Teaching Through The Arts

Comic Books and Chemistry: a Perfect Match!

2011-08-24T11:29:00.002-04:00

When I was in 8th grade my history teacher had us learn about economics through, of all things, a comic book, and now almost 40 years later, I can still remember it. So what does that say about learning? It says to me that the material, which I found incredibly boring, was presented to me in a medium that engaged me-hence I truly learned it. Later when I got to high school I found myself bored to death in a chemistry class and distinctly remember having to memorize the periodic table. Why I had to do that, when I could have just looked it up when I needed the information, I'll never know. I did it, but didn't care about the information or understand why we were learning it, so I remembered if for the test and promptly forgot it. Sound familiar?

But after looking at the University of Kentucky site The Periodic Table of Comic Books by John P. Selegue and F. James Holler, I wish I could go back and study it this way. Like the economics unit in my Junior High days, I would probably still remember something from high school chemistry.

Does this look at all tantalizing to you? How do you think it might look to a high school student who is not excited about learning this material? That's the key now isn't it?

Many thanks to trulygreenfish for tweeting this link.

Standing Up in Class: an Option to Enhance Learning for Students

2011-08-24T09:37:00.001-04:00

Think about how you position yourself when you read a book, use your laptop or peruse through a newspaper or magazine. Chances are sitting in a hard, straight back chair in front of a small desk doesn't rank high on your list. In fact as I write this I'm stretched out on a chaise in our living room with my computer resting on a portable laptop desk. Fact is we all have preferences as to how we'd like to be positioned when doing these tasks, so the question of why do we limit student options in this same area is a natural one to ask. We need to break out of the mindset of what the classic classroom looks like. Schools need to adapt for the betterment of the students; the students shouldn't have to adapt to the physical aspects of the school.

The graduate program I went through at Lesley University met for one weekend a month; we would start at 5pm on Friday and go till 10, then go from 8-5 on Saturday and Sunday. Now for much of that time we were up and moving, but during those times when being seated was the norm, I would very often find myself standing, a nearby bookcase providing a perfect spot. Maybe that's why this Hartford Courant article "A Stand Up Idea to Shake Things Up in the Classroom" prompted a great deal of thought and this post. The writer Sara Cody discusses the use of stand-up desks and how one Connecticut elementary school is starting to place them in classrooms. In discussing this change Larry Sparks, Assistant Principal of the Roaring Brook Elementary School in Avon says, "teachers have to understand that their objective is not to get them [students] to sit but to achieve. For the kids, if they can improve their concentration while standing, all the better." Other schools across the country are using yoga balls and bean bag chairs for the same purpose.

Now I'm not endorsing this product or receiving any compensation, I just wanted to see what one of these desks might look like and happened to come across this one. I've also included the description.

Safco 1208GR AlphaBetter Large Stand Up Student Desk - Centuria Grey

"For many students everyday classroom life involves trying to sit still, taking focus away from learning. With the AlphaBetter Desk students are able to stand up during the school day and move around without being a distraction to their classmates or teachers, all while improving their concentration. This completely new way of learning is creating a more productive learning environment. Research has shown standing alone can burn extra calories, and with the ability to move around students burn more excess energy and improves focus. FEATURES: The Pendulum Footrest Bar: The swinging motion helps burn excess energy and calories Top finished in gray Phenolic, a damage resistant polymer plastic. Adjustable height for grades 3-12."

The point is we have to take a long, hard look at the way we set up our learning environments and consider if we are doing the best for all of our students.

Student Voices on "Education Evolution" We Learn Creatively

2011-08-04T22:05:00.003-04:00

Sir Ken Robinson posted this video on Facebook, and I am so glad he did. It's been my contention all along that the real positive changes in our educational system are going to come from the students up, and these young people are making their voices heard loud and clear. Now it's up to teachers, administrators, government officials and other stakeholders to listen and act. Please go and check out what these students are producing, as they hit it right on the head.

From their site

"Welcome to edevolution, a video project thought of and created by G/T middle students in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Thank you for taking time to watch the video and visit this website! For more information about what the Education Evolution is and what it means, take a look at a quick summary of us here or head to the blog page.

Don’t know why you’re here or came here by accident? Watch the video anyway!"

Bring a Poem to Class that You Don't Understand

2011-08-02T16:48:00.000-04:00

I love this idea tweeted by Carol Jago, she writes, "Don't be afraid to bring a poem you don't understand to class. Model your own process for making sense of what's on the page- what's obscure"

What a great idea to make sense out of something in front of and with the students in your class. Modelling this process will pay huge dividends with all students but especially those who give up easily saying they don't understand something. Of course these instances should be tempered by the fact that we should make meaning for ourselves based on a close reading of the text and not worry so much about what the author intended when he or she wrote it-it may be a fun exercise but who really knows?

Teachers should feel compelled to give up some control in the classroom and admit when they don't know something, while encouraging everyone to figure it out together. This has been a very important practice in my classroom, as it makes it okay to be wrong or not know something for the students, and it humanizes the teacher as a facilitator and not someone who is on an academic pedestal.

More Practical Examples of Formative Assessments

2011-08-02T16:20:00.000-04:00

Check out the West Virginia Department of Education site for some more examples of formative assessments. Some great ideas here. Thanks to teachersharetp for the Twitter link to the site.

Harvard Professor calls Lecture Outdated and Largely Ineffective

2011-08-02T15:43:00.002-04:00

Reading Dennis Pierce's excellent article in eCampus News on Harvard professor Eric Mazur's discussion that lecture is an outdated and largely ineffective way for students to learn. It seems like every day we read about or hear someone discuss the inefficiency of lecture as a tool for learning. So the question remains, why do so many educators keep up the practice? One possibility is that many people tend to teach the way they were taught and so the system propagates itself. If that's the case, then we need to break the cycle, and so, once again, we call for a paradigm shift in the way we prepare students to learn.

The article goes on to say "educators need to transfer information... but students also need to do something with this information to make it stick—not simply parrot it back during a test, but actually assimilate it and take ownership of it, so they can apply this knowledge in a different context. If students can’t do that, he said, then they haven’t really learned anything."

So the first key seems to be the transfer of information/concepts from teacher to student. Clearly lecture is the least successful method of doing this with most brain-based learning research putting it at 5-10% retention-hardly worth the time. Integrating the arts is a perfect way of accomplishing this-getting the students involved artistically or kinesthetically is a much more effective method. In addition it engages and energizes students because it is active and circular instead of linear. It is an exchange of ideas and not a one-way path from the teacher to the students.

The second key seems to be the assimilation and ownership of the material which can be accomplished by the students rehearsing with the material in order to make meaning out of it. Brain-based research is clear-that learning needs to be meaningful in order for students to really learn it. Gone are the days-if they were ever really there-where students will accept comments like this will "come in handy later in life" or they'll need it to "get into college". Those are just not enough. And shouldn't we be making clear to students exactly why they are learning something at the outset of the lesson or allowing them to reflect and communicate the meaning of the lesson for themselves.

Thanks to ASCD for the link on Twitter.

"Why Alternative Education Needs to Go Mainstream"

2011-08-01T18:55:00.001-04:00

An interesting piece from Good Education on using alternative education models for all students. You can read the entire piece here. Something to really think about.

"Research shows that alternative education—small learning communities, individualized, personalized instruction, a low student-teacher ratio, and support for pregnant or parenting students—works to get dropouts back on track. But ironically, notes creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, current education reform efforts like the federal No Child Left Behind Act are "rooted in standardization" even though we know that a quality education should "be about personalization."

Robinson, whose lecture on how schools kill creativity is the most watched TEDTalk of all time, was part of a forum on dropout prevention hosted last week by the HeART Project, a Los Angeles-based arts education nonprofit. If what we now call "alternative education" methods became mainstream, said Robinson, "we wouldn't be discussing the dropout rate." He also debunked the myth that students who drop out are reacting to the system as a whole: "For any student, the classroom they sit in is the education system and that's what they're dropping out of." But the kids who get into quality alternative programs fall in love with learning because they're getting an individualized experience—and the support they need to address particular life challenges, like being a teen mom or being homeless."

Ted Talk: Sebastian Seung "I am my Connectome"

2011-07-31T11:51:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I may have gone "connectome crazy" here, but this Ted talk by Dr. Sebastian Seung is incredibly interesting and very accessible even for an English teacher like me. Give it a look-I'm sure you'll enjoy it and learn something important about the brain.

Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome | Video on TED.com

Here's more on Sebastian Seung, Ph.D on the MIT website.

Learned a new word: the "Connectome"

2011-07-31T10:57:00.005-04:00

I always enjoy learning new words, and I came across one this morning connected to one of my latest interests-brain research-and it's called the connectome. Here's an excerpt from the article Brain's Connectome from Branch to Branch appearing on Neuroscience News:

"With some 70 billion neurons and hundreds of thousands of kilometres of circuits, the human brain is so complex that, for many years, it seemed impossible to reconstruct the network in detail. Each neuron is linked to about a thousand others by means of finely branched projections called dendrites and axons, and communicates with them using electrical signals. The connections between the cells are critical for brain function, so neuroscientists are keen to understand the structure of these circuits – the connectome – and to reconstruct it in a three-dimensional map."

According to connectomes.org a connectome is a "synapse-resolution mapping of connections between all neurons in a model organism's brain. In other words, a synapse-resolution circuit diagram of the brain."

You may wonder why I've included this information on this site, and that's a good question. The answer is that it's vital to understand how the brain works so that we can apply it to our educational practices and help our students learn better. Simple as that.

Thanks once again to Howard Eaton-brainchange on Twitter-for tweeting about this article. If you're on Twitter you should definitely follow him.

Matt Damon speaks out for teachers and creativity and against standardized testing at SOS Rally in DC

2011-07-30T21:29:00.002-04:00

Matt Damon’s speech at the Save Our Schools rally, July 30, 2011

‘I think you’re awesome!”

I flew overnight from Vancouver to be with you today. I landed in New York a few hours ago and caught a flight down here because I needed to tell you all in person that I think you’re awesome.

I was raised by a teacher. My mother is a professor of early childhood education. And from the time I went to Kindergarten through my senior year in high school I went to Public Schools. I wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything.

I had incredible teachers. As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself— my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity— all come from how I was parented and taught.

And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned— none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success— none of these qualities that make me who I am… can be tested.

I said before that I had incredible teachers. And that’s true. But it’s more than that. My teachers were EMPOWERED to teach me. Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep— this silly drill and kill nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle. They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us. They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, “My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.”

I shudder to think that these tests are being used today to control where funding goes.

I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was based not on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the “right” bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.

I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here, I do know that.

This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: as I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “over-paid”; the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything…

Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you, and we will always have your back.

Reposted from notwaitingforsuperman.org

Deepak Chopra: "Video Game that aids in meditation and relaxation"

2011-07-30T16:41:00.004-04:00

We have a Wii system in our house, and we have a great time playing the games, especially together, doing Wii Fit, playing Endless Oceans, Let's Dance II and Zumba to name a few. The thing I love about all of those games is that there is no killing, violence or destruction in any of them-they are all putting out positive messages while helping with personal health and well-being. This seems to be the case with Dr. Deepak Chopra's new game called Leela, "an ancient Sanskrit word meaning 'play,'" according to SanDiego.com. "Leela is described not as a game, but as a groundbreaking experience, combining ancient relaxation and meditation techniques with technology, to bring focus, energy and balance to one's life." I'm not into endorsing products, and this one doesn't come out until November, but I can get behind the idea of increasing relaxation and meditation techniques with students and parents, many of whom are stressed out beyond belief. And we know that if we can't make students feel safe with as little stress as possible, then we can't get them to learn-it's just how the brain works.

The article goes on to quote Chopra saying, “so much of our modern activity is connected to addictive behavior -- we are addicted to our smart phones, to the internet, to video games,” he postulates. “What I am interested in is, how do we use this addictive tendency to actually further brain development and allow people to grow in intelligence, awareness and consciousness? How can we use knowledge and experience from yoga and make it fun to accelerate brain evolution? I believe that this ‘Leela’, this ‘play’, can honestly help people raise their consciousness and rewire their brains. When Leela becomes available on November 8, players will enjoy using their own abilities to cultivate a healthier, harmonious and more balanced life.”

Looking forward to seeing Leela when it comes out this fall. Read the entire article here.

Thanks to Howard Eaton, Brainchange, on Twitter for posting about this.

Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Educational System

2011-07-30T12:33:00.001-04:00

Dovetailing nicely with my last post about making school fun and making learning have meaning for students, I came across this speech by high school valedictorian Erica Goldson on the wonderful site The Innovative Educator. In less than ten minutes, Erica is able to eloquently point out the fallacies in our educational system and challenge educators to make a paradigm shift. It's worth a look.

You can read Erica's entire speech on her blog America via Erica.

Dare We Ask...Make School Fun? Make Learning Meaningful to Students? Ahhh....Yes Please!

2011-07-30T11:47:00.003-04:00

I've often asked teachers in our classes "when does school cease to be fun?" Years ago the answer was grades six or seven, but now it's usually more like second or third. Why is that? Why does school have to be drudgery? Thinking back on my own high school experience in the seventies it was the same-classes were boring and little if any meaning could be put to why we were studying this material.

Today's brain-based research is clear, if students don't understand why they are learning something or if what is being learned has no meaning, then that information will be dumped within seconds and learning will not occur.

So it begs the question...why are our schools still doing this to students? Why are they attempting to cram knowledge down students throats with the thought that this will come in handy later on in life or they need this subject to pass a test or get into college when it is known that it doesn't work?

Certainly high-stakes testing plays into this. Teachers and administrators feeling the pressure and subjecting students to greater coverage of material-usually with little or no depth or meaning- and drilling the students to death. All of this, well-intentioned, only leading more students to dislike coming to school even more.

A few years ago I had a discussion with some high school administrators about boosting their attendance rates-they had fallen under the state level for certain sub-groups and were searching for answers on how to get those kids to come to school more regularly. Their plan was to amp up the penalties for being absent or late-in other words make things more punitive. I chimed in and said why don't they make the school a place where students wanted to be, so they would come. There was silence in the room, and they looked at me as if I had two heads. My sense was this idea was preposterous to them-never crossed their minds, and that avenue was shut down immediately.

The time has come, actually long-overdue, for a complete paradigm shift in our educational system. As I've said many times in this space, we are no longer training our students to be productive workers in factories and on farms as we were when our public educational system was put in place generations ago. The factory system of education is outdated-yet it is still in wide use. Don't believe me? Take a walk around almost any high school today and see how many classrooms have the teacher-as the font of knowledge-standing in front of the room disseminating that knowledge in lecture form (5-10% retention at best) to students sitting in rows (dubbed the graveyard set-up by one of our students) in the hope that this knowledge (being taught because someone has deemed it important-not the students of course) is going into the students' heads (see Paulo Freire). Phew....long sentence-guess I had to get that out! (But all too true...unfortunately).

But I do have hope-that amazing human trait that keeps us going, that we can shift the paradigm to one that engages and energizes students, helps them to make meaning out of what they are learning so they can actually learn it, and makes them love coming to school (dare I say make school fun?). We can do this, and integrating the arts is one way coupled with creative use of technology (reading power point slides to students doesn't count folks), safe classrooms where students feel physically and emotionally safe, a heightened sense of empathy on everyone's part, as well as a number of other brain-based, creative ways to help students learn better.

Think about it when you are planning your lessons for the fall. How can you get your students engaged in what is happening in your classroom and energized and happy to be there? Flip things around and put yourself in the students' position: how does it feel to be a student sitting in your class? Take a positive risk and strike out on a new path that will forge new neural pathways in your students' brains and get those dendrites multiplying at a fantastic rate. The time is now!

Ted Talks: Julian Treasure "5 Ways to Listen Better"

2011-07-29T11:47:00.001-04:00

How many of our relationships, not only as teacher and student, would be improved if we were able to listen better? In another wonderful Ted talk, Julian Treasure discusses listening and gives 5 ways we can become better listeners. Worth a look.

How the brain keeps track of what we're doing

2011-07-29T11:16:00.002-04:00

Being informed on how the brain learns just makes sense if you are in the education world. The August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science gives a different view on "working memory" by neuroscientist Robert H. Logie. Read the entire article at How the brain keeps track of what we're doing

An excerpt:

"We have a range of different capacities, each with its own function, and they operate at the same time" when we perform a task or think about something, says Logie. Within this "multiple-component framework," working memory capacity is "the sum of the capacities of all these different functions."

This "workspace" in the brain, as Logie calls it, allows us to do something while other functions operate in the background or to apply ourselves to a single task involving more than one function."

