Welcome to the most comprehensive and easily searchable database on the Web of Teacher Education Programs (both degree and certificate). Teaching is a huge field (approximately 6 million teachers currently in the workforce, and more looking to join every day), and it contains within it a very large range of possible specialties. Teachers can specialize by grade level, subject, population, and numerous other categories.
Teaching Careers by Grade Level
Teachers are usually certified for one or more grade levels, which may include Early Childhood Education (usually defined as Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3), Elementary Education, and Secondary (High School) Education.
Teaching Careers by Subject
Remember when you were in high school? Well, there are even more subjects to choose from these days. In addition to the old standards, like English Education, History Education, Math Education, Science Education, Art Education, and Music Education, there are options such as Vocational Education, Foreign Language Education, and Business Education.
Teaching Careers by Population
The education field has made great advances in developing ways to effectively teach certain populations of students. Two of the most common (and most popular) specializations of this type are English as a Second Language / Bilingual Education and Special Education.


ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.
Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.
Teacher Resources by Grade
|1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th|
|5th - 6th||7th - 8th|
|9th - 10th||11th - 12th|
Beyond History Books: Researching With Twin Texts and Technology
|Grades||4 – 8|
|Estimated Time||Ten 30- to 60-minute sessions|
Pairing fiction and nonfiction books on one topic (twin texts) has been shown to build background knowledge, boost comprehension, and increase motivation. Informative and interactive websites further enrich such literacy experiences. In this lesson, students explore a historic event in depth by reading fiction and nonfiction literature. Then, to enhance and extend the reading experience, students participate in website exploration and virtual field trips. Throughout the process, students gather facts and relevant information, which they later organize and present to the class. This lesson is easily adaptable to accommodate a wide range of historic events, instructional objectives, and grade levels.
Twin Texts and Technology Topics: This printout offers suggestions for fiction and nonfiction books and relevant websites relating to four different topics (the American Civil Rights Movement, the Holocaust/World War II, the Irish Potato Famine, and the history of inventions).
K-W-L Creator: Create savable K-W-L Charts for whole-class knowledge collection.
Castek, J., Bevans-Mangelson, J., & Goldstone, B. (2006). Reading adventures online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the Internet through children’s literature. The Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714–728.
- Through participation in Internet activities, students engage in critical thinking and acquire new skills and strategies needed to take advantage of today’s information and communication technologies (ICTs).
- When teachers use the Internet in their classrooms for teaching and learning, they extend opportunities for developing new literacy skills.
Labbo, L.D. (2005). Books and computer response activities that support literacy development. The Reading Teacher, 59(3), 288–292.
- Linking story time to computer time can motivate children to learn more about literacy by drawing attention to big ideas, new vocabulary, thematic connections, and innovations in text.
- The Internet provides students opportunities to build background knowledge, gather information, gain knowledge, and exchange ideas.
Soalt, J. (2005). Bringing together fictional and informational texts to improve comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58(7), 680–683.
- The use of both fiction and nonfiction texts can activate background knowledge, build vocabulary in authentic contexts, and motivate students to think deeply.
- Incorporating multiple texts on the same topic helps students become sophisticated readers who make connections between diverse texts and gain knowledge from a variety of genres.


The cost of electricity can be one of the priciest parts of homeownership — aside from the mortgage —which is something solar panels can help reduce.
Sierra College mathematics faculty members, along with Grid Alternatives, installed solar panels on two Habitat for Humanity homes earlier this month to relieve energy costs using sustainable methods and also gain hands-on experience that can be transferred to the classroom.
Solar panels were installed on Jody Veerkamp-Johnson’s home on Slate Creek Road three months ago with Grid Alternatives and volunteers from natural foods store UNFI.
Veerkamp-Johnson was able to not only reduce her electric bill, but eliminate it altogether.
“The first month, the bill dropped almost half and the second month I had no electricity bill,” she said, adding that her two teenagers also moved out shortly after installation, which helped reduce the bill.
“It’s helped tremendously. Things keep going up and we’re all making the same wages, so it’s been a lifesaving gift to us.”
Sierra College Nevada County campus professor Vicki Day, Truckee-Tahoe campus instructor Jaqueline Anderson and Rocklin campus professors Katie Lucero and Jay Kesler volunteered in collaboration with Grid Alternatives, a nonprofit organization that provides solar panels to low-income families in need at little to no cost.
“It was really successful for both organizations,” said Erin Morrissey, project specialist at Grid Alternatives.
“Everybody had a really great time, our guys got to go out and get feedback from the professors, and they got a lot of practical information. Hopefully, it’s the start of a nice relationship.”
The faculty members were able to lend a hand while learning ways to bring real-life situations to their classrooms, said Day.
Throughout her 22 years of teaching mathematics, students time and again ask when they will actually use their math skills, which Day was able to illustrate with the solar panel project.
“I can show them pictures and the mathematics involved with trying to figure out derating (a calculation based on factors that reduce energy absorption, like shade or dusty panels) so the panels can sustain as much energy as possible,” Day said.
“Students can do technical skills, basic math problem-solving, so we’re really excited to have this opportunity.”
Day said problem-solving skills can be demonstrated for pre-algebra or basic arithmetic students in figuring out how many rows of panels can be put into an area with a certain length without wasting any of the materials.
This can be represented using straws, which particularly helps kinesthetic learners.
Trigonometry students can also learn about angles by figuring out what position the panels need to be in to absorb the most energy while also taking into consideration the latitude, global position and seasons that affect the direction of the sun in Nevada County.
“Students learn angles, roof pitches, and you can get formulas and students can learn how to do technical reading from a manual and make calculations and learn how to plug in numbers,” Day said.
The faculty participation in the externship was supported by the Sierra College STEM Collaborative, a program funded by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, to support students interested in technical careers.
“I enjoy how innovative our department is about being aggressive about finding ways to help students, so I’m very fortunate,” Day said.
For information about the Sierra College STEM Collaborative, visit http://sierraschoolworks.com/ and http://www.gridalternatives.org/#sthash.vDcs3S6O.dpuf for information about Grid Alternatives.
To contact Staff Writer Jennifer Terman, email email@example.com or call 530-477-4230.
“… our guys got to go out and get feedback from the professors, and they got a lot of practical information. Hopefully, it’s the start of a nice relationship.”


From The Echo Nest Blog.
The folks at MIT Media Lab, NYU, and Peer 2 Peer University recently set out to teach the world how to manipulate music with a computer and a browser through interactive classes on PlayWithYourMusic.org. When 5,282 people registered for the course, their suspicion that people would be interested in this were confirmed. Then, they had a new problem: how to split all of these people into groups, so that the people in each group would be into the same kinds of music.
After all, one person’s beautiful bebop is another’s frantic nightmare, some people simply cannot abide reggae, and so on.
Before learning how to produce music together, these students first had to get along as music fans.
"We wanted to put them in groups based on their musical taste hoping to improve group cohesion and collaboration," writes P2P U. “We decided to use The Echo Nest since they have an API that helps with doing just that! The Echo Nest provides Taste Profiles – a collection of songs or artists representing a user’s musical preference. The Echo Nest can then relate one taste profile to another – higher scores mean that taste profiles are more alike.”
Their full report is worth a read for a few reasons:
P2P U, MIT Media Lab, and the NYU Steinhardt faculty members behind PlayWithYourMusic.org found that using grouping people by Taste Profile had a positive side effect: “The idea of being grouped this way appealed to many learners who signed up, and they awaited being assigned to a group with much anticipation. This in turn resulted in higher engagements by the learners around musical interest.”
We appreciate a good case study as much as the next people; it’s always interesting to see what happens when the stuff we build gets used in the real world. The problem of splitting thousands of people into hundred groups based on musical taste is an interesting one, and widely applicable beyond the realm of music education.
PlayWithYourMusic is currently accepting students for its next session.


