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In large music ensembles, directors make countless instructional decisions on a daily basis that indicate their learning priorities and guide student learning. In particular, expert music directors (i.e., those having earned a master's degree and/or National Board Certification) have advanced problem-solving strategies and effective means of fostering student learning in their ensembles. To explore the influence of musical setting on directors' instructional decision-making, the authors examined expert choral and instrumental directors' perspectives on instructional decision-making. Forty experienced music teachers employed as either a choral or instrumental ensemble music teachers wrote open-ended responses to three scenarios, each representing different instructional challenges. Three main themes emerged related to instructional challenges: (1) Pedagogy, (2) Student Motivation, and (3) Classroom Management. Within each theme, the authors articulated multiple topics that revealed similarities and differences between the choral and instrumental settings. Understanding these comparisons and contrasts by musical setting is essential to enhancing teacher education programs. Implications include improving teachers' self-awareness and advancing professional development opportunities for both choral and instrumental music directors.

Music teachers in urban, suburban, and rural communities face a multitude of challenges and opportunities. To identify and examine specific experiences that may be unique to rural general music teachers, we recruited six teacher-participants to complete a 5-week online professional development (PD) course for this exploratory study. We created a teacher-led approach for this PD, implementing topics and solutions generated by the participants. Using qualitative content analysis, we found two categories of themes in the online discussion posts that either connected or disconnected our participants with other music teachers on their general music context or their geographic setting. Although participants clearly articulated the influences of setting and place-based pedagogy, we found shared issues related to general music that transcended location. Implications for future PD include the importance of online delivery methods and developing PD differentiated by teaching contexts and geographic settings.

The purpose of this inter-university project was to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions of collaboration and use of online technology. Twenty-two undergraduate music education majors from two separate universities participated in an eleven-week collaborative project to develop, teach, and self-assess general music lesson plans via a variety of student-selected online technologies. To determine the participants' perceptions, the researchers administered the quantitative Technology Integration Confidence Scale and periodic qualitative questionnaires consisting of open-ended questions. Participants showed positive quantitative gains in understanding technology operations and concepts, planning and designing learning environments, applying technology, assessment, and understanding ethical and legal issues in the classroom. From the qualitative data, the researchers found four emergent themes relating to communication and pedagogical knowledge: (1) versatility and potential of collaborating through technology, (2) barriers and challenges to effective communication, (3) importance of collaborative communication, and (4) increased personal effectiveness through reflective growth. Participants reported that working through collaborative assignments increased their self-confidence and reflective thinking skills, as well as helping them recognize the value of communication in terms of curriculum and instructional effectiveness. These findings highlight the importance of identifying strategies to instruct, motivate, and evaluate preservice music teachers as they develop 21st century skills and music teaching competencies. To conclude, the co-authors discuss implications of technology-based collaborations beyond music education for the teaching profession in general.

The natural rhythm and inflection of language offer multiple and authentic ways for music teachers to connect their curriculum with learning in English Language Arts (ELA). While still addressing the National Core Arts Standards, music teachers can connect with ELA skills such as reading, writing, and speaking-listening. In this article, we explore these interdisciplinary intersections and suggest ways in which music teachers can meaningfully and effectively design instruction for authentic integration throughout the K-8 grades. Our focus is to promote integrated music education as a form of professional learning for music teachers. By designing multimodal activities that focus on standards-based learning outcomes, they can also support student success across the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to make policy recommendations based on the authors' experiences with, and research about, reflective, differentiated, and teacher-generated music teacher professional development (PD). By doing so, we argue for a bottom-up process that capitalizes on our music teacher and music teacher educator expertise along with the research literature in music teacher PD. We explore music teachers' PD needs considering four career stages to explain how knowledge generated at each level informs our understanding of differentiated PD. From preservice music teachers and music teacher candidates, to in-service and veteran teachers, our discussion explores meaningful and effective ways to engage in deep, reflective thinking about the music teaching and learning process. Accordingly, we provide specific policy recommendations for music teachers at each career stage so that they might take greater ownership of their own learning, growth, and development through local, reflective, self-initiated, and differentiated PD opportunities.