Ways to Stay Connected with Teaching Through the Arts: Please Join Us!

2011-07-27T14:55:00.001-04:00

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Drama as a Teaching Tool

2011-07-26T15:56:00.005-04:00

Drama is a performing art, an outlet for self-expression, and a way of learning. Drama is an effective learning tool because it involves the student intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally. Activities in improvisation, pantomime, play-making, and scene reenactment serve to develop the creative potential in the participants and help to develop critical thinking skills.

In answering the question, "Why teach drama?'", theater director and teaching artist Matt Buchanan has this to say: "Dramatic Arts education is an important means of stimulating creativity in problem solving. It can challenge students' perceptions about their world and about themselves. Dramatic exploration can provide students with an outlet for emotions, thoughts, and dreams that they might not otherwise have means to express. A student can, if only for a few moments, become another, explore a new role, try out and experiment with various personal choices and solutions to very real problems-problems from their own life, or problems faced by characters in literature or historical figures. This can happen in a safe atmosphere, where actions and consequences can be examined, discussed, and in a very real sense experienced without the dangers and pitfalls that such experimentation would obviously lead to in the "real" world. This is perhaps the most important reason for Dramatic Arts in schools."

Educational Objectives

The benefits of using creative play as a teaching methodology coincide with the

established goals of education. These include:

§ developing the imagination and creativity

§ fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills

§ exploring and evaluating ideas

§ discovering positive ways of dealing with conflict

§ expressing feelings and interpreting the feelings of others

§ enhancing communication skills

§ improving literacy skills

Participation in drama activities provides the teacher with another way to assess the student. Through dramatic play, students reveal how they organize ideas, solve problems, work in a group, deal with conflict, and use their imagination. Observing how students dramatize an event offers valuable insight into how they perceive, interpret, understand, and analyze the material at the core of the lesson.

Classroom Applications

Drama has many practical classroom applications for teaching curricular material. Important concepts, ideas, events, and people can be dramatized through improvisation, pantomime, and playwriting to stimulate interest, convey knowledge, gain comprehension, and improve retention.

Drama can be the vehicle for the following applications:

§ Role play situations to model/observe

new skills or behaviors.

§ Develop scenarios to introduce new

concepts.

§ Dramatize a meeting between characters

or historical figures.

§ Reenact a real event.

§ Dramatize a scene that might have happened in a story.

§ Improvise a scene that expresses the topic or theme.

§ Act out scenarios as a way to approach writing dialogue.

§ Create literary sketches.

§ Stimulate ideas for composing essays, poetry, or fiction.

§ Portray famous people.

Drama is a teaching tool that allows students to participate, demonstrate, and observe in a "controlled," or non-threatening, environment. In other words, it provides another "non-traditional" opportunity for students to learn and to demonstrate learning. At the same time, drama helps students get in touch with their creativity and spontaneity as well as to develop confidence in the expression of their ideas. Finally, it teaches self-discipline, acceptance of and positive response to criticism, and cooperation with others.

Using Drama to Create Empathy in Medical Education

2011-07-25T21:14:00.003-04:00

Using drama to help train future doctors? Sounds like a great idea to me. Our present educational system from kindergarten through graduate school needs a major paradigm shift. The day has long passed, if they were ever there, when lecture was an effective way to get students to learn. In fact most brain-based learning research puts lecture at a 5-10% retention rate! That is horrendous!

It's very heartening to hear that the University of California, Davis is integrating medical studies with literature in an attempt to "generate future physicians with both scientific acumen and cultural humility." The article "Drama and Empathy in Medical Education" by Matharu, Howell and Fitzgerald in Literature Compass (2011), discusses how medical humanities training is often "lecture-based, not allowing for much student input," so the use of drama is an effort to remedy that.

The following is from the article's abstract:

"Increasingly, undergraduate and graduate programs in medical humanities are exploring the ability of the arts to elucidate the human condition as it relates to patient care. At the University of California, Davis, students and faculty from both the Department of Medicine and English Literature have convened for informal readings of scenes from dramatic works. This paper discusses the use of excerpts from Eugene O'Neill's Long Days Journey into Night and Berry Barta's Journey Into That Good Night in a medical education setting. Medical students participated in staged readings of these plays, which were filmed and then screened for a group of 30 medical students in order to elicit discussion."

Since empathy is something that we need to be teaching to students at all levels, it's interesting to see that higher education, long know for its penchance for lecture, is making a foray into integrating the arts into their curriculums. Instead of telling students about empathy, they are allowing them to find it on their own through drama which is not only more fun than listening to a lecture, but it allows students to relate the learning to their own lives and reflect on their own learning. Not to mention that the methodology provides novelty which brain-based research tells us is a pathway to increasing learning.

The article goes on to discuss the increased "engagement" and "enthusiasm" on the part of the students.Two concepts that have been discussed in this space many times. It was also great to read that the integration of the arts into the medical curriculum is being used in places all over the world.

Great news!

Kinesthetic Learning: We Learn Better on our Feet than in our Seat!

2011-07-25T20:11:00.005-04:00

Kinesthetic learning or movement is a staple in our courses; we use it all the time. We know it's effective with all ages from kindergarteners to graduate students, but do we have any brain-based research to back it up?

In his book How the Brain Learns David Sousa provides one explanation:

"When we sit for more than twenty minutes, our blood pools in our seat and in our feet. Within a minute [of getting up], there is about 15% more blood in our brain. We do think better on our feet than on our seat! Students sit too much in classrooms, especially in secondary schools. Look for ways to get students up and moving, especially when they are verbally rehearsing what they have learned" (34).

This also speaks to the fact that as arts-based educators we need to have the language to explain our methods to others. So next time you have the students up and moving and your principal comes into your room wondering what's going on, simply relay this information and then ask him or her to join you in movement.

Formative Assessment: Weekly Summaries

2011-07-25T09:58:00.002-04:00

In our attempt to give concrete examples of formative assessment techniques, we go back to Debra Dirksen's 2011 article "Hitting the Reset Button: Using Formative Assessment to Guide Instruction" where she discusses weekly summaries.

She discusses having students "complete longer writing assignments in which I ask them to write a weekly summary reflecting on what they've learned from class discussion, activities, and reading during the week. To prompt reflection on personal learning, I ask students to respond to the question: What did you learn personally from class discussion, activities, and readings conducted this week? For evaluation, I ask, "How do you think what was taught this week, in class and through your readings, will work in the real world?" And finally, for transformation, I ask, "How will you personally use the information?" This is an opportunity for students to engage with the material and discover what resonates with them (Taylor 2008). I can also use this information as I design future instruction"

This gets the students to really think about what they have learned that week and allows them more processing time, while giving the teacher the necessary information to assess student learning. I highlighted the three aspects of this assessment to underscore their importance: reflection, evaluation and transformation. All of these factors feed into the students getting beyond mere recall of information and being able to use that information in a different way-a key to really learning.

Formative Assessment: Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Thumbs All-Around

2011-07-24T10:48:00.004-04:00

Another formative assessment which is simple and quick--letting you know immediately how well the students are understanding the concepts is the thumbs up and thumbs down technique. Just ask them how well they "get it" by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down sign. I also allow them to show degrees of understanding by putting their thumb anywhere on the spectrum between up and down (hence the "all-around" in the title).

Other variations, that I've heard teachers use, are to put the sign right up against the chest, so that others in the classroom have a hard time seeing it or having students close their eyes when they do it. These may be necessary in the beginning of the year, in some cases, but should wain as trust builds in the room and students learn it's all right to admit they don't understand something or that they are wrong about something.

It's quick. It's simple.There's no reading involved. It's just an easy way to check for understanding and let the teacher know if she can go on or if she has to change tactics on the fly and take a different approach. And that's what formative assessment is all about-changing things up so that all the students get it in the end.

Formative Assessment: When the Cook Tastes the Soup....

2011-07-23T12:51:00.003-04:00

Ever have a problem differentiating between the definitions of formative and summative assessments? Well thanks to Debra Dirksen in her article "Hitting the Reset Button: Using Formative Assessments to Guide Instruction," she offers the following image from the work of Robert Stake (Scriven 1991:169):

"When the cook tastes the soup, that's formative: When the guests taste the soup, that's summative."

"As the cook, or teacher, we need to stop and taste the soup before we move forward with instruction. We need to design instruction so students can press the reset button and go back to learn what they missed the first time. We can use many techniques to assess student achievement and understanding."

This is a powerful image that clearly delineates between the two concepts and helps to cement them into the mind. It's also reminds us of the power of using metaphors, similes, images and figurative language in our teaching practices.

Formative Assessment: I Know What it is, but How Do I Do it?

2011-07-23T11:10:00.010-04:00

Many of us know the theory behind formative assessments, but the burning question may be how do we use them in our every day teaching practices? In her article "Hitting the Reset Button: Using Formative Assessment to Guide Instruction" published in the Phi Delta Kappan (2011) Debra J. Dirksen gives numerous practical applications on how to implement FAs in the classroom. Here's a couple using quick writes:

"We can also use short writing assignments to check for understanding. One example is called "3, 2, 1." Students write three things about concept A, two things about concept B, and one thing that connects concepts A and B. A similar activity is called "Circle, Square, Triangle." After giving a presentation or engaging students in a learning activity, I have students describe three metaphorical ideas by responding to the following questions:

1. What's still going around in your head? In other words, what do you still not quite understand?

2. What's squared away? What do you really understand?

3. And, finally, what three things could you use in your life, work, or studies?

In Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (1993), Angelo and Cross identified a number of techniques for quick assessments to check for understanding as you conclude a lesson. Many of the assessments identified by Angelo and Cross take advantage of quick-write prompts, where students are given three to five minutes to write anything they want about a question or topic. This can be used to gather formative assessment data. The writing can be purely free writing with no parameters, or you can use probes like these: What was the muddiest point in today's lesson? What was the clearest point today and how could you use what you've learned? I've used these activities and other similar ones to provide quick feedback about the lesson. If this feedback is used to refine instruction, and if it allows students to press the reset button and learn material they missed the first time, it can be a good tool to help formulate future instruction."

The applications above also fit nicely in brain-based learning techniques as they use metacognition, the top of higher order thinking skills where students think about their own learning process and how they learn as well as applying the learning to their own real-life situations. This second piece is huge in light of brain-based research on getting information into long-term memory-- in order for this to take place students must be able to relate it to their own lives or prior knowledge. In other words, since the brain acts more like a sieve than a sponge, any information that is deemed unimportant or unrelatable will be strained out. So maybe students are being truthful when they say they don't remember learning something in class. Hmmmmmm.....

These examples also allow the students the much-needed and often overlooked processing time necessary to make sense of something and help it along the pathway to long-term memory and mastery of the material.

Formative Assessment: The Missing Piece?

2011-07-23T10:41:00.002-04:00

In light of today's high-stakes testing atmosphere and the sense that there is so much content to cover that teachers just need to push on and hope the students "get it," many educators may be using formative assessments, but are they using them effectively?. Is there a missing piece? In the report "Understanding How Teachers Engage in Formative Assessment" from the Spring 2010 edition of Teaching and Learning, Sondergeld, Bell and Leusner discuss this and point out the cyclical nature of formative assessments.

"Formative assessment continues to receive increased attention in the field of education as being a cost-effective method of improving student learning (Black & Wiliam, 2007). However, defining formative assessment is problematic since it is often viewed as any use of assessment to support instruction. In fact, when teachers hear about formative assessment for the first time, they often say, "I do that already." We define formative assessment as a process a teacher uses to elicit evidence of student learning that is analyzed and used to adjust instruction to better meet student learning needs. This vision of formative assessment involves more than adding "extra" assessment events to existing teaching and learning. It also requires teachers to use the information they collect to modify instruction. In classrooms where formative assessment is used with the primary function of supporting learning, the divide between instruction and assessment becomes blurred. Thus, formative assessment is an ongoing, cyclical process woven into the life of the classroom (Thompson & Wiliam, 2007).

Formative assessment requires teachers to deliberately elicit evidence of student thinking, make decisions about what to do with that evidence, and then implement appropriate changes in instruction. This is not done every six or nine weeks. It is done every day for the entire school year"

So it may be a good practice to keep checking in with ourselves and ask the question: are we really using our formative assessments to modify instruction and meet the needs of our students, or are we just pushing on to make sure we cover what needs to be done for the summative evaluation at the end of the road? Maybe if we take the time to properly use formative assessments every day, we'll be able to spend less time remediating students who underperform on high-stakes summative assessments.

Is Abstract Art Really Best for Classroom Walls?

2011-07-21T22:22:00.001-04:00

Evidently the answer is yes, at least according to this post at dialogueonlearning.com. Give it a read and let us know what you think.

"We can greatly improve the physical environment of our learning spaces by adding colorful, visually appealing posters, pictures or other graphic images to the walls. Although we are living in a visual age, visual cues have been extremely important for survival for humans throughout the millennia. In other words, responding to visual stimuli is hard-wired into our brains. A classroom that is visually appealing adds to the comfort level and can help to reduce stress and promote a sense of community. According to Jensen (2000a), the brain is capable of registering 36,000 visual massages per hour. Between 80-90% of information that the brain absorbs is visual. Making use of color is very helpful in getting the brain's attention. Jensen cites a study by Vuontela in 1999 that indicates memory of verbal cues is enhanced by color.

Researchers "speculate that abstract art may be especially potent. Because of its hidden meanings and atypical shapes and contours, abstract art, like abstract thinking, requires the viewer to 'step out of reality' and make use of more cognitive regions--a process that Rose (1991) calls 'tension and release.' The process calls for the viewer to take in the art as a whole, then visually and mentally dissect it, and finally put it back together to gain meaning. This stimulates the brain's occipital lobe (which controls vision and spatial and geometric functions), the temporal lobe (non-verbal pattern recognition), and the cerebrum (sensory interpretation, thinking and memory). Because more brain areas are stimulated and used than in routine observation, the brain gets a heightened mental workout which can enhance perception and learning, states Rose." (Jensen & Dabney, 2000, p. 79).

If you were wondering what colors were best for classroom walls, the site offers the following thoughts:
"We have long known that color can affect our moods and emotions. Most people are aroused by the warm colors (red, orange, and yellow), but feel more relaxed with the cooler colors. In Brain-Based Learning (2000a), Jensen suggests that the optimal classroom colors are yellow, light orange, beige, or off-white, based on a study by Robert Gerard of the University of California done in 1991."

Hmmmmm....I'll have to think more on those colors....

Arts Courses Improve both Verbal and Math SAT Scores. Really?

2011-07-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

For some people this statement may be unbelievable, after all can't we improve SAT scores (or any standardized, high-stakes test for that matter) only by drilling students to death? Not so. Those of us who teach through the arts understand the power it can have on student learning and how that learning can be transferred in many ways.

David Sousa in his book How the Brain Learns offers the following:on this topic as he cites the work of Vaughn and Winner from 2000 saying the study of the association between students taking arts courses and their SAT scores is one of the largest of its kind taking several years and involving over 10 million American high school students.

-Students who took arts classes had higher math, verbal and composite SAT scores than students who did not take arts classes.
-The more years of art classes, the higher the SAT scores
-Acting classes had the highest correlation with verbal SAT scores while Acting classes, music history, music theory or appreciation had the strongest relationship with math SAT scores.

Something to think about while trying to get those SAT scores up!

Integrating the Arts into the Core Curriculum and Cognition

2011-07-21T21:28:00.002-04:00

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time understands the power of integrating the arts into the core curriculum. After doing it for so many years, it is clear to us that it increases engagement, lifts the emotional climate in the classroom, makes students want to come to class, increases retention and much more. It's no surprise that David A. Sousa in his book How the Brain Learns, discusses how it also increases cognition saying that integrating the arts in the core curriculum "generates conditions that educational researchers and cognitive scientists say are ideal for learning." He goes on to discuss how they "develop essential thinking tools: pattern recognition and development; mental representations of what is observed or imagined; symbolic, allegorical and metaphorical representations; careful observations of the world; and abstraction from complexity" (217).

In our present climate of high-stakes testing, many schools are responding to lower than preferred scores by adding more "drill" and rote work; however, these efforts, although well-intentioned, are misguided at best. What students clearly need is to be educated in various ways that integrate the arts, engage them in the subject matter by hooking it in with previous knowledge or making it important to them in some way, and making that work interesting for them to study. Let's face it, the recent brain research tells us that the brain is more like a sieve than a sponge and will strain out anything it perceives as having little importance, relevance or connection. So if the brain is literally dumping this material out almost as quickly as it is going in, then what is the point? Integrating the arts increases cognition because students are able to see the value of what they are taking in, and the brain is not dumping the material out at such a high rate. Because students are having a good time while learning, their survival needs are taken care of and their emotional levels are satisfied-both blocks to learning if they "kick in" and cause anxiety or fight or flight response, and the way is clear for new learning to take place. And because they tend to "get it" the first time and strengthen their learning through rehearsal, less time is needed for remediation and reteaching. Some things to think about when your school is coming up with strategies to get those test scores up.