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
incomplete and inaccurate
- Subject: incomplete and inaccurate
- From: Stephen Krashen <krashen@USC.EDU>
- Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 08:43:36 -0800
- In-reply-to: <email@example.com>
- Reply-to: Assessment Reform Network Mailing List <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
- Sender: Assessment Reform Network Mailing List <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent to Scientific American, March 8, 2002
To the editor:
"How Reading Should be Taught" (Raynor, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky and Seidenberg, March 2002) presents an inaccurate definition of whole language and an incomplete view of the research on learning to read.
Contrary to what Raynor et. al. claim, whole language is not a derivative of the "whole word" approach and it does not forbid the teaching of phonics. The whole word approach simply asks students to memorize sight words, and is an inefficient way to teach reading. Whole language is based on the well-supported hypothesis that we acquire language when we understand messages and we learn to read when we understand what is on the page. The core principle of whole language is providing children with interesting texts; the teacher's task is to help make the texts comprehensible. As Raynor et. al. note, context is one way of doing this, but it is not the only way. Some direct teaching of phonics also helps make texts comprehensible. There are, however, severe limits on how much phonics can be taught and learned: As Raynor et. al. point out, some rules are extremely complex, many rules do not work well, and different commercial series teach different rules. Most of our knowledge of phonics is the result of reading, not the cause.
Raynor et. al. claim that research shows that phonics-based methods are superior to whole language methods in helping children learn to read. This is not correct. Much of this research (eg some of Chall's review and the Arabic study Reynor et. al. describe) actually compares phonics-based teaching to whole-word methodology, not whole language. As Raynor et. al. note, the National Reading Panel (NRP) recently reviewed studies comparing phonics-based methods with those labeled whole language. The NRP did not consider the crucial variable of how much reading the children did. I reviewed the same studies, as well as those the NRP inappropriately excluded, and concluded that children in classes in which more meaningful reading was done outperformed those in classes in which less reading was done on tests of reading comprehension. Meaningful reading is the crucial variable in interpreting these studies and it is the core of whole language.
Raynor et.al. reported that in Evans and Carr's 1985 study children in "traditional" reading instruction (termed "routinized performance") did better on tests of reading comprehension than children in what Raynor et..al. considered to be "whole language" type classes (Evans and Carr termed this group "language-oriented" and did not use the terms "whole language.") Children in the routinized performance class read more, spending about five minutes more per day on silent reading, which amounts to about 18 more hours of reading over the year. Also, the routinized performance classes emphasized "contextual meaning" more (p. 333). The language-oriented group did more oral reading of stories the children had written themselves or had dictated to the teacher, an activity that entails less new meaning. Thus, a careful look at what the children actually did reveals that the results of this study are consistent with those of other studies showing that children who read more do better on tests of reading comprehension.
Raynor et. al. also appear to have missed Elaine Garan's recent review of the NRP research on phonics, which appeared in the Phi Delta Kappan last year. Garan concluded that NRP's own analysis shows that heavy phonics instruction primarily impacts tests of regularly spelled words presented in isolation, and has little impact on tests of reading comprehension given to children beyond grade 2.
Stephen Krashen, Ph.D.
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California


Personal Philosophy of Education
Education is necessary for people to develop to their fullest potential and to learn how to be contributing and beneficial members of society. It is also necessary for people to be taught how to think on their own so they can challenge norms when needed. Therefore, important roles need to be filled by teacher and students in order for teaching, learning and thus education to occur. With this in mind, I will unfold for you in the rest of this paper, the purpose of education, and the roles of teacher and students.
Purpose of Education
The purpose of Education is to facilitate learning, and the purpose of learning is to inspire to action. The reason information is taught is to equip people so they can take action upon, or utilize what they’ve learned. Everything that someone learns can be thought of as another tool for their tool belt. This makes the role of a teacher a vital one.
Role of Teacher
A teacher’s role is to guide the students in learning. The kind of information that the teacher is responsible to teach should help students develop to their fullest potential. This information should encompass literacy in many subject areas including facts and foundational skills.
Morals in relation of how to operate within a society should also be taught which should supplement what they may have learned at home. These morals should be taught by the teacher as he or she models how to treat people. These morals should include respect for others where they are valued as important, taken seriously, and held to the same expectation. This will build a community that can function properly in a school atmosphere as a community of learners.
Since students learn in many different ways, they should be taught in many different ways. This should allow a teacher to adapt his or her instruction to reach a diverse population. This diversity includes but is not limited to learning disabilities and different classes of socioeconomic status. Whatever the case, students should be allowed to learn to their fullest capacity and a teacher should do his or her best to set the students up for success. But a student’s success is not only the teacher’s responsibility.
Role of students
Students are the recipients of information. They should be prepared to learn when they come to school. Unfortunately, not every child has a supportive family which makes sure they get enough sleep and or food, which are essential in the learning process. If this is the case, the role of the family can overlap with the role of the school. However, students are responsible to do their best to learn. Often this will include pushing themselves beyond their comfort level in order to learn. Also, they are responsible to be honest about whether or not they’ve learned the material the teacher has taught so that the teacher can continue to teach them what they still need to learn.
Students should be given the proper tools to utilize in their lives for whatever they may want or need to do to contribute to the betterment of their society. Since a teacher’s actions affect lives, it is their responsibility to utilize best practice regarding teaching, so that their students can be successful. Best practice would include what is necessary for a student to be ready and able to learn, and to inspire them to action. When people are set up for success and taught to their learning style in a supportive community, they should have no problem fulfilling their role as students.


*American Academy of Pediatrics Literacy Toolkit Handouts for Parents offers printable information in Spanish and English about sharing quality books and reading with young children, as well as links to other literacy resources in a variety of languages.
Building Blocks for Literacy is a free online resource for early childhood educators and parents. Preschool teachers will be interested in the free self-paced professional development workshop, which uses audio and video recordings to demonstrate techniques like shared book reading to promote children’s early literacy.
*Colorín Colorado, a bilingual site for parents and educators of English language learners and the sister site to Reading Rockets, provides activities, information, and advice about teaching reading. The site includes printable tip sheets and guides (available in a variety of languages), webcasts, podcasts, e-newsletters, and other resources.
Good Reads is a social networking site for book lovers that educators can use to keep track of the books they have read, write and read book reviews, find and make book recommendations, access book lists, and discuss books with other users.
*International Children’s Digital Library is an online collection of high-quality children’s books from around the world that can be read online. Books are available in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. Users can search for books by topic, child’s age, or language. Entire site available in Spanish.
International Reading Association serves educators who teach reading to learners of all ages. The website includes podcasts, booklists, articles, a literacy forum, and resources on a variety of topics, including beginning readers.
Just One More Book! is a podcast that celebrates and promotes children’s books. Episodes can be played on the website or downloaded to an audio device. The site also features listener-submitted book reviews and interviews with authors, illustrators, and literacy experts.
Mother Goose Programs offers ideas, reading lists, and book programs to inspire teachers to integrate reading books into explorations of math, science, and other topics.
The Official Eric Carle website includes information about this best-loved children’s author and his books, instructions for creating collage illustrations, and the Caterpillar Exchange Bulletin Board, a place for teachers to share ideas with each other.
*Our Book By Us!/Nuestro Libro ¡Hecho Por Nosotros! Written in English and Spanish, this book can be downloaded for $2.00 from the website of the National Writing Project. Caregivers and families can use it to support preschool children’s literacy development. Includes tips for adults and activity pages for children to express their thoughts about their families and experiences.
PBS Kids Island offers free reading games and activities for preschoolers, along with resources and literacy activities for parents and teachers.
*A Place of Our Own, produced by KCET, is a television series and with this accompanying website for everyone who cares for young children. The show and website share ways to guide children’s cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and language and literacy development. Entire site available in Spanish as Los Niños en Su Casa.
*Reach Out and Read promotes early literacy in pediatric exam rooms nationwide, giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud. The website (and a Spanish-language version) offers book lists for children and educators, reading tips, and early literacy milestones in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
*Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit literacy organization. Resources include information on literacy programs, strategies and advice for educators and parents, interviews with authors and illustrators, and activities and games for children. Also includes resources in Spanish.
Reading Rockets offers information and activities for families and teachers to help young children learn to read. The site offers research-based articles, teaching techniques, and strategies to help children who struggle. Teachers can also download a free template to customize to create their own classroom newsletters. Sister site Colorín Colorado is in Spanish.
WordWorld is the companion website to the PBS series WordWorld, a computer animated show for preschoolers. The website features interactive games for children along with information for parents and teachers.


Music is an awesome phenomenon. Virtually everybody likes music, and for many, it plays a huge role in their everyday lives. Consider the fact that music—merely a sequence of sounds received by our ears—can actually make us feel strong emotions that are otherwise reserved for real life experiences! No wonder it’s so captivating. The processes of making music are equally remarkable. Whether it’s composing an original song, singing with heart-felt expression, or playing a musical instrument, many complex skills are in play. It requires sensory perception, mental thought and planning, physical execution, and emotional sensitivity. And all at the same time. Yet, musicians are able to coordinate their own efforts with others to create amazing musical products.
With the right conditions and experiences, people can become so musical that their performance seems effortless. I think that just goes to show that, contrary to our culture’s general belief in innate talent, music making is a skill that is acquired (not inherited), much like speaking and reading your native language. And just like language learning, I believe human beings are hard-wired for becoming musical.
For these and other reasons, I am a strong advocate of music education in schools. Music teachers have a long history of providing young people with rewarding musical experiences, producing highly skilled performers, and generally being powerful positive influences in the lives of their students. Yet I often wonder if current educational practices in school music are just scratching the surface. I’d like to see a much higher percentage of students involved in school music. The curriculum could expand to offer, for example, more experiences with popular styles (like rock, R & B, country, rap), and computer-based composing and recording techniques. I believe this can be done while maintaining the quality of traditional school band, choir, and orchestra activities.
Thank you for checking out my stuff here. I hope you’ll find something useful and feel led to offer me some comments.


