Art in Education and Education in Art
 

Two VAAE sponsored, graduate level classes presented in August, 2005 at the Howard Dean Educational Center in Springfield, Vermont received unanimous praise from attendees. “Arts, Higher Order Thinking, and Student Achievement” (a.k.a. H.O.T.) was taught by Dr. Plato Karafelis, principal of the Henry A. Wolcott Elementary School in West Hartford, Connecticut. He was assisted by a host of co-educators from the school. Each day of the weeklong presentation brought innovative ways to create a curriculum which would engage students of all levels, in all grades. At one point there was a hands-on demonstration of how students’ poetry could be set to music. Debra Brown from Albert Bridge School exclaimed, “Now that’s doable!” Others in the room echoed her feelings, as they learned how to integrate parts and pieces of the H.O.T. school format into their own school curriculums.

Karafelis and his band of merry teachers enthusiastically displayed the films, photos, and writings of the students of Wolcott. They showed, and even shared samples of, the actual songs, CD’s, DVD’s and live presentations that students created, using a primarily non-fiction based approach to combining art and education. They have incorporated modern technological advances into the curriculum and the students certainly seem to embrace the new way of learning at Wolcott.

Two floors away, Susan O’Byrne taught “Picturing Writing: Fostering Literacy Through Art and Image-Making Within The Writing Process,” a program developed and copyrighted by Beth Olshansky. As this was the fourth time that VAAE sponsored this workshop, it was well attended and extremely well received. Susan showed participants how any student can succeed when art is included as a ‘basic’ rather than ‘special’ educational tool. Following Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, integrating the arts directly into the curriculum allows a broad spectrum of approaches in all academic pursuits. At the end of the week Susan created a sharing circle for participants to give feedback to her and their fellow students. Kindergarten teacher Hollis Thompson of Union Street School in Springfield said, “It was hard to start my students writing. I will be delighted to try something new. I really like this process.” All the heads in the circle bobbled in enthusiastic agreement.

During lunch, the students chatted and mingled, sharing ideas they were learning in their respective classes. Plato Karafelis overheard one of Susan’s student’s explaining some of the background of the class to one of his students: “Picturing Writing is just that; first you make a picture and then you tell the story you see in the picture.” During the break later that day, he brought a book which one of the Wolcott students had made into Susan’s class. “We’re doing the same thing!” he said happily. Indeed, the student-made books Susan had on display were amazingly like the Wolcott book. The students of both the H.O.T. class and the Picturing Writing/Image Making class caught a double affirmation of a system that works. When art is blended into education, not just stuck on the side of it, good things happen to children and their academic progress. These graduate courses were funded by the VAAE, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the Okemo Community Challenge and in partnership with the Vermont Department of Education. Wolcott 5th Grade Teacher Paul Rabara Debby Szajnberg, Wolcott Kindergarten & Movement Teacher Susan O’Byrne Rob Hugh, Wolcott Music Teacher Plato Karafelis and Susan O’Byrne compare notes.

These graduate courses were funded by the VAAE, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the Okemo Community Challenge and in partnership with the Vermont Department of Education.

DRM Community Fund Contributes to VAAE

The Vermont Alliance for Arts Education (VAAE) has been awarded a grant of $1,000 from the DRM Community Fund, a program offered by attorneys at the law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC. The funding will assist with both the day to day operations of the non-profit arts education organization and assist to support the fall conference, where professional artists share their talents and expertise with Vermont educators.

“On behalf of the firm, we are delighted to support programs like this that can make the arts come alive for Vermont school children,” said Walter E. Judge, a Director and owner at DRM and a member of the VAAE Board of Directors. “This program will contribute greatly to the strength of our communities in Vermont.”

DRM Community Fund grants are being awarded to private non-profit organizations in Vermont and New Hampshire for projects aimed at building strong communities. The program was begun in the fall of 2000 as part of the firm’s celebration of 50 years of service. Since then the firm has awarded more than $100,000 in small grants for innovative grass-roots initiatives in the arts, education, and economic development.

Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC is Vermont’s largest law firm with more than 70 attorneys and other legal professionals, and offices in Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier, and St. Johnsbury, VT, and in Littleton, NH. It was established in 1950 in St. Johnsbury under the name of Waterman & Downs.

For more information on the firm visit the firm’s web site at www.drm.com.
 

Collaboration Enriches Dance

VAAE Summer Art's s Institute Courses - When You’re H.O.T.

By Gail Ruggles

Dr. Plato Karafelis has stayed H.O.T. for eighteen years as principal of the Wolcott Elementary School in West Hartford, Connecticut. He shared his “Higher Order of Thinking” model in a graduate level course at the Howard Dean Educational Center in Springfield, VT, August 7-12, 2005. Karafelis defines the H.O.T. model as one which believes all children are capable of succeeding. They are all unique, they are all important. They deserve and get respect at Wolcott. The goal is to make learning child-centered, not teacher or administration centered. Parents are very involved in this system, because it showcases their children in new and positive ways. The voice of each child is listened to and shared. The sharing begins in the classroom, and then mushrooms out to the school, the family and the community at large. With H.O.T., failure is not an option – it is just an avenue for a new way of learning and then succeeding. “If you can’t make mistakes, you can’t learn,” Matthew Dicks, third grade teacher at Wolcott says. Every child can learn under the H.O.T. method. Elysha Green, fifth grade teacher and innovator of the recent use of Photoshop in the school said, “Many students don’t know about self-advocacy. They need to find their voice and find a place to have it heard.” Wolcott School makes that happen every day. By exposing children to a myriad of ways to have their work held up to others as good and important, they build in each student a sense of ‘can do.’ They create self-fulfilling prophesies of success on a daily basis. Matt’s presentation included mixing math with poetry, teaching vocabulary across the subjects, and using contests and poetry sales to encourage writing. In what could be a take-off from Drew Carey’s ‘scenes from a hat,’ he pulls the names of two students from his bucket, and they must do an impromptu scene, based on the word walls that the class has created. “If you want to teach kids to write, take classes on how to be a better writer,” Matt says. “Write for your kids,” Matt went on. “But what if you are not a very good writer yourself?” one teacher asked.

