Open Dream Ensemble Teaching Artist Partnering Project Report Prepared by Rebecca Nussbaum, General Manager of Open Dream Ensemble June 30, 2014

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1 Open Dream Ensemble Teaching Artist Partnering Project Report Prepared by Rebecca Nussbaum, General Manager of Open Dream Ensemble June 30, 2014 Executive Summary Arts-integration engages students through sensory, kinesthetic and creative pathways, enhancing their ability to apply knowledge and critical thinking to every element of the curriculum. In 2014, Open Dream Ensemble successfully piloted the Teaching Artist Partnering Project, training classroom teachers in arts-integration techniques while giving established teaching artists collaborative leadership roles. Pairing experienced Open Dream teaching artists with classroom teachers for ten sessions, the project brought arts-enlivened learning to students in Winston-Salem from February through June. Although it was a small-scale project in terms of reach and timeframe, the overall growth described by both the classroom teachers and teaching artists through the course of three surveys suggests that it is a highly effective approach, and a model that deserves to be replicated and expanded. Introduction Open Dream Ensemble is an outreach program of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts. Since 2005 Open Dream has carried out 37 arts-integrated school residencies throughout North Carolina and performed for 164,000 students throughout the southeast. Recurring requests for deeper engagement with teachers led to the creation of the Open Dream Ensemble Teaching Artist Partnering Project. This project paired teaching artists and classroom teachers in order to: develop strategies for teachers to use the performing arts as a platform for integrated instruction;

2 create an opportunity for artists to deepen their teaching artistry through a better understanding of the standards and school culture; establish effective collaboration between classroom teachers and teaching artists. This report focuses on the findings of the Teaching Artist Partnering Project from the vantage points of the classroom teachers and the teaching artists. Overview From January through June 2014, three Open Dream Ensemble teaching artists collaborated with eight Winston-Salem teachers in co-creating and co-teaching ten arts-integrated lessons for each of the teachers classes. For the purposes of this report, a teaching artist is defined as a professional artist who has training and experience integrating non-arts standards with arts standards in order to deliver arts-integrated instruction in the public schools. Purpose To help deepen the practice of arts-integration in two Winston-Salem public schools; To establish UNCSA as a leader in arts-integration; To lay the groundwork of a potential long-term partnership between UNCSA / Open Dream and local schools; To create an innovate model of arts-integration teaching and learning; To make measurable impact in teacher instruction and teaching artist growth. Logistics The eight participating teachers were selected based on the following criteria: 1. They were faculty members at Hall-Woodward Elementary or The Downtown School and had experienced an Open Dream residency in their classroom in the fall of They expressed an interest in better understanding and utilizing arts-integration in their classroom. 3. They were willing to take on the additional planning and instruction time that collaborating on lessons requires. 4. They agreed to document their process through three surveys. The surveys would be 2

3 given at the beginning, mid-point, and conclusion of the project and be a combination of Likert (1-5) and narrative responses. The three teaching artists were selected based on the following criteria: 1. They were artists of professional standing. 2. They were trained and experienced teaching artists with an interest in deepening their skills and collaborating with classroom teachers. 3. They were graduates of UNCSA in dance, drama, and music. 4. They agreed to document their processes in a format similar to the one used by the classroom teachers. Expectations included: 1. The Open Dream teaching artist and classroom teacher would meet every week to plan and implement a lesson. 2. Each lesson would be 45 minutes in duration and connect one non-arts standard to a grade level arts standard. 3. The classroom teacher would select the non-art content. 4. While the first lesson would primarily be created and implemented by the teaching artist over the course of the ten lessons the classroom teacher would take on more of the arts-integrated creation and implementation. By the tenth lesson, the classroom teacher would create and instruct the arts-integrated lesson with the teaching artist offering support. The Teaching Artist Partnering Project took place in two Winston Salem schools: The Downtown School is a pre-k grade 8 charter school in downtown Winston- Salem. Students are chosen through a lottery and the school enjoys a stellar reputation and long waiting list of potential students. It features small class sizes, high parental involvement, and a diverse student body. It has a music teacher and parent volunteers who provide instruction in visual art. On the 2013 End-of-Grade (EOG) tests, 67.8% of Downtown School students tested at grade level in reading and 67.8% tested at grade level in math. 3