India's woeful state schools are in stark contrast to the country's lofty goals of becoming a nation of call centers and technology parks
The fifth-grade boys and girls at school in Sultanpur — a village about 40 km from the Indian capital, New Delhi — are laboring over their lessons on a Friday morning. Eleven-year-old Kiran alternates between chewing her pencil and copying the English text that was the morning’s task. She writes down the sentences, arduously capitalizing the first letter of every word. The children have not yet grasped the basics of English grammar, the teacher explains. But they should have – at least three grades earlier.
“I cannot read English very well,” Kiran mumbles, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the ground. She adds as an afterthought, “I know my tables till 20 in Hindi though.”
As a new World Bank study has found, there’s a literacy problem in Indian schools, and not just in English. A third of all grade-three students can’t read at all in their native language. Roughly half of all grade-five students cannot manage a grade-two text, which is also too difficult for a quarter of all seventh-grade pupils.
This decline in standards, experts say, is paradoxically because of the rush to build schools and bring back children to the education fold. India managed to bring down the number of out-of-school children from 32 million in 2001 to 1.4 million in 2011 as part of a program to make elementary education universal. The landmark Right to Education Act of 2009 guarantees every child in India between the ages of 6 and 14 free education at a neighborhood school.
And yet, amid this headlong drive, little attention has been paid to what children are learning in classrooms or how well. Absenteeism (the World Bank study pegs average attendance to be at least 15% to 30% lower than enrollment rates) and misconduct (recently, about 20,000 teachers were found to have forged their degrees in the eastern Indian state of Bihar) are big contributors to poor standards of education. “India will have to invest more, starting with pre-service teacher education and professional development of teachers,” says Poonam Batra, a professor in the education department at the University of Delhi and a member of the Justice Verma commission, which has suggested sweeping reforms in the education sector.
All this is in stark contrast to India’s lofty goals of becoming a nation of call centers and technology parks, and to the image it enjoys overseas as a powerhouse of learning, turning out English-speaking engineering and science graduates by the tens of thousands. Despite the fact that private schools, promising world-class education in English, have been mushrooming in the country over the past few years, standards of English are also on the wane. “The average Indian adult cannot yet write business letters in English or speak spontaneously at a business meeting in English,” Minh N. Tran, director of research and academic partnerships at Education First, tells TIME.
Enrollment in private schools in rural India increased from 19% in 2006 to 29% in 2013. In urban India it was about 58% in 2005 and likely to be much higher now. But it is in the state sector that the real battle must be fought. “Countries that have done well economically have had robust state schools and teacher-education systems,” says Batra.
New Delhi has raised government spending on education from 3.3% of GDP in 2004–05 to 4% in 2011–12 (China spends about the same, but Brazil and Russia are well ahead). But facilities remain woeful. In Indian state schools, children have to sit on the floor until they reach grade six. “My feet goes off to sleep sometimes, and I lose track of the class,” says Kiran. “A desk and a chair would be very nice.” For most Indian children, the battles are that basic.


Summary of AFT Forum on English Language Learners and the Common Core Standards
AFT HOSTS FORUM ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Trevor Sparks (firstname.lastname@example.org)
October 29, 2010
On Thursday, October 21, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) hosted a policy forum titled, “Making the Common Core Standards Work for English Language Learners: The Importance of Linking English Language Proficiency Standards to the Common Core Standards,” to examine the role of English language proficiency in the Common Core Standards. The Common Core Standards have been developed to define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school college- and career-ready. Currently, 36 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to adopt them.
• Antonia Cortese (Moderator), Secretary-Treasurer, AFT
• Diane August, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Linguistics
• Kathleen Leos, President and Founder, The Global Institute for Language and Literacy Development
• Susan Lafond, ESL and Foreign Language Teach Specialist, New York State United Teachers
Antonia Cortese introduced each of the panelists and briefly explained the Common Core Standards. Cortese voiced concern, however, for English language learners (ELLs) and how “their needs should be taken into consideration as the Common Core Standards are implemented.” English language learners now constitute more than 10 percent (roughly six million students) of PreK – 12 students.
Policy expert Kathleen Leos began the discussion by providing both broad and operational definitions for English language proficiency (ELP) in order to offer an understanding behind ELP standards. “Language proficiency,” she explained, “is the demonstrated ability of a student to speak, understand, comprehend, read and write in the


This innovative elementary curriculum teaches science and literacy at the same time—and deepens student learning in both. Using a “Do-it, Talk-it, Read-it, Write-it” approach, multiple learning modalities draw on powerful synergies between the two domains of science and literacy.
The curriculum series for grades 2-5 features original, content-rich student science books that support students’ firsthand inquiry. Classrooms using Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading experience increased student achievement in both literacy and science for a range of diverse students, including English language learners.
Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading allows schools to make better use of limited time by enabling them to teach science and literacy together. It can be used during science, literacy, or as supplementary instruction. The curriculum is informed by research, verified by rigorous evaluations, and field-tested in classrooms around the country. Research to measure the effectiveness of the Seeds/Roots approach has found what teachers have long suspected—that students who learn science and literacy in an integrated fashion make significantly greater gains in both science and literacy learning.
Professional development for Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading provides teachers with a fundamental understanding of the features of the curriculum and the benefits of integrating science and literacy instruction. Sessions are presented by Seeds/Roots authors and professional staff developers. The pedagogical principles behind the "Do-it, Talk-it, Read-it, Write-it" approach are explored, and the synergies between literacy and science instruction discussed in depth.
Participants examine the educative features of the Seeds/Roots teacher guides, and learn how standards-based science concepts and abilities are highlighted in both science inquiry and literacy development activities. A portion of the time is devoted to examining how the program addresses the unique needs of ELL students.
The integrated assessment system is reviewed as are the roles of both formative and summative assessments. These sessions vary in focus and depth based on the audience and available time; sessions can be customized to address specific customer needs.
The Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading curriculum can be purchased from Amplify.


Your child can create one-of-a-kind earrings and necklaces. Her imagination can really go, creating interesting designs for matched sets, or random unique creations. Not only can she make them for herself – but also as gifts for friends and family!
What You Need:
- Self-hardening clay
- Rolling pin
- Large craft needle
- Acrylic paint
- Fishhook earring loops (can be purchased at any craft store)
- Needle-nose pliers
- Jewelry links
- Length of leather or string
- Select objects to use as molds and impressions
What You Do:
- Encourage your child to sketch out ideas for her earrings and necklaces. She can design sets or individual pieces.
- Next she can decide on the shape for her earrings and necklace pendant. Use a household item for a mold, such as a small drinking glass for round objects or a plastic building block for a square shape to keep her pieces uniform. Set the objects for the molds aside.
- It’s time to get rolling! Have her roll out the self-hardening clay on a work surface until it's about ¼ inch thick.
- Now she can use her shape mold as a pattern to cut out her earrings and necklace.
- At this point she can draw her designs onto the clay using a sharpened pencil, or she can find things around the house with interesting texture to press into the clay – such as the tines of a comb or the outside of a shell.
- Once she’s finished with her design, she can use a large craft needle to create a hole at the top of each of her earrings and the necklace.
- Find a warm dry place to leave the clay pieces overnight.
- Now it’s time to paint! She can add lots of color using acrylic paints on the front and back of her earrings and necklace.
- Once they are dry, she'll use a needle-nose pliers to open and gently hook small jewelry rings and then earring hooks into her earrings, and then one into her necklace to thread with a piece of leather or length of beaded string.
Sarah Lipoff has a K-12 Art Education degree and enjoys working with kids of all ages.


This site is about Lesson Plans, specifically Lesson Plans that make use of Primary Source materials.
While I will be using the Lesson Plans to help third-year Elementary Education majors learn more about lesson planning and about the use of Primary Source materials, I hope that any teacher might find something of use here. Whether you are able to use some of the materials here as you find them, or if something here sparks an idea, my hope is that this site might help you enrich your lessons.
The lessons here are broken into two categories: Visual Literacy lessons involve the interpretation of visual artifacts. Little Houses lessons are about creating visual artifacts from verbal descriptions, based on the Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
This series of activities illustrate a variety of uses of primary resources to build visual literacy and other literacy skills.
The first few lessons focus on understanding visual literacy, experiencing activities that require the use of visual skills and their metacognitive skills to read pictures, to make predictions and to create questions. These lessons will also introduce the students to the resources of the Library of Congress. Students will be given a series of photos, copies of artwork, maps, and documents to study and respond to in a variety of ways.
These lessons are used to demonstrate how a teacher can use primary sources to create interest and curiosity prior to a lesson and to extend students' interest and curiosity after a lesson.
The students will read a variety of passages about the homes Laura Ingalls lived in during the times depicted in Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie. In addition the students will create visualizations that describe the process of home building and life on the prairie. The visualization activities allow for the use of prior knowledge and creativity.
This is an outline of the site with links to all of the pages.


|William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98)
Famous as Disraeli's rival and for their spirited debates, Gladstone had a long and distinguished
career in public service which began in 1832 when he entered Parliament as a Tory. Serving
there until 1895 except for a one year absence in 1846, he served in numerous governments
beginning with Peel's ministry in junior capacities.
Gladstone's first real office was that of president of the board of trade in Peel's second ministry
(1841-46). He was chancellor of the Exchequer in Aberdeen's government, cutting duties and
even attempting to abolish the income tax. His efforts failed due to the need for funds to carry
on the Crimean War. He served in Palmerston's second ministry in the same role (1859-65) again
effecting tax reductions. When Palmerston died, Gladstone stayed on as chancellor of the
Exchequer under Russell through 1866. In 1867, he followed Russell as leader of the Liberal
Gladstone became prime minister in 1868 and was an active legislator and reformer. He was
responsible for the diestablishment of the Church of Ireland (1869), an unsuccessful attempt to
bring peace to Ireland. He also carried the Irish Land Act (1870) which provided for
compensation for improvements to tentant farmers who were evicted by landowners. Gladstone
reforming legislation included the army. Cardwell's Army reform (1868) made peacetime
flogging illegal. In 1870, he was responsible for passage of Forester's Education Act, making
elementary education available to Welsh and English children between the ages of five and 13.
He passed the Ballot Act of 1872 which instituted secret ballots for local and general elections.
In 1873 he passed laws restructing the high courts.
Gladstone was replaced by Disraeli in 1874, ending his first ministry. As Opposition leader,
Gladstone was an active and vocal critic of Disraeli's policies. His re-election in 1879 for his
second ministry was a personal triumph, but his land and agricultural reforms were eclipsed by
wartime events. In 1881, the British suffered a stunning defeat in the first Boer War at the hands
of the Afrikaners under Kruger. Then in 1884, General Gordon was killed by Muhammad Ahmad
at the siege of Khartoum. Gordon had been sent to help evacuate Egyptian forces trapped in
Khartoum by the "Mahdi's revolt" a jihad started in 1881 with the in the Sudan.
Gladstone's third ministry, a short one lasting on six months (February to July, 1886) was one that
was overwhelmed by Irish affairs. Gladstone is converted to support home rule for Ireland. When
the bill is defeated, he resigns.
Gladstone's last term as prime minister saw the passage of an Irish home rule bill (1892) in the
Commons, which he first championed in his 1886 ministry, but the bill never made it through the
Lords. Gladstone resigned as a result, leaving office in 1894. He died four years later from
Search Amazon for books, videos, music CDs, toys, electronics. Just select the category, type in your keyword(s) and click search. Or if you feel like bidding on something, click Amazon Auctions |


Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. Concertos, piano, orchestra, K. 449, E♭ major.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. Entführung aus dem Serail.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. Masses, K. 427, C minor.
Music and rhetoric.
Language and languages -- Philosophy.
Rhetorical studies of Mozart have assumed a rationalist conception of language, ignoring the empiricist model that actually dominated the Enlightenment. The two models, comparable structurally to the stile antico and style galant, collide in Mozart's learned finales. A study of three finales, from the Mass in C minor, the Concerto in E, K.449, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, shows how Mozart negotiated irreducible contradictions within Enlightenment thought by switching between the two models.
Analysis of the contents of Janis Cimze's harmonized folksong collection A Garland of Songs (1872) and the cultural context in which it was published reveals its musical portrait of an emergent Latvian nation to be a synthetic construct. Drawing upon aspects of the German nationalist choral movement, the quasi-Herderian work of Baltic German folklorists and new opportunities for cultural expression afforded by mid-century Russian imperial reforms, Cimze's work inspired heated and increasingly xenophobic debate among his contemporary Latvians about the destiny of their community in pre-Revolutionary Russia.
Conservatories of music -- England -- London -- History -- 19th century.
Royal College of Music (Great Britain)
National Training School for Music.
In 1876, the National Training şchool for Music was established by the Society of Arts as a model of advanced music education after the pattern of leading European conservatoires. But, despite having Arthur Sullivan as Principal, the şchool failed amidst the rumblings of an academic scandal that dogged George Grove's attempt to establish the new Royal College of Music. The article sets this failure against the successful start of the Royal College and explains how conservatoires, after being in all practical senses virtually an irrelevance to professional concert life, managed to reinvent themselves as vital incubators of British musical talent.
Bartók, Béla, 1881-1945 -- Political and social views.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees.
Political refugees -- Hungary.
Political refugees -- United States.
Béla Bartók was an intensely private man who avoided politics throughout most of his life. At the same time he was so passionately devoted to his Hungarian nation that, even during the difficult years of his American exile, he felt compelled to become involved in pro-Hungarian activities. At one point he accepted the leadership of an organization that had started out as a political lobby and a base for a possible Hungarian government-in-exile.


EDUC-321: Clinical Experience II: Literacy in Elementary/Middle School
EDUC-322: Clinical Experience II: Mathematics in Elementary/Middle School
As a part of the elementary education methods course sequence the student observes and teaches small and large groups of students in an elementary classroom. During the practicum the student develops and teaches a unit to document the planning, teaching, assessment, and reflection protocol.
Below you will find the links and PDF downloads of the final evaluation. You may want to download a copy of the evaluation for discussion throughout the placement. At the end of the placement, your cooperating teacher will complete a final evaluation online using the link below.


Science in the Classroom
The Saint Louis Science Center and the Magic House invite museum and preschool educators to attend a free one-day workshop. Registered participants will spend the morning at the Science Center and the afternoon at the Magic House with time to explore and discuss programs for early learners at both locations. Read more...
This activity encourages students to think critically, be creative and work in teams. Your students will have a blast inventing insects of their own. Read more...
As things progressed with the model the need for something to hold it came into play. This is where casework comes in. The casework you see in museums is many times built to house specific objects and artifacts. Our casework for the model is no different, and we wanted to make it as accessible as possible.
Joseph Bartin, physics and astronomy teacher at Kirkwood High School, says he became a teacher 15 years ago because he wanted to do work that made a difference. “I remain a teacher because I am inspired by the work, wonder and curiosity of the students with whom I spend my time.”
The model of the Zeiss and the StarBay have been progressing and it has been very exciting to see the details emerge from raw materials. The model will actually be produced through casting. This update will take you through creating a lot of the positive that will create the mold in which the final product, our "Mini Zeiss" tactile, will be produced.
I decided I'd like to chronicle my journey of making planetarium shows in the James S. McDonnell Planetarium accessible for our visitors who are blind or have low vision. I've already done so much work but there's also so much more to be done. This is the recap of the beginning of the journey.
Young children are natural scientists – they are constantly exploring, touching, observing and learning. On March 8, early childhood learning experts from preschools, children’s museums, higher education, and science centers will share their strategies for engaging small children in simple science exploration.
We asked the YES teens why they thought STEM knowledge was important for everyone -- professional scientists and average citizens -- and this is the list of reasons they came up with.


In the 2001-02 school year, Indianapolis Public Schools launched a reading initiative that used a lot more phonics in the early grades. The switch wasn't easy on teachers. It meant a different textbook, extra training, a more formulaic way of teaching.
Their reading series, Open Court published by SRA/McGraw-Hill, wasn't all that changed. Specialists demonstrated strategies to use with urban kids who have vocabulary deficits. The school day was altered to give pupils more language arts time.
Though test scores in the state's largest school district still lag behind the state average, there's no denying they've jumped impressively since the reading program began. In the 2000-01 school year, 44 percent of third-graders passed the language arts portion of ISTEP. In 2006-07, 61 percent did. In the 2000-01 school year, 21 percent of sixth-graders passed the language arts test. In '06-'07, 57 percent did. Those students were in first grade when the textbook change occurred.
Math scores went up, too. Third-grade passage rates rose from 55 to 62 percent. Sixth-grade scores increased from 30 percent passing to 70 percent. What's math got to do with reading? ISTEP has a lot of story problems in it. "A significant percentage of the variance observed on math tests is determined by reading comprehension strategies," one study notes.
The IPS experience is worth considering as school districts across Indiana go through the reading textbook adoption process. Every six years, the state invites publishers to submit books for a state-approved list from which local school districts must choose. This adoption cycle is critical because it's the first to occur under No Child Left Behind, a federal law that requires reading instruction in our schools be supported by scientifically based reading research.
School districts have until July 1 to tell the Indiana Department of Education which product they choose. Unfortunately, the department won't single out the best, so it's up to school systems to figure out which are scientifically based.
All of the publishers have modified their textbooks and are touting changes, but some pay lip service to the elements of instruction that experts say are essential to a solid program of reading instruction. These are: phonological and phoneme awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. A few publishers remain predominantly whole language in approach.
If you thought the reading wars ended in 2000 with the release of "Teaching Children to Read," by the National Reading Panel, they didn't. "Despite the scientific evidence, despite the flat-line reading scores . . . many teachers and school systems continue to embrace whole language" over phonics-based systems, according to Chester E. Finn Jr. and Martin A. Davis Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Whole language is the philosophy that children should learn to read by reading and figuring out words using context clues. Phonics advocates insist on step-by-step instruction in sound-symbol relationships.
The institute's January report, "Whole-Language High Jinks," notes that commercial products can make an impact if they are designed properly. "While no program is perfect, some do a reasonably good job, including SRA's Open Court and Scott Foresman's Reading Street," it says. Both are on the Indiana adoption list and "are definitely in a category of their own," says Tory Callahan, a reading specialist who has reviewed the textbooks and is advising a few Indiana school corporations. Six years ago, Open Court was the only textbook on the state list with an intensive phonetic component.
In an ideal world, textbook selection wouldn't matter because primary teachers would all be trained in the science of reading. They're not. The National Center for Teacher Quality reports that only 15 percent of education schools teach the basics of scientific reading strategies.
IPS plans to switch to the Scott Foresman text, a somewhat risky move because of what's known as implementation dip. When a school changes programs, even from one good one to another, test scores tend to fall temporarily as teachers adjust. "We're still going to deal with the phonics," says IPS Superintendent Eugene White. "We will continue to have good scores."
IPS has proven this much: A good program and teachers trained to implement it can make a difference. On the other hand, as Finn and Davis warn, "the results of selecting the wrong program are profound." With this textbook adoption, Indiana schools have the opportunity to make a profound change toward better reading instruction.


