Posted Thursday March 05 2015 at 6:42 pm
Bonnie's Mission Statement:
I have a true drive to integrate the arts into education. I approach each project with techniques that bring students with different strengths and skills fully into the classroom and engage them with the materials they are studying. I use the arts to allow students to make their own learning discoveries and to explore their subjects on their own terms. I feel very strongly that students need to explore their own creative gifts, make their own mistakes, and achieve their own triumphs through the process of making a performance. Although I am an artist and performer on my own, I come to the classroom as an educator first.
Bonnie's Experience:
I work directly with classroom teachers to plan and implement my residencies. My in-depth knowledge, experience, and curiosity make my residencies very unique. I have a passion for teaching teachers so they can continue incorporating drama, movement, and puppetry into their classroom after my visits. Since 1999, I have worked and performed in over fifty schools, private & public, urban & suburban. My residencies include some of the following elements: dancing the alphabet
; acting out stories, vocabulary words, moments in history; boosting vocabulary
; adapting books into plays and dances
; visualizing text
; becoming characters from a book or social situation; linking reading to personal experience
; making puppets and puppet plays
; building community, trust, and risk taking.
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Posted Saturday February 28 2015 at 10:19 am
As we thaw out from this winter, VSA kicks off the spring with an innovative program for teaching artists and classroom teachers. Embodying Literacy - Early Childhood is a three-part workshop series that provides early childhood educators a unique opportunity to enhance and infuse their skill set with drama and dance integration strategies that support early literacy learning for students. Each workshop will give teachers the opportunity to brainstorm ways to adapt these activities and processes to use in their own practice.
Workshop #1: Entering Text
Tuesday, March 17, 2015 from 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Learn strategies that allow students to connect with and make meaning of text, both written and spoken, by using their bodies.
Workshop #2: Creating Text
Monday, March 30, 2015 from 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Explore movement and drama vocabulary as a vehicle to embody stories and how processes involved in drama and dance offer connections to text.
Workshop #3: Performing Text
Thursday, May 21, 2015 from 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Bring text to life through techniques such as mime, movement, shadow screen work and dramatic interpretation to help deepen student comprehension and connection to text.
ALL workshops held at Curley K-8 School, 493 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
To register or inquire further, please email nicoleagois@vsamass.org
Posted Thursday February 26 2015 at 10:42 pm
I am an arts administrator from Richmond, California, and I am a Masters in Education candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the Arts in Education Program.
What are your favorite pastimes?
"I am a poet and a dancer (trained in ballet, jazz, and modern.) I also enjoy knitting, yoga, and reading outside whenever I have the time."
If you could be a cartoon character, who would you be?
"Peppa Pig! (I have a three year old cousin. We watch a lot of Peppa Pig.)"
You are trapped on an island. What three items do you want to have with you?
"A luxurious tent, a fancy sun hat, and a kayak to paddle back to civilization after a few days."
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