4 Hall-Woodward Elementary School is a pre-k grade 5 public school in east Winston-Salem. It is a Title 1 school with a majority of its students receiving free and reduced lunch and breakfast. It has music and visual art teachers on staff. On the 2013 EOG tests, 17.7% Hall-Woodward students tested at grade level in reading and 28.4% tested at grade level in math. Hall- Woodward s student population is approximately 75% Hispanic (many English Language Learners) and 25% black. Teachers Eight teachers at two schools (four from each school) were selected to participate in the Teaching Artist Partnering Project. As seen in Table 1, the participating teachers ability to implement arts-integration in their instruction and their comfort level in collaborating with teaching artists increased throughout the process. The teachers were consistent in their belief that students can learn non-arts standards through the arts and that arts integration impacts students attitudes. Please note that a Likert scale of 1 5 was used for this element of the surveys. 1 is I don t agree and 5 is I strongly agree. 4

5 Table 1: Teacher Responses to the Open Dream Ensemble Teaching Artist Partnering Project at the Beginning, Mid-point and Final. (See Appendix A for breakdowns of the teacher responses according to schools and grade levels.) Each of the three surveys also included narrative responses from the teachers. In the following tables, questions and prompts are in the left column, responses are in the right column. Table 2 shows answers from the initial survey, Table 3 shows answers from the mid-point survey, and Table 4 shows answers from the final survey at the conclusion of the project. (See Appendix B for all the narrative responses.) Q1. I have successfully implemented arts integration in my instruction. Q2. Students can learn non-arts standards through the performing arts. Q3. Arts integration will impact my students' attitudes about learning. Q4. I am skilled in collaborating with teaching artists. 5

6 Table 2: Beginning-project Teacher Questions and Sample of Responses Questions Teacher responses (representative sample) How do you envision I believe children draw a deeper meaning of concepts taught when they can be explored in a your students will variety of ways. benefit from your Develop new strategies in learning new concepts; increase listening skills and following collaboration with a directions; Being respectful of all opinions and ideas. teaching artist? I think they will be more actively engaged and more excited about learning. How do you hope your collaboration with a teaching artist will contribute to your growth as a teacher? How will you know if your collaboration is successful? I hope to learn new ways to deliver instruction to a creative, active group of students. Help & support w/ implementing engaging lessons; idea support (what is feasible?); my deeper understanding of curriculum & best practices for instruction. I hope this opportunity will provide me with new strategies to integrate into my class and to use throughout my teaching. It is a gift to find inspiration in new places! I feel this will be a success and will measure outcomes by student reaction. I will also know by what new strategies open opportunities for learning for my students and for me. I hope the children will be more tolerant and respectful of each other. They will be kind and thoughtful. They will be excited about the new knowledge gained. It will be successful if students enjoy the experience and participate while still learning and growing. I will have gained ideas to use in my own daily teaching. 6

