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 ask for?

On Friday evening, after watching a webinar on arts int and having some great discussion, I asked each person to create a poem that highlighted their take-aways thus far.  Each participant wrote such great stuff which we shared as our opener on Saturday morning.  (I am hoping to share some of the work with you at a later time.)  And then one of my colleagues asked me slyly, “Where’s your poem, Elizabeth???”

And so I went to work.

Throughout the day on Saturday, the teachers went through the creative process together as they worked through their ideas focused on arts integration: the values and challenges it poses.  I walked around, observing each group and as I walked I wrote this poem.  I hope you enjoy…

Teachers working

Separate, alone

distant and disconnected.

Where’s the love?

the connection?

the engagement?

Day by day we work:

little play,

little time,

little help,

little time.

Did I mention time?

and papers?

and pressure?

and… AHHHH!

Then put us together

and give us some time.

and let us create

for heaven’s sake!

I see these teachers.

I live their walk.

I watch them work

and see a spark…

It’s dulled, though.

So let’s fix it.

Put us together,

and give us some time.

Frustrating at first:

“You mean we’re together?”

“My ideas are shared?”

“Wait! I want my doors back!”

“I want them locked!”

“This can be hard.”

or can it?

Does it really have to be?

Just put us together

and give us some time.

With time, we can work it.

With time, we can process

build ourselves,

build relationships,

share ideas.

Collaboration at its best!

And what do you get?

Well, first you need to

Put us together

and give us some time.

And then you’ll see

the possibilities –

Smiling faces

(Yes, that’s important)

Calm collaboration

Organic work

It’s raw, it’s real

and

Work gets done!

So, don’t doubt it

or disregard

just trust it.

Trust the process.

And put us together

and give us some time!

Have a great day! ~EMP

Related posts:

1. My Biggest Need – Time
2. Active Listening Time – A Vehicle for the Music-Literacy Connection

Each year, my school celebrates a special, yet under-acknowledged anniversary in our country’s history. September 14, 1814 was the date when Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that became our National Anthem while witnessing the battle at Fort McHenry.  Three years ago, I approached my principal and colleagues with the idea of bringing the tradition of the National Anthem Project to our school.  The National Anthem Project is something started by MENC, the Music Educator’s National Convention where their main purpose for this project was to get Americans to know their National Anthem and to get them singing it.

For two years, we put on an assembly for our entire Cashman Elementary School community that focused on the history of the song, the four verses of the poem and our singing the Star Spangled Banner.  Each year, we always thought about how this event was so close to 9/11, but this year, September brought with it the 10th anniversary so we thought it appropriate to combine the two.

To do this appropriately for our elementary audience, we used carefully chosen images, poetry and song opening up with America the Beautiful.  Then a line of fourth graders came up to a microphone and took us through the assembly, briefly describing 9/11, sharing a poem about heroes, emphasizing unity among Americans, introducing the National Anthem and then leading the Star Spangled Banner.

A view of our 4th grade collage poem commemorating 9/11.

To remember 9/11 in an age appropriate way, the fourth grade students created a poem where all 115 students from five 4th grade classes contributed to a collage poem.  (This idea was learned during the poetry session by Ayanna Gallant during this summer’s Teacher Art Retreat.)  After studying an image commemorating 9/11, students wrote down a brainstorm of words that came to their minds and then narrowed it down to two.  Then, those words were taken, put together and arranged to create a poem.  Each class had their own image and their own sets of words, thus creating 5 verses to a poem.  This poem was read during the assembly.

The students also watched this video that was made by past fourth graders about the story behind the National Anthem before standing tall to sing the song.

The highlight of the assembly, though, were our honored guests: firemen and policemen from the Amesbury community. When these four gentlemen entered our gym, they were greeted by clapping and cheers. It was wonderful. These community celebrities graciously accepted our invitation to attend our assembly and the kids loved having them.

Our guests pose for a picture with our fourth graders after the assembly.

It’s important to have these types of serious assemblies for all age levels to instill a sense of patriotism and pride.  I’m fortunate to work in a school that honors these times.

I wish all a solemn remembrance of 9/11 and send sincere thoughts and prayers to the families of all who have been and still are affected.  May God bless America!

~EMP

Here is the poem our fourth grade students created together to remember September 11, 2001.  The pictures are the ones that inspired each verse.

