Music surrounds us and students have plenty of experience in passive listening. However, they need to be deliberately taught how to deeply and critically listen to music. The National Core Arts Standards do not specifically measure listening as a skill but to evaluate musical works, critical listening skills are essential. This article outlines…

Failure is a common experience in the lives of musicians and educators that is frequently seen as a negative attribute for performances in music education. By shifting from a negative, destructive approach to a positive, constructive orientation to failure, music educators can help their students learn and advance forward from experiences of…

With the introduction of the Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum in 2022 (Ministry of Education, 2022), educators are encouraged to engage students in understanding the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand society, shaped by Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This curriculum refresh emphasises Maori history as foundational and ongoing,…

Understanding introverted students in the classroom is a necessary component of supporting students' unique learning needs. Educators need to be mindful of how introverted students learn in the classroom setting, and determine how best to integrate this peaceful personality in positive ways. Acknowledging introverted students for who they are,…

Purpose: Training in cultural competence is an accreditation requirement for graduate programs in communication sciences and disorders (CSD; Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, 2020). Cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD) instruction within CSD programs and current instructional models may not provide…

While student stress and anxiety are frequently cited as having negative effects on students' academic performance, the role that instructors can play in mitigating these challenges is often underappreciated. We provide summaries of different evidence-based strategies, ranging from changes in instructional strategies to specific classroom…

Creating diverse caring classroom environments, for all students, using innovative technology, is the impetus of this article. Administrators and teachers in many states have worked to integrate 21st Century Learning Outcomes and Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP) into daily teaching and learning. These initiatives are designed to…

The English as a foreign language classroom is a plurilingual setting par excellence since it involves at least two languages. However, plurilingual practices such as code-switching and translation have been consistently discouraged in formal learning contexts, based on the belief that keeping languages compartmentalized helps learning, and…

The increasingly diverse set of learners in colleges and universities poses considerable challenges for educators. Dorothy A. Osterholt and Sophie Lampard Dennis explain the four domains of learning they have identified and suggest ways to apply them to help students overcome a variety of obstacles to learning.

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in employing contemplative teaching and learning practices in college classrooms. The authors define contemplative pedagogy as a teaching and learning experience that involves the learner in a participatory epistemology characterized by a deeply immersed, insightful learning experience fostered through…

Teaching today remains the most individualistic of all the professions, with educators characteristically operating in a highly fragmented world of "their" courses, "their" skills, and "their" students. Learning will occur in the classrooms of the future through a sustainable set of complementary capabilities:…

There is a civil war simmering in classrooms nationwide. Arrayed on one side are students who would sooner cut off an arm than sacrifice their mobile devices. On the other stand faculty members who expect to be the focal point of their classes and will not abide distractions. Caught in the crossfire are instructional technology professionals.…

Combining home-school literacy bags with preschool family literature circles provided a strong foundation for family involvement at home and school during this year-long Reading Partners project, and helped parents become essential partners in their children's literacy development. Using home-school literacy bags, children and parents learned…

Teacher evaluation is a current hot topic within music education. This article offers strategies for K-12 music educators on how to promote their effectiveness as teachers through archival documentation in a teacher portfolio. Using the Danielson evaluation model (based on four domains of effective teaching practices), examples of music teaching…

It is known that every learner is unique and that one-size-fits-all instruction does not work for most. How can a classroom environment be created that gives each learner voice and choice? The co-founders of Personalize Learning, LLC, offer a detailed six-step approach. This article provides the background on what is and what is not Personalized…