Keittie R. Garcia

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Curriculum Issues

• Keittie R. Garcia
• Greg Meinecke
• Jessica R. Price
• John M. Rene
• Sharnae Smith
• Jasmine Walker

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• 1. Music Education
• The Fight to keep it Alive
• Jessica Price

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The Importance of Music Education

• Music education helps improve test scores in
  school the College-Bound Seniors National Report
  stated that students who took classes in
  performing music scored 57 points more on the
  verbal section of the SATs and 41 points more on
  the math (MENC, 2002).
• Music emphasizes the use of collaboration, unlike
  other classes that stress independence (Rausher,
  1997).

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Why is Music Education Being Cut?

• President Bushs No Child Left Behind Act makes
  schools focus on the main academic subjects and
  ignores the non-academic ones (Nesoff, 2003).
• Schools are faced with tight budgets so when its
  time to pick what stays and goes, schools are
  forced to keep the academic subjects.
• According to John Augenblick, president of a
  consulting firm used to discuss budget problems
  in education, the problem is that not everyone is
  concerned with losing music education, especially
  those who do not have children attending school
  (Nesoff, 2003).

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Technology in Music Education

• Software programs like Ars Novas A Little
  Kidmusic and Theatrix Interactives Julliard
  Music Adventure can be used in music education
  (Abes, 1996).
• Ars Novas software produces an onscreen keyboard
  that is compatible with MIDI keyboards. It has a
  difficulty setting for three different age groups
  preschoolers, young readers, and ten-year-olds
  and up (Abes, 1996).
• Theatrixs software teaches basic music concepts
  including rhythm, melody, and pitch- through an
  interactive adventure (Abes, 1996). It even has
  a videogame that requires you to rescue a damsel
  in distress (Abes, 1996).

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2. Technology in Dance Education

• The Pros and Cons of Technology in Dance
  Education
• Sharnae Smith

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Dance is and Art form and Causes Students to Use
Creative Thinking

• Dance Education causes students to use their
  creative thinking styles. Dance is an art form,
  it can be interpreted in many ways both by those
  who are dancing and by viewing audiences. Many
  schools have begin to come up with curriculums
  and objectives that the teachers and students of
  dance education in K-12 schools will be able to
  follow to ensure that it is properly taught

• In Appendix E2 of the book it states that
  Dance in education provides students with
  alternative forms of communication and ways of
  learning that integrate the minds creative and
  critical capacities. (Knowles, P 1991).

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Technology in Dance Education Boosters the
Learning Environment

• Technology in Dance Education boosters the
  learning environment of the students while also
  helping teachers to allow students to learn with
  their own learning styles and paces, and it
  allows students who are slower learners to catch
  up with the material in class. Alas it
  incorporates most of all learning styles in the
  art form.

• According to CEDFA Technology Supports
  Traditional Learning Goals By offering
  additional means for teachers to accommodate
  different learning styles and paces. For example,
  interactive technology enables students to learn
  at their own pace, making decisions within the
  structure of the program about what, and how,
  they learn.

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Expensive Cost of Technology and Requirements of
Dance Programs

• The principal of Buffalo Academy for the Visual
  and Performing Arts says that he gives incentives
  to his students to attend classes in order to
  insure the good reputation of the programs at
  that school. The community will continue to
  support the efforts of the academy if they
  continue to see the progression of the programs
  and how it helps the students. So when factors
  come up financially the community will be more
  then willing to help out and raise money to keep
  the school in its good state.

• Although dance education is one of the most
  creative ways to learn, it is not liked and
  appreciated by everyone. Some dance education
  courses require certain things of students.
  Every student does not meet these requirements.
  Students audition into the dance program. This
  is another quote from the Buffalo Academy of
  Visual and Performing Arts.

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3. Technology in the Classroom

• Its Benefits to Bilingual Education

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Support to Technology in Bilingual Education

• Teachers Learning Communities Program
  recommendations
• Bilingual instruction
• Instruction to language minority schools
• Staff development programs

• Specially prepared programs
• Electronic classrooms
• Interactive classrooms
• CompuServe

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Positive Outcomes
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Setbacks

• Complexity of learning a second language
• Multicultural social reconstructionism
• Shrinking number of schools participating in
  multilingual learning
• Narrowing curriculum

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4. Whole Language vs. Phonics

• Jasmine Walker

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Whole Language

• Whole Language
• Is the process of learning a language through
  whole word teaching.
• The basis of whole language is the process of
  predicting the words through their meaning and
  context.
• There is no emphasis on grammar, spelling and
  punctuation with this form of teaching.

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Phonics

• Phonics
• Is the teaching of the association of sounds with
  letter identification.
• There is an extreme amount of emphasis on word
  decoding skills to help a student sound out
  unfamiliar words.

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Whole Language vs. Phonics

• The Great Debate
• For years, dating back to approximately 1940
  these two literacy programs have been at war.
• Can they work together?
• Yes.
• Experts believe that phonics should not be taught
  first, but at the point when the teacher observes
  a student making constant errors while reading,
  giving the student a mini-lesson of word sounds
  so that there are able to read the word and
  continue in the whole language process.
  (Cromwall, 1997)

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Whole Language vs. Phonics

• Can technology help?
• Yes.
• With phonics software, teachers can use it to
  aide them while teaching whole language in their
  classroom.
• The curriculum needs to support whole language
  and phonics and the use of technology because we
  are headed into a digital world.

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5. Community Service Vs. Service Learning

• Greg Meinecke

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Service Learning

• Combines community service with classroom
• Guided reflections strengthen the experience
• Service Learning is better for teachers, students
  and the community alike

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Technology

• Service Learning projects involving web design
• Web based programs to organize and monitor
  service projects

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6. Ability Grouping

• John Rene

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Use of Ability Grouping

• Seen more in secondary than elementary.
• Ability grouping is found in math and English
  than any other subject.

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Critics

• Doesn't improve achievement and is harmful to
  students.
• Based on subjective perceptions and fairly narrow
  views of intelligence.
• Leads students to take on labels.
• Only GT students benefit.

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Advocates

• Helps both GT and normal ability students.
• Social and emotional risks.
• When students are forced to study material they
  already know and spend much more time than
  necessary on each new topic, they become bored.