Emotionally Safe Classrooms

2011-07-15T20:23:00.003-04:00

You may completely understand the importance of creating a safe classroom atmosphere, but if asked by an administrator or other stakeholder to explain, would you be able to put it into a language that they will understand? Let's face it, that language is one of data and research. So it follows that you'll need to have that data and research in your back pocket in order to make others see where you are operating from and convince them that your methods are sound.

I recently picked up The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning through Movement by Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala (2010), and while I'm still working my way through it, I came across this interesting piece on emotional climate in the classroom and its effects on learning. It considers how the brain prioritizes information:

1. Survival: if this need is not met, the student will not be "in a position to work at optimal levels."

2. Emotional State/Stress: If a student feels stressed or has emotional distress he or she will be unable to learn effectively because the "parts of the brain that use higher-level thinking strategies and critical-thinking skills shut down when an individual's emotional state is compromised" (Souza as quoted in Lengel 9). This is a great piece of information to have at the ready when asked why emotional well-being in a classroom is so important-especially when many teachers are working in an atmosphere where the expectations are simply on cramming information into students' heads in order to pass high-stakes tests.

3. Receiving Data for New Learning: it's simple and it's clear-if priorities 1 & 2 above are not met, then priority 3 is never going to be satisfied effectively.

Now we can probably agree that this is common sense in some ways, but when you can explain it to others in the way listed above, then you are speaking their "language" and are sure to get your point across.

Being able to put language, based on data and research, to what you are doing is a prime step in getting others-especially stakeholders-to buy into what you are trying to accomplish in your classroom.

The Importance of Being a Teacher/Artist

2011-07-10T18:07:00.001-04:00

Steve Ross, Jody O'Neil and Keith Caldwell in 'Art'

Keith and I both believe in the importance of being a teacher/artist. This allows the teacher to be grounded in his art on the one hand but remain vital and creative-to break new ground as an artist which will only enhance his teaching-on the other. To that end Keith and I remain committed to working in the theater and were honored to be able to work at the Provincetown Theater on Yasmina Reza's 'Art' in February. I was the director and Keith played the part of Mark. It was an incredible experience to put on a show in the birthplace of modern theater and paid huge dividends in terms of remaining vital in our craft as director and actor and translating that into the classroom. I am also honored to be the sound designer for the upcoming play The Weight of Water by Myra Slotnick and directed by David Drake this Fall. I am excited to be directing the classic comedy Mister Roberts at the Barnstable Comedy Club in March with Keith as a cast member.

Who We Are: Meet Jeffrey Billard

2011-07-10T10:06:00.001-04:00

Jeffrey Billard, M.Ed. holds a Master's degree in Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University and a B.A. in English and Journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He teaches at Northeastern University in Boston and has also taught American Literature & History, writing, poetry, drama, film and television production for twenty-seven years at the high school, primarily at Barnstable High School, and middle school levels. As Assistant Director of the Barnstable High School Drama Club from 1994 to 2001, Jeff was involved in over thirty productions as a director, assistant director, singer, and actor. More recently Jeff directed the original play The Uncle Binky Show and Yasmina Reza's 'Art,' both at the Provincetown Theater. He will also be directing the classic play Mister Roberts at the Barnstable Comedy Club in March, 2012. Jeff also collaborated on writing three chapters for The Stage and the School, a performing arts textbook published by McGraw-Hill.

Owing to his strong belief in being a teacher/artist, Jeff went to Vietnam in 1997 to study at the University of Hue and has written, directed, and performed in his play Voices Across the Wall dealing with issues from the Vietnam War and has written and performed I, Vietnam a one-man theatrical piece as well. In the Spring of 2011 Jeff's play Once on the Tiger's Back was chosen as a winner in the Provincetown Theater's Spring Playwright's Festival. He has also co-authored and performed the play Waiting for Ingivelse with Keith Caldwell and has written a collection of poetry around the Vietnam War entitled Poetry of Conscience and a second called Circle Intact dealing primarily with the war in Iraq as well as PTSD. Jeff has also been a featured poet at the Provincetown Poetry and Literary Arts Festival and was awarded an NEH Fellowship to study at the Summer Teacher Institute-Teaching the Vietnam War at the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMass Boston in 1996. Jeff is also a voice actor who has performed in numerous Audio Dramas including most recently playing Signor Gremio in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

Jeff teaches Integrated Teaching Through the Arts, Drama and Poetry Across the Curriculum and Creative Drama with his colleague Keith Caldwell at Northeastern University in Boston. The two have also co-authored a text for use in the course and facilitate teacher training workshops as well. Jeff and Keith also taught an improv course at the Advanced Studies Leadership Program at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the summer of 2011.

Jeff believes that integrating the arts into education engages and energizes students while allowing them to make connections with prior knowledge and relate it to their own lives. Allowing students to discover their own learning through the arts is a key to engaging them and promoting them to gain their own knowledge. Jeff firmly believes that each student, no matter what their age, has something unique to “add to the conversation” and that integrating the arts is the conduit to making that happen.

Photo credit: Marshall Photography, Diane Marshall photographer

Who We Are: Meet Keith Caldwell

2011-07-09T23:59:00.000-04:00

Keith Caldwell, M. Ed. holds a Masters degree in Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University and a BA in English from Southeastern Massachusetts University. He currently teaches English Language Arts at Barnstable High School in Hyannis, MA and also teaches in the Graduate School for Professional Studies at Northeastern University. Keith has taught literature, writing, poetry, drama, and oral communication for the past 20 years. At Fontbonne Academy in Milton, MA from 1989-1994, Keith was the director of the drama department, directing and producing 15 plays and musicals. Keith's specialty is the dramatic arts; he wrote and developed the curriculum for the Drama and Theatre Arts course which he teaches at Barnstable High.

He has recently developed and taught a graduate course for teachers with fellow educator Jeffrey Billard on integrated teaching through the arts. The two have also co-authored a textbook for use in their course.

Keith believes that learning through, with, and about the arts inspires the creativity and imagination that is so essential to think critically, love deeply, and to live fully in a diverse and complex world.

Incredible Improv Resource

2011-07-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

If you're not using improv as a teaching tool, you should re-think it. It frees up students to feel comfortable in the class and allows for a greater flexibility when doing things that are normally done with students firmly planted in their seats. One example is instead of reviewing a story, chapter, etc by asking questions and waiting for hands to be raised, improv can be used to do the same thing in a more lively, fun and engaging manner. Check out this excellent improv resource at imrovencyclopedia.org and let the ideas flow. One word of caution, don't just jump into improv but use the many icebreakers, warm-ups and energizers included to get the students used to doing it before adding curricular connections. You won't be sorry.

Does the set-up of the desks in your classroom affect the climate in your room?

2011-07-09T21:44:00.001-04:00

Since many people who read this blog are teachers, I wanted to pose this question regarding the set-up of the desks in your classroom and if it sends a message to students. The answer to me is a resounding yes. What do rows (called the graveyard setup by a recent student in one our graduate classes who went on to say and we all know that the graveyard setup is deadly) say about the feel of the classroom as opposed to a horseshoe or even a circle if you're lucky enough to have the room to make one? Somewhere along the line I came across the line that in a circle everyone sits in the front row, and I've always liked it. Keith and I set our classrooms up in a circle and feel that it's very important for us to be sitting in that circle-not standing up over someone in a position of superiority-we want to be part of the fabric of the class not set ourselves apart from it. Just something to think about.

Playback Theater

2011-07-09T21:31:00.003-04:00

I first learned about Playback Theater while in an anti-bullying workshop given by Stan Davis and was intrigued from the start. Here is what Playbacktheatre.org says about it:

About Playback Theatre

Interactive and spontaneous, playback theatre bases its material on the stories of the community. In theatres, workshops, and a wide range of educational and organizational settings, Playback Theatre draws people together and allows fresh perspectives.

Performances are carried out by a team of actors, emcee (called the conductor), and musician. As the show begins, audience members respond to questions from the conductor, then watch as actors and musician create brief theatre pieces on the spot. Later, volunteers from the audience come to the stage to tell longer stories, choosing actors to play the main roles. Although performances often focus on a theme of interest or concern, the performers follow no narrative agenda, but bring their dramatic skills and their humanity to embodying on the stage the concerns and experiences of audience members.

Playback theatre is practiced in over 50 countries

It sounds like an interesting theater experience, but the best part is the way that it is used. Here is more from the website.

How It’s Used

Playback theatre, based on the stories of audience members enacted on the spot, promotes the right for any voice to be heard, brings group concerns to the surface, and stimulates a dialogue by making different perspectives visible. The method is extremely flexible, since there is no set play, and can adapt to the needs of many kinds of groups and organizations.

Playback theatre is used in schools, private sector organizations, nonprofit organizations, prisons, hospice centres, day treatment centres, at conferences of all kinds, and colleges and universities.

Playback theatre has also been used in the following fields: transitional justice, human rights, refugees and immigrants, disaster recovery, climate change, birthdays and weddings, and conferences.

For information on a specific application, contact the Centre for Playback Theatre, or a playback theatre company near you.

The one sentence "promotes the right for any voice to be heard," sticks with me and really makes me want to learn more about this incredible sounding experience called Playback Theater.

Safe Classrooms: Social and Emotional Learning

2010-07-26T14:39:00.003-04:00

The basis of what Keith and I teach in our classes is for educators to provide a safe environment for students. This "safe container" includes emotional as well as physical aspects and pays huge dividends in better attitudes towards each other, the teacher, and the school in general. This translates into increased opportunities to learn.

Check out this video from Edutopia about Jefferson County, Kentucky's Caring for Kids Initiative which
seeks to"build positive, caring, learning communities," and you may learn some interesting concepts around safe classrooms. Security monitor Richard Little says that when kids come in with a smile and leave with a smile his job is done. What a wonderful thought. Principal Alicia Averette says that activities and games around social and emotional learning do not necessarily cut into instructional time (a comment we hear quite a bit), instead they cut down on having to take time to settle conflicts during instructional time, because the work has been done upfront.Teacher Joanna Clark says that kids want to be there and tells the story of a young girl who was home sick and cried because she wanted to be in school. If we can actually work towards having kids want to be in school, then what a difference it will make in our school and classroom climates.

"We are standardizing our kids to fit the test" -Sir Ken Robinson

2010-07-26T10:20:00.002-04:00

Sir Ken Robinson elaborates on many of his earlier points in this conversation at Penn State with Patty Satalia. Many things resonate with me here, but one thing that stands out is he uses the term "teacher-proofing" and says that the teachers are being told basically how to teach and it's "stripping them of their professional skills and integrity." He also comments on how teaching to the test is not only stifling to students but to teachers as well. A fact that comes up in every course we teach. Some interesting things to think about here- give it a shot.

From the Penn State Conversations website:

Education innovation expert Sir Ken Robinson is changing the way people think about creativity and talent. Hear him detail what the world needs to change about its educational systems and find out what it means to find your “element.”

Sir Ken Robinson is a “creativity expert.” He has dedicated his life’s work to examining how children are educated. He champions a radical restructuring of school systems by acknowledging that there are multiple kinds of intelligence and they each require a different educational method.

Robinson led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education—a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy—and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.

2010-07-25T20:33:00.001-04:00

The "Power of Poetry" Rethinking Schools Summer 2010 Free online issue

2010-07-25T12:21:00.003-04:00

If you've never gone to the Rethinking Schools website, now might be a great time. Their online magazine topic for summer 2010 is the "Power of Poetry" and contains some powerful ideas.

COVER STORIES • POWER OF POETRY
The U.S. poet Robert Frost said, “A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a love sickness. It finds the thought and the thought finds the words.” Our cover section focuses on three teachers who guide students to find their voice through poetry, to take the lump in their throat and transform it into poetry that gives them a sense of their own power. At the same time, Tom McKenna, Renée Watson, and Elizabeth Schlessman show us how to use poetry to help students think critically about their personal experience and connect it to a larger social reality.

41 Ways to Go Beyond the Book Report by Erika Saunders

2010-07-25T10:49:00.002-04:00

I came across this post on byrdseed.com and thought it might be useful to those of us who are looking for new and interesting ways to get our students to interact with books. Take a look, you never know when you are going to find that gem that hooks a student in and ignites her curiousity and creativity!

The following is a guest post written by Erika Saunders. Visit her blog or follow her on Twitter @rozelialives. Interested in writing a guest post? Send me an email at ian@byrdseed.com! I’d love to set something up!

I have never been a fan of the “Book Report”, the traditional listing of characters, settings, and plots. Surely there’s a better way to have students relate to the books they read.

So, when the powers-that-be requested that our students write book reports, I just had to jump in – or rather, I was volunteered. In any event, there I was convinced that therewas something better, another way that would be interesting to 6ththrough 8th graders. And so I began to list all the things I could do after reading a book.

Then, something wonderful happened. I began having all kinds of neat, interesting ideas. The more I thought about it, the more ideas came. And not just ideas butways to approach the ideas: monthly themes and kids’ choice.You could even have students develop their own ideas.

So, here is the list I created as my mind delved deeper and deeper – some I’ve gotten from some really creative teachers – thanks Ian! – others I’ve done with my students.I consider it a work-in-progress and look forward to continually adding to it.

The beauty is that there really are no limits. We just have to allow ourselves to think “outside of the book report”.

◦Make a CD/Soundtrack for the movie with an explanation for each song choice

◦Create a 30-second movie commercial/trailer podcast

◦Make a PowerPoint presentation

•Why this should be a movie

•Summary

•TV series idea

•Abridged version of the book

◦Design a room that a character would have

◦Make a new book cover with a “write-up” and short pitch on why this should be the new cover

◦Turn the book into a short play

◦Create a fan blog

◦Design a Movie Poster

◦Write a letter to the head of a production company convincing them to make a movie

◦Write a letter to the “Fan Club” of the book

◦Create an “Interview with the Author”

◦Be a Talk Show Host interviewing the author

◦Rewrite the story using a new setting

◦Tell the story through a different character

•Dress up like the character and retell the story

•Write a summary from that character’s point-of-view

◦Be a Costume Designer for the movie version

◦Be the Set Designer for the movie version

◦Create a Graphic Novel version of the book

◦Create your own summary of what you think the sequel should be

◦Create a rap/song summary

◦Create the TV Show theme song

◦Illustrate the book

◦Make a documentary

◦Be a newscaster reporting the story

◦Make an audition video fora part in the movie

◦Record a voice-over

◦Describe the conflict/problem as a sport’s play

◦Create a Jeopardy game based on the book

◦Cast the movie/TV show

◦Link a real social/societal problem that relates to the story

◦Create a theme list and include books that fit into the theme

◦Create a photo album based on the book

◦Create a magazine based on the book

◦Write an advice column for the characters

◦Be the author’s editor– change one part to make the book better

◦Re-write it as a children’s book

Erika Saunders is a Special Education and Mentally Gifted Teacher for grades 6th through 8thgrade at an inner-city school in Philadelphia. For more of her quirky views on life, visit her blog: http://theytoldme2write.blogspot.com/ or follow her on Twitter: @rozelialives.

How to Use New-Media Tools in Your Classroom | Edutopia

2010-07-25T09:36:00.002-04:00

We have talked often in this space about bringing students' lives into the classroom and technology is certainly an important part of many of our student's daily lives. Here is a set of seven videos from Edutopia contributors that offer some interesting insights into using technology in our classrooms. While I don't agree with all of them, for example one of the videos discusses friending students on Facebook which I don't do for a number of reasons, they do have some merit. One thing I learned was that there is a YouTube.edu channel that is there for educational purposes. There are others about things like using digital photography, Twitter, wikis, GPS, and even WII! Some interesting stuff-give it a look; it might help you connect with more students.

How to Use New-Media Tools in Your Classroom Edutopia

A Subtle yet Important Difference

2010-07-24T16:31:00.006-04:00

In his seminal book The Secret Cause: A Discussion of Tragedy, Dr. Normand Berlin (my professor for Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neill at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst many years ago and best teacher I've ever had) makes a subtle yet important point in the preface. He thanks his students who were "prodded by themselves or by me to state exactly how they felt, rather than how they were supposed to feel, while reading and after reading" works of literature.

This should raise a question for all of us who are in the education field: are we trying to bring out the opinions and feelings of our students or are we furnishing them with what the work is supposed to be about?