I hope that this week's Sharing Is Caring examples have inspired you to begin sharing some of your knowledge and resources with other teachers who are working so hard to make a difference in the lives of others.
This isn't just about helping teachers - it's also about setting an example for your students. Students want to create and share what they do with others. This is a natural tendancy of the human spirit. Instead of stifeling this natural trait, let's embrace it!
Today's example of Sharing Is Caring is an blog called ArTechTivity by Ms. Cynthia Gaub. Ms. Gaub teaches Art and Technology at North Middle School in the Everett School District. Ms. Gaub is also the 2009 Middle School Art Teacher of the Year as nominated by the Washington State Art Educators Association.
This blog is a great example of what a teacher can do to help her students perform at their highest potential and is one of the best examples of a student-centered resource that I've ever seen.
It contains examples of her students' work, class handouts, class notes, class assignments, PowerPoint examples, videos, interactive links and much, much more. It didn't take me more than a few minutes to find some amazing resources that could be used in any art education program.
Another way to demonstrate your commitment to Sharing Is Caring is to share this resource with other teachers in your school. You'll be glad you did.


A research project investigating the impact of the art education on artistic production from the 1960s to the present day and its relationship to the wider themes of education, culture and society.
Tate’s research on the interrelated histories of art education, artists’ relationships with society, and the impact of art pedagogy on artistic production supports the museum’s strategic aim of working with a wide community of artists. ‘Art School Educated’ reflects the fact that, despite their long history, distinguished national record and recent transformation, a comprehensive history of UK art schools has never been written.
This three-year project represents a first stage in this work and will identify the decisive reforms in the curriculum of the major London art schools from the 1960s to the present day, and ask how the curricula that were adopted relate to the output of the artists whose work is represented in Tate’s collection.
The project aims
The researchers will explore the impact of art pedagogy on artistic production and advance our understanding of the role that art schools have played in relation to broader educational, cultural and social realms. The project team will include social and education historians working alongside Tate art historians and curators.
They will identify the paradigm institutions and historic periods, which will form the starting points for a set of case studies, and seek to explain how pedagogic goals have changed and what now are the values placed on the liberal tradition of fine art and the (applied) arts of design?
Original, primary research on designated art schools will form the basis of new institutional histories and accounts of curriculum development.
Tate as a national centre for the study of the history of art education
The project seeks to confirm Tate as a recognised national centre for the study of the history of art education, encourage new interpretations of works in the museum’s collection, allow the museum to capture, archive and preserve an aspect of UK history that is largely undocumented and with every passing year more vulnerable to loss, and become an important source for future discussions about tertiary-level art education and its impact on the creative industries and the knowledge economy. These are topics that show no signs of lessening in their national significance.
The project team will produce a range of traditional scholarly publications, develop ideas for exhibitions and displays, and will have a dedicated microsite on the Tate website.
Updated April 2010.
Supported by The Leverhulme Trust 2009–13


A Guide for Teachers, 2nd Edition
David Fulton Publishers – 2006 – 240 pages
Series: Unlocking Series
An edited collection describing key issues in supporting literacy development, this book helps to 'unlock' the mysteries behind helping children learn to read, write, speak and listen. It explores ways to help children develop their skills in literacy, thinking and learning, and shows how literacy teaching can be used creatively and imaginatively with children of all ages and abilities. The new edition of this well-known text:
Interweaving pedagogy with theory and practical suggestions, this book is firmly based in classroom and academic research to support both trainee and practising teacher in the realities of teaching and learning in literacy.
Creative Ways to Share Reading. Using Poetry With Young Children. Using Poetry With Older Children. Word Level Work Including Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling. Teaching Grammar and Knowledge About Language. Learning to Write and Writing to Learn. Drama. Speaking and Listening. Inclusion and EAL. ICT - Incredibly Creative Tools. Visual Literacy and Multimedia. Planning and Assessing Progress in Literacy


The Leading eBooks Store Online
for Kindle Fire, Apple, Android, Nook, Kobo, PC, Mac, BlackBerry...
New to eBooks.com?Learn more
- Bestsellers - This Week
- Foreign Language Study
- Bestsellers - Last 6 months
- Graphic Books
- Health & Fitness
- Political Science
- Biography & Autobiography
- Psychology & Psychiatry
- Body Mind & Spirit
- House & Home
- Business & Economics
- Children's & Young Adult Fiction
- Juvenile Nonfiction
- Language Arts & Disciplines
- Crafts & Hobbies
- Science Fiction
- Current Events
- Literary Collections
- Literary Criticism
- Literary Fiction
- Social Science
- The Environment
- Sports & Recreation
- Family & Relationships
- Study Aids
- Folklore & Mythology
- Food and Wine
- Performing Arts
- True Crime
- Foreign Language Books
- Oxford University Press, USA 2008; US$ 49.99
Introduction. Part 1: Theory. 1. Music as Language. 2. Criteria for Analysis I. 3. Criteria for Analysis II. 4. Bridges to Free Composition. 5. Paradigmatic Analysis. Part 2: Analyses. 6. Liszt, Orpheus (1853-4). 7. Brahms, Intermezzo, op. 119 no.2 (1893), Brahms, Symphony no. 1/ii (1872-76). 8. Mahler, Symphony no. 9/i (1908-09). 9. Beethoven, String... more...
- ABC-CLIO 1997; US$ 27.95
Designed to serve music students at the college level, this informal approach to music theory relates the technical aspects of music with the expressive character of the art. The approach is holistic in the sense that it focuses on the interrelationships between the piece as heard by a socially conditioned listener and the notated, performed score:... more...
- Springer Netherlands 2009; US$ 149.00
The first collection of narrative inquiry examples in the field of music education Accompanies each example by a critical commentary that situates the work in the field Presents meta-reflective commentaries from key theorists in Music and Social Science Presents an innovative view of narrative inquiry is ?resonant work? more...
- Taylor and Francis 2013; US$ 69.95
Advanced Schenkerian Analysis: Perspectives on Phrase Rhythm, Motive, and Form is a textbook for students with some background in Schenkerian theory. It begins with an overview of Schenker's theories, then progresses systematically from the phrase and their various combinations to longer and more complex works. Unlike other texts on this subject,... more...
- Taylor and Francis 2012; US$ 64.95
Analysis of 18th- and 19th-Century Musical Works in the Classical Tradition is a textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in music analysis. It outlines a process of analyzing works in the Classical tradition by uncovering the construction of a piece of music?the formal, harmonic, rhythmic, and voice-leading organizations?as well... more...
- Scarecrow Press 2008; US$ 44.99
Music Theory for Musical Theatre guides the musical theatre practitioner through elements of music theory and score analysis using a workbook format and examples from musical theatre that emphasize music's value as a key contributor to the dramatic gestalt. more...
- Taylor and Francis 2005; US$ 66.95
"The Craft of Modal Counterpoint" is the companion book to Benjamin's "The Craft of Tonal Counterpoint," recently republished in a second edition by Routledge. Modal counterpoint is the style of composition that was employed until the "tonal" revolution pioneered by Bach; it is the basis for most Early Music. Benjamin, a composer and pedagogue, offers... more...


The key instructional practices and major program elements of our program are high quality, research-based, and designed to increase student academic achievement. Grade Results instruction is based on "The Adaptive Control of Thought - Rational", or ACTR, created by John R. Anderson (1993) and others at Carnegie Mellon University. The theory suggests that knowledge is gained through the understanding of simple principles. Once students have learned these simple principles, they can master complex tasks. Grade Results students begin by taking a criterion-referenced pretest, and then work through lessons on the subject areas they struggled with in the pretest. All Math and English Language Arts lessons and assessments are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
and contain rigorous instructional expectations that lead to student success in college, career, and life. All other academic content area lessons are directly aligned to specific state standards. Grade Results assessments follow the each State's blueprint thus correlating with required State assessments leading to higher student achievement and predicted future success. The students have access to a live instructor for any concepts they cannot master on their own.The sessions contain the information or declarative knowledge that the student needs to learn. As students work through the lessons, they can draw upon their knowledge of past lessons to build their skills.
Our program is based on a unique diagnostic/prescriptive methodology that aligns with:
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
- Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
- National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and International Reading Association (IRA) standards, as well as to the findings of the National Reading Panel Our instructional curriculum also addresses the components of reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, and fluency through guided oral reading, silent reading, vocabulary fortification, and comprehension.


Develop your Skills and Interests
Art & Illustration Careers
- Commercial Product Designer – Designing commercial products means that you could design greeting cards for a major card company. You could also design stationery, calendars and textiles that are sold around the world.
- Medical and Science Illustrator – In a position like this you would design images found in medical or science textbooks, not to mention medical publications, journals, presentations, websites and the like. Typically, medical and science illustrators earn dual bachelor’s degrees in science and illustration in order to maximize their understanding of both fields.
- Fashion Illustrator – These illustrators design online and print advertising for clothing, shoes and accessories. Typically, they work to create aesthetically appealing layouts for fashion magazines, departments stores, catalogs and independent designers.
- Children’s Book Illustrator – Currently, there exists a large research initiative devoted to developing great children’s literature, and there are countless children’s books in the making that could use creative and fun illustrations. You could work for a publishing house or as a freelancer in this field.
- Animation Studios – An animator's skillset can be used in versatile ways, from creating unique characters and settings in which these characters live to creating 3D models for project designs and execution. Animators are able to supplement communication based on their design and execution.
- Advertising Agencies – Companies are anxious to get the word out about their products and services, and each one of those companies is different. There are plenty of opportunities to develop brands and labels at advertising agencies that communicate the functionality of a product and increase sales.
- Freelance Work – If you don’t want to do only one type of illustration then build a portfolio and a clientele. This a great way to utilize your skills and fulfill your passion in a variety of circumstances.
- Other opportunities include design studios, publishers and production houses.
Several international opportunities are available to art students, including the annual European Art Tour. One or more faculty and their families will take up to a dozen students to key art destinations for about two weeks. This trip is subsidized by an anonymous donor and the cost to the student is very reasonable. Course credit is available as well.
The purpose of the art tour is to expose JBU students to the full experience of seeing, feeling and understanding great art. While there is merit to learning through exposure to slides, books, television, lectures and discussions, nothing can replace the impact of seeing something in person.
Summer study trips are also available for college credit.
Digital Cinema students join the Visual Art Foundry, the student-led art club. The Visual Art Foundry Student Filmmaker Society hosts film screenings and workshops where students can hang out and talk cinema. The VAF also plans other events to connect art students while enriching their art education experience.


