The Inspired Classroom » PLaiC

Arts Integration Party!

Elizabeth Peterson — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:31:09 +0000

You read that right! We are going to have an arts integration party this coming week and you are invited! Susan Riley of Education Closet and I are going to host this event. It’s a “TwitParty” which means the event will be completely online and done through Twitter. The #artsint party is a chance for teachers to chat, share resources and ideas and for the hostesses to give away prizes!

Our theme is “Fall into Arts Integration” and we will be sharing with you our top five ways to make arts integration part of your teaching repertoire. Along the way we will also be sharing free resources and information, and every so often a lucky person will win an arts integration book!

Here are the details of the #artsint TwitParty:

Day: Thursday, November 3, 2011

Time: 7:30-8:30 pm EST

Where: From the comfort of your own home!

Online info: You can follow the chat using Tweetchat. Just go to this address and you will see the conversation live: http://tweetchat.com/room/artsint If you want to join the conversation and be eligible to win a prize, sign in using your Twitter account and Tweet away!

Not comfortable with Twitter yet? Need help getting started before the event? Just let me know. You can add a comment here or email me through the contact page of this site. But beware – once you start Tweeting, it may be hard to stop!

So – Join us for this fun event! You will learn new ways to integrate the arts into your curriculum, get access to fantastic resources and you may even win a prize or two!

See you Thursday…

~EMP

Arts Integration PLC

Elizabeth Peterson — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:21:32 +0000

What can happen when teachers get together to discuss student learning? Lots – and not just for the students, for the teachers too. That is what I have discovered through the organization of our district’s Arts Integration PLC. Nearly three years ago, I sent out an email to all the teachers in Amesbury, Massachusetts where I work as a fourth grade teacher, inviting them to join me in a professional learning community focused on arts integration. I was happy to get interest and even more happy when our first meeting came to fruition.

The group is diverse. Our membership has ranged from pre-school to high school and yet it works! Our commitment to student learning and understanding of the importance of arts in education is a common thread that’s powerful enough for us to meet and make a difference in our teaching. We have had wonderful discussions, created great art together and learned so much from each other. I remember just last year watching the HS foreign language teacher and the pre-school teacher conversing about language, art and the brain. It was fascinating to hear their ideas and to then later see how it affected their teaching. It just proved that regardless of what we teach, we are all adults working toward the same thing.

Each year membership may change, but we have a core group that is dedicated and understands the importance of what we are doing. This year we have eight teachers and we are off to a great start. We are starting the year thinking about our purpose and vision to focus our intentions. Because few of us share the same students, we must find a way to discuss student learning in a general, yet purposeful way. So we are choosing overall skills that all of our students need to learn and will discuss and share ideas to integrate the arts into these areas. We started our year talking about Vocabulary since our district had just spent a PD day on the topic. Next month, we will focus on ways to integrated the arts into math.

Since we only meet once a month, I felt it was important to start a wiki for us to keep in contact and continue our discussions. This wiki is open to ANY teacher interested in the topic of arts integration and we welcome your comments on our discussion threads. So, please, I invite you to go to artsintegrationplc.wikispaces.com and contribute to the “What is it about arts integration?” discussion under the Discussion tab. You can also click the PLaiC logo on the right sidebar anytime you are here at The Inspired Classroom.

So join us! Let’s create a greater Arts Integration PLC that spans the country and maybe even the world!

~EMP

Get in the Conversation

Elizabeth Peterson — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:45:10 +0000

People at EduCon 2.3 having a conversation.

The art of the conversation tends to be a lost one, and yet it is such an effective means of learning. Listening and responding, call and response, you are almost in a constant state of learning and reflection. Conversing is an important part of a teacher’s journey. Here are some reflections on how I have grown as one who needs to converse with others.

The more I converse with people about what I do in the classroom, the more I learn. It’s a natural process. Before I was involved in all this back and forth both online and in person, it was just me creating things in my own head. It was productive, don’t get me wrong. I work well independently and in doing so I wrote my book, Inspired by Listening, and start this website. But having conversations with others has brought me to new levels of understanding of arts integration, deepened my belief in it and has motivated me to not only continue my work but improve it. I am constantly challenged by what others are saying and commenting on. I love getting emails from people asking questions. My favorite is being able to collaborate with others on projects and presentations. I learn so much from others when we are able to talk together!