I was shocked a number of years ago when after asking students what a possible theme of a piece of literature might be, a very intelligent young woman told me that her teachers had always told her what the themes of stories were and she didn't know she could discover them on her own. Many of the other students agreed. A sad commentary on our educational system and something to keep in mind as we plan our lessons for the fall.

Sir Ken Robinson: "Bring on the Learning Revolution"

2010-07-24T16:24:00.004-04:00

Millions have downloaded Sir Ken Robinson's talk "Schools Kill Creativity" from the 2006 TED conference. Now he has come out with another entitled "Bring on the Learning Revolution." Check it out and spend a little time on his website; it'll be well worth your time.

From Sir Ken Robinson:

"In 2006 I spoke at TED about developing children’s natural powers of creativity and imagination. Returning to TED in 2010 I wanted to focus on the need for a radical shift in education more generally. Reforming education is rightly seen as one of the biggest challenges of our times. In my view, reform is not enough: the real challenge is to transform education from a 19th century industrial model into a 21st century process based on different principles.

Current systems of education are based on the manufacturing principles of linearity, conformity and standardization. The evidence is everywhere that they are failing too many students and teachers alike. A primary reason is that human development is not linear and standardized, it is organic and diverse. People, as opposed to products, have hopes and aspirations, feelings and purposes. Education is a personal process. What and how young people are taught have to engage their energies, imaginations and their different ways of learning.

In this talk, I make a passing reference to fast food. Let me elaborate briefly. In the catering business, there are two main methods of quality assurance. The first is standardizing. If you have a favorite fast food brand, you can go to any outlet anywhere and know exactly what you will find: same burger, fries, cola, décor, and attitudes. Everything is standardized and guaranteed. By the way, this “cheap” food is also contributing to the most costly epidemic of diabetes and obesity in human history. But at least the standards are guaranteed.

The other method of quality assurance are the star ratings guides, like Michelin. These methods do not prescribe what’s on the menu, when restaurants should open, or how they should be decorated. They set out criteria of excellence and it’s up to each restaurant to meet them in their own way. They can be French, Mexican, Italian, Indian, American or anything else. They can open when they choose, serve what they like and hire whom they want. In general they are much better than fast food and offer a higher standard of service. The reason is that they are customized to local markets and personalized to the people they serve.

Education reform movements are often based on the fast food model of quality assurance: on standardization and conformity. What’s needed is a much higher standard of provision based on the principles of personalized learning for every child and of schools customizing their cultures to meet local circumstances.

This is not a theory. There are schools everywhere that demonstrate the practical power of these principles to transform education. The challenge is not to take a single model to scale but to propagate these principles throughout education so that teachers, parents, students and principals develop their own approaches to the unique challenges they face in their own communities.

Standardization tends to emphasize the lowest common denominator. Human aspirations reach much higher and if the conditions are right they succeed. Understanding those conditions is the real key to transforming education for all our children."

I'm reposting the original just in case you didn't see it before.

"the best grad course I have ever taken" coming again this summer!

2010-01-16T09:34:00.005-05:00

Keith and I are so happy when we get feedback like that from people who have taken our courses, as we pride ourselves on giving everyone the best experience we possibly can and really want teachers to take what they have learned and put it to use in their classrooms. We are totally invested and passionate about what we do and sincerely hope that you can join us this summer.

Here are a few more responses from course participants:

We had a super week. Jeff and Keith really guided us through a journey into our creative outlets. I looked forward to coming in every day. They were all-inclusive, knowledgeable and well-prepared.

The fact that it was lunchtime before I blinked and wrap-up time before I was ready to call it a day attests to their skills in being organized and providing seamless transitions from one activity to another.

My knowledge grew exponentially. Real possibilities that I can use immediately and new ways to ask what kids can do, not what I have decided they should do.

An immense success for me as a third grade teacher--endless ideas--realistic, valuable for real classrooms and real students.

It made me look deeper into my own creativity and at the same time, the potential that lies inside each of my students.

I would make this course a requirement for all teachers and teachers-to-be!

You can read more responses by scrolling down the blog.

So to say it once again, we hope you can join us this summer.

Integrating the Arts into the Everyday Curriculum
July 12-16
Barnstable, MA

Integrating Drama and Poetry Across the Curriculum
July 19-23
Barnstable, MA

Both of these courses are open to teachers of all levels and subjects and are three Graduate level credits. They are hands-on, participation-based courses that provide ideas and strategies that can be implemented in your classes right away upon your return to school next fall. Registration information will become available on Northeastern University's website in April. In the meantime, please let us know if you are interested in enrolling, and we'll keep you updated on when and how to register.

Reflections on Northeastern University Integrated Teaching Through the Arts Course

2010-01-15T17:00:00.000-05:00

This course was extremely successful in addressing my interests and needs. I couldn't wait to get to class every day to learn new and exciting methods of teaching. I wouldn't change a thing-you guys are amazing!

Excellent! I have never had teachers who were so willing to listen and then actually do something about it.

It was good to participate directly and experience the content as a student would experience it.

100% phenomenal! I am impressed with your skills and your willingness to live by the principles that you are teaching your students.

This was a great way to open up my thinking about boldly engaging in arts integration. This course opens up possibilities.

Jeff and Keith were positive and patient when responding to questions, supplying answers or ideas on the spot, or providing resources the following day. No questions went unanswered and all questions were welcome.

The course was very well organized and structured. A great deal of material was presented and we had time to reflect on and practice what we learned.

The course was very well organized and structured. I liked the way we moved around and got up to do a movement activity after sitting for a while. The whole day -each day-just flowed.

I look forward to using movement, art, music and poetry when working on reading comprehension skills. Right now my mind is so full; it's just swimming with many ideas!

Very successful! Giving me tools and methods to engage and motivate my students, as well as time to tie in with my own subjects was extremely valuable.

The research supporting arts integration was empowering to me. I feel "armed" to explain my ways to others. Actually learning the variety of activities/modalities was great-and just the beginning for me.

You make a fabulous team and have a nice balance. Your expertise and manner made us feel comfortable to take risks. (I never felt foolish, even when messing up!)

Really opened my eyes to how we see ourselves as teachers. The course helped me by teaching fun, easy movements, songs, improvs, etc. that can easily be immediately implemented into any class.

We had a super week. Jeff and Keith really guided us through a journey into our creative outlets. I looked forward to coming in every day. They were all-inclusive, knowledgeable and well-prepared.

The course was very successful in meeting my specific interests. I signed up for the course to become a better teacher, and I left feeling like I was overflowing with a million new ideas to try with my class.

It made me more aware of my role in the classroom and taught me that it is possible to make learning fun and interactive. I learned how to bring this much needed element to the classroom.

The instructors were amazing! They were so organized and had a wealth of information to share. I have a lot of respect for them, and I could only hope to be as knowledgeable as they are about how to bring a classroom alive.

There was an immediate connection between the ideas presented and ways I could put them into practice.

The fact that it was lunchtime before I blinked and wrap-up time before I was ready to call it a day attests to their skills in being organized and providing seamless transitions from one activity to another.

The readings and materials gave authenticity and credibility to the course. They validated everything that the instructors believed in why the arts must be integrated into the curriculum.

Our questions were always heard and honored. They modeled beautifully how to deal with student questions and concerns.

It will help me remember to include movement and creative activities in each lesson, and the importance of building community in my classroom.

My knowledge grew exponentially. Real possibilities that I can use immediately and new ways to ask what kids can do, not what I have decided they should do.

Student Reflections on Northeastern University Integrating Drama and Poetry Across the Curriculum Course

2010-01-15T16:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some student reflections after taking our Northeastern University Integrating Drama and Poetry Across the Curriculum course.

An immense success for me as a third grade teacher--endless ideas--realistic, valuable for real classrooms and real students.

It helped me to remember how and why I went into teaching. The materials, the experiential pieces, and the collaboration empowered me.

I realized that poetry is so much more than I knew. I learned how to enhance my ability to empathize with my students.

For the first time I felt like someone was really teaching me how to "feel" poetry.

I am so excited about building the sense of community with my class using the openers, closers and energizers.

This course offered the process I need to get to the creative--the gradual, trust-building process. It provided the validation I needed to continue the great "stuff"!

This course has helped me to break out of my shell!

This has been the best grad course I have ever taken.

As a person with no experience with drama or poetry, I have always felt uncomfortable using either in my class. Now I know how to infuse both in small ways (at least to start) which will greatly help my students.

A wealth of information, easy to approach, great daily and weekly schedule of activities and projects.

I will use all the team building energizers and warm-ups to continuously build a sense of community in the classroom. This year I will be creating not just writing portfolios, but separate poetry portfolios!

It made me look deeper into my own creativity and at the same time, the potential that lies inside each of my students.

After taking this course, I will teach more poetry/writing than I ever have. I will set up a safe, warm, welcoming classroom. I will always empathize with my students. I will have warm-ups/ icebreakers (they're great!). I will do more group work.

The course was structured very well. I never found myself looking at the clock.

I would make this course a requirement for all teachers and teachers-to-be!

A Wonderful Day

2009-12-08T14:29:00.003-05:00

Wow! It has been far too long since my last post! I am feeling very energized right now as I have just finished a fabulous day with some wonderful educators. Today I ran "The Blossoming Learner: Integrating the Arts into the Learning Process" workshop for a small... scratch that... intimate group of educators from Weymouth! It was fantastic. I was very impressed with the risks that they were willing to take without the benefit of the large group "safety net." Though it might seem more difficult to perform in front of a large audience it can be the exact opposite. Just a few sets of eyes can be unnerving (Especially when you don't have the benefit of watching others go through the same tasks as you!). I wanted to compliment them and welcome them to the blog! Let the integrating begin!

More on Critical Pedagogy

2009-07-19T10:23:00.007-04:00

In his book, Critical Pedagogy (2008, second edition), Joe L. Kincheloe helps us understand the central dynamics of critical pedagogy:

"Advocates of critical pedagogy are aware that every minute of every hour that teachers teach, they are faced with complex decisions concerning justice, democracy, and competing ethical claims. While they have to make individual determinations of what to do in these particular circumstances, they must concurrently deal with what John Goodlad (1994) calls the surrounding institutional morality. A central tenet of critical pedagogy maintains that the classroom, curricular, school structures teachers enter are not neutral sites waiting to be shaped by educational professionals. While such professionals do possess agency, this prerogative is not completely free and independent of decisions made previously by people operating with different values and shaped by the ideologies and cultural assumptions of their historical contexts. These contexts are shaped in the same ways language and knowledge are constructed, as historical power makes particular practices seem natural—as if they could have been constructed in no other way." (Chapter 1).

Later in this same work Kincheloe lists the basic concerns of critical pedagogy:

-all education is inherently political and all pedagogy must be aware of this condition
-a social and educational vision of justice and equality should ground all education
-issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and physical ability are all important domains of oppression and critical anti-hegemonic action.
-the alleviation of oppression and human suffering is a key dimension of educational purpose
-schools must not hurt students--good schools don't blame students for their failures or strip students of the knowledges they bring to the classroom
-all positions including critical pedagogy itself must be problematized and questioned
-the professionalism of teachers must be respected and part of the role of any educator involves becoming a scholar and a researcher
-education must both promote emancipatory change and the cultivation of the intellect--these goals should never be in conflict, they should be synergistic
-the politics of knowledge and issues of epistemology are central to understanding the way power operates in educational institutions to perpetuate privilege and to subjugate the marginalized--"validated" scientific knowledge can often be used as a basis of oppression as it is produced without an appreciation of how dominant power and culture shape it.
-education often reflects the interests and needs of new modes of colonialism and empire. Such dynamics must be exposed, understood, and acted upon as part of critical transformative praxis.

Excerpted from karr.net

I highly recommend Kincheloe's book written with Karel Rose:

Karel Rose and Joe Kincheloe, Art, Culture and Education: Artful Teaching in a Fractured Landscape, Peter Lang, New York, 2003

Note: I was saddened to hear of the recent death of Joe Kincheloe. You can find out more about his incredible life and work at The Freire Project website.

Defining Critical Pedagogy

2009-07-19T10:13:00.006-04:00

I came across this definition of critical pedagogy at karr.net.

Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach that attempts to help students question and challenge domination, and the beliefs and practices that dominate. In other words, it is a theory and practice of helping students achieve critical consciousness. Critical pedagogue Ira Shor defines critical pedagogy as

"Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional clichés, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse." (Empowering Education, 129)

Critical Pedagogy includes relationships between teaching and learning. It is a continuous process of unlearning, learning and relearning, reflection, evaluation and the impact that these actions have on the students, in particular students who have been historically and continue to be disenfranchised by traditional schooling.

Michelle Obama Speaks to the Value of Arts Education

2009-06-01T21:03:00.003-04:00

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the First Lady
________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 18, 2009

REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY
AT THE AMERICAN BALLET OPENING SPRING GALA

Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York

7:00 P.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Well, thank you, Caroline. I am thrilled to be here in support of American Ballet Theatre and to join you in celebrating the opening night of ABT's spring season.

Through its leadership role as America's National Ballet Company, ABT's education programs reach over 25,000 students in some of the most underserved communities and schools across the nation.

In many cases, a child's first inspiration through the arts can be a life-changing experience. One creative dance class can open a world of expression and communication. Learning through the arts reinforces critical academic skills in reading, language arts and math, and provides students with the skills to creatively solve problems.

My husband and I believe strongly that arts education is essential for building innovative thinkers who will be our nation's leaders for tomorrow. (Applause.) And it is our hope that we can all work together to expose, enrich and empower Americans of all ages through the arts.

And now it is my great pleasure to introduce the students of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School for their first appearance on this stage of the Met. This dance academy is a wonderful legacy for a woman who dedicated so much of her life to making arts and culture accessible for all.

Thank you, and enjoy. (Applause.)

Advocating for Arts Integration in Schools

2009-06-01T20:13:00.005-04:00

In this interview in the Wittenberg Journal of Education, Dr. Lora Lawson who teaches Integrating Literature, Art, Drama, Dance, and Music Throughout the Curriculum at Wittenberg discusses advocating for arts integration among other things. Here's an excerpt:

WJE: How would you recommend teachers and others supporting the arts advocate for arts integration in school?

Lawson: It depends on what will convince the audience. But first, provide data. Spread the word about research supporting arts integration. For example, arts-based programs around the country are demonstrating they can engage disadvantaged youth in schools, as evidence by increased attendance and graduation rates, and the closing of achievement gaps. Talk about research that concludes school reform through the arts can result in better student motivation, increased problem solving and higher-order thinking skills, better multicultural understanding, and more.

Next, tell the story: share examples of effective arts integration programs. Ask people to remember the arts in their schooling and childhood. Have the current students tell their stories.

Test scores Rising up to Two Times Faster in Chicago Arts-Integrated Schools - Washington Post

2009-06-01T19:54:00.007-04:00

The knee-jerk reaction to the attempt to raise student test scores is to go back to the old ways...drill, drill, drill. Yet more research is coming out to suggest that may not be the best way to get the scores up. This Washington Post article titled "The Art of Education Success" discusses the benefits of integrating the arts into the curriculum. Here's some excerpts:

The new economy may require higher-order skills such as creativity, adaptability and teamwork, but most schools in low-income areas focus narrowly on "basic" academic skills, testing and discipline. The student boredom and academic failure that follow prompt calls for yet more testing and discipline.

The first school and others like it are proving that integrating the arts into the core of the academic program is a far more productive strategy. Recently the principal of Edgebrook, Chicago's highest-scoring non-selective elementary school, attributed her school's success to its embrace of the arts. "We were concerned we might see a negative impact on test scores," Diane Maciejewski said. "But actually, just the opposite happened."

A growing body of research is yielding data that support her claim. A study of 23 arts-integrated schools in Chicago showed test scores rising up to two times faster there than in demographically comparable schools. A study of a Minneapolis program showed that arts integration has substantial effects for all students, but appears to have its greatest impact on disadvantaged learners. Gains go well beyond the basics and test scores. Students become better thinkers, develop higher-order skills, and deepen their inclination to learn.

These successes make clear that the arts are not just affective and expressive. They are also deeply cognitive. They develop the tools of thinking itself: careful observation of the world, mental representation of what is observed or imagined, abstraction from complexity, pattern recognition and development, symbolic and metaphoric representation, and qualitative judgment. We use these same thinking tools in science, philosophy, math and history. The advantage of the arts is that they link cognitive growth to social and emotional development. Students care more deeply about what they study, they see the links between subjects and their lives, their thinking capacities grow, they work more diligently, and they learn from each other.

