Preservice elementary education majors are required at many colleges and universities to take a course in music methods to become certified in their field. These courses are offered because they are a valuable component of a well-rounded liberal arts education and helps preservice educators to teach students in a well-rounded fashion. They are considered useful and necessary for all beginning general education teachers. However, not all preservice teachers recognize the importance or value of a methods class because of their less than favorable experiences in their elementary music classes and low self-efficacy to teach music effectively. Helping elementary education majors to see the value of integrating music in their curriculum-and that they are more than capable of doing so if they focus on their attributes and maintain a positive attitude with regard to their ability-may contribute to their success in the methods class and in their future classrooms.
The Technology-Rich Authentic Learning Environments (TRALE) program was designed to develop for young, urban learners a responsive and effective instructional program in which technology played a vital part in the completion of rd meaningful, problem-based tasks. TRALE was implemented in early childhood classrooms (i.e., K-3 grade) as a technology-rich learning community where participating classrooms used technology to achieve a role they assumed in a community (e.g., general store, newsroom), and students in these classrooms learned knowledge and acquired skills prescribed by particular content standards and the curriculum of the school district. This paper focuses on how technology-based tools were used for enhancing students' literacy acquisition. Student achievement data indicate that when implemented as designed, TRALE significantly improved the standardized nd rd reading test scores of 2 and 3 graders.
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