Tomorrow I am fortunate enough to be presenting at EduCon 2.3 with @doremigirl, @michellek107 and @kylepace on the topic of arts integration. Our presentation is actually a facilitation where we will lead conversations on the importance of arts integration, what is happening now and what we can do to further its use in schools. In addition, participants will be creating art as a means to further communicate their ideas. (For more information on our #educon conversation, visit https://sites.google.com/site/musicandtechharmony/Educon23) Earlier this month, Kyle posted Presentation vs. Conversation which sparked some good conversation through comments. (haha) It got me thinking about all the conferences I have attended and how engagement was a key to the effectiveness of the presentation. It’s exciting to see what will happen tomorrow as we gather educational professionals to have a conversation about arts integration.

At the beginning of the month, I presented virtually at the 2011 Reform Symposium on Getting Started with Arts Integration. That presentation has sparked some great conversation through email and twitter. I have been able to connect with more people about a topic I love and learn more and more as our conversations progress.

Speaking of Twitter, that alone has been one of the greatest means of learning through communication. Yes, you can have an actual conversation through Twitter. It’s not just a bunch of meaningless banter. Well, there can be that too… but for us educators, Twitter has provided an incredible platform for conversing with other educators around the world. The learning is endless.

And for those interested in more focused conversations in education, you can join a chat. There is one for arts education and integration as well: #artsed. In fact, I am so happy to say that I will soon be moderating the evening #artsed chats for a short time while Joan Weber is out feeding her flame rehearsing for a play.

Skype is another means for conversation with others. It has been a wonderful experience to converse and collaborate with my twitter pals for tomorrow’s presentation. And I have more Skype conversations in my future with other wonderful educators.

This is my second year implementing PLaiC into my school. PLaiC is a PLC which focuses on arts integration. We meet face to face once a month and converse about all things arts integration. The forum is meant to be supportive and encouraging as we discuss ways to reach our goals integrating the arts and collaborating with one another. The best part is how we are able to connect with one another through language and stories – always learning from one another.

We all need to get in the conversation. And I am realizing this more and more.

So, are you interested in arts integration? Then get in the conversation! I would love to hear from you and learn with you. Your turn- let’s converse!

~EMP

(Next post – Conversations in the Classroom)

True Arts Integration

Collaborate to Integrate

Elizabeth Peterson — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:54:36 +0000

Another post on this site, “What is True Arts Integration” sparked a little bit of dialogue and last night I was replying to the comments that had been made. While doing so, I found an important key concept in arts integration ringing through – Collaboration.

Collaboration has been discussed here and on other blogs (and articles and books) time and again. I would like to focus on how collaboration between educators can be helpful as we work to integrate subject areas together, making learning experiences more meaningful to our students (and ourselves!)

A field hockey “mantra” I became very familiar with in high school was, “Communication is the key to success.” It is so true. If you want a team to work well together, then you need to communicate well. Well, in our team of teachers, Collaboration is another key to success. We cannot all be experts at everything. We cannot work as if we live on an island. We have to allow other teachers into our spaces so that we can work more efficiently and effectively for our students. As Victoria Riehle said in her comment, “Open the doors, forget about the bell, let multiple subjects happen at one time and watch the light bulbs go off!”

Sometimes there is the desire in a teacher to integrate, but the skill level is just not there. Again Collaboration is the key. When we do not know what direction to take, we need to seek out the expertise of our colleagues. There is so much talent within our school walls. We must feel comfortable and open enough to reach out to one another and exchange what we have to offer.

Even when I feel I have a good or even great idea for an integration lesson, there is always more that can be done. I am limited by my own experiences, but when I am open to recieving the knowledge of others (including other teachers and also my students) some great extensions can occur in the classroom. After reading an activity idea on my post about True Arts Integration, Dawn offered an artistic extension to the lesson using color and design. It was a perfect example of how working together can only improve the original idea and enrich the experience as a whole.

I will often find myself coming up with an idea and then protecting it. It’s mine! This happens a lot in schools, but is not how education should be. (And this is what I fear will happen more often if merit pay becomes part of our education system.) Instead, a community of educators must also be a community of learners and therefore a community of collaborators.

How do you collaborate with your colleagues?

~EMP

Click one of the tags from this post to find related posts.

