In January, teachers, teaching artists and the (C3)2 project staff gathered to reflect on the recently-completed fall 2017 arts-integration projects. Laura Reeder, (C3)2 curriculum coordinator (below), welcomed the group and set the tone for the Winter 2018 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) meeting. She reported that student reflections show that students are “highly creative and critical. The arts are important to them,” she stressed. “It makes learning better.”
“It’s important to identify what you will take away from the project,” Ms. Reeder continued. “What have you learned? What are you going to show other folks?” She noted that this would be important moving forward, when the project funding no longer exists. “I’ve learned a lot more about my teaching and my students through this partnership,” Ms. Reeder stressed. “For instance, I’ve learned that it’s important to listen to both the kids and ourselves.” She then encouraged participants to share what they had learned. (See below.)
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What is Your Take Away from the (C3)2 Project?
Here are some of the things teachers said they had discovered during their participation in the (C3)2 project:
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For the remainder of the morning session, teams of teachers and teaching artists worked to create a Pecha Kucha for their fall 2017 projects. (A Pecha Kucha is a story-boarded PowerPoint.)
Ms. Reeder encouraged the teams to create presentations with a particular audience in mind. “Perhaps, you want to show your presentation to your colleagues or administration. Or you might want to share it with your students and parents. Ask yourself: ‘Who needs to care about this project?’”
The finished Pecha Kuchas were shared with the other P2P participants. South Huntington fourth grade teachers, working with teaching artist Dafna Soltes Stein, described their arts-integrated project. Fourth grade students learned about life on Long Island during colonial times and compared it with modern times. Here's a video clip of their presentation.
In the afternoon, (C3)2 teachers and teaching artists worked in teams to start formulating their next and final project for the (C3)2 grant. The teams had already chosen a performance or cultural site visit for their last project. The teaching artists suggested ways to integrate the arts and the performances into a specific curriculum topic for Grades 4 and 5.
The meeting wrapped up with the teams sharing their plans for the spring 2018 projects. One group reported that their students will using their knowledge of kinetic energy, forces and motion to create a curiosity inspired mobile. Another group plans to help students make connections between nutritional health and the science of movement. One other group will encourage students to dig deep into Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech, uncover the personal and societal dreams of noteworthy African Americans, and consider how personal dreams can evolve into societal dreams.