We collaborate with faculty to develop information literate students.
Information literacy is the ability to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, and use it effectively. This set of skills is essential in today's world. Student development of information literacy is a process that spans the four-year college experience.
The library collaborates with instructional faculty to help students develop information literacy at the basic and field specific levels.
Information literacy is integrated into the curriculum of General Education Cluster One (Foundational Skills). The components of the instruction program are:
- Madison Research Essentials Toolkit
The Madison Research Essentials Toolkit was designed to equip students to use and understand the JMU Libraries, recognize that information is available in a variety of formats, determine when information is needed and find it, evaluate the quality of information, and use information ethically and legally.
- Madison Research Essentials Skills Test (MREST)
GenEd students must demonstrate competency in information literacy by passing this online test by the end of their first year. Students take the test in a secure testing lab in Ashby Hall.
Librarians are available to collaborate with faculty to design resource-based assignments that provide students with an opportunity to practice and refine their information literacy skills.
The library liaison program provides a librarian for each academic department to support integrating information literacy into the curriculum of the major. Liaison librarians collaborate with faculty to design assignments, deliver instruction (in person and online), and assess learning.
- Course-related instruction
Liaison librarians will provide course-related library instruction on request. This instruction focuses on helping students learn information-seeking and evaluation skills important to their field of study. Carrier Library and East Campus Library both have library instruction classrooms with computers for hand-on experience. When a library classroom is not available, a librarian can provide instruction in a classroom or campus lab. Contact your liaison librarian to request instruction.
- Subject Guides
The liaison librarians have prepared online guides to key resources in the major and helpful instructional aides.
- Instruction by appointment
Faculty and students may request an appointment with a liaison librarian for assistance in learning new sources and skills.
For more information about the information literacy program, contact:
Director of Library Instruction


>I hope everyone is not too involved in end of the school year to give me
>some help, which I could really use.
Yeah, but we're never too busy to help each other out.
>I am a sculptor, painter and teacher (of adults).
>I am being asked to teach 9-11yr olds collage and mobile making in a summer
>enrichment program. Though I have a well rounded studio art education, I
>am looking for ideas on how to present these two forms to this age group.
>There are 6 classes, 3 hours each. I plan to divide those into 3, 45 min
>segments. I want them to be really involved and have fun and am certainly
>willing to try just about anything to accomplish that end.
I introduce 3-d to students by having them "occupy space", developing human
sculpture in groups of 3 or 4, and then enlarging it. We talk about Height,
Width and Depth (Yes, in capital letters...large, expansive gestures),
positive shape and negative space, dynamic and passive movement. They love
this and then we relate it to dance and music with the use of rythm. We
have even danced to disco and rock and roll to emphasize movement. Then we
related it to the Alexander Calder mobiles and stabiles. No matter what
materials you use, this works very well. It's also a great time to
introduce balance by having them stand on one foot for as long as they can
and noticing their motion to balance themselves. Then back into groups of 3
to see if they can find ways to balance each other.
Hope this helps. It was an effort to find a creative and kinesthetic way to
teach the sculptural concepts. This is just an overview of what I did with
the kids, primarily 6th graders. I developed several lessons along this
line, but you can adapt it to suit your own purposes. It helps to teach
through multiple intelligences.
Linda K. in Iowa
>As a painter, I have made portaits that have not a face in sight but rather
>reveal many other things about the person, so have decided to use that idea
>as a springboard. That makes it about them, but in a freeing way that
>lead to some great creativity.
>I thought of presenting each of them with an individual box of materials
>each day from which to do the exercises in understanding the medium,
>allowing them to choose from other boxes if they can demonstrate how they
>made their choices and what they want to accomplish by its addition. Of
>course, their final project, which will be displayed in the art center
>gallery, will contain everything of their choice.
>Anyone have other ideas on any aspect of this project? I am grateful for
>your assistance. Thank you.


About Core Skills
The Core Skills are a group of five skills that are key to learning and working in today's world. Employers have identified these skills as those that are most likely to be needed in any work environment. This does not mean that every job will need people who are proficient in all five Core Skills but it does mean that every job will require some level of ability in some or all of these skills.
The five Core Skills are: Communication, Numeracy, Information and Communication Technology, Problem Solving and Working with Others. Each Core Skill is available at levels 2 to 6 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).
Communication skills underpin almost all personal, social, learning, and working activity. They are essential in clarifying one's own thoughts, in interacting and conversing with others, in expressing thoughts and in conveying information, feeling and opinions.
The Core Skill in Communication has two components:
- Oral Communication
- Written Communication
Numeracy skills are necessary for coping with the demands of everyday life, including work and study, people need to be comfortable with numbers, and with graphs, symbols, diagrams and calculators.
The Core Skill in Numeracy has two components:
- Using Graphical Information
- Using Number
Information and Communication Technology
Information and Communication Technology focuses on the ability to use IT to process information in ways which will be useful in work and in the home - it is not about developing IT specialists.
The Core Skill in ICT has two components:
- Accessing Information
- Providing/Creating Information
Working with Others
Working with Others develops the skills needed to co-operate with others in learning and working situations to identify and achieve shared goals.
The Core Skill in Working with Others has two components:
- Working Co-operatively with Others
- Reviewing Co-operative contribution
Problem Solving develops the skills needed for tackling issues and problems in personal, social, vocational and occupational contexts.
The Core Skill in Problem Solving has three components:
- Critical Thinking
- Planning and Organising
- Reviewing and Evaluating


Elementary Level Teaching Through FTCE
The Importance of Taking FTCE
The FTCE comprises of a set of examinations that potential teachers have to pass, in order to practice teaching as a profession in the schools of Florida. The certification is awarded to successful candidates by the Bureau of Educator Certification of Florida’s Department of Education. Taking the test is important for all teaching aspirants of Florida, including those who are aspiring to teach students of the Elementary Education K-6 level because it is mandatory for them to possess a temporary or professional BEC educator certification, in order to pursue a career in teaching.
Elementary Education K-6
The test is taken by teaching professionals, who want to teach in elementary schools of Florida. This examination consists of these tests: Language Arts and Reading; Social Science; Fine Arts (Music and Visual Arts), Physical Education and Health; Science and Technology, and Mathematics. Each of these FTCE K-6 content areas constitutes 20 % of this test and there are 225 questions to be answered, with each section having 45 questions. Each question comes with multiple-choice answers, with 4 answering alternatives. This test is scored on a range of 100-300 and to pass in this, one needs to secure a minimum of 200.
Strategies for Taking the FTCE
Be thorough with your preparation- Though the test is meant for testing elementary level knowledge, the range of syllabus covered by it is exhaustive. Besides, one has to be conversant with the elementary level technical vocabulary of Florida schools. One should be aware of alphabet pragmatics, phonological jargon, syntax, schema, and alphabetic principles. The knowledge of the technical vocabulary of the K-6 level is of immense importance in this examination.
Give equal importance to all the sections- All the sections of the test are equally important and one cannot afford to ignore any section. One has to study for each content area with great attention. However, if one finds difficulties in certain sections, one can always take the help an expert for the test preparation. However, the test taker should not ignore any of the content areas, as passing in all of them and that too with a high score, is very important.
Attempt all questions- One of the better ways to answer the questions of the examination is to attempt all questions, as this test does not have negative marking for the wrongly answered questions. To save time, the candidate can first attempt the questions that he/she finds easy, and then attempt the difficult questions. However, it is important for one to attempt all questions because one might just get the correct answers by guessing.
Take a disciplined approach to prepare for the examination- Essentially, a candidate should aim to answer a large number of questions correctly in a short period of time. This requires clear understanding of the subjects and concepts and their practice, which can be attained by consistent and systematic study.
The FTCE, in general, consists of 3 categories of subtests:
General Knowledge Tests- This category has subtests that assess a candidate’s basic skills of English language and Mathematics. They consist of questions with multiple-choice answers for all sections, except for the Essay section, which requires one to write an essay on a given topic.
The four subtests of this section are:
- English Language Skills- with a passing score of 73%
- Essay- with a passing score of 6/12
- Reading- with a passing score of 65%
- Mathematics- with a passing score of 58%
Professional Education Test- This section specifies a minimum passing score of 73%. It tests the teaching aptitude of the candidates.
Subject Area Tests- The passing scores for the individual subject area tests vary. This section tests the skills of an examinee in separate academic subjects, based on the permission of the BEC.
The examination requires the candidates to have profound knowledge in a number of subjects. The test takers can improve their academic knowledge by perfecting the art of general awareness and by taking specialized coaching for this examination.


