About Elizabeth Peterson

Elizabeth Peterson has devoted her life to education and to reaching out to other teachers who want to remain inspired. Mrs. Peterson teaches fourth grade in Amesbury, Massachusetts and is the host of www.theinspiredclassroom.com. She holds an M.Ed. in Education, “Arts and Learning” and is currently enrolled in a C.A.G.S. program through Plymouth State University with a focus in “Arts Leadership and Learning.” Elizabeth is author of Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book that includes a method of music integration she has developed and implemented into her own teaching. She teaches workshops and courses on the integration of the arts into the curriculum, leads an arts integration PLC (PLaiC) and is adjunct faculty for PSU. Mrs. Peterson believes there is a love of active, integrated learning in all children and from their enthusiasm, teachers can shape great opportunities to learn.
Website: http://www.theinspiredclassroom.com
Elizabeth Peterson has written 271 articles so far, you can find them below.

The Arts and Curriculum

Filed under Arts Education and Integration by Elizabeth Peterson on February 21, 2012 at 5:24 am {no comments}

My journey learning about the arts and their valuable uses in my classroom and in our schools is ongoing.  Just as with great learning in the classroom, this professional learning never ends.  Instead, my understanding of things is deepened the more I read, discuss, write, and teach both children and adults. Just yesterday, one of [...]

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Teachers Working and Learning Together through Arts Integration

Filed under Arts Education and Integration by Elizabeth Peterson on February 14, 2012 at 6:36 am {3 comments}

I love working with other teachers, and I was so fortunate to do so for the past three weekends in my own district.  14 teachers in Amesbury, MA signed up for and took my Arts Integration course.  It was yet another amazing experience where I was able to work with great teachers in grades Pre-K [...]

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Norman Rockwell and Black History

Filed under Arts Education and Integration by Elizabeth Peterson on February 7, 2012 at 5:56 am {no comments}

A picture is worth 1,000 words and as far as I’m concerned, I could talk about the works of Norman Rockwell all day!  I love his work: his ability to capture reality, innocence, truth, humor and the overall American spirit.  This year, I’ve been reaching into my collection of Norman Rockwell prints (most in the [...]

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Put Us Together and Give Us Some Time

Filed under Arts Education and Integration, General Education Topics by Elizabeth Peterson on February 3, 2012 at 5:53 am {one comment}

This past week end, I started teaching my arts integration grad course through the district in which I work.  16 teachers from grades Pre K-12 gathered together and worked hard getting started on the track of Arts Integration.  It was wonderful!  We talked, we listened, we created, we collaborated, we connected.  What else can you [...]

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The Push

Filed under General Education Topics by Elizabeth Peterson on January 31, 2012 at 6:18 am {one comment}

I love to tell my students that it’s my job to push them.  I want them to work hard and not settle for ok.  I have so many smart kids in my class who just have a natural gift to do well in school, but I like to push them.  The same is true with [...]

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Purposeful Assignments

Filed under General Education Topics by Elizabeth Peterson on January 24, 2012 at 5:33 am {no comments}

My last post RE-Assigning Work is a tangent thought to the thoughts in this one. There I spoke of how sometimes the assignments we give need to be given back to our students so that they can try again and do better work.  (It’s part of the process, after all of becoming better at something.) [...]

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RE Assigning Work

Filed under General Education Topics by Elizabeth Peterson on January 17, 2012 at 6:17 am {5 comments}

I sat correcting journals this week end and was reflecting on the quality of the work that lay in front of me.  Honestly, it wasn’t very good.  There were missing capitals and end marks, sentences that were vague and penmanship that seemed rushed.  As I sat at my kitchen table, aware of the fact that [...]

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Balance

Filed under General by Elizabeth Peterson on January 10, 2012 at 5:20 am {5 comments}

Balance – That’s my one word resolution for 2012. Last week on the Art of Education blog, my PLN friend Jessica Balsley wrote a post about how she is going to make her new year’s resolution in one word.  At first, I thought this was a little crazy, but as I read on, I decided [...]

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Reviewing 2011, Looking Ahead to 2012

Filed under General, Reposts and Highlights (from our Archives) by Elizabeth Peterson on January 3, 2012 at 6:27 am {no comments}

Just as so many sites are doing, I too am giving you a look at the past year and a glimpse into the future of The Inspired Classroom. This year saw some fun new ventures.  I held my first arts integration grad course this summer with great success.  Also this summer was the first ever [...]

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