive as well. It has an exotic romantic flavor. The gypsy music uses the so called Hungarian minor scale and although this scale does use seven notes, the spaces between the notes are unique as are the instruments used including the Cimbalom — a type of hammered dulcimer composed of a large, trapezoidal box with metal strings stretched across its top. Two long sticks with a spoon shaped ends hammer the strings — quite wonderful!
The Zoltán Kodály-based method, originally developed in Hungary but now used worldwide, is designed to develop musical skills and to teach musical concepts to very young children through singing. Kodály used the pentatonic scale because of its simplicity, and it plays a significant role in this method.
“Teach music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture but a joy for the pupil; instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which will last for a lifetime.”
Kodály advocated continuously and believed strongly that a person cannot be complete without music. Music, he said, serves to develop a person on all levels – emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. Kodály also believed that all people, everyone, has musical aptitude and that music education should begin as early as possible in a person’s life — at home and then later at school. Every child can learn music and has a right to an education in music.
Kodály believed that musical instruction should reflect the way that children learn naturally. Through singing games, fun and play, the child discovers the musical elements and has the opportunity to enter the world of music. The voice of course, is the most accessible of all instruments and can lead to a well-tuned ear. Singing is a great start to learn music, especially via the folk music traditions of each country and the easiest entry is the pentatonic scale! Scales don’t have to be boring. Many cultures have used the pentatonic scale in their indigenous music. That’s how we Hungarians became related to the Chinese. We are all related through our music.
Ethiopian Oldies – Krar Song
Kodály flash mob
Richter plays Bartok 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs (2/2)
Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale


Mills, Luther Rice
17 Aug. 1840–18 Aug. 1920
Luther Rice Mills, educator, was the youngest of five children of the Reverend John Garland and Martha Williams Haymes Mills of Halifax County, Va. Ordained to the ministry in 1825, the elder Mills served as pastor of rural Baptist churches in the region, while earning a good livelihood for his family as owner-manager of a sizable plantation tended by numerous slaves.
Young Mills received the rudiments of an elementary education under the tutelage of his father prior to enrolling at Wake Forest College in 1857. He was awarded an A.B. degree in 1861, graduating at the head of his class. Afterwards he served in the Confederate army (1861–65), attaining the rank of lieutenant. Captured on the retreat from Richmond (1864), he spent the last months of the conflict as a prisoner on Johnson's Island.
On his release from prison in mid-June 1865, Mills returned to Halifax County. Earlier dreams of pursuing graduate studies in mathematics at the University of Virginia and at Cambridge University had to be deferred as he assumed the management of the family estate, operating it with the help of former slaves, who had chosen to remain as "tenants" following their emancipation, and with such day laborers as he could hire for the work. His sense of duty to a widowed mother—together with an unexpected joy derived from his success at the enterprise—found Mills resolved to devote his time and energy to maintaining the family farm.
In January 1867, however, he yielded to the invitation of President Washington Manly Wingate to return to Wake Forest to teach mathematics. Here he remained for the next forty years, serving as adjunct professor (1867–71) and professor of mathematics (1871–1907), bursar of the college (1876–1907), and agent for the Board of Education (1876–80). The latter, a college-based agency of the Baptist State Convention, was charged with the task of working to "assist promising and indigent young ministers seeking to prepare themselves for the more efficient preaching of the gospel." As a result of ill health, Mills retired from the classroom in June 1907.
As a teacher, Mills was comprehensive and exacting. The young men who sat in his classes soon discovered that whether or not they learned was largely their responsibility. He believed that a teacher should not have to coax a student to study. Nonetheless, the records of many former students—especially those who pursued higher branches of mathematics at universities—attest both to the thoroughness of the work accomplished in his classroom and to his ability to inspire students to do their best.
It was as bursar, however, that Mills probably made his most important contribution to Wake Forest. He is said to have been well ahead of his time in his knowledge of accounting principles and in the skills of business management. His thrift, his prompt payment of bills, and his determination to hold expenditures within the limits of the institution's sources of revenue increased its financial credit. Such practices also won the confidence of the individuals who were able to provide equipment and funding for the college. Knowledge of the value of common stocks and other securities—together with his study of fluctuations in the market—made him a trusted adviser to the board of trustees. Reportedly, his judgment regarding investments proved to be remarkably sound.