7 Table 3: Mid-project Teacher Questions and Prompts with a Sample of Responses Questions and Teacher responses (representative sample) prompts How have your They love it! High engagement! It s encouraging participation & is creating a fun, positive students responded to learning environment. your collaboration They really enjoy working with Miss Haydee and it s now something I think about when with a teaching artist? planning lessons (especially in science or social studies). My students thoroughly enjoy it! It is a new and engaging learning style for them. They are laughing and playing around, however they don t realize they are learning at the same time. Using arts integration in the classroom I think I wish It s amazing! is a powerful tool. It connects the kids who are more left-brained thinkers with rightbrain concepts. is very successful. It reaches students in multiple ways. It helps the hyper-active release energy, the shy break out of their shell, etc. has helped to keep my students actively engaged in learning and has made learning more fun. this is an awesome process! My students are learning content using multiple intelligences and I am being challenged as an educator to step out of my comfort zone! I would definitely try to integrate the arts with science & social studies because I tend to not like teaching those subject as much as language arts and math. it s difficult for my class to stay under control during a 45 time slot. Arts integration is best (with my class / personality) when used in min. time slot. That s my plan for integration. that I had more time throughout the day to incorporate these activities and that more teachers could experience the co-op with the teaching artist. we had a couple of weeks at the very beginning to collaborate and do some long-term planning together. I could integrate it more often because I feel children respond so positively and retain what was learned. 7

8 Table 4: Final-project Teacher Questions and Prompts with a Sample of Responses Questions and Teacher responses (representative sample) prompts How have your Their retention for concepts has drastically improved! Even my students who typically students responded to struggle to participate have been highly engaged. the use of arts They enjoy getting to move more. I think their listening skills have improved as a result of integration in your these sessions (well some students). sessions? They loved the opportunity to be creative as we explored science topics. The dance & What has been the most challenging aspect of this work? Arts integration I think I wish I would change instruments were very successful in teaching sound, solids, liquids & weather. Coordinating schedules w/ ODE [Open Dream Ensemble] artist was difficult. We were able to collaborate via + text, but more face-to-face meetings built in from the beginning would have been helpful. Stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things that I am not used to doing. Making time is hard during the regular school day. is a vital component to a well-rounded + effective instructional system. is a great way to increase student interest, understanding, and participation. has made an impact on my students eagerness to learn as well as their confidence to try something new. ODE is an amazing group of passionate + talented educators, though they might not label themselves as such! this is perfectly suited for grades 2 and up. They need purposeful time in their day / week to move. That this experience has provided me with new ideas to incorporate arts into my curriculum. we had front loaded our planning together before our student sessions began. It was difficult to squeeze in an opportunity to plan together as we went along. We were not so tied down with mandated standard assessments and had more time to truly teach and explore. That I were more comfortable with some of the activities, so I could better use them in my classroom. I also wish more teacher would have received the arts integration training. the time! I would increase the time allotment to an hour, rather than 45 min. Also, some discussion with classroom teachers regarding expectations would be helpful. There were times when I wasn t sure if an idea we had would fit b/c I wasn t feeling clear about which arts I should integrate or parameters to follow. Overall, an amazing experience!!! The way we constantly test our children and provide more authentic hands-on learning opportunities like these. the time of year the sessions were done because the end of the year is very busy.

9 Teaching Artists Three Open Dream Ensemble teaching artists were selected to partner with the classroom teachers for this project. The Open Dream teaching artists were all graduates of UNCSA and trained and experienced teaching artists. Two of the artists worked with three teachers, the third artist worked with two teachers. Like their classroom teacher counterparts, they were surveyed at the beginning, middle, and end of the project. Per table 5, the Open Dream teaching artists saw growth in all quantitatively measured areas. Each developed their abilities to implement arts-integrated lessons and collaborate with teachers. Due to their prior work, each identified strongly as a teaching artist; however, through the course of this project, they identified in this role more strongly as well as strengthening their identity as teachers and artists. Table 5: Teaching Artist Responses to Open Dream Teaching Artist Partnering Project at the Beginning, Mid-point and Final Q1. I have successfully implemented arts integrated lessons. Q2. Students can learn non-arts standards through the performing arts. Q3. I am skilled in collaborating with teachers. Q4. I identify as an artist. Q5. I identity as a teacher. Q6. I identify as a teaching artist.