Integrated arts education (IAE) promotes authentic interdisciplinary connections, linking the arts with other subjects in meaningful ways. In this intrinsic case study, we explored perspectives of teacher-educators and non-arts student-teacher interns regarding the ways pre-service K-8 classroom teachers are prepared to incorporate IAE into their future instruction. We selected three higher education institutions requiring integrated-arts methods courses in the elementary education curriculum, then interviewed corresponding teacher-educators and surveyed student-teachers. We analyzed interview data inductively and deductively, while conducting cross-case analysis with focused coding. We found that teacher-educators' objectives and instructional activities aligned with their IAE perspectives, student-teachers indicated their intent to create and deliver IAE lessons, and participants highlighted strategies and barriers related to confidence and developing IAE pedagogy. We recommend practical, meaningful instruction that facilitates undergraduate students' arts integration practices and ongoing professional development for in-service teachers in order to promote in-depth interdisciplinary education and highlight authentic arts integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore experienced general music teachers' decision-making processes. Participants included seven experienced, American general music teachers who contributed their views during two phases of data collection: (1) responses to three classroom scenarios; and (2) in-depth, semi-structured, follow-up interviews. Analysis using a constructivist approach revealed that participants reported making distinct decisions during the planning, instruction, and reflection stages of teaching. During planning, their focus was on developing clear goals and objectives, encouraging a life-long love of music, and fostering responsible citizenship. During instruction, they made decisions guided by specific formal and informal methodologies to build on previously taught concepts and to support classroom management. After instruction, participants' responses highlighted the importance of being flexible, their own professional development, and student assessment. While other studies have examined general music teachers' instructional processes in methodology-specific practices, this study offers insights from experienced general music teachers regarding their decision-making processes when responding to classroom scenarios. Implications for future research include improving in-service teachers' self-awareness, advancing professional development for experienced teachers, and enhancing the effectiveness of music teacher education programs.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of critical thinking instruction on music listening skills of fifth-grade students as measured by written responses to music listening. The researcher compared instruction that included opportunities for critical thinking (Critical Thinking Instruction, CTI) with parallel instruction without critical thinking opportunities (Activity-Based Instruction, ABI). The same music teacher delivered both instructional treatments concurrently in a series of sixteen 45-minute classroom lessons. Two randomly assigned, intact classes of participants (n = 41 and 40) made up the CTI and ABI treatment groups, respectively. Three independent judges scored participants' pretest and posttest responses using a researcher-designed instrument. Using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the researcher found a significant test by treatment interaction. The post hoc analysis indicated that while the CTI participants scored higher on the posttest as compared with the pretest, ABI participants demonstrated no significant differences by test. Readers should note the larger than expected standard deviations when considering the positive effects of the CTI treatment. Implications include recommendations for future research and for designing music listening lessons to incorporate critical thinking skills in classroom music instruction. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

In three separate manipulations, a group of children at risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD; five males, seven females; mean age 11y 6mo [SD 6.8mo] who were at or below the 15th percentile on the Movement ABC) and a group of typically developing children (TDC; seven males, five females; mean age 11y 3mo [SD 6.8mo]) judged the limit of their standing horizontal reach (HR[subscript max]) under two conditions in which actual HR[subscript max] differed. The manipulations were: (1) one-hand versus two-hand reach; and (2) standard versus short effective foot-length; and (3) rigid versus compliant support surface. For the foot-length and support surface manipulations (but not for the hand manipulation), children correctly judged that their actual HRmax differed in the two conditions (p less than 0.05). On all three manipulations, TDC made significantly larger adjustments in their judgements than did children at risk for DCD (p less than 0.05). The TDC group adjusted their judgements in the appropriate direction on all three manipulations, whereas the DCD group adjusted in the appropriate direction for the foot-length manipulation only. The results suggest that children at risk for DCD are less adept at detecting changes in the limits of their action capabilities.

The effect of a six-week multimodal summer camp program on the self-concept and reading/writing skills of 42 campers (ages 9 to 14) with dyslexia was assessed. Campers improved significantly in phonetic reading, spelling skills, self-concept, and overall academic competence, but not in sight-word vocabulary or reading speed. (Author/CR)

ABSTRACT: In patients with acute renal failure (ARF), therapy to reverse the underlying mechanism and restore renal function is predicated on determining the cause of the dysfunction and making the [...]

ABSTRACT: The traditional method of classifying acute renal failure (ARF) as prerenal, postrenal, or renal has clinical utility in helping to determine the underlying cause. Each type of ARF is [...]

Christian Smith, with Kari Christoffersen, Hilary Davidson, and Patricia Snell Herzog New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. The hopes that adults harbor for young people can readily tip over into [...]

Abstract Background Parental smoking and prone sleep positioning are recognized causal features of Sudden Infant Death. This study quantifies the relationship between prenatal smoking and infant death over the time period of the Back to Sleep campaign in the United States, which encouraged parents to use a supine sleeping position for infants. Methods This retrospective cohort study utilized the Colorado Birth Registry. All singleton, normal birth weight infants born from 1989 to 1998 were identified and linked to the Colorado Infant Death registry. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between outcomes of interest and prenatal maternal cigarette use. Potential confounders analyzed included infant gender, gestational age, and birth year as well as maternal marital status, ethnicity, pregnancy interval, age, education, and alcohol use. Results We analyzed 488,918 birth records after excluding 5835 records with missing smoking status. Smokers were more likely to be single, non-Hispanic, less educated, and to report alcohol use while pregnant (p < 0.001). The study included 598 SIDS cases of which 172 occurred in smoke-exposed infants. Smoke exposed infants were 1.9 times (95% CI 1.6 to 2.3) more likely to die of SIDS. The attributed risk associating smoking and SIDS increased during the study period from approximately 50% to 80%. During the entire study period 59% (101/172) of SIDS deaths in smoke-exposed infants were attributed to maternal smoking. Conclusions Due to a decreased overall rate of SIDS likely due to changing infant sleep position, the attributed risk associating maternal smoking and SIDS has increased following the Back to Sleep campaign. Mothers should be informed of the 2-fold increased rate of SIDS associated with maternal cigarette consumption.