Enhancing Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy for Teaching Diverse Learners: Capturing Young Students' Attention through a Read-a-loud and Music

Abstract: The sense of efficaciousness for engaging diverse learners was examined with twenty-four pre-service teachers concurrently enrolled in a junior-level Creative Arts methods course and a field experience course with placements in K-2 general education classrooms. The pre-service teachers participated in music and literacy activities in their university class, then planned and implemented standards-based music activities in literacy lessons with their young students. In this case study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, including a teacher self-efficacy scale, an attitude survey, written reflections, interviews, open-ended responses, and lesson plans. Results demonstrated a significant increase in the pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in pre-post ratings analysis and indicated that this project contributed to their efficacy for engaging and meeting needs of diverse learners in the elementary classrooms.  The pre-service teachers demonstrated proactive classroom management and reflected upon their students’ increased focus in class. The pre-service teachers indicated that their success with these types of projects encouraged them to plan for similar implementation with their future diverse learners; therefore, providing potential to positively impact their future performance. Additionally, this project emanated Scholarship of Teaching and Learning by encouraging self-reflection; examining and applying effective teaching strategies; and advancing the field of teacher education. Keywords: self-efficacy, preservice teachers, creative arts, diverse learners, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Developing a Service-Learning Student Facilitator Program: Lessons Learned

The Service-Learning Student Facilitator Program originated from the first author who was engaged in service learning and sought to transform her ideas into a sustainable project that could be reproduced annually. The purpose of this program was to train and certify students as facilitators so that they could assist faculty members in implementing service-learning experiences in their courses in various disciplines across the campus. Student participants became effective leaders of service-learning projects, developed great respect for the methods of service-learning, and expressed a desire for a deeper understanding of its theoretical basis. Their feedback, along with lessons learned, helped shape training in subsequent semesters. These lessons, which are shared, are valuable to those planning to develop similar programs in their universities