Brain research confirms the benefits of Integrating the Arts

2009-06-01T19:17:00.004-04:00

This is from the Maryland Fine Arts Education Tool Kit.

Common to all subject areas across the curriculum are various “overarching” skills and processes, such as synthesis, analysis, reasoning, and communication. Integrating the fine arts with other disciplines (core content areas) through instruction and assessment supports the development of these skills and processes.

Real-life tasks require constant and complex integration of learning that crosses content area and disciplinary boundaries. Educators can enhance student learning by creating opportunities for students to make connections between arts content areas and other disciplines across the curriculum. Recent studies conducted in the area of brain research and the development of higher order thinking skills have also confirmed the benefits of integrating fine arts education across the curriculum.

Integration of learning outcomes across disciplines may take a number of different forms, including:

Incorporation of a content standard (i.e., learning outcome) from one content area to enhance that in another;
Identification of universal themes and commonalities between and among content areas to enhance knowledge and skills in each;
Application of skills, materials, and processes from one content area to create a product that will have meaningful application in another; and
Use of knowledge about something in one content area (declarative knowledge) to shape a creative product or process in another.

Instructional practices in visual arts education support and are enhanced by learning not only in other arts disciplines, but in core content areas such as mathematics, science, social studies, and English language arts.

Visual arts education may provide an interdisciplinary context for exploring key ideas that include:

Understanding of physical and chemical properties of substances (science);
Interpretations of literary texts (language arts);
Application of mathematical concepts such as line, shape, and space (mathematics); and
Understanding of ways in which social and cultural values are defined and expressed throughout history (social studies).

Visual Arts Thematically Linked Integrated Assessment Task

Integrating the Arts with Academic Subject Boosts Student Scores

2009-06-01T18:10:00.004-04:00

This article from America.gov discusses the Kennedy Center's Changing Education through the Arts (CETA) program. Here are some excerpts:

"A controlled comparison has shown that CETA students showed significant improvement in non-art academic achievement — including test scores in English and history — and effort grades, according to the school district’s Web site."

(Note from Jeff) This is something that we arts-based educators have know for a long time, but it's great to see it substantiated and a great counterpoint to those who want to increase the drill, drill, drill methodology to get students ready for standardized tests.

"Student engagement and motivation to learn has risen. There has been a positive impact on test scores overall, but much of the impact of deeper learning is not measured by standardized tests. We are especially noticing that English language learners and special education students benefit even more from arts integration.”

“It’s all about helping students learn. The byproducts are that teachers get re-energized about teaching and schools become collaborative learning places,” he said. “CETA is helping develop 21st-century schools.”

This quote is from the CETA website; it's worth a long look.

Our whole school is integrating the arts, thanks to the CETA program. The culture of our school is completely different because the arts are a regular part of instruction in classrooms on a continual basis. It has changed the way we define our school.—CETA Teacher

Now that's a testament to integrating the arts if I've ever heard one!

Excellent Activities for Integrating the Arts

2009-06-01T17:55:00.002-04:00

This comes from a series of activities from a workshop by Dr. Sue Snyder for Oak Grove Upper Elementary School in Mississippi. They can be adapted for any level. Visual Art, Creative Movement, Music and more are clearly described. It's worth a look!

Interchange: Engaging Students Through the Arts in St. Louis

2009-05-31T20:04:00.006-04:00

Here is another link I found on the HotChalk blog. It's called Interchange, and it's an integrated arts program in St. Louis. Here is an excerpt from their site:

What is Arts Integration?

Not all children learn in the same way. The arts can bring the curriculum to life, engage students and encourage learning. Through Interchange, community partners are helping classroom teachers in the St. Louis Public Schools do what they do best by providing additional support through arts-infused learning.

Arts integration incorporates the arts throughout the learning process by infusing some form of art, such as theater, music, dance, drawing, poetry, or other expression of creativity, into the core curriculum. It is experiential in nature and encourages learning by "doing." Using arts and cultural resources to expand the ways teachers teach and students learn has been proved to achieve measurable results. Arts integration also helps develop the whole child, ensuring a well-rounded education.

Integrating arts and cultural programs throughout the learning process is an addition to — not a substitution for — fine arts classes. Interchange strongly supports classes devoted exclusively to instruction in art and music, in addition to having a full range of the arts as part of the learning experience in all subject areas.

Click here to read about some examples of arts integration at work in the St. Louis Public Schools in the 2007-2008 school year.

How does arts integration work?
The arts engage students in learning and ensure that all students grasp key concepts by reaching beyond textbooks and lectures.

What can we expect from Interchange's partnership with the St. Louis Public Schools?
Arts integration is a model that is working to improve student outcomes in urban public schools across the country.

In St. Louis, we can expect:

Improved student performance. read more

Improved critical thinking skills. read more

Expanded teaching skills that engage the whole child. read more

Improved outcomes related to overall school culture and attendance. read more

Resources

Want to learn more about arts integration? Click here for some recommended sites to visit.

Examples

Click here to see some examples of Arts Integration.

Arts Every Day: Why Arts Integration

2009-05-31T19:50:00.005-04:00

This is another great link I found on the HotChalk blog. It's from Arts Every Day, an organization that works on integrating the arts in Baltimore.

"When well planned and implemented, arts integration is one of the most effective ways for a wide range of students with a wide range of interests, aptitudes, styles, and experiences to form a community of active learners taking responsibility for and ownership of their own learning."

Renaissance in the Classroom, pg. xxvi

What is arts integration?

Arts integration is instruction that integrates content and skills from the arts—dance, music, theater, and the visual arts—with other core subjects. Arts integration occurs when there is a seamless blending of the content and skills of an art form with those of a co-curricular subject.

Why do it?

Arts integration is highly effective in engaging and motivating students. It supports the academic achievement and improved social behavior of students while enhancing school climate and parental involvement.
A rich array of arts skills and intellectual processes provide multiple entry points for students to approach content in other subject areas, while the arts instruction is likewise deepened through integration of content from the other subject areas. The arts provide students multiple modes for demonstrating learning and competency.
It enlivens the teaching and learning experience for entire school communities. At its best, arts integration is transformative for students, teachers, and communities. The imaginations and creative capacities of teachers and students are nurtured and their aspirations afforded many avenues for realization and recognition.

How do you do it?

Arts integration is a fundamental culture shift. It takes time to build awareness, understanding, and commitment among members of the school community.

Ongoing professional development is essential to give classroom teachers facility in arts disciplines, enable them to analyze curricula to find the natural connections between arts curricula and the curricula of other subject areas, and create lessons and units of instruction.

Collaboration is essential between and among classroom teachers and arts specialists. Common planning time is critical.

Arts specialists are key resources, collaborators, and leaders in developing arts integration programs. They are extremely valuable in guiding the planning of professional development and supporting collaboration among teachers and with partners such as cultural institutions and teaching artists.

What are budget and structural priorities for becoming an arts integration schools?

Staffing that includes as many arts disciplines as possible and an arts integration specialist or lead teacher is a priority. Some schools use part-time or shared positions to extend their reach.

Professional development—schools that are highly successful in arts integration provide ongoing training experiences for their teachers, whose capacity in arts integration will deepen over time.

Schedules that include common planning time allowing classroom teachers to collaborate with arts specialists and others are vital. Collaboration with arts organizations and teaching artists will provide rich arts integration experiences for students and professional development for teachers.

What is a realistic timeline?

It may take three years to fully realize potential as an arts integration school. Planning to achieve this goal is essential. While schools tailor their own pathways to successful arts integration programs, there are some useful steps many follow. What follows is not intended to be prescriptive but rather suggestive of a successful process.

Phase 1:

Build awareness and commitment within the school community, including among parents.

Look at arts integration models in schools in Baltimore and across Maryland.

Begin to build staff in the arts.

Engage the school community in planning.

Begin to identify and engage partners from the cultural community.

Form a team to participate in arts integration professional development and share their experiences with colleagues.

Make budgetary decisions that reflect a commitment to arts integration.

Phase 2:

Continue to build staff in the arts.

Provide professional development for more teachers in arts integration. Those who received introductory training progress to more advanced work.

Address leadership for arts integration through arts staff, trained classroom teachers, and an arts integration specialist.

Identify arts integration mentor teachers on staff who could assist in the training of new personnel.

Network with other arts integration schools in the city and state.

Share successful arts integration units with the school community.

Display curriculum maps. Curriculum mapping is the process of delineating natural connections among curricula for various subject areas, identifying the outcomes being met through an arts integrated lesson or unit.

Seek cultural experiences for students that are linked to arts integration through collaboration with arts organizations and teaching artists.

Phase 3:

Continue with the above steps and attain specific goals such as:

Provide staffing in all four arts disciplines even if utilizing part-time staffing.

Ensure that all teachers have received professional development in arts integration, with some having extensive training.

Share your work with your community and celebrate the imagination of your students and teachers!

Arts Every Day is an organization dedicated to working in partnership with Baltimore City schools to inspire students and enhance learning by facilitating excellence in arts education and arts integration.

Washington D.C. recently adopts comprehensive art education learning standards for its students

2009-05-31T19:30:00.003-04:00

While reading about integrating the arts at the hotchalk blog, I came across some links that are good news for arts-based educators across the country. Washington D.C. has adopted comprehensive art education learning standards for its students. Here is the introduction:

In its recent report, “Tough Choices, Tough Times,” the National Center on Education and the Economy wrote compellingly about future skills that will be needed by America’s workforce, and the transformation that is going to have to occur in our nation’s schools in order to compete in the global economy.1 Reports continue to document that “United States leadership depends on creativity and innovation and not technology alone in order to compete in the global marketplace. Strong skills in the arts are essential qualities needed for success in the workplace: “creative and innovative, self-disciplined and well organized team players who are flexible and adaptable to change and facility with the use of ideas and abstractions."2 The arts enable students to develop the capacities to create, perform, use critical judgment, problem solve and appreciate many forms of art.

One goal of arts education in Washington, DC (District) is to prepare our students to be vibrant participants in a creative economy and positive contributors in our democratic society. Americans for the Arts, a leading nonprofit organization promoting the arts in America, estimates that the economic impact of the arts in the greater Washington metropolitan area is $2.1 billion, and that they contribute $144 million to the region’s tax base. The industry supports almost 12,000 jobs in the District of Columbia alone, 45,000 in the greater metro area.

High quality, sequential education in the arts, along with interaction with cultural organizations and artists, contributes in multiple ways to the development of workforce skills and the capacity to learn. Time dedicated to the study of the arts does not work to the detriment of other academic subjects. The arts reinforce learning, motivate and engage students, reduce dropout rates, defuse school violence and help retain teachers. The arts provide meaning to academics and to life.

Those in the arts community often talk about the “intrinsic” and “instrumental” value of the arts. Whether being awed by a dance performance, moved by music, captivated by the theater, or enthralled by appointing, art for art’s sake, has a powerful inherent value. For the District’s school children to compete in today’s world, the arts must play an instrumental role in the overall curriculum. We cannot ignore the growing body of literature that relates art education to the learning of other subjects like social studies, mathematics and reading. In March 2008, the results of a major, scientific three-year study, The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition: Learning, Arts, and the Brain, stated that training in the arts has positive benefits for ”more cognitive mechanisms.”3 For example, the study found correlations existing between music training and both reading acquisition and sequence learning. Training in acting
appeared to lead to memory improvement. Eliot W. Eisner, Ph.D., one of the nation’s leading education thinkers, believes that among many positive outcomes, the arts teach students to make valuable judgments about qualitative relationships, recognize that problems in life can have more than one solution, celebrate multiple perspectives, understand and recognize that small differences can have large effects and say what cannot be written or spoken.4

1 “Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report on the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce” (National Center on Education and the
Economy, 2006).
2 “The Imagine Nation: Moving America’s Children Beyond Average imagination and the 21st Century Education (Poll conducted by Lake
Research Partners and released by AEP The ImagineNation, January, 2008
3 “Learning, Arts, and the Brain.” Report released by the Dana Foundation on March 4, 2008. The Report was based on a three-year scientific
study conducted by seven major universities across the United States.
4 Elliot W. Eisner, PhD., Stanford University, works in Arts Education, Curriculum Studies, and Qualitative Research Methodology. See “The Arts and the
Creation of the Mind,” Chapter 4 (Yale University Press, 2002).

It's great to see this taking place on a large scale. Let's hope it continues to take hold and gain traction throughout the country. It's also nice to see that many of the points made in this introduction are similar to those made on this blog.

What is Authentic Assessment?

2009-05-31T11:19:00.004-04:00

This is an excerpt on defining authentic assessment from eduplace.com:

Authentic assessment refers to assessment tasks that resemble reading and writing in the real world and in school (Hiebert, Valencia & Afflerbach, 1994; Wiggins, 1993). Its aim is to assess many different kinds of literacy abilities in contexts that closely resemble actual situations in which those abilities are used. For example, authentic assessments ask students to read real texts, to write for authentic purposes about meaningful topics, and to participate in authentic literacy tasks such as discussing books, keeping journals, writing letters, and revising a piece of writing until it works for the reader. Both the material and the assessment tasks look as natural as possible. Furthermore, authentic assessment values the thinking behind work, the process, as much as the finished product (Pearson & Valencia, 1987; Wiggins, 1989; Wolf, 1989).

(A comment from Jeff: this last sentence really resonates with me, as I have always believed that the journey is just as important as the destination when it comes to learning. We need to strike a balance between the two, if we are going to authentically assess our students.)

Working on authentic tasks is a useful, engaging activity in itself; it becomes an "episode of learning" for the student (Wolf, 1989). From the teacher's perspective, teaching to such tasks guarantees that we are concentrating on worthwhile skills and strategies (Wiggins, 1989). Students are learning and practicing how to apply important knowledge and skills for authentic purposes. They should not simply recall information or circle isolated vowel sounds in words; they should apply what they know to new tasks. For example, consider the difference between asking students to identify all the metaphors in a story and asking them to discuss why the author used particular metaphors and what effect they had on the story. In the latter case, students must put their knowledge and skills to work just as they might do naturally in or out of school.

Goals of Authentic Assessment are discussed in the article Incorporating Authentic Assessment from Park University. Here is an excerpt:

Goals of Authentic Assessment:

Enhance the development of real-world skills

Encourage higher order cognitive skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation)

Promote active construction of creative, novel ideas and responses

Encourage emphasis on both the process and product of learning

Promote the integration of a variety of related skills into a holistic project

Enhance students' ability to self-assess their own work and performance

There is a great deal more in this article including a chart that compares traditional assessment with authentic assessment, advantages and disadvantages of both, guidelines for creating authentic assessment and much more. Check it out; it's worth a close reading.

Although it doesn't specifically mention integrating the arts, it doesn't take too much effort to see how one could use those ideas with authentic assessment.

Formative and Summative Assessments

2009-05-31T11:04:00.005-04:00

It may be important to define some terms as we continue to discuss assessments. The following definitions are from the article Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom by Catherine Garrison and Michael Ehringhaus.

Summative Assessments are given periodically to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know. Many associate summative assessments only with standardized tests such as state assessments, but they are also used at and are an important part of district and classroom programs. Summative assessment at the district/classroom level is an accountability measure that is generally used as part of the grading process.

Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made. These adjustments help to ensure students achieve, targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame.

For further study, you can read "The Concept of Formative Assessment" by Carol Boston at the Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation online journal.

"Versatile teachers encourage many forms of expression"

2009-05-31T09:52:00.007-04:00

The line "Versatile teachers encourage many forms of expression" taken directly from the Massachusetts Learning Standards should lead many of us to examine our teaching practices. Are we, in fact, allowing our students to express themselves in many different ways? By extension, are we using various forms of assessment that tie into the multiple intelligences? Or is it always the same? Quiz. Test. Quiz. Test with an occasional paper thrown in? Are we gearing our assessments just to those students who do well linguistically and mathematical/spatially? What about those students whose intelligences are stronger in other areas? Does it mean they haven't mastered the concepts if they do poorly on a test? Can't they show their mastery in other ways? The answer is yes, and it is our responsibility as educators to use multiple forms of assessment, so we can authentically assess our student's progress.

Integrating Mathematics with Dance? Come on, is that in the Massachusetts Frameworks?

2009-05-31T08:13:00.006-04:00

You bet it is!

Don't believe me? Check it out.

PreK-12 Standard 10: Interdisciplinary Connections

Students will use knowledge of the arts and cultural resources in the study of the arts, English language arts, foreign languages, health, history and social sciences, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering.

Learning Standards

Students will

10.1 Integrate knowledge of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts and apply the arts to learning other disciplines

Examples of this include:

• using visual arts skills to illustrate understanding of a story read in English language arts or foreign languages;

• memorizing and singing American folk songs to enhance understanding of history and geography;

• using short dance sequences to clarify concepts in mathematics.