Use manipulatives to demonstrate that the commutative property holds for addition but not for subtraction 0306.1.9
Links verified on 12/23/2014
- Activities at Illuminations - Illuminations has 105 online activities available. Select which types of activities you are looking for, and click Search.
- Base 10 Blocks - virtual manipulative
- Geometry Board - Use this virtual geoboard to explore geometric concepts of area and perimeter. How many shapes can you makes with a perimeter of 16 units?
- Integer Bars - learning fractions and more with on-line manipulatives
- Math Playground - a small but growing collection of manipulatives for teaching and learning
- National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - select topic and grade level to find appropriate manipulatives
- Pattern Blocks Program - use tools to solve a variety of problems
- Tangrams - interactive geometric site
- Virtual Manipulatives - a list of various manipulatives for grades 1-6
- Wolfram Demonstrations Project - a free resource of interactive visualizations from elementary education to the frontiers of research
site for teachers | PowerPoint show | Acrobat document | Word document | whiteboard resource | sound | video format | interactive lesson | a quiz | lesson plan | to print


Making a difference : 10 essential steps to building a preK-3 system
- Sullivan-Dudzic, Linda.
- Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin, c2010.
- Physical description
- xvi, 162 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
LB1139.23 .S85 2010
- Unknown LB1139.23 .S85 2010
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-155) and index.
- Foreword by Ruby Takanishi Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Step 1. Establishing Need and Common Interests Connecting to Your Preschool Community Connecting the Early Childhood Community and K-12 Public School Establishing the Need and Prioritizing Your Efforts PreK-3 Your First Early Childhood and K-3 Meeting Step 2. Locate and Connect With Your Early Childhood Learning Environments Locating Your Community Preschool Partners Identifying and Locating Key People in Your School District Planning for Your "Kick off" PreK-3d Meeting Step 3. Develop a Leadership Group Your Leadership Group Vision Plus Action Quality Preschool Step 4. High Quality Professional Development How to Provide Professional Development Aligned to Your Goals Target Professional Development to the Needs of Your Community Establish Your Professional Development System Information to Refine Your Work and Strive for Excellence Step 5. Connect and Align Quality PreK to Kindergarten Connect Your Community Preschool and Kindergarten Programs Develop an Assessment and Information Loop Align Curriculum and Instructional Practices Step 6. Maximize the Benefits of Full-Day Kindergarten Advantages National Trends How to Design a Full-day Kindergarten Developing a Planning and Implementation Team Developing Goals for the Program Using Research to Drive the Process Core Curriculum Selection Process for Your Kindergarten (PreK-3rd Grade) System Low-to-No-Cost Options Developing Daily Schedule Expectations Data Sharing "Friendly Accountability" Step 7. Align and Connect Full-Day Kindergarten With Grades 1-3 Connect Your FDK to Grades 1-3 Align Your K-3 Standards Align Your Assessment and Information Loop Align Curriculum and Instructional Practices That Support Children's Learning and Development K-3 (PreK-3rd) Tiered Systems Connect and Align Resources to Focus on Your Goals Step 8. Conquer the Fade Out Teach the Conventional Reading Skills That Are Developed Birth to Age 5 Horizontal Alignment Vertical Alignment Temporal Alignment Step 9. Create a Sustainable System of Support Broad Base Support and Financing Your Goals Celebrate and Publicize Your Efforts Continuous Engagement Step 10. Review, Revise, and Extend Next Step: Looking Ahead and Planning Review Your Goals Are We Making a Significant Difference? Your Leadership Group (ECCE Group) Looking Ahead References Resource A: Books and Web Sites Resource B: Steps for Your First Leadership Meeting Resource C: Leadership Guide Resource D: Curriculum Adoption Form Resource E: Glow and Grow Self-Reflection Form Resource F: Look Fors in Early Childhood Programs Resource G: Four Key Components to Sustainability Guide Index.
- (source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Publisher's Summary
- The national push for early learning is no longer about preschool alone, but rather about strategic planning to increase achievement by working with communities to establish a strong Key Stages 1 and 2 foundation. This book provides the essential steps for carrying out this important work, including how to reach out to community early childhood education providers to establish quality instruction and build bridges to Key Stages 1 and 2. Drawing on their success in building a PreK - 3 system in the Bremerton, WA school district and their work with schools across the USA, the authors provide education professionals with a field-tested, step-by-step road map that can be adapted for your own community and school district. Essential topics in this book include: identifying the needs of families and children; aligning resources, curriculum, instruction, and assessment; establishing key players; training staff; developing a plan for implementation; instituting professional learning communities; anticipating potential challenges; and celebrating successes. This book shows head teachers and early childhood professionals, as well as county officials, Education Officers, Head Start programmes, and Title I directors, how to provide all children with access to high-quality educational experiences in and before Reception and link early childhood standards and goals to the Key Stages 1 and 2 systems.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Early childhood education.
- Publication date
- Linda Sullivan-Dudzic, Donna K. Gearns, Kelli Leavell ; foreword by Ruby Takanishi.


Throughout its history, The Juilliard School has maintained a commitment to providing the highest caliber of artistic and educational experience to exceptionally talented young performing artists from around the world. Juilliard was founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art by Dr. Frank Damrosch, the godson of Franz Liszt and the head of music education for New York City’s public schools. Damrosch was convinced that American musicians should not have to go abroad for advanced study, and created the Institute as an American music academy that would provide an educational experience comparable to that of the established European conservatories. With the initial enrollment figures nearly five times what was expected, the Institute quickly outgrew its original home at Fifth Avenue and 12th Street (seen in photo above) and moved to new quarters near Columbia University in 1910.
Nine years later, a wealthy textile merchant named Augustus Juilliard died and left in his will the largest single bequest for the advancement of music at that time. The trustees of the bequest founded the Juilliard Graduate School in 1924 to help worthy music students complete their education. In 1926, the Graduate School and the Institute of Musical Art merged to become the Juilliard School of Music under one president, the distinguished Columbia University professor John Erskine. Erskine was succeeded in 1937 by renowned concert pianist and composer Ernest Hutcheson, who served in the position until 1945.
Succeeding Hutcheson in 1945, composer William Schuman expanded Juilliard’s identity as a conservatory devoted exclusively to music study with the establishment of the Dance Division, under the direction of Martha Hill, in 1951. In 1968, during the tenure of Peter Mennin, a Drama Division was created, with John Houseman as its first director and Michel Saint-Denis as consultant. The School changed its name to The Juilliard School to reflect its broader artistic scope, and moved to its current home at Lincoln Center the following year. The first production of the Juilliard Opera Center, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, celebrated the opening of the Juilliard Theater at Lincoln Center in 1970.
Following Mennin’s death in 1983, Dr. Joseph W. Polisi became the School’s sixth and current President, beginning with the 1984-85 academic year. Major projects that have been realized during his administration include the completion of the Meredith Willson Residence Hall in 1990; significant additions to the curriculum with new programs in jazz studies and historical performance; strengthening the School’s liberal arts program; implementation of numerous educational and community outreach programs; and a major expansion and renovation of Juilliard’s facility, completed in fall 2009.


Leading Inquiry-Based Science Program Now Features Increased Support for STEM Education, Reflects the Next Generation Science Standards Framework
INDIANAPOLIS –March 30, 2012 –Today as thousands of science educators gather here for the 2012 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference,School Specialty’s Delta Education unveils thethird edition of FOSS (Full Option Science System),the leading inquiry-based science program in America. Developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and published by Delta Education, this research-based curriculum for elementary school students is the first program to reflect the national vision described inA Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas(National Research Council, 2012).
An all-new elementary program, FOSS Third Edition is based on the belief that students learn science by doing science. Research supports thatthe best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific and engineering concepts, and develop the ability to think well is to participate actively in scientific practices through their own investigations and analyses.
Linda De Lucchi, a lead developer of FOSS Third Edition at the Lawrence Hall of Science, said, “When students participate in active learning – hands-on activities, discussions of what they are learning, taking notes on questions and observations – they become engaged and motivated, and this opens the door for real learning to take place.”
Continuing, De Lucchi, said, “FOSS focuses on grade-level-appropriate big ideas that students can discover on their own. This type of learning builds self-confidence, develops the ability to think independently and problem-solve, and creates lifelong learners.”
The critical-thinking skills that FOSS fosters are particularly important as students prepare for the growing number of careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). FOSS Third Edition provides additional support for STEM education to ensure students build the foundation necessary to excel in these high-demand fields.
“The theme for this year’s NSTA Conference is ‘At the Crossroads for Science Education,’ and with thedevelopment of the Next Generation Science Standards and our growing emphasis on preparing students for careers in the STEM fields, we truly are on the precipice of a new era of science education,” saidMike Lavelle, President & CEO of School Specialty.“Our new edition of FOSS starts young learners on the track to building the foundational skills necessary for career and college readiness and beyond.”
FOSS Third Edition now includes a Teacher Toolkit designed to help teachers immerse their students in science learning with anInvestigations GuideandTeacher Resourcesbinder. FOSS professional development is unrivaled, and ongoing teacher support through multiple avenues–including the unique FOSSweb resource for teachers, students and parents–further helps to ensure that FOSS develops effective teachers and engaged students.
For more information about FOSS Third Edition, go tohttp://www.deltaeducation.com/science/foss3/.
About School Specialty®
School Specialty is a leading education company that provides innovative and proprietary products, programs and services to help educators engage and inspire students of all ages and abilities to learn. The company designs, develops and provides preK-12 educators with the latest and very best curriculum, supplemental learning resources and school supplies. Working in collaboration with educators, School Specialty reaches beyond the scope of textbooks to help educators, guidance counselors and school administrators ensure that every student reaches his or her full potential. Delta Education, a part of School Specialty’s Science division, delivers the best of hands-on, inquiry-based science education to K-8 students. Trusted brands from Delta Education include FOSS, Delta Science Modules (DSM) and engaging informational texts including Delta Science Content Readers. For more information about Delta Education (School Specialty Science), visitwww.deltaeducation.comorwww.schoolspecialty.com.