“Oh, but you are,” Matt said. “Unless you are teaching gifted high school students or older, you know more than they do, you can really write better than they can, and they love what you write, whatever it is. Besides, they will love to correct and critique your writing if they get a chance, and that will only enhance their self esteem and get them to write more.” It sounds like a win-win situation. Following Matt’s presentation, Dennis Hagan, a 4th/5th grade teacher at Park Street School said that he “already saw new models he could use to improve the curriculum in his school.”

Unsolicited comments from junior high teachers tell them that the system works. “Wolcott kids are the volunteers and organizers of group projects,” they say. They are students who are unafraid to jump in, try something new. He said that in a fully functioning H.O.T. school, Parents, Teachers and Students have equal voices. It doesn’t matter where a good idea came from; if it is good, they use it!

One attendee, Kim Ray, is an artist in residence in the Ludlow Elementary School. Already a great supporter of the integration of art in education, she teaches the process creating large wall murals to children. They do research on the chosen topic alone and in groups; deciding on themes to portray. They find ways to blend these scenes together, form teams to block out the details on the walls. Then they create the mural. She worked with the students at Manchester Elementary school to do a mural depicting the endangered species from around the world. She will be going to Ludlow for three months in Feb, March, and April. She said that she got many wonderful ideas from this class.

“This is way beyond what I read in the flyer,” one teacher commented. “To see children at these ages and levels doing this work is so phenomenal. It knocks my socks off.”

The H.O.T. school format goes back to the basic American initiative of hard work and innovation. No task is too menial if it helps the project go forward, because all children share in the glory of the finished product. They know that they will have a turn at the other tasks, too. Paul Rabara is fifth grade teacher at Wolcott. He has also taught a number of teachers the use of digital video technology for instruction, arts integration and portfolio documentation. He said, “When you see children rotate from one task to another without teacher direction, you know the system is working. These kids self regulate.” Debra Brown K-8 music teacher at Albert Bridge School said, “When we study a culture, we study all facets of it, the science, art, architecture, dress, literature, religion, government, etc. But we seem to downplay the importance of the arts in our own culture. This is too bad, because it defines the culture in many ways.”

Paul Rabara said “We call our program “The Higher Order of Thinking Model” because, although many children have difficulty decoding sound/symbol relationships, sequencing, etc., all kids can function in the Higher Order Model.” The fourth and fifth graders who participate need to learn to plan, research, collaborate, and use a variety of digital media tools. They form natural teams and each member learns to carry his or her own weight.

 

Pictures that Talk – Words that Show – Children that Learn

By Gail Ruggles

Susan O’Byrne taught a postgraduate course incorporating “Picturing Writing, Fostering Literacy Through Art and Image - Making Within The Writing Process,” to a very active and appreciative class at the Summer VAAE Art Institute. This course was developed and copyrighted by Beth Olshansky.

One of the first things Susan mentioned was Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. “If we make them put away the crayons after first or second grade, the teaching is just not as effective,” she said. Using superb modeling, she led the class through the whole process of picture writing, specifically: creating a picture using water colors and crayon resist art techniques and then writing the story you find in your picture. Then she took them on to the more involved process of making a collage picture from a personal portfolio of hand-textured papers created using over a dozen art techniques.

Amy Jones, Visual Arts Teacher in Cavendish and Plymouth schools said that there is currently little integration between the arts and other courses unless she is specifically approached by a teacher. She does a unit where she has students write a poem in the format of the subject of the poem. She hopes to take what she learned from this class and bring more integration to her lessons.

Karen McAllister, a second grade teacher from Flood Brook Union School came to the class because her teaching assistant took it last year and was very impressed. She does word walls as she does poetry. Although she is taking the course to satisfy recertification requirements, she said she is “definitely getting more out of the course than she expected. She sees the course as a great way to reach students who are primarily visually oriented.”

Janet Szeto, in her second year as the grades 6-8 Visual Arts Teacher for Riverside Middle School in Springfield said this course “has really encouraged her to aim for greater integration of arts into the general curriculum.” She said that younger students are really ready to try anything, so the program will be easier with them. The middle grade students will benefit because this is a process in which all can succeed. Often, she says, these students have a vision of what they want to create in art class and if they do not get desired results, they ruin it on purpose, and feel defeated. “This course provides an alternative path and can give every student a greater sense of self and self-worth.” Pat Magrosky, a Riverside School English teacher, plans to reinvent her poetry class. In the past, she had the students create an original Haiku poem. Then they created a visual representation of the poem using a dark silhouette on a picturesque background, with the Haiku imbedded in the picture, usually off to the side. “Now I will take the class from visual to verbal, reversing the process.”

Other comments were “This is just what I need for my A & L students. It will show the cognitive process going on while students create art,” and “I will spend more time celebrating children’s art.”

Dr. Eugene Bont, a visiting member of the Cavendish School Board said, “I’m pretty excited about what I’ve seen today – the whole concept of how the arts are integrated into the curriculum makes sense.”
 

Administrators Uncover the ARTS at Summer Institute

2006 VMEA Band Festival hosted by Harwood UHS and Springfield HS

Addison Northeast S.U. Schools Celebrate the Arts

Vermont Youth Orchestra