America’s beautiful twin towers
Standing proud and tall
Big, bright towers
Tall golden towers crashing together
And crumbling
Amazing brave strong America
Tall and Proud
America’s rock-hard freedom standing tall

Freedom
Strong America
Tragedy Destruction Ashes
Brave Hardworking Firefighters
Powerful Bravery
Battle for Freedom
Heroes Raising the American Flag
Brave Strong Independent Americans
Freedom

Fantastic bright city
Enormous New York Twin Towers
Peaceful skyscrapers illuminate the blue skyline
Memorable tragic beam of light
Scary memories of 9/11
Planes hit the Twin Towers
High beams in the night sky
Brave strong army
Bold New York buildings
Brave America

Strong, heroic firefighters
The defenders of America
Willing firemen
Brave helpful lifesavers
Big bold eagle
Strong willing heroes
The twin towers memorial
Freedom and safety
Brave heroic troops
Protective fierce fireman
Encouraging strong heroes
With great courage
Lifesaving guardians
Strong and brave

American Neighborhood Patriotic
American Flags Unity
American Freedom Brave
America Home Together
America Compassionate Peaceful
America safe neighborhood
America Home Courage

Related posts:

1. National Anthem Project
2. Celebrating Patriots’ Day
3. Reposting the National Anthem Project

It always amazes me how quickly a community can be build when art is involved.  I was reminded about this last week, during the grad class I taught in arts integration and the creative process when I saw it happen again.  During our five day class we created visual art, music, stories, poems and drama together and through that process, we became extremely close for a group of women who were practically strangers the day before the class.

I was first introduced to this phenomenon of art and community when I was getting my masters from Endicot College in Arts and Learning.  With every class we took and every art form we experienced together, we got closer and closer to one another.  Things came up.  Things that were personal and raw and real.  We supported one another.  Laughed with one another.  Celebrated with one another.  It is amazing what we did for each other.  And the commonality we all had – a love for art.

Art making breaks down walls and gives you a level of connection nothing else can.  As you create art and share art, you build a safe environment for a group to learn and share and grow together.

This can be something we instill in the lives of our students.  This sense of a tight-knit community that is supportive, encouraging and empowering.  Imagine if we took the time – REALLY took the time to lay that foundation in our classrooms and allowed time for our students to create art together.   It doesn’t matter if we see our students all day everyday or for 45 minutes a week; if we see a class of 25, a small group of 6 or a student one-on-one.  If we take the time to create with them, the bond that is made will only intensify the learning possibilities throughout the year.

By the time Friday of our class last week rolled around we were hugging good-bye, vowing to keep in touch and continue our journey together.  This happened years ago as well for me with my fabulous arts and learning cohort.  Yes, life gets in the way sometimes: schedules and family, work and play, but whenever one of us gets a message from another, it’s like we were just together yesterday.  That bond that art built lasts a lifetime.

Enjoy your day!

~EMP

Ideas for building community in your classroom:

• Create a community piece of artwork
• Listen to music together
• Produce a small play or set of skits
• Have a drumming circle

For additional ideas and thoughts on this subject, see the post Artful Community or check out the “community” tag.

Related posts:

1. Community Built Through Music
2. Community Built Through the Arts
3. A Sense of Community

Over the last weeks, I have received many emails, a few comments and some personal inquiries into active listening time. In nearly each post in this series I’ve highlighted how this time allows me to make connections between music and literacy every day with my students. Whether it be visualization and reading, listening for the BME Rule, or inspiration for a story or poem, actively listening to music is a powerful way to engage students in their understanding of both music and literacy!

So what is Active Listening?  It is the art of listening with your intellect and emotion; where you can block out distractions and just focus on the music, listening to the intricacies of the sounds coming from the speakers.  I tell my students it is when your brain is active.

How can you make time for active listening?  I listen to music each day with my students during our snack time and focus on one piece of music for an entire week.  These repetitive listenings allow us keep the time short and to focus on the music at hand as we become familiar with it.  If you don’t have your students every day, you may listen together for the first 5-10 minutes of class or use an entire class period to listen and respond as you would a story.  Another option is to collaborate with another teacher.  You may work with the music teacher in your school to do most of the active listening part and you can integrate those experiences into other content areas.

Active listening is a wonderful time for students to build community while they discuss their ideas and respond to music.  In addition, you can mold the time to fit your needs as a literacy teacher.  For more information  about Active Listening and how it can be used in your teaching, check out these resources:

• A few posts back I compared listening to music with how we read a book in The Connections Between Music and Reading as there are things you do before, during and after you read or listen.
• Whether you’re collaborating with the music teacher or creating the time for Active Listening experiences in your own classroom, this post Music Listening Experiences will provide you with guiding questions and ideas for interpretive reflection after you listen.
• This is the ultimate resource for integrating Active Listening experiences into your curriculum: Inspired by Listening is my teacher resource book that talks about it all.  It contains everything from introductory lessons about how to listen, questions to ask, activities to try, full lesson plans with reproducibles, complete project ideas and an entire section on background knowledge which includes composer biographies, information on musical genres and a listing of pieces you can introduce to your students.

And regarless of whether you use these experiences for integration with other content areas or not, allowing for active listening time with your students is an enjoyable activity that builds community in your classroom!

~EMP

Celebrate Music and Literacy by taking advantage of Elizabeth’s book Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book for integrating musical listening experiences into the classroom.  The book is on sale this month only (March 2011) at 20% off!

Related posts:

1. The Music-Literacy Connection
2. Collaboration in Action – Music Listening Experiences
3. Celebrate Music and Literacy – book sale!

This week some students of mine have begun the blogging process.  They are very excited and so am I. Since the beginning of the school year, they have been writing in their “Reflection Journals” at the end of every day, reflecting on what they have learned in the various subjects and about themselves as learners.  This blogging is a natural extension of this as they will be blogging about their experiences in school.

Instead of asking the entire class to blog, I have invited students to become part of a pilot program.  I started by asking them to fill out an application stating why they were interested in blogging.

I am interested in blogging because it will be nice for people to answer questions I ask.  Or if I say something like, “I had a hard day,” they could agree or disagree. ~H.M.

I am interested in blogging because I want to try something new. ~J.W.

I am interested in blogging because I would like to see how people relate to what I am saying about my last year at Cashman.  It will also help me focus on becoming a better writer. ~F.O.

From there, I asked those genuinely interested to come up with a welcoming greeting for the description of their blog and their first post.  While it is hard to get things rolling, we are on our way to some great interaction!

We are using School World, the program my district has adopted for all the teacher sites as the platform.  It has its limitations, but I am able to create individual blogs for each students.  Unfortunately, I am the only one who can post articles to the blogs (unless I want to give my students access to the entire site), so I am asking my students to email me their posts or to type them up in school.  From there, I post them and then the posts will be open for comments.

I can’t wait to see comments by other kids and what they think of my ideas.  ~E.C.

I have set up my one student computer in the room as a mini “Blogger’s Cafe” where students can sit, read their peers’ posts and write comments.  This is quickly becoming  a hot spot for students!

This is already proving to be a success!  The serious bloggers are very excited to have this opportunity to voice their ideas and reflections and the best part is that all the students can and will be involved through reading and commenting.

December 31, 1969 7:00 pm viaReplyRetweetFavorite

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We’ll have to see where things go from here.  I hope that in time, other teachers, parents and students from across the country and the world will read our blogs as we will also be able to read those of other students.

For now, we will need to work on what makes a quality post: topic, length, correct grammar, editing work, etc; and what makes a good comment: thoughtful response, correct grammar, spell check, staying on topic, etc.

Here’s a great video I’m going to share with my students tomorrow about “How to Write a Quality Comment.”  It comes from the Comments4Kids website. (Thanks @gret for the link to this great resource!)

How to Compose a Quality Comment! from mrsyollis on Vimeo.

It’s exciting to bring this aspect of social media and authentic writing into my fourth grade classroom.  Most of all, I am excited to watch my students grow as they are able to share their learning journey with others.

Do you have students blogging?  Do you want to try it?  Do you have questions or advice?  Please share!!!  ~EMP

Related posts:

1. Reflection Time

For the past couple of months, I have had the great opportunity to collaborate with some amazing people in my PLN (personal learning network).  People a few blocks away to ones 3000 miles away – it doesn’t matter.  When someone is in your PLN, you become connected by an interest, no, a passion and great collaboration can come about.  This is something I would not have thought possible a year ago.  Yet, it is, thanks to social media and specifically Twitter.

This series on Arts Integration has been full of experience and expertise due to the fact that I have had so many guest bloggers from across the country who are devoted to quality education and believe in the power of the arts.  Check out the line up of guest bloggers who have posted here.

A few days ago, I worked with some amazing people on a proposal for an upcoming #ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) conference in PA.  I (@Eliza_Peterson in New Hampshire) Skyped with @MichelleK107 (in Nebraska), @KylePace (in Missouri), and @Doremigirl (in Pennsylvania) while simultaneously working (typing) on our proposal in Google Docs.  Our presentation is on music and tech integration and we are now awaiting the acceptance of our submission. (Cross your fingers!)

Another great connection was made with @band_techie.  He approached me about being part of his presentation at the National Middle School Conference in Baltimore.  He, a middle school music teacher, invited me, a former music teacher and now fourth grade classroom teacher to present on the topic of music integration and . . . collaboration.

I am amazed at how much I am now collaborating with teachers not just down the hall from me at my school, but across the country.  Being able to do this is enriching my own teaching and my life!  Not only am I constantly learning new things: methods, strategies, activities, philosophies, but I am also building relationships.

Collaboration alone is powerful due to the fact that when you collaborate, you are taking advantage of people’s experience and talents.  The collaborative power of a PLN seems unstoppable!  The depth of experience is immeasurable.

It is my hope to continue to reach out to the wide range of talented people in my PLN to integrate new ideas and methodologies into my teaching and share that with you through this blog!

Do you have a PLN online or offline?  How does this help you as a teacher (and as a human being)?

~EMP

Related posts:

1. Collaboration at #ntcamp