NROER is a solution developed to address the challenges faced by the education sector of our country. It intends to reach the unreached, include the excluded and prioritizes to extend education to all. It is a collaborative platform involving everyone who is interested in education. It offers resources for all school subjects and grades in multiple languages. It brings together all the digital resources for a school system such as educational videos, audio, images, documents and interactive modules and also allows you to contribute your own resources.
The Repository is based on the concept of Semantic Maps. It organizes its collections into the ever growing semantic maps of concepts. The map itself is a learning resource for teachers, through which they can critically assess the curriculum and aids them in the construction of their own unique learning themes for their classrooms. The digital resources are all mapped to subjects, which currently are divided into 5 categories namely, Math, Science, Social Science, Languages and Art Education. Each subject has a list of concepts. This enables access to a library from where teachers can access audio, videos, learning objects, images, question banks, activities/presentations and more related to the concepts. They can also upload resources which are subject to review by experts. In addition to this, NROER allows teachers to download, share, comment and rate media resources.
Objectives of NROER are:
- To store, preserve and provide access to a variety of digital resources to students and teachers.
- To enable the participation of the community in the development and sharing of digital resources.
- To enhance the quality of the education system of the country.
- To facilitate teachers to create and share contextual teaching and learning resources.
- To celebrate innovations in resource creation.
Features of NROER are:
- Open access to anyone who wants to access the resources.
- Resources are available for free.
- Resources are share-able.
- Resources are available in the form of discrete chunks in contrast to those available as bulk and make it difficult for a person to segregate information from them.
- Eliminates the need of research from several places, since all resources on any particular subject or topic you desire are present in one place and are comprehensive.
- Resources sometimes may need to be contextualized, by wraparound materials that support them.
- Resources can be added to the NROER pool, subject to proper licensing.
This initiative is also a significant step towards inclusive education. Opening access to all requires a debate on the issue of ownership, copyright, licensing and a balancing of reach with legitimate commercial interests. This is particularly important for public institutions and public funded projects. NROER frees itself of these boundations since it carries the CC BY-SA license which allows it to legally reuse, revise, remix and redistribute content. To contribute to the repository, one must ensure that they are hosting the resources under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA) and that the documents uploaded are encoded using non-proprietary, open standards.
Also, to ensure the smooth functioning and to properly avail the services of the Repository, one needs to take support of various ICT (Information and Communications Technology) tools, which enhance the utility and add value to it.
Hence, the NROER is a comprehensive digital repository for open Educational Resources (OER ), which in addition to providing opportunities for users to access and create educational resources also allows them to enroll in various online courses and participate in online contests.
I hope this will open doors to new ways of interactive learning for the students and teachers and will revolutionize the entire education system of our country. We are most willing to address any doubts you have related to the context and invite you to share with us any additional knowledge you may possess on the same. The Comment Box awaits you.


The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. It also gives students a chance to qualify for National Merit Scholarship Corporation's (NMSC) scholarship programs. The PSAT/NMSQT measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills, and writing skills.
There are many reasons for taking the PSAT/NMSQT. The first reason is likely to prepare for the SAT. Students will see what kind of questions and directions they will face. But they can also receive feedback on their strengths and weaknesses in skills necessary for college studies. Learning particular strengths and weaknesses can help a student focus on specific areas that require more practice or attention. Students are able to compare their performance with that of others, as well and they will be given the option to receive information from colleges should they desire.
Still confused? Learn more about the PSAT:
- SAT Test Prep Anxiety: How to Overcome Your Stress
- Should I Take the ACT or the SAT?
- 3 Ways the Hobbit demonstrates proper test day strategy
- Learn how you can get college credit for your life experiences
- Ask a question!
View the entire Glossary of College & Education Terms
Updated: February 2014


EFFECTS OF THE INTERNET ON CHILDREN'S MOTOR SKILLS
Miller (2001), in a discussion of developmental stage theories, points out that most major developmental psychologists state that children progress in both physical and cognitive growth through a series of phases or stages. Typically, these stage theories hold that from about two to seven years, children develop their motor skills. This has led some educators (e.g., Drake, 1999; Hirschbuhl, 2003) to suggest that the sights and sounds of computers as well as the motions involved in typing and clicking with a mouse may serve as excellent resources for the development of young children's cognitive and motor skill growth. The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature on the effects of computer usage involving the Internet on the motor skill development of young children.
Can using the Internet help young children develop their motor skills? Shneiderman (1998) statds that children can learn both cognitive and motor skills from using the Internet but that the degree to which they are motivated to learn is, at least in part, dependent upon the user-interface design process and the extent to which it has been appropriately modified for the young user and the tasks required. Shneiderman states that the extent to which a child's use of the Internet will facilitate cognitive and/or motor skills growth will depend upon making sure that their use of it is age appropriate.


Harcourt story fishing bears
Goldilocks and the Three .
Goldilocks and the Three Bears Lesson Plans, Activities, amp; Crafts; Three Bears Activities for Kindergarten; Focus Story- Three Bears; Book List- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Angry Birds Rio Cheats an.
Angry Birds Rio Questions, Answers, Hints, Cheats. (Android) ... The Midgard Story ; Battle Bears Royale ; World War ; Samurai vs Zombies Defense
gt; Elementary Education: Scott Foresman Science / Grade K - Grade 6: Reading HMH Reading - HMH Journeys - Houghton Mifflin Reading - Harcourt Story Town - Harcourt ...
Document Results - Harcou.
(review) Reading Rate Simple and Compound Sentences Form ... pligg content management system 5th grade science fair 98 dakota wiring diagram
The Three Bears: Using th.
Ideas for using the story of The Three Bears to teach concepts and numbers in preschool lesson plans. ... Bears and Goldilocks Fairy tale about Goldilocks and the 3 bears.
The Story of the Three Be.
quot;The Story of the Three Bears quot; (sometimes known as quot;The Three Bears quot;, quot;Goldilocks and ... as by the great poet Southey, whose version I have (with permission) given you, only ...
The Story of Goldilocks a.
DLTK's Crafts for Kids The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears ... Coloring.ws for free printable coloring book pages!
Big Speckled Trout - Shar.
Speckled trout fishing the St Johns River in Jacksonville ... Big Speckled Trout Share Your Story: Reader Submitted Fishing Stories and Pictures
TWO GREEDY BEARS RUSSIAN .
TWO GREEDY BEARS RUSSIAN LANGUAGE STORY AND COLORING BOOK This is a wonderful learning tool with a tradional childrens story and illustrations to allow colouring of ...
Copyright © AllWebGallery. All rights reserved.


Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament
by Willa Cather
Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament Theme of Art and Culture
Someone hand him a green carnation and call him an aesthete, because Paul is all about Art for Art's Sake. He's got a job as an usher at Carnegie (Music) Hall, he spends his free time studying art, and he hangs out at the local theater. Great, right? As far as after-school activities go, art is pretty mild. Only problem is, the more time Paul spends at the theater, the worse he feels about his grungy home—and the more worried his teachers and his dad become. Turns out, they're right to worry. In "Paul's Case," art and music are just as likely to lead you down the wrong path as any other teenage rebellion.
Questions About Art and Culture
- Paul isn't an artist, but loves to experience art and to be around artists. Does the story give any suggestions about why he is not drawn to be an artist?
- Does the text offer any judgment on whether or not Paul's father was right to take him away from the theater?
- What role, overall, do art and music appear to play in Paul's life? What does he see as the role of art?
Chew on This
"Paul's Case" makes a case for the importance of art and music education in schools.
Cather would agree that music and art are fundamentally problematic when used as escapes from our problems.


Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.
Journal > Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
Engaging the Disengaged: Using Learning Clubs to Motivate Struggling Adolescent Readers and Writers
by Heather Casey, Ph.D.
|Grades||6 – 12|
This article describes a seventh grade teacher's use of learning clubs to motivate struggling students to engage in literacy events and foster literacy development. The data suggests the evolution of these learning clubs in this teacher's classroom is organic, emerging in response to the unique literacy needs of the students in this urban setting. This teacher motivates the struggling students in this heterogeneous class towards success by balancing a strong awareness of content, context, discourse, and pedagogy. The findings suggest learning clubs offer a useful framework for supporting adolescents who struggle with literacy and offers potential for work with all students across the content areas.
Casey, H.K. (2008, December). Engaging the Disengaged: Using Learning Clubs to Motivate Struggling Adolescent Readers and Writers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(4), 284–294. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.52.4.2
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Students participate in learning clubs, select content area topics, and draw on textsincluding websites, printed material, video, and musicto investigate their topics, and share their learning using similar media.