So there it is once again. Integrating the arts across the curriculum being supported by the Massachusetts State Learning Standards/Frameworks. Still don't believe me? Then click on the link and see for yourself. Better yet, click on it even if you do believe me and check out all of the frameworks-you might be surprised what's there.

Making Connections Across the Curriculum

2009-05-30T12:51:00.004-04:00

Back to the Massachusetts Educational Curriculum Frameworks which advocate for making connections across the curriculum. Here's what it says:

Making Connections across the Curriculum

Teaching an interdisciplinary curriculum involves collaboration among faculty and the community. Teachers and students might explore topics such as:

• visual, oral, aural, and kinetic elements of the four arts disciplines;
• characteristics common to the process of creating art works in each discipline;
• interpretations of a theme or concept, such as harmony or compassion, through each of the four arts disciplines;
• the ways in which the content of other disciplines is interrelated with the arts; including languages and literacy, scientific principles, mathematical reasoning, and geographical, cultural, and historical knowledge; and
• the ways in which concepts from other core disciplines may be expressed through the arts.

While all of these points are important, I want to focus on the point of the last two since they deal with integrating the arts. They make a direct correlation between the arts and science, math, language and history and how concepts from these core disciplines, even though I'm not a fan of that term, can be "expressed through the arts."

I know I keep harping on this point, but the practice of integrating the arts is backed up by the highest educational power in the state. We need to become fluent in these frameworks, as we move forward in implementing them. We need to put language to what it is that we do in our classrooms so that others can understand and get behind it.

Learning by Doing

2009-05-30T12:24:00.003-04:00

Okay, by now you're used to hearing this kind of thing coming from me, but this is from the Massachusetts Frameworks for education. I have highlighted the areas in color.

Learning By Doing

Students learn about the arts from the artist’s perspective by active participation — they learn by doing. They come to understand the specific ways in which dancers, composers, musicians, visual artists, or actors think, solve problems, and make aesthetic choices. Massachusetts schools should educate students to think like artists, just as they teach students to think like writers, historians, scientists, or mathematicians.

Learning in, about, and through the arts can lead to a profound sense of understanding, joy, and accomplishment. It is important that students learn to express and understand ideas that are communicated in sounds, images, and movements, as well as in written or spoken words. Sequential education in any of the arts disciplines emphasizes imaginative and reflective thought, and provides an introduction to the ways that human beings express insights in cultures throughout the world.

This is significant for those of us who are arts-based educators and need the language to communicate what we are doing in our classrooms to administrators, colleagues, parents, and others. It is important to become familiar with these frameworks, so that we can substantiate our practices when called upon to do so.

Here's some more from Pre-K to Grade four where the goal is to develop and sustain the natural curiosity, expressiveness, and creativity that very young children often display. Arts education begins with a foundation that emphasizes exploration, experimentation, engagement of the senses, and discussion as paths to understanding.

Young children use the arts to explore sensation and recreate their memory of real and imagined events. They are trying to find out all they can about the expressive qualities inherent in different forms of communication. Through what they choose to dramatize, sing, or paint, children let others know what is important, trivial, appealing, or frightening in their lives. Because arts experiences allow children to play with ideas and concepts, students often express freely in their artwork ideas and understandings that do not emerge in other classroom work. Versatile teachers encourage many forms of expression and learn how to appreciate the messages children transmit through their artworks.

Here are more ideas that back up integrating the arts across the curriculum and advocate for multiple forms of assessment and varied teaching strategies. Here the state, the same folks who standardize test our kids to the point of absurdity, is advocating for the arts and by extension, integrating the arts into the classroom. We all need to make sure we know this and can put language to it as we move forward.

Writing a short story in English class-is it fluff? You might be surprised who says no.

2009-05-30T11:25:00.007-04:00

The State of Massachusetts!

The English Language Proficiency and Outcomes Benchmarks in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks state:

[The student] Writes a story or script with theme and details. (W.2.17a)

The main point here is not about creative writing, it's about becoming familiar with the learning standards in your state. This way you can put language to your teaching methods and defend them, if need be, to administrators who don't get what it is you are trying to do. Too often the arts are looked on as fluff, whether they are taught as an art class or as an integrated learning experience. So, we not only have to keep adding to our creativity as educators and learners, but we need to be able to express how what we are doing as arts-based educators is backed up by our state standards. Massachusetts has standards that relate to dance, visual arts, theater, poetry and more. Check them out and put language to what you are doing in class.

Science and Dance together, What?

2009-05-26T20:24:00.003-04:00

I constantly have math and science teachers tell me "this is a math (or science) class, I can't integrate the arts like they do in English and History." To that I heartily disagree. Don't believe me? Then check out this lesson on the ArtsEdge site that pairs Atomic and Molecular Structure with Dance. And oh ya, you're worried about standards right? Don't be, it covers National Standards in Dance, Physical Education, and of course Science. Here's the lesson overview:

In this lesson, students will utilize their knowledge of basic physical science concepts to create movement patterns that simulate the movement of atoms and molecules. They will formulate and answer questions about how movement choices communicate abstract ideas in dance and demonstrate an understanding of how personal experience influences the interpretation of a dance.

Need an example of pairing Math with Dance? Try this one for grades 1 & 2 called Shaping Patterns and Dancing Shapes. Here's the lesson overview"

Students verbally explain and then create with a stretch rope several geometric shapes (triangle, rectangle, square, and circle). Students also identify and create the missing shape in a set of patterns. After exploring ways to arrange the four geometric shapes, students work in small groups to create a dance including all four shapes and transitional movements.

The point is this: Math and Science lessons readily lend themselves to integrating the arts. One of the main blocks that I find with teachers is the trepidation of breaking out of the way that it's all been done for a hundred years, when that is exactly what our kids need. Why not take a chance and give it a shot.

"Textbooks dare not speak of"

2009-05-26T17:50:00.004-04:00

I've written a number of posts about designing curriculum and instruction that allows students to construct their own meaning and make real connections to what is being taught. One student of mine wrote this in a reflective piece after concluding a unit based on the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Students wrote poems and letters from one character to another. They also had a choice between visual art pieces, musical pieces and any type of project that utilized one or more art modalities. They were also required to write short reflective responses to different lessons that got beyond the head and into the heart and gut. At the end of the unit, they were asked to write a reflective essay on the entire experience. Here is the excerpt:

"The unit on Vietnam that has been covered in class is unlike anything that I have ever done in English class, and perhaps school in general. We, as a class, were able to feel some of the more emotional aspects of war that our textbooks dare not speak of."

This student was able to connect with the material on a level that was very personal and powerful and transcend the normal experience with textbooks. He states that he was able to "feel" what was being learned, which by his own admission is an experience he had not had previously in school. We should try to get all of our students to connect in such a way.

Creating New Knowledge or Perpetuating Established Knowledge?

2009-05-24T09:36:00.007-04:00

Continuing on this thread of pedagogical posts, I came across an interesting student paper by kcofrinhsa titled "Evolving Views on Education and the Nature of Knowledge." on the Serendip blog from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. It's an interesting piece that deserves a close reading. Here are some points that resonate for me.

1. The concept of our brains being "creators of new knowledge" or "mechanisms meant to perpetuate already established knowledge." When we think of our own pedagogical concepts as educators, which is more important for students? Clearly there is knowledge that needs to be passed on, but it's what students make out of that knowledge that constitutes true learning. We, as educators, need to be acutely aware that allowing students to construct their own meaning is key, especially as we continue our journeys through the conceptual age.

2. Allowing students to see themselves reflected in the curriculum is a key component in education. Are the basic tenets of our curriculum geared toward the dominant group? Are other groups institutionally marginalized? An interesting metaphor is cited from Emily Style's article "Curriculum as Window & Mirror:"

"If the student is understood as occupying a dwelling of self, education needs to enable the student to look through window frames in order to see the realities of others and into mirrors in order to see her/his own reality reflected (21).

The paper goes on to say that many schools are attempting this by adding such authors as Toni Morrison to their literature classes. However, the author makes a great point when he/she states that these "new types of literature have been added to the curriculum without changing traditional methods of literary study" (Vinz). The author goes on to cite a case where a "class discussion reveals a forced discussion where the teacher inadvertently dismisses student's ideas about the novel." We need to move past the idea that the teacher is the font of knowledge who regulates the interpretations in the classrooms and knows just what the author is intending in a work. I've always wondered how teachers know the meanings that Henry David Thoreau is putting forth in Walden or exactly what Walt Whitman means in "Song of Myself?" Isn't it more fitting to allow students to construct their own meanings and allow them to back up their ideas with evidence and analysis rather than state they are wrong right off the bat? This would suggest that while adding these new titles which reflect other groups in society is a good thing, we also need to change our teaching strategies around them.

This paper is worth a read and some heavy consideration. It also stands as a prime example that our students can construct their own meanings and make excellent points just as kcofrinsha has done here.

Moving into the "Conceptual Age" where "data will be less important than creativity"

2009-05-23T19:41:00.005-04:00

I've voiced my concern on many occasions regarding my fear that our schools are training a generation of students who are adept at taking standardized tests and following the status quo instead of thinking creatively and critically.

One question I continue to ask educators is why are we still using a system of educating our children that was developed to train industrial workers in the early 1900s? Especially since most of our industry has moved on.

Author and speaker Daniel Pink says that we've moved through the information age and are now in what he calls the "conceptual age." In this age it's creativity and the "ability to move smoothly between boundaries" that will pay off for our students.

I came across this Boston Globe article by Penelope Trunk and have excerpted a part of it below:

"We are entering a new age in economic history, and it will elevate those who are nimble and creative. When we moved from industrial economy to the information economy, jobs became more interesting; coal miners were unemployed, tech support centers hired like mad, and secretaries became small-time database operators. Now we're in the early stages of the "conceptual age" in which data will be less important than creativity, and jobs will be more fulfilling.

Daniel Pink presents this one-minute economic history in his book, "A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age." He says, "Key abilities will not be high tech but high touch," and we will value the ability to make meaning and connections in a world where information is a commodity.

According to Pink, the people who will do best in this economy are those who don't just take and give orders but also move smoothly between boundaries, like the technical guru who understands marketing or the accountant who speaks four languages. "But," Pink warns, "you cannot get a move-smoothly-between-boundaries aptitude test, so a lot of this is about self-discovery."

Here are some traits you need to develop to do well in the conceptual age:

Empathy. Think emotional intelligence on steroids. The most empathetic people have the ability to see an issue from many different perspectives. And work that can be done without infused empathy begs to be outsourced.
Aesthetic eye. Pink says, "Design sense has become a form of business literacy like learning to use Microsoft Excel. Smart business people should start reading design magazines."
Ability to negotiate and navigate. The conceptual age will be filled with possibilities that point to no single truth. Pink says, "People must learn to do something that is not routine, that doesn't have a right answer."

Bottom line: You'll have to be creative to stay employed. But really, who doesn't want to be creative? It's inherently more rewarding to be creative than to be an information drone.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and author of "Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention," says that, "Being creative is a way in which life becomes richer."

"But if you want to be creative you must learn to do something well. You need to learn a set of skills, and then, once you feel comfortable you can ask yourself how you can make it better."

Those with no patience for climbing traditional corporate ladders, pay heed: Innovation without a basic knowledge in that area is not creativity but dilettantism. Not that dabbling in topics you know nothing about isn't fun, but that lifestyle will not create the kind of value that keeps your job this side of the ocean. To find what you love to do, Csikszentmihalyi recommends exploration.

"A richer life is one in which you have access to different aspects of the world." Sure, you need to find your talents to figure out where you will put your creative energy."

One of the statements that really resonates with me is valuing the ability to "make meaning and connections in a world where information is a commodity." If this is the case, and I believe it is, then why aren't our schools spending more time helping students make meaning and connections in the learning process. Why are so many of our classes filled with long lectures, recall activities, and worksheets copied from mass produced workbooks that basically amount to busy work?

The answer is clear. We must change our teaching methods to include higher order thinking skills and tailor our lessons to the individual's learning styles while touching on all of the multiple intelligences. Integrating the arts is one way to achieve this goal, to energize our classrooms, and to engage our students. The time is now...it's actually past now.

Constructivism and Critical Pedagogy

2009-05-09T22:36:00.005-04:00

While perusing the Critical Pedagogy on the web site, I came across this discussion of Constructivism and its ties with critical pedagogy. It's worth taking a few moments to read. The red highlighting is done by me.

Constructivism

"A philosophy that views learning as an active process in which learners construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through action and reflection. Constructivists argue that individuals generate rules and mental models as the result of their experiences with both other human subjects and their environments and in turn use these rules and models to make sense of new experiences.

Three important concepts emerge from this definition:

Knowledge is socially constructed. It is not something that exists outside of language and the social subjects who use it. Learning--obtaining knowledge and making meaning--is thus a social process rather than the work of the isolated individual mind; it cannot be divorced from learners' social context.
Learning is an active process. Students learn by doing rather than by passively absorbing information.
Knowledge is constructed from experience. Students bring prior knowledge into a learning situation, which in turn forms the basis for their construction of new knowledge. Upon encountering something new, learners must first reconcile it in some way with their previous ideas and experiences. This may mean changing what they believe, expanding their understanding, or disregarding the new information as irrelevant.

In this framework then, learning is not a process of transmission of information from teacher to student, a model which positions the student as a passive receptacle, but an active process of construction on the part of the learner that involves making meaning out of a multiplicity stimuli.

In practice, educators use active techniques (experiments, real-world examples, problem solving activities, dialogues) to introduce students to information and issues and then encourage students to reflect on and talk about what they did and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions and guides activities to address and build on them. Constructivism also often utilizes collaboration and peer criticism as a way of facilitating students' abilities to reach a new level of understanding.

Relationship to Critical Pedagogy
Many of the characteristic tenets of critical pedagogy are consistent with a constructivist approach to education. Long before Paulo Freire (1921-1997) wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), which contains his famous critique of the "banking concept of education" (education that revolves around the actions of teachers who "deposit" knowledge into their passive students), John Dewey (1859-1952), generally considered the founder of "progressive" education and constructivist educational theory in the United States, rejected teaching practices that positioned students as passive receptacles, such as the rote learning of isolated facts, advocating instead for a pedagogical approach that involved students' active engagement with each other and with the world. Like Freire, who embraced both "problem posing" and dialogic educational practices, Dewey emphasized the importance of active social learning environments, rather than one-sided lectures, and argued that learning involves the active construction of knowledge through engagement with ideas in meaningful contexts, rather than the passive absorption of isolated bits of information. And just as Freire maintained that education must engage with the language and experiences of learners, drawing upon their thematic universes, Dewey had also argued that learning takes place within meaningful contexts that allow students to build upon the knowledge they already have. Both argue that educators need to understand the experiences and world views of their students in order to successfully further the learning process. Moreover, both associate learning with critical reflection, with actively seeking after truth and applying it to future problems. They also draw a connection between critical reflection and politics, with Freire linking critical reflection with the fight against oppressive social conditions and Dewey linking it to responsible and ethical democratic citizenship."

So, if in fact learning is not about the "transmission of information" from teacher to student, and in no way do I believe it is, then why are so many of our classrooms and beliefs about education in this country working under that model? Why are we stuck in a system that was set up to train workers during the Industrial Revolution? We all need to work to bring our pedagogy into the 21st century and engage our students with relevant ideas that matter to them. We need to actively involve them and get them excited about what is going on in the classroom, not keep them in hard, straightback chairs when what they want to do is move. We need to practice "critical reflection," so we are helping them to think for themselves and not training them to be good standardized test takers. We need to integrate the arts across the curriculum and grade levels to engage our students and energize our classrooms.

Critical Pedagogy: Paulo Freire and the Banking Theory of Education

2009-05-09T16:17:00.010-04:00

Paulo Freire's Banking Theory of Education positions students as empty vessels to be filled by the teacher. According to Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, education is traditionally framed as "an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor" (Pedagogy of the Oppressed 58). In this framework, the teacher lectures, and the students "receive, memorize, and repeat" (58). Freire explains that banking education is generally characterized by the following oppressive attitudes and practices:

the teacher teaches and the students are taught;
the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing;
the teacher thinks and the students are thought about;
the teacher talks and the students listen-meekly;
the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined;
the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply;
the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher;
the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who are not consulted) adapt to it;
the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his own professional authority, which he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students;
the teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects (59).