Mills married Anna Lewis, of Tarboro, on 14 Jan. 1869. They had five children: Kate (m. Claude Kitchin), Luther Rice, Jr., John Garland, Lucy (m. John Alexander Wray), and Anna. Mills was buried in the town cemetery at Wake Forest. A portrait hangs in the reading room of the Ethel Taylor Crittenden Collection in Baptist History, Wake Forest University.
Luther Rice Mills, "Forty Years in the Wilderness," Bulletin of Wake Forest College, October 1907, January 1908.
George Washington Paschal, History of Wake Forest College, vols. 1–3 (1935–43).
Wake Forest Student, "Mills Memorial" vol. (November 1920).
Luther Rice Mills Reminiscences, undated (collection no. 00512-z). The Southern Historical Collection. Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/m/Mills,Luther_Rice.html (accessed July 31, 2014).
1 January 1991 | Taylor, R. Hargus


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Click below to play a sample Core Video from our Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep program. This particular video focuses on solving inequalities, a process which involves many of the same steps used to solve other algebraic equations, but which also requires that you remember one special rule that we will discuss here. Inequality questions often appear in the math sections of the Praxis II Elementary Education: Content Knowledge and Praxis II Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects exams, and can take a variety of forms, including word problems.
When you purchase any of our Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep programs, you'll get Core Videos like this one covering every key number sense, algebra and functions, measurement and geometry, and data organization and interpretation concept you need to pass. You'll learn the same key subject matter you would in our live classes, as well as strategies for success on the various multiple choice question types you can expect on the exam. Then, once you are confident with the underlying subject matter, you can watch our Smart-STEM Virtual Tutoring videos, in which a tutor will show you how to apply your knowledge to the specific question types you are most likely to encounter on the actual test.
Both our Core Videos and Smart-STEM Virtual Tutoring videos are included in all our Online Prep programs!
Ready to get started? Select your exam below to enroll in Praxis II Elementary Education Online Prep and begin studying today!
These Core Videos Are Included in All Our Praxis II Elementary Ed. (Math Section) Online Prep Programs...
Below is a complete list of the Core Videos that are included in all our Praxis II Elementary Education (Math Section) Online Prep programs. These videos have been created by our industry-leading team of Teachers and Subject Matter Experts based on the official Content Specifications published for the Praxis II Elementary Education: Content Knowledge (0014/5014) and Praxis II Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects (5031-5035) exams, along with research and feedback from students and test takers, so you get an engaging, easy-to-use, and highly-focused program that makes the absolute most of your study time and teaches you the exact content knowledge and strategy you need to pass the exam.
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Developed by Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, Al-Bustan Digital Education is an online resource with interactive learning and playing applications to further educators’ and students’ understanding and appreciation of the Arabic language, arts, culture, and history.
We envision developing an expanded library of interactive resources to cover a variety of themes and art forms and serve multiple age groups. We invite you to browse what we have developed to date:
Arabic Alphabet Game:
an interactive learning tool and game, highlighting the world of Ziryab and 9th century Al-Andalus
Umm Kulthum: Her Life and Legacy:
a curriculum unit about pre-eminent Egyptian diva that is designed to align with and incorporate American Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science
Yalli Zar’atu-l Burtu'an (Those Who Planted the Oranges):
a song composed by famed Egyptian musician/composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab who was a contemporary of Umm Kulthum; developed as a music education tool for appreciating Arab music and learning Arabic lyrics, diction, rhythms, and instrumentals
Jadaka-l Ghaythu (The Rain That Falls Upon You) Vocals by Tunisian singer Sonia M'Barek
an Andalusian poem set to music, known as muwashah in Arabic, that speaks of nostalgia for a reunion in Andalusia; developed as a music education tool for appreciating Arab music and learning Arabic lyrics, diction, rhythms, and instrumentals
Nawbat Al-Khadra' (The Green City) Vocals by Tunisian singer Sonia M'Barek
a Tunisian ma'luf, based on Andalusian poetry, that speaks of the old city with its markets, mosques, and gardens; developed as a music education tool for appreciating Arab music and learning Arabic lyrics, diction, rhythms, and instrumentals
Nassam ‘Alayna Al-Hawa (Blowing Breeze) A popular song by the Rahbani Brothers, renowned Lebanese composers, musicians, and playwrights This music education tool can be used to appreciate Arab music and to learn Arabic lyrics, diction, rhythms, and instrumentals. Vocals by Rosan Khoury.
As you use these resources and share with friends, colleagues, and students, please be sure to let us know how you are using these tools by posting your comments and suggestions in the "Discussion" pages