10 Table 6: Pre-project Teaching Artist Questions and Responses Pre-project Open Dream Teaching artist responses Expected benefits of I hope to challenge myself to loosen the reins and give more control to the teacher and HELP working with a them create a lesson (and implement). classroom teacher By getting a more in depth look at your school culture, class culture, and core curriculum. Also getting new skill / tool sets from the teachers. I want to deepen the arts-integration skills that I developed working with ODE over a longer Anticipated growth in teaching artist instruction practices View of a successful program for the teaching artists period of time. More awareness of educational culture; More in-depth lesson planning that builds multiple approaches into long-term goals. I always need to be exposed to new ideas and perspectives to keep my teaching artistry fresh, so any collaboration with a new teacher does that keeps it fresh! I am hoping to be able to not only describe clearly how I work but activate and teach how it is I teach. By the 10 th session I hope to see the teacher integrating the arts successfully and comfortably. When the teacher is excited and overflowing with ideas to add to / make the lesson better, it means they are comfortable. It can be a little chaotic, but as long as we share the same goal we will figure it out together. Growth in students able to utilize creative approaches and explore ideas freely and with focus; teacher able to create own lessons using models developed with artist; feeling of trust; freedom to experiment with new approaches. Mid-project Benefits of working with a classroom teacher Open Dream Teaching artist responses I have learned how to be clearer and more concise in my objectives and lesson plans. I have also learned some new techniques from the teacher including classroom management and organization activities. It has been difficult to (at first) find the time for face-to-face collaboration. Now that we have set meeting times I have benefited greatly and have been able to hand over a lot of classroom responsibility. Feeling more comfortable w/ classroom management + trusting our team dynamic. Collaborating also helps us both think of different optional activities. 10

11 Growth in teaching artist instruction practices View of a success over the remaining five sessions Conclusion of project Benefits of working with a classroom teacher Surprises in the work Yes, I have found that working with teachers helps me focus my ideas. I often plan too much to fit in a lesson and my pacing has improved through collaboration. It has been cool to see how well the teachers jump into arts-integration: especially leading skits w/ students that explore science curriculum. I feel safe taking chances because I know my collaborator is working with me. Absolutely. It allows me to have new perspectives and ideas on activities for curriculum I have taught in the past. Yes. I have been given the opportunity to clarify my personal formula on how I create Activities. Also I was / am challenged by working with new subjects outside of science. I would like to see the teachers spawn the idea for the arts part of the curriculum-based activity. Thus far, I ve been mostly in charge / leading the flow of the lessons I think the teaching partners are getting more and more comfortable and I would like to see them take charge of that aspect. For me, I want to continue to get more comfortable w/ leading skits and anticipate possible pit-falls more accurately. Mrs. B is doing a great job taking over portions of the lesson + jumping in whenever I ask many times unscripted. I want to continue growing this dynamic + find more ways to integrate my ideas with her classroom activities across the curriculum (blend subject areas into single activities). I would love to see all my teachers have a successful experience in the classroom and to leave them with confidence. Open Dream Teaching artist responses Mrs. B has such great rapport with her class from her example I feel able to be at ease in the classroom, to feel comfortable w/ my roll + interact w/ students in a mutual way. I don t feel as much an outsider in the classroom. I have learned new activity ideas and different ways to implement old ones. Has forced me to articulate what it is I do. Mrs. B was to jump in + improve my ideas in the moment the level of collaboration was really high and happened intuitively. How open the teachers were to take on teaching drama / music / dance centric activities. The variables of success. There is NOT a formula and each teacher comes with different skill sets to be aware of when collaborating. 11

