North American higher education finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, it accepts droves of freshmen who equate learning with rote memorization and who correlate achievement with the ability to pass narrowly focused standardized tests. On the other hand, it is expected to contribute to the country's cultural and economic vibrancy…

The author decided to minimize the stressful emphasis on assessments in learning in his 11th grade American History and Government classes and put the fun back into teaching. Tired of the repetitive aspects of teaching the required state standards related to the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court cases, the author switched gears from simply…

The Horizon Report series is the product of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, the "Horizon Report: 2009 K-12…

Teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) who want to develop successful lessons face numerous challenges, including large class sizes and inadequate instructional materials and technological support. Another problem is unmotivated students who refuse to participate in class activities. According to Harmer (2007), uncooperative and…

The enigmatic author Lemony Snicket is quick to establish from the start that happy events are not to be expected in his collection, "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Every happy event in the lives of the three clever and charming Baudelaire children is countered with an even more unfortunate one, events rife with misery, misfortune, and despair.…

The purposes of this study are to discuss the visionary instructional planning through the social process as school wide faculty collaboration and prepare teachers through their identity connections of graduate reading application. The discussion exemplifies four collaborative instructional teams from Honduras Elementary School, Houma, Louisiana,…

Leaders are increasingly called on to function in ways that demand creative smarts as much as book smarts and street smarts. Consequently, more attention is being given to artistic potentialities of leadership. To help create relevant educational opportunities, the author responds in three ways. First is to identify a framework of characteristics…

This paper discusses music creativity. Offering no simple definition of music creativity, it suggests that music creativity cannot be taught. What can be taught are the readinesses for one to fulfill potential for music creativity. The quality and extent of one's early musical environment, that will affect one's overall music aptitude, are perhaps…

Within each speech communication class, the teacher can more easily realize the overriding goals of general education by expanding the horizons of the assignment using the method of forced choice. Forced choice operates within the assumptions that the spectrum of structure helps reach a more thorough set of educational goals, and giving the…

Creative thinking and critical thinking are often thought of as two distinct, separate processes; however, each is a necessary component of the other. The challenge of critical thinking as creativity is to identify and transcend the nonessential criteria associated with the domain in which the critical thinking is exercised while not abandoning…

Definitions of creativity and classroom techniques for teaching creativity are divided into three models: Classical, Experimental, and Integrated. Suggests that the type of creativity desired be matched with the appropriate model. (Author/CS)

A technique for assisting students in selecting and organizing data for compositions is explained. (JH)

A study was conducted to determine where a sample of English language arts teachers, identified as educational leaders, get their ideas. Twenty-five English language arts teachers agreed to participate in the study which took the form of a 10-item survey. Five items dealt with trivial knowledge about language conventions and five items required…

Cognitive theories of problem solving and suggestions made by cognitive psychologists regarding how to teach problem solving are reviewed. Theories and suggestions from creativity research are also considered. The results are summarized in terms of a description of how high levels of proficiency in problem solving are acquired and how problem…

The use of guided imagery meshes with recent insights into right and left brain learning. Guided imagery engages the right brain processes such as imagination, emotion, creative, and intuitive activities. While much instruction is concerned with left brain activity, that is, the processsing of information through words, the addition of right brain…