If any of this speaks to you, I would highly recommend reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. Keith and I use it in our courses, and it is always one of those books that students find extremely powerful and transformative. If you're not familiar with Freire or Critical Pedagogy, then click here Critical Pedagogy on the Web, and it will take you to the site where the above information comes from.

Making Learning Relevant to Student's Lives and Interests

2009-05-09T10:57:00.014-04:00

In a recent post titled "Seven Thoughts on Implementing Positive Change in the Way We Teach our Students," (click on the title of this post to read it in its entirety) I discussed making learning relevant to students' lives and interests. This is a way to engage students and get them excited about learning. When that happens, the sky is the limit. But how to do it?

Here's a couple of ideas tied to the teaching of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare that could be adapted for use with other works as well. I'm sure these ideas are not completely original with me, and that there are many of you out there who do these or something like them, if so I'd love for you to share your versions here on the blog. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

1. Texting
We should all pretty much be able to agree that cell phones and texting are common to most high school students. They text each other all the time. So why not bring it into the classroom? After reading the balcony scene, which many students are asked to memorize, why not have students re-imagine it as a texting conversation? Rather than memorization, this is something that students will get excited about and really get engaged in. They have to really read the material closely and understand it before they can "translate" it into texting language. To make it even more powerful, two students could take the parts and actually text each other the assignment. This would also lend it more authenticity. Sharing this in class would be a lot of fun, and fun in the classroom should not be discounted.

2. Romeo's Song
There are not too many high school students who are not into music in a very big way. So isn't it natural to bring THEIR music into the classroom? Won't they be excited to share what they listen to? Here's one way to do it: after reading about Romeo's unrequited love for Rosaline in the first scene, ask students to go home and choose a song that would fit how Romeo is feeling at that moment. Then they can write a paragraph on why this song is appropriate and include some evidence and analysis. They can bring the song into class the next day on an ipod, a CD, or just bring in the lyrics. Then you can turn the class over to them and let them present their song, usually the first verse and the chorus will do, and say why this song fits. I know of one student who chose "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick. How perfect is that! Letting them group around the sound system will enable them to be able to move while the song is playing and really enjoy the experience while learning. Great concept.

My high school experience with Shakespeare, and poetry as well, was mostly painful, as teachers did an excellent job of sucking all the fun and joy out of both. It wasn't until I got to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where professor Normand Berlin breathed life and joy back into Shakespeare, that I really fell in love with it. Thanks Dr. Berlin.

But that's part of the power we have as educators- to bring enthusiasm, joy, empathy, and creativity into our classrooms- no matter what the subject. If we have passion for what we are doing in the classroom, it will have far-reaching positive effects, not only on the students but on us as well.

Making what we do in the classroom relevant to students' lives is an important step.

Join Our Cause on Facebook

2009-05-01T16:46:00.003-04:00

We just started a Cause on Facebook called Integrating the Arts into Education. If you're a member of Facebook, then please click on the title of this post, and it will take you right there. If you're not a member of Facebook, then you might want to consider it. It's a great way to stay connected and do social networking.

Northeastern University Courses this Summer taught by Jeff and Keith

2009-04-23T18:33:00.004-04:00

We’re happy to announce that we will be teaching three Northeastern University courses this summer- two in Barnstable and one on campus in Boston. We will be offering Integrated Teaching Through the Arts and a new course Integrating Drama and Poetry Across the Curriculum.

Both of these courses are designed to give teachers an opportunity to learn how to energize their classrooms and engage their students through integrating the arts modalities: creative movement, music, visual art, poetry and drama into their everyday teaching practices. Our hope is that they’ll leave the course with strategies that can be put to use right away in their classrooms.

Both of these courses are being offered in Barnstable, so they’ll be convenient to those of us who live on the Cape or Southeastern Massachusetts. Here is some more information and some helpful links. We will also be teaching one course on the Northeastern main campus in Boston.

Integrated Teaching Through the Arts
July 6-10
Northeastern University, Main Campus, Boston

July 13-17
Horace Mann Charter School, Marstons Mills
The purpose of this course is to introduce teachers to the value of integrating the arts modalities into the everyday curriculum by providing teachers with strategies that can be used immediately in their classes. Activities that appeal to the multiple intelligences will be explored through participation, readings, discussions, and presentations.

For more information and a copy of the syllabus go to http://cps.neu.edu/pdp/programs/interdisciplinary_programs

To register for the course go to
http://www.spcs.neu.edu/pdp/summer/course.php?cid=ED3688

Integrating Drama and Poetry Across the Curriculum
July 20-24
Horace Mann Charter School, Marstons Mills
This course will demonstrate the power of drama and poetry when integrated across the curriculum. The participants will be given the opportunity to experience the kind of learning that they should come to expect of their students when using drama and poetry in their own teaching practice. They will discover how to engage students, deepen learning, foster innovation, and make interdisciplinary connections to the curriculum and goals of state standards. This course is designed for teachers of all grades and disciplines.

For more information and a copy of the syllabus go to http://cps.neu.edu/pdp/programs/interdisciplinary_programs

To register for the course go to
http://www.spcs.neu.edu/pdp/summer/course.php?cid=ED3691
Here’s what some of your colleagues said about the class:

This course was extremely successful in addressing my interests and needs. I couldn't wait to get to class every day to learn new and exciting methods of teaching. I wouldn't change a thing-you guys are amazing!

I look forward to using movement, art, music and poetry when working on reading comprehension skills. Right now my mind is so full; it's just swimming with many ideas!

Very successful! Giving me tools and methods to engage and motivate my students, as well as time to tie in with my own subjects was extremely valuable.

If you would like to read more of what people who have taken the course have said or would like to learn more about teaching through the arts then please go to our blog at http://teachingthroughthearts.blogspot.com/

Please contact us if you have any questions at
jeffreybillard@teachingthroughthearts.com
keithcaldwell@teachingthroughthearts.com
we’d love to hear from you.

If you’ve taken one of our courses and are comfortable with recommending one, then please feel free to forward this information on to a friend. The more the better!

We hope you can join us this summer,
Jeff & Keith

Let President Obama know the importance of the arts in education

2009-01-24T14:09:00.002-05:00

My good friend, Lesley University professor and movement educator Doug Victor sent me this letter after we had traded numerous emails regarding integrating the arts in education. In it he asks everyone who is so moved to contact President Obama and remind him of the importance of the arts in education. So, I'm posting it here in hopes that some of you who read it will feel compelled to contact the President.

Hi, Everyone,

Hope this finds you all well and inspired in your lives and your teaching. I am writing to ask you to consider giving our newly inaugurated President some feedback about his plan for Educational Reform.

I know how committed you all are to teaching creatively through the arts so I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to have your voice be heard in concert with other past Creative Arts and Learning Lesley students from around the country with whom I have had the joy to get to know.

First make sure you watch the 2 following powerful and thought-provoking videos, if you have not already:

1) Sir Ken Robinson talks inspiringly about creativity being as important to teach as literacy...
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

An article to go along with this video: http://www.edutopia.org/node/2829

I also recommend his website at http://www.sirkenrobinson.com/; and

2) A moving song by Tom Chapin It's Not on the Test re: No Child Left Behind.... http://www.notonthetest.com/

The credits and text for the song are in attachment.

You may wish to to include the links to these videos for President Obama to view along with your personalized message.

Of course send a message if you are inspired to do so and not if you are not but as you can see below the new President is asking for your feedback.

President Obama is committed to creating the most open and accessible administration in the history of the United States.

In the President's own words, "We face many challenges. But we face them as one nation.
And we have seen, time and time again, that there are no limits to what we can accomplish when we stand together. Our journey is just beginning. Thank you for all you do."

President Barack Obama

These are the Obama administration's goals:

Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. They will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

I did not see any mention of the Arts in the President's plans. For me, this is a missing piece. You might consider mentioning the importance of the Arts in your comments and give some of your own terrific direct experience testimony.

You can find this and other information about Educational reform and the government in general on the following link: http://www.pic2009.org/whitehouse

Other White House Contact Information FYI:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

With terrific memories of our time together and now tasking for a better world.

My moving best to you all as ever.

Doug Victor

"Not on the Test" by Tom Chapin. You have to watch this!

2009-01-21T21:08:00.004-05:00

Click on the title of this post and listen to the song and watch the video by songwriter Tom Chapin called "Not on the Test" It really gets to the heart of the matter regarding the growing trend of "teaching to the test" and the return to rote education. It also serves to underscore the importance of integrating the arts into the curriculum. This is something that should be shared with policy makers, administrators, teachers, parents, and students alike.

Here are the lyrics:

Not On The Test
by John Forster & Tom Chapin
© 2008 Limousine Music Co. & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)

Go on to sleep now, third grader of mine.
The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine.
It's reading and math, forget all the rest.
You don't need to know what is not on the test.

Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers, their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.

The School Board is faced with no child left behind
With rules but no funding, they’re caught in a bind.
So music and art and the things you love best
Are not in your school ‘cause they’re not on the test.

Sleep, sleep, and as you progress
You’ll learn there’s a lot that is not on the test.

Debate is a skill that is useful to know,
Unless you’re in Congress or talk radio,
Where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed
'Cause rational discourse was not on the test.

Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test.

Not On The Test
Sung by Tom Chapin
Written by John Forster & Tom Chapin
© 2008 Limousine Music Co. & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)
Not on the Test video: Directed by Yuichi Hibi
Edited by Timothy Gregoire
Art Direction: Marie Christine Katz
Production Coordinator: Mary Croke

Participant Reflections on Integrated Teaching Through the Arts k-12 Workshop January 2009

2009-01-17T10:10:00.009-05:00

Everyone had a great day at our Integrated Teaching Through the Arts workshop at Barnstable High School on January 16th. Focusing on Creative Movement, Poetry, Music and Drama, the day was full of energy and engagement. Here are some reflections from the participants.

Great workshop, now we are all ready to move in our classrooms. It has
brought the fun back into teaching!

This workshop was incredible and rejuvinating!! I've already started
making a list of activities that I can do with my first graders to go
along with what we are learning about now. I can't wait!!! A big
THANK YOU!

This workshop introduces methods that can be adapted to fit any level or subject area by providing simple yet far-reaching practices that enhance students' thinking and creativity.

This workshop was very successful in addressing my interests and needs. This was one of the best workshops I've ever had.

I liked how the workshop flowed from one activity to another. Sometimes we sat and then we'd get up. Every time I take [other] summer courses, I have to sit all day. This reminds me to get my own students up and moving. Now I feel I have some new ideas to use such as building community spirit during those movement times.

This workshop was a nice boost-with all that 's going on in the district, it's nice to have a focus on how to make learning engaging.

It reinforces the feeling I've had that creativity is being pushed aside. I find myself guilty of "teaching to the test." This course will re-energize how I approach my topics.

I truly feel like I can walk into my classroom with a new approach.

I'm going to try and build in more movement to energize the kids. I also want to try and build community in class, so that all kids can feel comfortable taking risks.

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!

It was organized and structured perfectly. It was so much fun to be out of our seats and moving and working with others.

The workshop exceeded my expectations. The presenters made clear connections with the curriculum and emphasized the benefits of integrating the arts.

This workshop opened my eyes to the p0ssiblities of presenting learning standards in more powerful ways that involve the different arts modalities and talents of students.

The leaders were honest in their responses offering varied ideas and opening it up for input from the participants.

The pacing was perfect. There was an effective mix between discussion, presentation, and hands-on activities. Well organized and powerful!

These strategies will help me plan and organize lessons that will engage students on a different level and promote deeper understanding of the curriculum.

This helped me to see education/teaching/counseling with new eyes in a creative, fun, supportive environment. Creativity needs to be stressed instead of testing, testing, testing. Research shows that creativity works in the classroom.

Gave us fresh ideas with movement and poetry. How to make learning fun, creative and relevant.

Loved it! It's a great way to teach curriculum. I learned a lot and am taking away a lot.

The instructors were great-completely knowledgable; they believe in what they do--Passion!

This was the best in-service workshop I've taken in years! As a teacher of young children, the ideas I learned in creative movement and music today can be easily incorporated into my teaching day.

The instructors gave us just enough information to get us started on the activities. This made us use our creativity to come up with unique ideas. They were right there to give us direction and answered all questions.

The instructors were knowledgable, well-prepared, and had excellent presentation skills. They kept us involved and motivated in all the activities.

I was surprised to see how well this could fit into a science curriculum. I expected a visual arts focus, but was very happy to see so much movement and drama was incorporated into the activities.

This is the way we should teach.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? from Ted.com

2008-11-19T20:26:00.008-05:00

Sir Ken Robinson says that Creativity is as important in education as literacy and should be treated with the same status on Ted.com. You really need to watch this and see what you think.

Here's some information on him from Ted.com.

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.

Integrated Teaching Through the Arts Workshop January 16th

2008-11-15T10:08:00.001-05:00

Keith and Jeff will be offering an Integrated Teaching Through the Arts Workshop at Barnstable High School on January 16th, 2009. This all-day program will focus on the integration of drama, music, movement and poetry into every classroom. The goal of this workshop is to introduce teachers to an arts-based approach to learning that will engage students and energize the classroom. Participants will have the opportunity to learn strategies that they can put to use right away in their own classrooms.

This workshop has filled up very quickly in the past, so all Barnstable teachers should hurry and sign up! Hope to see you there.

Who We Are: Meet Donnie Norton

2008-11-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

Donald M. Norton, M.Ed. holds a Masters degree in Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University. Over an eight year career he has taught the third, fourth, and fifth grades, as well as English to ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders. Currently Donnie teaches fifth grade English and history at the Abigail Adams Middle School in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Having just completed directing Weymouth High School's senior class musical, he understands the profound impact the arts have on students of all age and ability levels. As a teacher, singer, actor, dancer, storyteller, poet, and father, the arts are an everyday part of Donnie's world.

He has recently developed a teacher-training course called "The Blossoming Learner" that focuses on practical ways to integrate the arts into the everyday learning process. It is designed to expose educators to various arts modalities in a non-threatening way, making it possible for any teacher to immediately bring the arts into the classroom community. Giving teachers the confidence to use the arts as an instrument of education, even if they have had no previous training in these art forms, is the goal of "The Blossoming Learner."

Donnie believes that the abilities to be introspective and empathetic are the two most humanizing qualities we possess. In order to create better lifelong learners, students must be provided with a skill set wheel complete with introspection and empathy cogs. This can be accomplished by integrating the arts into the learning process.

Photo Credit: Photo by IrishEyes Photography

Participant Reflections on the K-12 Full-Day Integrated Teaching Through the Arts Workshop

2008-11-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

Everyone had a great day at our Integrated Teaching Through the Arts workshop at Barnstable High School on January 18th. Focusing on Creative Movement, Poetry, Music and Drama, the day was full of energy and engagement. Here are some reflections from the participants.

I loved it! I'm excited to go to school next week and try some of the ideas that were presented.

It brought me back to the most important aspect of a child's learning-the process and not necessarily the product.

It gave me more insight as to how some students could learn and understand content better by using kinesthetic methods through the arts.

I got so many great ideas! It was great discussing different subjects and how these ideas could tie into these subjects.

I knew movement was important for children, but now I have some knowledge of how to incorporate it into any area of the curriculum.

Great way of looking at some ways to pique the interest of our students and relay subject matter in a more exciting and engaging way...very successful.

This workshop was totally awesome. It has given me a better insight on how to teach children.

I never realized that using the arts could be done to incorporate so many learning skills.

I spend my whole day trying to get students interacting. This has given me a fresh outlook and great resources to lean on.

Time flew. I never looked at the clock. One of those days I wish I could stay longer in class.

Each of the activities was discussed after and how it could be adapted to different content areas and grade levels.

Provided reassurance that teaching should be student-centered and they should be able to process. It's a journey not a sprint.

Activities were presented with time for the group to experience the activity. Very well done.

The workshop was extremely well organized-minimal amounts of teacher talk- lots of doing. Serves as an example on how to organize and facilitate a workshop.

The workshop was very well organized. The day went by without the need to look at the clock. This is the worst part of the workshop, because it's over!

I will use skills learned in this workshop to raise the comfort level of all students and to lower affective filters.

The group accomplished quite a bit in one day, but the workshop wasn't rushed. I feel like I have a good grasp of each activity and am leaving with confidence and knowledge to try some of the ideas on my own.

I do not believe that it would be possible for a teacher to leave this room today without a new idea and an excitement to get back to work.

I can't come up with any way it should be improved other than making it mandatory for all teachers to participate.

Their [the presenters] knowledge, prep and presentation were inspiring as well as enlightening. I want to go back and be a better teacher.

All presenters certainly knew the material well; however, it was truly the belief in what they were teaching that made the biggest impact.