12 The most challenging aspect of the work for the teaching artists Response to the prompt, I like Response to the prompt, I would change I tried to come up with things outside of the ODE repertoire some successful + some failures. Being able to adapt on the fly is the most challenging thing for me. Scheduling and testing. In some cases to force the teachers to take the reins as an implementer of TArtistry. Also (of course) working around the teacher s busy schedule. pancakes (ask Miss Haydee). The students are wonderful. Seeing them grow and take on the challenges is very rewarding. Working one on one with the teachers. Sharing my knowledge. The kids. The teachers. the overall arc of my lessons by having a well-defined goal for my students and working towards that goal at every lesson rather than using a patchwork of ideas/activities to cover material. Nothing. Every learning process was necessary to achieving the final lesson. Maybe a few more sessions optional, if needed. Upfront requirements of teachers to do homework. Recommendations Based on input from the participants, the following should be considered if this project continues: Begin the work in the fall and possibly expand it to 15 sessions. Allow grade-level teams to actively participate; including through observations of what other classrooms are doing. Devise a way to measure student learning and attitudes. Further formalize the project so that the work is more focused. If possible, bring in school-wide arts-integration training. Set up required weekly meeting times between the artists and teachers that are fixed. Be flexible with the length of the sessions. Conclusion By using the arts to make the standard curriculum immediately engaging and memorable, Open Dream Ensemble has impacted learners throughout the state. Harnessing the incredible power of the arts to enliven other content areas, the Open Dream Ensemble Teaching Artist Partnership Project increased skills in both the teachers and teaching artists. As an outreach program of UNCSA, this project created a new avenue to reach students and teachers through arts-integrated opportunities. As 12

13 these teachers continue to use the techniques and experiences they gained in this process, their students will continue to benefit for years to come. While there are variables to how this important work can be constructed and delivered, it is a potential avenue for community engagement for UNCSA. The teachers comments show the tremendous impact this process had on them and on the 150 students served through the project. The development of the teaching artists demonstrates that deepening their practice through leadership and collaboration with a classroom teacher has measurable benefits. This model has the possibility of expanding the impact of the arts and it is within our reach to continue and develop. It deserves our best efforts on its behalf. 13

14 APPENDIX A Q1. I have successfully implemented arts integration in my instruction. Q2. Student can learn non-arts standards through the performing arts. Q3. Arts integration will impact my students' attitudes about learning. Q4. I am skilled in collaborating with teaching artists. (Scale: 1=Don t agree 5=Strongly agree) Grades K-1 Responses of Classroom Teachers to Open Dream Partnering Project at the Beginning, Mid-point, and Final Grades 2-5 Responses of Classroom Teachers to Open Dream Partnering Project at the Beginning, Mid-point, and Final

15 Q1. I have successfully implemented arts integration in my instruction. Q2. Student can learn non-arts standards through the performing arts. Q3. Arts integration will impact my students' attitudes about learning. Q4. I am skilled in collaborating with teaching artists. (Scale: 1=Don t agree 5=Strongly agree) The Downtown School Responses of Classroom Teachers to Open Dream Partnering Project at the Beginning, Mid-point, and Final Hall-Woodward Elementary Responses of Classroom Teachers to Open Dream Partnering Project at the Beginning, Mid-point, and Final 15

16 APPENDIX B Beginning-project Teacher Questions and Responses Questions Teacher responses How do you I believe children draw a deeper meaning of concepts taught when they can be envision your explored in a variety of ways. students will benefit Develop new strategies in learning now concepts; increase listening skills and following from your directions; Being respectful of all opinions and ideas. collaboration with a I think they will be more actively engaged and more excited about learning. teaching artist? I believe my students will benefit by learning in a new and exciting way. I would love for them to have the opportunity to explore their creativity and express themselves as they learn. Deeper understanding of the curriculum; High engagement & participation; Differentiated to their needs and strengths in the multiple intelligences. I value movement to help learning, so collaborating with Haydee will further give me ideas. I feel their engagement will increase tremendously therefore leading to higher success. My students really enjoyed the artists last time and the artists were great with the students with behavior issues. Those students will benefit greatly through the process and student participation. How do you hope your collaboration with a teaching artist will contribute to your growth as a teacher? I would like to gain a new perspective on how to encourage students creativity. I hope that I will be able to incorporate the arts into my lessons on a regular basis. I hope that it will help me to better integrate the arts into my daily curriculum. I hope to learn new ways to deliver instruction to a creative, active group of students. Help & support w/ implementing engaging lessons; idea support (what is feasible?); my deeper understanding of curriculum & best practices for instruction. I hope this opportunity will provide me with new strategies to integrate into my class and to use throughout my teaching. It is a gift to find inspiration in new places! It will further give me ways to incorporate movement into their learning. I hope it will allow me to learn how to incorporate art into my daily instruction. I believe collaboration offers a chance for teachers to learn from each other I am always open to new ideas.