Teacher Field Trips

Elizabeth Peterson — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:40:58 +0000

I cruised down the road for my morning commute to school.
It was Friday,
no kids in the car,
sun was out,
radio was on
and then the beat started to pound,

Lady Gaga’s Just Dance started.
YES!

Volume turned up,
hips started to move,
head bobbed
and fingers tapped.

“I need to get out tonight
and DANCE!”
But wasn’t sure how,
never mind…
must listen and groove right now.

My mind wandered,
I visualized myself on the dance floor.
Who’s with me??
Teachers on the mind
(going to school after all…)
We jam,
sway,
stomp,
clap,
wiggle
and groove.

That’s it!
that’s when it came to me
WE needed to get out and dance
Yes, WE teachers!

That’s part of getting inspired
for ourselves
for our students…

That’s what we need
Our OWN Field Trips!

Click play to view pictures from our field trips!

Some may laugh at the idea, but not teachers. We need this and it’s great! A chance for us to get out, connect and get inspired.

The Inspired Classroom has had four Teacher Field Trips so far. The first was to go out dancing. Next we visited the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Our third field trip was to a poetry Beat Night in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and finally this week we painted pottery at Firefly Pottery studios.

Our mission is to reach out to the teachers and help them to become and remain inspired in what they do for our children. We have done so through this website, at workshops and conferences, PLaiC and now these field trips. The teachers love it. For each field trip, they experience something new, connect with other teachers who are interested in expanding their horizons and even get a party favor. Beth Cavalier, my good friend and colleague has been instrumental in helping to bring these field trips together…thanks Beth!

Personally, I have enjoyed each one. I have learned new things, been able to connect with like minded teachers and grown as a professional. I look forward to continuing these field trips through the summer and for the years to come.

PLaiC – Experience, Reflect, Apply

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:08:57 +0000

This past week, a group of teachers that work in my district got together for our monthly (3 months strong!) PLaiC meeting. This is a PLC (Professional Learning Community) session that centers around Arts Integration. The format for this session was different than that in the past and I believe it was very effective. We did some creative things together (EXPERIENCE), talked about them (REFLECT) and then discussed ways we could use these ideas in our teaching (APPLY).

This new format is an important change to the group. When attending my last course in the Arts, Leadership and Learning CAGS program at Plymouth State University, I rediscovered the importance of doing something to understand it. By living the creative process, I realized that this is what needs to be emphasized and shared with my colleagues.

Experience

Our session began with one of our members, a PreK teacher sharing a movement activity with us which she calls “Rockin’ Roll Yoga”. We got up to move and dance to some rockin’ music she brought by Spearhead. When the music was paused, she held up a large yoga card (Body Poetry Yoga Cards by Roylco) and we all got into that pose.

After doing a few yoga moves we stopped and took three “balloon breaths”. To do one, you take three continuous breaths as you stretch your arms out and above your head and then you let it out slowly. It was a great way to focus us into our meeting time. In fact one of our members, an PT teacher mentioned that this type of breathing changes your physiology, making you more focused and relaxed.

The final piece

Our next activity was to create a piece of community art around the table at which we sat. We started by passing a black marker around and drawing a boarder on the paper in front of us. Then we claimed our section of the paper and started to fill in the space with our own creations. As time went on, we found ourselves connecting our sections, making one fabulous piece of art!

Reflection

We followed up with reflections and a discussion of how to use these activities and modify them for our teaching. The reflection time was nice. The teachers had a very positive experience both with the movement and the visual activties. One commented that she liked the freedom of the activity. Another enjoyed how she was able to just be in the moment. One teacher appreciated the framework of the visual activity and the ability to “do anything”. The ELL teacher present noted that kids without profiecient oral language would feel like an important part of the activity.

Application

The brainstorm was great. Here are some of the ideas we came up with

Use this to illustrate the practice and understanding of community.
Use this as a team building activity.
Tear it up to represent the importance of the process, not the product.
Have students make their own section separately and then put it together to make one piece of artwork, maybe have them work to connect the sections with some more coloring.
Have students make their own section with specified colored markers. Put the sections together and then brush over the whole piece with a wet paintbrush to illustrate how all the individual pieces connect to make one.

For additional information about this visual activity and its applications, see this post: Community Built Through the Arts.