Sometimes the small initiatives that school boards undertake can create a major and lasting difference in the learning opportunities offered in the classroom. Almost always these initiatives are championed by an individual or team whose efforts determine their success or failure. The following historical account will highlight one successful…

School associates (SA's), or cooperating teachers (CT's), have arguably been one of the most powerful influences on the teacher candidate's (TC) pre-service experience. For this reason, most studies about the practicum have focused on this relationship. However, while observing one visual art student's practicum as her Faculty…

As a result of cheaper, accessible, and user-friendly technologies, there is an increasing volume of videos created by children, yet these works often lack excellence. Strong pedagogical practice is important to nurture excellence in video production, but there is scant literature in this area. In this paper, I examine best practices through a…

General education programs, in postsecondary institutions, provide a broad base of learning in the liberal arts and sciences with common goals that prepare undergraduate students for living informed and satisfying lives. In the United States, dance units in public institutions, offering general education coursework for non-majors (dance…

This qualitative study examines student musicians' perceptions of their performance and development resulting from Body Mapping (BMG) technique. BMG is a somatic (mind-body) education technique designed to teach musicians skills in self-evaluation and change for performing with sensory-motor integrity. A qualitative study guided by an…

For three decades, research on training in music education for pre-service primary (elementary) generalist teachers has consistently highlighted four main issues that limit its effectiveness: 1) the influence of past experiences; 2) a lack of confidence 3) a lack of musical competence and 4) limited time to address these issues in teacher…

This paper presents an analysis of how guided engagement with the arts can provide leadership lessons for school leaders and administrators. The study was conducted as part of two projects funded by the School Leadership Program (SLP) grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The principal interns and practicing school leaders participated in…

Service learning is described as a socially just educational process that develops two-way learning and social outcomes for community and student participants. Despite the focus on mutuality in service learning, very little of this literature specifically deals with the intense importance of mutuality and reciprocity when working with Indigenous…

This paper considers the photographic act as an affective and affirmative encounter--a reflexive, embodied, and relational community engagement that may produce a rupture in our habitual modes of thinking. The author uses the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of the nomadic weapon to consider how the camera may become an affective trigger for…

This article describes a relationship-based dance program, "Moving Parents and Children Together," and summarizes a 3-year study of teacher practice and parent-child interactions. Our work focuses on "relational engagement" in dance, which entails a person's basic motivation to connect plus a psychological investment in…

In a world that is becoming increasingly more visual, there is a greater need to educate children to better understand images. A school subject that deals directly with image understanding is visual arts. This article discusses an interdisciplinary approach to promote art understanding, within a multimodal environment that combines art and music.…

This paper is based on an inquiry carried out among a small group of children between the ages of 10 and 12 years, who, in the framework of an art-workshop, attended two theatrical performances of the same subject, Homer's Odyssey, but of quite different directorial approaches: the first performance had a narrative character following the…

Pertinent research literature recognizes the importance of using multimodalities to enhance and extend ways of learning across the curriculum in such subject areas as literacy, geology, media studies, physical education, social studies and disabilities studies. As an action researcher who constantly seeks ways to improve my own classroom practice,…

In 2012, the Austin Independent School District reported that over 60 percent of its students identified as Hispanic. However, the number of theatrical offerings for children including Latino stories or Latino/a characters on Austin stages is staggeringly disproportionate to the number of Latino children living in the community. "Mariachi…

This qualitative case study examines the affordances and constraints of an intergenerational multimodal arts curriculum that was designed to expand communication and identity options for children and elder participants. The authors drew on actor-network theory to conceptualize curriculum as a network effect and refer to literature on multimodal…