17 How will you know if your collaboration is successful? I feel this will be a success and will measure outcomes by student reaction. I will also know by what new strategies open opportunities for learning for my students and for me. I hope the children will be more tolerant and respectful of each other. They will be kind and thoughtful. They will be excited about the new knowledge gained Student engagement; student understanding of curriculum and ability to apply learned concepts in new situations. It will be successful if students enjoy the experience and participate while still learning and growing. I will have gained ideas to use in my own daily teaching. Student learning and participation will help me to see how beneficial the collaboration was. If teachers and students both grow from the collaboration, the teamwork will be successful. I will see growth in student learning and participation. When I am successfully implementing it in my class. Mid-project Teacher Questions and Prompts with Responses Questions and Teacher responses prompts How have your They love it! High engagement! It s encouraging participation & is creating a fun, students responded positive learning environment. to your They really enjoy working with Miss Haydee and it s now something I think about collaboration with a when planning lessons (especially in science or social studies). teaching artist? They have enjoyed seeing us work together during classtime. I have started to implement similar activities in the classroom and they say Miss Haydee taught up that! My students have loved the interaction and look forward to each Friday s session! Ms. Haydee is wonderful!! The students enjoy working with Ms. Julianne and look forward to her coming every week. The activities are high-interest, movement activities that keep my students engaged. They have enjoyed the activities and lessons and love when Ms. Julianne comes to visit. 17

18 Using arts integration in the classroom I think They are learning the science standards throughout the collaboration and talk about their experiences often. My students thoroughly enjoy it! It is a new and engaging learning style for them. They are laughing and playing around, however they don t realize they are learning at the same time. It s amazing! My students have loved the arts integration lessons and the teaching artist. They have participated and learned science standards through the lessons. It has been a great addition to our curriculum. is a powerful tool. It connects the kids who are more left-brained thinkers with right-brain concepts. is a fun way to teach concepts that many seem too cut & dry. is very successful. It reaches students in multiple ways. It helps the hyper-active release energy, the shy break out of their shell, etc. is a great way to learn while moving. is a good way to keep students engaged, and to involve various ways of learning in the classroom. has been a very positive experience. I would love to continue to use arts integration in my classroom. has helped to keep my students actively engaged in learning and has made learning more fun. this is an awesome process! My students are learning content using multiple intelligences and I am being challenged as an educator to step out of my comfort zone! It is a wonderful way to integrate instruction and meet children s diverse learning needs. I would definitely try to integrate the arts with science & social studies because I tend to not like teaching those subject as much as language arts and math. it s difficult for my class to stay under control during a 45 time slot. Arts integration is best (with my class / personality) when used in min. time slot. That s my plan for integration. that I have gained some different teaching strategies to use in the classroom, especially with my ELL students. students are more engaged and excited when lessons include arts integration. That they experience has helped me to learn ways to incorporate the arts in my 18

