This article discusses the teaching of life skills to urban American youths who are highly fascinated with the hip-hop culture--songs, raps, miming, lyrics, dressing and musical rhythms, especially individuals with emotional disabilities in the public schools. This is an instructional curriculum strategy to encourage positive and active…

With an increasing emphasis on creativity and innovation in the twenty-first century, teachers need to be creative professionals just as students must learn to be creative. And yet, schools are institutions with many important structures and guidelines that teachers must follow. Effective creative teaching strikes a delicate balance between…

This in-depth case study explores a modern approach to education: the benefits of using film, technology and other creative, non-conventional pedagogical methods in the classroom to enhance students' understanding of literature. The study explores the positive effects of introducing a variety of visual-based (and auditory-based) teaching methods…

How can ELT be made enjoyable and effective? One feasible pedagogical application is to integrate English songs into ELT. Song, a combination of music and lyrics, possesses many intrinsic merits, such as a kaleidoscope of culture, expressiveness, recitability and therapeutic functions, which render it an invaluable source for language teaching.…

This paper is about a writing and literary translation program called Poetry Inside Out (PIO). Students in the PIO program study poetic form and structure, figurative language, and the fundamentals of literary translation in an extended workshop format. During a typical Poetry Inside Out workshop, participants read, discuss, translate and recite…

The role of a studio music teacher is a delicate balance of creativity and organization. In a one-on-one setting a teacher must guide a student through the physical challenges of playing an instrument as well as conveying the abstract notions of music and aesthetics. The goal of guiding a student into becoming a fine musician is universal, but…

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! Digital cameras, young inquisitive scientists, give it a try! In this project, students create an open-ended question for investigation, capture and record their observations--data--with digital cameras, and create a digital story to share their findings. The project follows a 5E learning cycle--Engage, Explore,…

The use of eggs and mousetraps in physics is commonplace in most American high school physics classrooms. The egg drops, the egg walk, and the great Canadian egg race, as well as the mousetrap cars, have all been well-documented in this journal. These types of collaborative, competitive projects are a great way to motivate students. Students at…

"Elements" is a competitive card game designed to help middle school students recognize and correlate the names and symbols of the most significant chemical elements. Each student is required to construct his or her own decks of playing cards--one with the names of the chemical elements and one with their corresponding symbols--and compete against…

We describe the development and use of a molecular model building activity with a chocolate theme, suitable for a public presentation of chemistry through interaction with visitors to science festivals and museums, and as a special classroom activity during science weeks, and so forth. (Contains 3 figures.)

This article examines the circumstances affecting creative teaching and learning within the specific context of English further education (FE)--a sector which has proved to be particularly fertile ground for performativity. Beginning with an analysis of notions of creativity in education and a description of the peculiar history and policy context…

Traditional school geometry often introduces the angle concept to students by having teachers show visual examples on the blackboard. In this article, the authors propose a teaching sequence to teach angle concept in elementary school that breaks away from this "ostensive" method. They hypothesize that the angle concept may emerge from solving…

Integration of children's literature can be a fundamental part of instruction in mathematics classes. Emphasizing children's literature is crucial because it draws students into a story, makes them feel at home, and teaches mathematical concepts in a nonthreatening way. This article describes an example of a mini-unit on measurement taught to…

It is enchanting when over twenty students' quilt squares make a quilt. The common, yet diverse techniques for making a quilt transform the students' quilt squares into a shared quilting experience. A quilt made by students in one classroom can demonstrate a unique characteristic of each student by combining their squares into a quilt about a…

Each year, seventh graders at Woodlawn School in Davidson, North Carolina, learn about Japan through a compilation of literature, history, and art. They are introduced to a wide range of ideas and materials: they study the Heian and Tokugawa Periods as well as modern Japan, the code of the samurai warriors, haiku and its components, and Japanese…