This article explores the parallels between improvisational theater, commonly known as improv, and active teaching. Specifically, it focuses in the impact of improv techniques on instructor and teaching assistant professional development. The implementation of an active teaching seminar is analyzed, where improv techniques were used in developing…

This case study describes the rationale, development, and functioning of the Elders Learning Community, a nonprofit home and community service program that served older adults in Richmond, California. The program applied a blend of self-directed learning, learner-centered and significant learning approaches, and features of a member-driven…

The tensions present in learning jazz improvisation are well recognized given the contextual shift from more informal environments such as jam sessions and apprenticeships towards academic settings such as school bands and college jazz programs. Research suggests that the development of instruction in music education be informed by and modeled…

The Student Engagement in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (SERSCA) Program at California State University, Stanislaus provides support for student engagement in these areas from idea conception through dissemination. Through assistantships, mini-grants, the Student Research Competition, and travel grants, the Program is designed to…

This article outlines key findings of a study of STEM-rich afterschool Making programs offered by the four organizations participating in a project called the California Tinkering Afterschool Network. Over three years, the project identified key characteristics of inclusive and equity-oriented Maker activities and facilitation. It also defined the…

This article describes the ways in which a class of 7- and 8-year-old children used writing to communicate. Using Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics as a theoretical frame, I examine what functions these messages served, how functions varied from child to child and how the practice of message-sending evolved over time. Analysis of data…

This paper is concerned with the craft and pedagogy of contemporary classical composition, starting with an examination of French pedagogy as I received it from Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger in the late 1950s. I discuss their different points of view (briefly the global approach to composition vs. what might be termed the molecular), the…

There is a growing interest in alternative forms of pedagogy for students in K-12 settings. Free improvisation, a relatively new and unfamiliar genre, offers potential as an ensemble for teachers to provide in order to offer more egalitarian and creative music experiences for their students. The purpose of this multiple case study was to determine…

This article presents an interview with James C. Kaufman, an associate professor of psychology at the California State University at San Bernardino, where he directs the Learning Research Institute. Kaufman received his PhD in cognitive psychology from Yale University in 2001. Dr. Kaufman's research broadly focuses on nurturing and encouraging…

Teachers experience significant amounts of stress that can lead to burnout or attrition (Milhans, 2008). Creating time and space to engage in self-reflection helps teachers to reduce stress (Chang, 2009; Nollett, 2009). Courage to Teach was developed in 1994 by Parker Palmer and the Fetzer Institute in response to an identified need for developing…

This qualitative study analyzes how an urban schoolteacher guided her 19 tenth grade Latina and African American young women in developing positive self-concepts as expressed through the implementation of design thinking processes. This work examines how young women who had limited access to digital media negotiated their identities as they…

Students enter their practicum experience with the assumption that they will learn the skills needed to help clients. However, growth in counseling can be bidirectional; both the client and the student-counselor can benefit. The purpose of this article is to describe a creative arts assignment that helps students express how a client changed them,…

Schools do not define education, and they are not the only institutions in which learning takes place. After-school programs, music lessons, Scouts, summer camps, on-the-job training, and home activities all offer out-of-school educational experiences. In "Learning at Not-School," Julian Sefton-Green explores studies and scholarly…

These "Stories From the Field" describe five Wallace-funded programs working to expand learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children, so they can benefit from the types of opportunities their wealthier counterparts have access to, from homework help to swimming classes. The report details each program's approach, successes and…

How do individuals escape embarrassing moments in interaction? Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and video recordings of weekly street corner ciphers (impromptu rap sessions), this paper expands Goffman's theory of defensive and protective face-work. The findings reveal formulaic and indirect dimensions of face-work. First,…