At the (C3)2 Project's Winter Peer-to-Peer (P2P), classroom teachers, specialty teachers, and teaching artists shared the latest arts integration units they had created and implemented in their Grades 4 and 5 classrooms. The two full-day meetings, one for each grade level, celebrated the teams’ recent creative work as well as trouble-shooted logistical and curricular concerns among the (C3)2 Project partners. The meeting also gave the group the opportunity to start formulating their next arts integration units, which will be done in the spring.
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The meetings kicked off with welcoming remarks from (C3)2 project director Loretta Corbisiero (above, left) and curriculum director Laura Reeder (above, right). Ms. Reeder reminded participants that this year is "A Year of Creativity.” She asked participants to share what they saw as their creative roles or job title. “If you had to give your creative work a job title, what would it be?” she asked. Participants took turns sharing. The job titles ran the gamut from architect, improviser and archaeologist to facilitator, time manager and ring master. “I think I’m a waitress,” reported a teacher. “I give my students a menu of choices. We go over the choices and, sometimes, I make a few recommendations. But in the end, the students make their own choices.”
Afterwards, Ms. Reeder asked the participants to sit with their teams and create a Pecha Kucha presentation that summarized their fall projects. “How would you describe what you did to an audience of students, parents, or administrators? What did your project’s creativity look like?” The teams went through their photo files and chose images to illustrate what had happened (above).
When the presentations were completed, each team summarized their project for the group (above). Teaching artist Paul Rodriguez (below, in white wig) and his team donned the props used for their project on US presidents.
Later in the morning, Joy Zacharia (below) from Metis Associates, discussed the (C3)2 Project’s data collection process. Metis Associates is responsible for the evaluation of the (C3)2 project’s implementation and its impacts. Ms. Corbisiero emphasized the importance of the data collection. “Very few educational communities receive funds to support arts integration,” she stressed. “Our schools are very fortunate. We have an opportunity to collect data that will impact education in the future.”
In the afternoon, the teams began planning their units for the spring. “Moving forward, the goal is to make arts integration a more natural, organic part of your teaching life,” said Ms. Reeder. An important part of the process is the utilization of each team member. “It’s tricky when the specialist doesn’t see the class on a daily basis, doesn’t go to the arts performances, and doesn’t see the teaching artist.” She stressed the importance of carefully explaining the unit's basic concept and vocabulary to each member of the team. Ms. Reeder spent time with each team, helping them to understand the role of each team member, especially the specialists (photo below).
The curriculum director also spoke the teaching artists (below).