All three presenters did a wonderful job! There was a great flow to the workshop. They managed to keep everyone engaged.

We will be posting some of the activities that we used during the day in the near future. Please feel free to comment and post some ideas that have worked for you. Keep checking the blog for more workshops and graduate level college courses that we'll be offering in the near future. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to have us come to your school and conduct a workshop or a course.

2008-10-03T16:31:00.003-04:00

Creative Movement Workshop with Doug Victor October 4th

2008-09-30T17:31:00.003-04:00

I just want everyone to know that Doug Victor will be offering a Creative Movement Workshop on October 4th in Seekonk, MA. This is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed.

Here's some information:

MOVING IN WITH YOURSELF - MOVING WITH OTHERS
A CREATIVE DANCE WORKSHOP

JACOBS BARN STUDIO, SEEKONK, MASSACHUSETTS
SATURDAY October 4, 2008

with DOUG VICTOR

Awaken your kinesthetic sense!
Deepen your feelings for movement expression!

The workshop will focus on a natural creative approach to art of body movement which follows an innately known way of being that is inherent in all of us. You will experience this by connecting with yourself and then to others in deeply felt and satisfying ways. You will immerse your total self in a progression of movement studies that will lead to the creation of movement expressions for you as an individual and as a member of a group. Improvisatory by nature, this workshop is for everyone who loves to move or is interested in movement as a means of expression.

WHEN... Saturday October 4... 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM

WHERE... Jacobs Barn Studio, 130 Jacob Street , Seekonk, Massachusetts

TUITION... $50
(some scholarship available)

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
Contact Doug at doug.dance@juno.com

ABOUT CREATIVE DANCE...
An approach to body movement as an art activity pioneered by Barbara Mettler, student of Mary Wigman in the early 1930s. Creative dance awakens the kinesthetic sense, deepens the kinesthetic capacity for movement expression, and provides the fundamentals to experience the joy of movement for anyone interested.
It is a language whose vocabulary is the interplay of the elements of dance, force, time, and space and whose expression is realized through individual, small and large group improvisation. The study and practice of creative dance supports a primary need for collective movement expression shared by us all.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP...
The workshop serves as an introduction to the art of body movement which comes out of the Mettler-based tradition. This study deepens our understanding of movement expression as a basic human need. It is open to anyone who wishes to further develop his/her capacity for movement expression and move
creatively with others.
Expect to explore movement possibilities, be open to making discoveries as your movement unfolds, and to immerse yourself fully in the experience of your own moving individually and in relation to others. The workshop is
recommended for everyone... teachers, therapists, clergy, dancers, artists, musicians, or anyone who is interested in movement expression. Applications of the work are many and include the fields of education, counseling, recreation, all the arts, and, of course, life itself.

ABOUT DOUG VICTOR...
Doug has taught creative dance for over 30 years. In addition to his private teaching, he directs Creative Dance Providence and teaches nationally for the Creative Arts in Learning Graduate Program at Lesley University in Cambridge. A founder of the International Association for Creative Dance, he has taught extensively across the United States, and in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii. Upcoming teaching venues include Georgia, Alaska, and Scotland.

ABOUT THE JACOBS BARN STUDIO...
This studio is a beautifully restored barn just 6 miles east of Providence with easy access from Route 195. Surrounded by acres of fields and woodlands, we will be dancing on a heated and cushioned maple wooden floor. The studio has vaulted ceilings and windows on four sides. This natural setting will perfectly support the weekend's creative dance work.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR CREATIVE DANCE...
IACD is a full 501 (3) c non-profit membership organization whose mission is to provide opportunities for the study and teaching of Mettler-based creative dance along with networking within the dance community. Among the organization's activities, there is a newsletter published twice yearly and the Creative Dance Congress is produced each summer. In June 2009 the Congress will take place at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Check out IACD's website at www.dancecreative.org. It links directly to the Barbara Mettler website.

Why Teach Through the Arts? A Compelling Argument.

2008-09-27T09:10:00.005-04:00

I came across this on Ms. Molina's Class Page in a post titled "Brainy Language Arts"and thought I'd share it with you. You can read the entire post, and it's well worth the time, by clicking on the title of this post.

"Why teach with the arts and the brain in mind? Eric Jensen, another pioneer in brain research states, " I support constructivism over mindless factual accumulation, and I favor depth over breadth of knowledge. I favor variety in education over one-size-fits-all." These statements leave little doubt in the reader's mind that Eric Jensen believes in the arts-not test scores alone...He makes it very clear that educators should appeal to the Multiple Intelligences, and that those intelligences lend themselves most efficiently to the arts. From his point of view, he is more concerned with developing thinking, balanced human beings, than developing automated computer-like individuals. His philosophies indicate a belief in the uniqueness of man...a uniqueness in thought and emotion that needs to be nurtured; he claims that it is especially important with the acceleration in technology. He further contends that learning through the arts is long term; knowledge that is memorized specifically for a test, on the other hand, lasts only a short time unless that content is transferred and applied. He points out that creating lessons that use higher modalities of thought give students long lasting skills and concepts. Activities or assessments that require a transfer of concepts take a long time to develop the synaptic functions, but when developed, provide fine motor skills, creativity, and emotional balance into adulthood. That is quite a claim, but one worth striving for....He supports this claim writing that the arts enhance learning because the systematic integration of the arts developed sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capabilities-all are necessary in the learning process. In other words, the arts develop the brain! As a bonus, the arts reach students who normally disengage from the traditional setting-integration of the arts allows students to discover, find their own level, and most of all, experience real world learning."

I put the last sentence in bold letters, because that is one of the most important parts of arts-based teaching--engaging all of those students who otherwise wouldn't be reached.

If you would like to read more of Eric Jensen's work, we recommend:
Jensen, E. (2001). Arts with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Integrating Poetry and Music into a Math Class? Yes!

2008-09-07T09:32:00.010-04:00

Have you ever thought of integrating poetry and music into your math lessons? It sounds like a great idea to me, and I would think that students would enjoy it as well. Check out the lesson
"A Geometric Song:Patterns in Math and Music" from the Kennedy Center's ARTSEDGE website by clicking on the title of this post. There are a wealth of lessons spanning all grade levels, all subjects, and all arts modalities on the site. It's worth a long look.

You can also get to the site by clicking on it in the links section at the lower right side of your screen. Have fun exploring!

Creating a "safe container" and a judgment-free classroom

2008-09-06T09:50:00.009-04:00

I had been thinking about posting about creating a "safe container" and a judgment-free classroom, since that's what we've been focusing on in the first few days of classes. And after reading Donnie's "Set the Tone" post, I wanted to "piggy-back" on some of his points.

I would guess that most people, if not all, who have been made to feel stupid or embarrassed in a classroom setting, put up their defenses and shut themselves down. Why would someone open themselves up to that again? When that happens, creativity is crushed and people feel guarded. To make sure this doesn't happen in my classroom, I lay the groundwork immediately and make it very clear that this type of behavior will not be tolerated in a firm, yet gentle way. Clearly setting boundaries is an important early step in the process.

Creating a "safe container" and judgment-free classroom is not difficult, but it does take effort and follow-through on the part of the teacher and students. I foster this idea in my classroom by starting out the year doing icebreakers and energizers that help students get to know each other and feel more comfortable in the class setting. But before I do any of this, I let them know in a firm, yet gentle way, that everyone in the classroom is valued and that laughing at someone, putting them down, or just making a gesture (like rolling of the eyes) will not be part of our classroom practice. If it does happen, I simply stop the activity and use the teachable moment to remind students of our classroom practices. I usually only have to do this once or twice if at all. Try it. It has worked wonders in my classroom.

Once students feel safe in my classroom, it becomes an enjoyable and exciting place for them to be, and they start looking forward to being there. And, of course, creativity flourishes and learning soars!

Set the Tone

2008-09-03T17:34:00.005-04:00

As we begin the journey that will be school year 08-09, let us be conscious of setting the tone early and often. We must be sure to guard against any intolerance and judging from the outset. These negative factors will keep some of your students from truly expressing themselves through the arts because they will be concerned about the impending backlash. However, we can create a safe zone by being vigilant and not allowing these negatives to be allowed in our classrooms. Even the "playful" jibe is enough to worry our most self-conscious student. Best of luck to all and remember, we inspire best when we ourselves our inspired to do our best!

Northeastern University Integrated Teaching Through the Arts Course

2008-07-20T23:02:00.000-04:00

An incredible group and an incredible week. Click on the title above to see more photos.

Integrating Poetry into the Classroom

2008-06-12T10:02:00.001-04:00

This group is in the early stages of creating a group poem. The next steps are to lay it out as a journey for the rest of the class to experience and decide how they want to present it.

Integrating Drama into the Classroom

2008-06-11T10:01:00.001-04:00

The group on the inside is using Image Theatre to depict an important moment in a story. The group on the outside is doing a gallery walk, where they get to witness the frozen tableau from all sides.

Integrating Creative Movement and Music into the Classrooom

2008-06-10T10:00:00.001-04:00

Participants using Creative Movement and Music to energize the classroom and engage learning.

Enroll in Northeastern University's Integrated Teaching Through the Arts course on Cape Cod this July

2008-06-03T18:43:00.006-04:00

Keith and Jeff will be offering their Integrated Teaching Through the Arts course through Northeastern University right here on Cape Cod July 14-18. You can take it for 3 graduate credits or 68 PDPs. You can get more information and register for the course right here http://www.spcs.neu.edu/pdp/programs/all_teachers or by clicking on the title of this post. The course is filling up quickly, so check it out. We hope you can join us.

Songs for Social Studies

2008-03-03T17:50:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone! Thank you for your emails and support! You have been wonderful!
I wanted to let you know about an educator friend of mine. His name is Steve MacDonald and he is a music educator who has worked at all levels of the public schools. From kindergartners through seniors in high school, the comments are always the same! We love Mr. MacDonald!
He has created a great teaching program called "Songs for Social Studies". I have created a link in the side bar for your use, or simply click on the title of this post!
Keep on Keepin' on!

Provincetown Elementary African Presentation

2008-02-17T22:18:00.008-05:00

Click on the title of this post to view Cape Cod Times photographer Steve Heaslip's photo gallery of Provincetown's elementary school using the arts to learn the global education curriculum.

Photo credit: Steve Heaslip/Cape Cod Times

Provincetown uses the arts to teach global education curriculum

2008-02-17T22:08:00.004-05:00

A recent article in the Cape Cod Times reports on how the Veteran's Memorial Elementary School in Provincetown, Massachusetts uses the arts in a day-long celebration aimed at teaching African culture. Click on the title of this post to read the article.

Someone is Always Listening

2008-02-06T17:42:00.001-05:00

What is poem?

Don’t give me some long, convoluted definition. Just answer the question. Could you? Don’t worry, I can’t either. I can’t say definitively what poetry is and I can’t say with certainty what poetry isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you and I don’t understand the general concept of poetry. I know we do. All I am saying is that neither you nor I, not even the Poet Laureate, has the ability to say that something is or isn’t a poem unless we have written it ourselves. (If you happen to meet him, please don’t tell him I said he couldn’t!)

One of the first things that I try to drive home with my students is that if they say that something they have written is a poem, then it’s a poem, and no one has the right to tell them otherwise! Around Christmas time, I was invited by the parent council to perform a poetry/storytelling evening at my school. About 200 students and parents (Grades 5-8) came back to school on a Thursday night to take in the show, have some hot cocoa, and hopefully learn something. Over the course of an hour I discussed many of my thoughts on poetry and the arts that I will be discussing in these articles, had student volunteers participate with me on stage in a number of activities including the creation and presentation of poems, and storytold. One of these musings about poetry was the statement that only the poet can decide if something is a poem or not, and not to let anyone convince them that something they have written is not a poem if they believe it is.

Jump to the next morning when I placed a before-school work assignment on the board. “Write a poem about winter in your Writing Journal.” Thirty seconds later, one of the students, who tends to have some difficulty focusing, approached me, holding his Writing Journal. I assumed that he had a question. When he reached me he said surprisingly, “I’m finished!” Then he asked, “Would you like to hear my poem?”

“Of course!” I responded.

He cleared his throat and with a put-on passion said, “SNOW!”

Looking me dead in the eye, he smiled a rye smile and said, “I was really listening last night and I say it’s a poem!”

Brilliant!

That Dirty Little Four-Letter Word

2008-01-12T11:11:00.000-05:00

You know what I’m talking about! Everything is perfectly normal in your classroom (well… I mean as normal as it can be). Suddenly the atmosphere is sucked out of your room leaving a soundless, scentless (OK, maybe not scentless if your kids had gym that day) vacuum. The cause? It wasn’t a star burning out and leaving a dense black hole in its wake. It wasn’t the hole in our ozone layer expanding to the point where all oxygen, nitrogen, CO2, and whatever else you science teachers know is up there, is violently ripped from our world’s grasp. (If that’s even possible, I don’t know. I don’t teach science.) This catastrophic shift has not been caused by anything even remotely close to that magnitude. No. It has been caused by the utterance of one seemingly harmless, yet somehow daunting, four-letter word. You know the one.

P-O-E-M! AAAAaaaahhhhh! (Insert the “Kill” theme music from PSYCHO here.)

You know you just found yourself going, “Ree Ree Ree Ree...” all alone in front of your computer? Hopefully nobody saw you!

This poetry problem is wide spread. It spans not only schools and towns, but generations of learners and generations of teachers. The reason why? I assert that it is due to too many people teaching and viewing poetry as an elite science that only a few can access, rather than the welcoming and accepting art form that it should truly be for our children and ourselves. Far too many of us have shared the following terrible experiences while we interpreted or wrote poetry in a class:

YOU: Well, I believe that the poet is trying to say (blah, blah, blah).

TEACHER: No. That is incorrect. The poet is actually saying (something that comes out like… Na Na nana NA… I’m smarter than You-ou!).

YOU: I've completed my poem, would you like to read it?

TEACHER: Well... this isn't actually a poem. You see, you need to (pointless advice, that student doesn't hear because they stopped listening and started worrying as soon as the teacher said, "this isn't actually a poem.").

Because of this, a huge section of students have been made to feel that they just don’t get it and definitely can't write it. This is the sentiment that we, as educators, must battle against.

Over my next few posts, my goal is to provide you with thoughts, strategies, and ideas that will hopefully help you to fully integrate poetry into your curriculum. It doesn’t matter whether you teach, English, history, math, science, etc., poetry and the creation of it will reap positive benefits for both you and your students. You will be amazed at what your students can create if they just… well, I won’t spoil it now. Stay tuned!

Examining Our Own Teaching Practices: How much classroom time is being taken up by "Teacher Talk?"

2007-12-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

Have you ever sat through a course or in-service training where the instructor or facilitator talked at you for the majority of the time? How long did it take for you to zone out? How much of the information do you think you retained? That answer will vary depending on where you are stronger in the Multiple Intelligences. If you are stronger in linguistic intelligence, then you may have gotten something out of it, but if you are stronger in spatial or bodily-kinesthetic, then you may have gotten little or nothing from it.

Now think of this in terms of your own classroom. Are you teaching to the different intelligences of the students who are sitting in your room or are you primarily teaching to the linguistic?
Thomas Armstrong in his book Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom cites John Goodlad's "A Study in Schooling" project which puts "teacher talk" at taking up "nearly 70 percent of classroom time." Something to ponder as we move forward.

One of the things we would like to explore in this blog is practical strategies for teaching to the multiple intelligences through integrating the arts. They can be simple things like taking a vocabulary lesson and substituting movements that show what the word means rather than simply going over definitions out loud. You'll be amazed at how this energizes the classroom and how well it works. I've seen students quietly doing the movements at their desks during a quiz, and I've seen scores go up using this method.

Keith, Donnie, and I will be posting some strategies that have worked for us, but we also want to learn from you. We need you to post what has worked for you or just some new ideas you want to bounce off the other people reading this blog. So we encourage you to comment often; the more people we can get ideas from, the richer the experience will be for all of us.

Source:
Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

References for Rationale

2007-12-22T11:17:00.001-05:00

Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Diaz, D., & McKenna, M. B. (Eds.). (2004). Teaching for the aesthetic experience: The art of learning. New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang.

Edwards, L., & Nabors, M. (1993, March). The creative arts process: What it is and what it is not. Young Children, 77-81.

Frostig, K. (2006). The permeable classroom or the tilted arc revisited. Journal of Social Theory in Art Education. 26 (1), 174-196.

Goldberg, M. (1997). Art as knowing: A methodology for learning. Boston: Pearson Education.

Jensen, E. (2001). Arts with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Verlee-Williams, L. (1983). Teaching for the two sided mind. Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster.