Summer Institute 2005

This weeklong institute utilized a brain-based approach to learning, employing all four arts disciplines (dance/movement, music - instrumental & vocal, theatre, and visual arts). Interdisciplinary school-based teams consisting of certified arts educators, classroom teachers, and administrators engaged in hands-on, studio workshops, developing and mastering new skills, techniques, and methodology to: (1) provide daily opportunities for students to create, perform, and respond in and through the arts in order to increase their appreciation of the arts and enhance their creativity; (2) enhance teacher motivation, creativity, collaboration, and reflective classroom practice; and (3) promote teaching for understanding so that students develop and express knowledge and understandings in and through authentic, in-depth arts-infused learning activities (multiple intelligence approach). In addition, during the institute’s daily common planning time, interdisciplinary teams participated in curriculum design workshops to learn how to collaborate effectively in the design and implementation of authentic arts-infused curriculum, instruction, and performance assessments. Participants learned how to recognize and improve their individual and group working styles and use this information to create a productive culture of collegiality. Participants also learned how to actively engage students in the learning process by creating a classroom culture where students create, perform, and respond to works of art on a daily basis.

When Marian Sang - Voices of Courage

A hands-on studio institute designed by Loriana De Crescenzo of OperaProv and Taylor Amaio of SmART Schools, based on the life and musical works of Marian Anderson. Social, cultural, and historical aspects of Marian Anderson’s journey were explored through a variety of media including literature. Connections to Eleanor Roosevelt’s biography were also be integrated into this theme. Participants first encountered the subject matter through the music. Scaffolding studio experiences enabled the text to be explored deeply and provided the skills and methods for participants to create and perform a culminating mini-opera, including a focus on classroom-based set design. This professional development experience enabled participants to immediately apply this innovative prototype curriculum in their classrooms and give them the skills to modify for other “Voices of Courage” in history.

A New Kind of Literacy: Puppetry and Performance in the Classroom

This innovative SmART Schools institute combined ideas developed by Erminio Pinque, Artistic Director of nationally renowned Big Nazo – an international performance group of visual artists, puppet performers, and masked musicians – and the dynamic theatre and literacy techniques developed by Kurt Wootton, Director of the ArtsLiteracy Project at Brown University. In this hands-on studio training, participants explored and experienced ways to fuse performance and visual arts together through the medium of puppetry. Participants leared how to design and develop puppets in an open-ended "creature creation" process. This institute demonstrated creative different ways to utilize a traditional text, taught in many elementary and secondary school classrooms, as an inspiration for learning, bringing it to life through the use of performance and puppetry. Participants also learned how to shape text in different modalities, authentically to help students develop a deeper understanding and comprehension of the text.

Contact:

SmART Schools
Education Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458
phone: (603) 494-1031 fax: (603) 249-9187   

Senior Project Developer & Director
Eileen Mackin
email: emackin@edc.org

More Information:

SmART Schools Brochure (pdf)

SmART Schools Master Teaching Artists and Faculty: High School (pdf)

SmART Schools Master Teaching Artists and Faculty: K-8 (pdf)

SmART Schools Evaluation (pdf)
Reviews findings during phase 1 of a three-part assessment of programs implemented in Rhode Island schools.

Read "SmART Schools Use the Arts to Engage Students."
EDC feature article that describes how the arts are used across the curriculum to engage all students.