19 I wish classroom. It was a positive experience. This program is wonderful and be continued in many classrooms / schools on a regular basis. One day for a specials class to be based around this program. that I had more time throughout the day to incorporate these activities and that more teachers could experience the co-op with the teaching artist. we had a couple of weeks at the very beginning to collaborate and do some long-term planning together. I could integrate it more often because I feel children respond so positively and retain what was learned. that using these activities would encourage my students to stay engaged and active. My only concern is that sometimes it causes more behavior problems if we are moving from a high movement activity to something like reading a story or a writing lesson. A balance needs to be achieved between the activities. I was not retiring this year so I would have more opportunities to practice what I ve learned and extend my leaning. Thank you for working with us this semester. I had more planning time in my school day to plan solid lessons to use during my time w/ Miss Haydee. At this point, it s (sadly) one more thing on my plate. However, I ve enjoyed working with her and learning from her. I had more space and time to do more of it in my classroom. It would be great to integrate art into more subject areas. Final-project Teacher Questions and Prompts with Responses Questions and Teacher responses prompts How have your Their retention for concepts has drastically improved! Even my students who typically students responded struggle to participate have been highly engaged. to the use of arts They enjoy getting to move more. I think their listening skills have improved as a result integration in your of these sessions (well some students). sessions? My students love integrating the arts throughout all aspects of their learning day. I have an over active class so I have found it difficult to keep their behavior under control. 19

20 They loved the opportunity to be creative as we explored science topics. The dance & instruments were very successful in teaching sound, solids, liquids & weather. They are extremely engaged and eager to learn through music and the arts. At first many were unsure and extremely shy, however they became more confident. My students loved it and looked forward to every Wednesday for our sessions. They have enjoyed the sessions and have learned the science curriculum through the experience. What has been the most challenging aspect of this work? Arts integration I think Coordinating schedules w/ ODE [Open Dream Ensemble] artist was difficult. We were able to collaborate via + text, but more face-to-face meetings built in from the beginning would have been helpful. Finding the time to have the sessions as the end of the year approached. Upper grades have testing. There hasn t been anything particularly challenging, except extra time to plan. Trying to keep the children in some kind of control so they will not hurt each other! Stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things that I am not used to doing. Time. Making time is hard during the regular school day. Finding extra time in my day to plan for this. is a vital component to a well-rounded + effective instructional system. is easier to do than one would think. can add to any lesson. is a wonderful way to reach all children and provides a diverse way to direct instruction. is a great way to increase student interest, understanding, and participation. has made an impact on my students eagerness to learn as well as their confidence to try something new. can be helpful with implementing in slow increments. is a great way to teach through hands-on learning and it helps the students better understand and retain information. ODE is an amazing group of passionate + talented educators, though they might not label themselves as such! this is perfectly suited for grades 2 and up. They need purposeful time in their day / week to move. 20

21 I wish I would change arts integration is a powerful tool to help concepts stick with children over time. Students will remember a song but will quickly forget a quiz. arts integration is a great way to teach science and social studies concepts. the students benefited greatly. arts integration is an amazing way to teach students in a fun and memorable way. my students have learned about science in musical, movement, and rhythm forms. That this experience has provided me with new ideas to incorporate arts into my curriculum. we had front loaded our planning together before our student sessions began. It was difficult to squeeze in an opportunity to plan together as we went along. We were not so tied down with mandated standard assessments and had more time to truly teach and explore. That I were more comfortable with some of the activities, so I could better use them in my classroom. I also wish more teacher would have received the arts integration training. I had more time and space for similar activities on a regular basis. I had another year with a classroom to continue what I ve learned. I had more chunks in the day to be able to spend doing musical and rhythm activities. I had more time to focus on this aspect of teaching. I could experience a different class, so I had a reference point to how other K students respond to this. the time! I would increase the time allotment to an hour, rather than 45 min. Also, some discussion with classroom teachers regarding expectations would be helpful. There were times when I wasn t sure if an idea we had would fit b/c I wasn t feeling clear about which arts I should integrate or parameters to follow. Overall, an amazing experience!!! The way we constantly test our children and provide more authentic hands-on learning opportunities like these. the time of year the sessions were done because the end of the year is very busy. Having more time to plan activities. The amount of time K meets. 45 minutes is a difficult time to keep K focused. I could experience a different class, so I had a reference point to how other K students respond to this. 21