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You
are here: Report on the Learning Through the Arts Conference at IslandWood
Overview
The three-day residential education conference was held at IslandWood on Friday, August 6 through Sunday, August 8, 2004 and was co-sponsored with New Horizons for Learning. It was attended by:
· 80 participants,
· a combination of teachers, administrators, artists, graduate students and directors of professional development programs for teachers from arts organizations,
· participants attended from around the state and as far away as Venezuela.
· 39 scholarships were provided to participants and 23 were awarded to teachers.
Program Content
Dee Dickinson, CEO and founder of New Horizons for Learning opened the conference with an overview of why we need the arts in our educational programs. Nancy Margulies, international mindmapper and author of Mapping Inner Space, presented methods conference participants could use to mindmap not only the conference but also all aspects of their professional lives and to offer as learning tools for their students.The conference keynote was given by Dr. John Bransford, professor in the University of Washington's College of Education and co-chair of the Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice of the National Research Council. Dr. Bransford spoke on the most current brain research, discussed how people learn, and suggested ways to bring that research into the classroom. His unique and creative use of technology made an informative presentation even more powerful.
The schedule allowed all participants the opportunity to attend all three workshops. Workshop presenters offered ways in which to use the arts to teach math, science, language arts and social studies.
• Roger Fernandes, Native American educator and storyteller from the Lower Elwah Klallam tribe, demonstrated how story-telling and drama can help students to learn and told colorful and inspiring native American "teaching stories" as examples. Participants explored how they could use their own stories in heir teaching. Fernandes also gave an evening program of story-telling.
• Lee Ann Woolery, artist and arts educator as well as IslandWood's arts coordinator took participants to the marsh to study ecosystems through the visual arts using pencil, watercolor, and printmaking to create individual narratives of the marsh. Then participants brought their art together in an outdoor gallery space in order to view a collective visual narrative of the marsh ecosystem.
• Anne Green Gilbert, director of Creative Dance Center and Kaleidoscope Dance Company, led participants in an exploration of how dance can facilitate the understanding of math. They also experienced how rhythmical activities can facilitate human development. Participants who could not imagine themselves dancing in front of a classroom full of other teachers were doing so.
The surprise of the weekend was an evening performance and practicum in the Great Hall on Saturday night by Lelavision: a musical, movement troupe composed of co-founders Leah Mann and Ela Lamblin. In a final exercise, exploring the senses, participants made a double line and made music with voice and small percussion instruments. Each person with eyes closed walked down the line gently coaxed by the lulling voices and rhythms of their colleagues. One young woman participant, a recent graduate of University of Washington School of education is deaf. She chose to go it on her own and walked the 75 foot length of the line with eyes closed relying on her intuitive sense. A professional Realtime CART (communication access real-time) service was provided by the conference hosts for this young woman through out the conference.
Outcomes
Participants:
· gained powerful tools to use the arts to improve the academic achievement of all students in the basic skills and to enhance higher order thinking skills,
· learned how including the arts in the teaching/learning process can facilitate meeting the Essential Academic Learning Requirements,
· discovered effective ways of recognizing and building on the diverse learning styles and intelligences among all students,
· left with new skills, a personal journal, and materials full of practical ideas and resources for the coming school year.Participants' Evaluation
The feedback was tremendously positive towards the entire 3-day event. Specific feedback included these comments:
· "This was the best teacher workshop I have ever attended."
· "Usually the first dialogue teachers have at a conference is "how can we leave early?" At this conference teachers were asking, "how could we stay longer?""
· "Thank you for putting together such a comprehensive experience for teachers. It helps a lot to feel 'supported' in what I do during the school year."
· "Workshop presenters gave practical strategies for classroom application, professional and inspirational."
Other positive comments made about the conference:
· This workshop reminded me why I am a teacher.
· Valuable aspects of the conference were the opportunities networking,
· The hands on learning opportunities worked well
· The instructors were outstanding, and
· The presentations demonstrated new ways to integrate the arts into the curriculum.Many teachers requested on-going support through a conference or web dialogue. And most participants said they would like to come to a conference again next year.
An online post-conference resource center will open in the Meeting Spaces area of the New Horizons for Learning website on September 16. It will offer participants opportunities to ask questions, discuss their experiences at the conference, describe how they are applying what they learned in their classrooms or other work, and tell about how they integrate the arts in their teaching.
During her 23 years in the arts, Lee Ann Woolery has designed and facilitated arts education programs for non profits and public schools, professional development workshops, and artist-in-residence programs working with an intergenerational, multicultural constituency. Most recently she has lectured on the creative process as it mediates the human nature relationship at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as other professional meetings internationally. Education: B. A. in Graphic Design, Columbia College; M.A.A.T. in Art Therapy, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Ph.D. student, Environmental Studies; Antioch University New England.
Contact information: Lee Ann Woolery, Arts Coordinator, IslandWood. 4450 Blakely Ave. N.E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. leeannw@islandwood.org .
©September 2004 New Horizons for Learning
http://www.newhorizons.org
info@newhorizons.orgFor permission to redistribute, please go to:
New Horizons for Learning Copyright and Permission Information
