According to the National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL), the total population of individuals (including authorized and unauthorized immigrants) in the United States is 319 million, and one in five U.S. residents speak a language at home other than English (Camarota & Zeigler, 2014). With the increasing number of English Language…

Creative instruction across the curriculum is a critical pillar of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI). This research brief summarizes key results from the full report (published separately), the second in a series of three on CLI, shares teacher's reactions to training in Creative Teaching, how and why they use it in the classroom, and how…

In this article, Felicia Johnson presents a portrait of her daughter Shelby, who was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at the age of 6 months. At ten months, she was diagnosed as an achondroplastic dwarf, and at 18 months old she was discovered to be missing 50 percent of her myelin sheath. Believing in Shelby's independence, Johnson refused to do…

Creative posters in the classroom can inspire students to become engaged and motivated in learning art. Within the classroom, there are many places to put posters so that students can read them (especially when they get bored in the classroom) - on the cabinets, near the chalkboard, on the teacher's desk and any spare space on the wall. There is…

Creative instruction across the curriculum is a critical pillar of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI). This report, the second in a series of three on CLI, shares teacher's reactions to training in Creative Teaching, how and why they use it in the classroom, and how that usage relates to student outcomes. A separate research brief also was…

This semester-long activity for a "Gender Fair" project helps undergraduate students gain an appreciation of gender as a social, historical, and cultural construction that is constituted intersectionally (with race-class-sexuality, at minimum) and fundamentally through communication practices. Specifically, upon completing this project,…

Pre-service teachers need support in developing their teacher identities as they navigate the uncertain and complex terrain of student teaching and face the pressures of high-stakes accountability. This support is particularly important for bilingual pre-service teachers as they negotiate the many complexities of the bilingual classroom, and as…

A makerspace is a place where makers can envision a project, find an expert, and create something. Libraries have always held programming during which patrons were able to come in and create. The makerspace at the Lamar Middle School in Flower Mound, Texas, is available for students every day, so that they can daily create and play with innovative…

This ethnographic case study investigated how the process of learning during a yearlong after-school, project-based learning (PjBL) experience could be documented by student-created reflective videos. Guided by social constructivism, constant comparative analysis was used to explore the meaningful learning that took place in addition to the…

Spaces such as the Chicago and Miami YOUmedia centers are great examples of digital media labs. Focused on providing technology and services that allow teens to explore their passions in an unstructured creative process, these labs provide technology that encourages the self-expression and creation of ideas in almost any digital format, such as…

For military veterans suffering from the long-term trauma of warfare, arts and crafts become much more than the fabrication of relics; they can literally save the spirit. Dialogue and interaction between the veterans, volunteers, and staff are crucial to the success of veterans' arts and crafts program. The purpose of this research was threefold.…

Applied theatre often draws upon critical pedagogy and constructivist methodology as a way to bring participants into direct engagement with their own learning experiences. As learners, adults bring a wealth of perspectives that further affect how they interact with an applied theatre experience. "Drama for Schools" (DFS) is a…

Children in two first-grade classes and their teachers decided to take an imaginary trip to Washington D.C. For three weeks, the first graders spent their afternoons on the project, and their simulated flight was the culminating activity of a unit on Washington, D.C. In this article, the author discusses several details of the activity,…

This article looks at an inner city playwriting project that brought professional writers and artists into inner city classrooms to help students explore the cultural history of their community and begin to find their own voices as writers. This project was set up by Larry Hunter, an African American playwright who worked as a writer-in-residence…

This manual of activities and reproducible drawings and worksheets is designed to encourage reading and to accompany a reading club program. Each chapter is centered around an Olympic sport. As each chapter begins, a bulletin board idea and nametag pattern are provided. This is followed by several storytime ideas for toddlers and preschoolers,…