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  • Blog For All!
    Education

    Happy Teaching Artist Appreciation Week!

    Posted Friday May 18 2012 at 9:14 pm.
    Used tags: , , , , , ,

    Thanks to all of our teaching artists for bringing a Creative Outlook On Learning to schools across Massachusetts!


    MUSICLiz Buchanan, Carolyn Lewenberg and Ellen Donaldson
    Deborah Stuart shared her immense expertise on working with students with disabilities in the arts with teaching assistants in the Newton Public Schools, our cohort of teaching artists, educators in Salem Public Schools and successfully led the COOL music team to present an engaging workshop. 
     
    Tim Van Egmond supported students at the Adams, Gates Lane and Elm Park Elementary Schools to learn early literacy skills through music, movement and storytelling; and was an engaging presenter at the COOL Music workshop.
     
    Andy Holiner engaged his beloved Creative Kids at the Boston College Campus School through music and movement and inspired their community to see their abilities shine through.
     
    Jafar Manselle and Fatou Carol Sylla drummed and danced with students at the Henderson Inclusion Elementary School and presented an extraordinary performance to celebrate Black History Month that got featured on PBS News Hour!

    Liz Buchanan engaged young students and their teachers at the Condon Elementary School in Boston to learn important early literacy skills through music, and delivered a  successful and engaging presentation at the COOL Music workshop.

    Tim Archibald created inclusive music with students heard through the halls and seen at three performances for the community at the Henderson Inclusion School and has been a great presenter and volunteer at the VSA All Access Pass tour this spring. 

    Victor Cockburn, for supporting literacy skills of English Language Learners in the Taylor School by engaging the children in creating and singing rhyming songs—which they do with great enthusiasm!

    Emily Isaacson, for her unique and enthusiastic collaboration with teachers at the Harbor School, where students are writing lyrics, creating beats and melodies to analyze and tell Othello’s and others’ stories through music. 

    Constance Cook, for helping children at the Taylor School find their singing voices and pride in their abilities, while building community and engaging the teachers through music.
     
    MOVEMENTteaching artists dancing
    Priscilla Harmel shared her passion for movement with students and educators at Taylor Elementary School,  Adams Elementary School, and Roosevelt Elementary School as they moved through space and time to discover kinesthetic connections to curriculum and will present the COOL Dance Workshop this Monday. 

    Maureen Finnerty made text move with students and teachers at the Taylor Elementary School and Condon Elementary School and has wowed visitors at All Access Pass tours telling her story both as a student and teaching artist with VSA MA. 

    DeAnna Pellacchia, dancer and aerialist who teaches teens to express themselves courageously through dance, for participating, learning and contributing in our TA trainings and the COOL workshop development.


    VISUAL ARTSTeaching artists drawing
    Nat Needle led successful weaving programs at the Goddard Elementary School and South High School in Worcester, where he supported students with disabilities to become weaving mentors for their non-disabled peers.
     
    Nora Valdez brought concepts to life by sketching and painting with students at the Holmes Elementary School and Dorchester Academy. 

    Carolyn Lewenburg supported 6th and 7th graders and their teachers to fill the halls of the Harbor Middle School with art expressing their understanding of ancient civilizations, planets and histroical fiction and engaged educators in doodling a deeper understanding of text at the COOL Visual Art Workshop. 

    Ariel Rosenblum brought emotion and self-awareness alive with color, shape and form to engage 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders at the Adams Elementary School, activated an exploration of identity through portaiture with 9th - 12th grade students at the Boston Green Academy and taught educators to engage their students in new ways by investigating visuals in text at the COOL Visual Arts Workshop. 

    Jessica Bonnell, a student intern from MassArt, developed her skills as an inclusive educator and led visual arts classes for all students at the Henderson Inclusion School mentored by Mark Johnson.

    Elena Figueroa led the COOL Visual Arts Team to present an engaging workshop where educators learned the high art of doodling to pull details from text and the benefits of visual vocabulary.

    Ellen Donaldson, for her gentle and joyous teaching at the Waterford and Sauter Schools in Gardner, where students brought text alive through the visual arts and shared their accomplishments with parents and teachers.

    Ellen Berrahmoun, for helping the “young artists” at Taylor Elementary make personal connections to the curriculum through puppetmaking and storytelling, and wonderful, tactile explorations of colors and the alphabet.

    Sue Rice, for bringing her love of storytelling comic art to K-2 English Language Learners at Taylor Elementary, who learned to use geometric and organic shapes to create cartoon characters and collages that explored aspects of storytelling and the habitats of real and imaginary animals. 

    Peter Curran
    coached educators at the Roosevelt Elementary School to engage with their students and deepen learning through visual arts. 

    DRAMATeaching artists dancing
    Marianne Adams made literacy learning come alive through drama for second graders and their teachers at the Condon Elementary School in Boston, and was an inspiring mentor to the COOL Drama Team. 

    Donna Folan brought stories to life with students at Condon Elementary School and contributed a wealth of inclusive expertice to the COOL Drama Team. 

    Alan White, for working with Dorchester Academy students, who learned to create characters and dialogue through theater improvisation and proudly performed their original theater piece, and for his work on the COOL Drama Team.

     

    two comments

    Thank you for recognizing my efforts as a VSA Teaching Artist. That students in South High's unnecessarily segregated "Life Skills" program had a chance to be in a teaching & coaching role with respect to "regular" art students was a significant first step. Once my son begins attending South in a few months as a 9th grader, I hope to have more of a "close-up" role at the school, both as a teaching artist and as a parent. After all, I truly believe that his education in their more "elite" Goddard Scholars program is bound to suffer from the ongoing need for greater inclusion of all students in shared creative learning at that school. I don't want high school preparing my son (or anyone's child) for a set "role" in life, but rather for life itself, which includes all of us. Nat - May 31 2012
    Just lovely. Looks like a fabulous year!!! Judith - June 01 2012


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