Triton Students Compete in Video Game Residency

Have you ever dreamed of creating your own video game universe and solving a life-changing problem?

The 7th grade classes at Triton Middle School did just that in their Social Studies and Language Arts class in collaboration with teaching artists from Young Audiences Arts for Learning.

During a 10-day residency, video game expert, Jason Guy, and puppeteers, David Wright and Robin Holm from Adzooks Puppets, led activities to explore character (avatar) development, video game design, and story development. Eight teams were formed and the teaching artists helped these teams of students to mold and shape their understanding of a sustainable civilization by creating their very own video game plot. Two extremely impressive and creative groups of students were the class winners and here are their games. Watch out gaming industry, here are the creators for the next generation!

Video Game Name:
The Bus Driver

Creators:
Rileigh, Monica, Randy and Austin

Characters:
A jump-roping and back-flipping bus driver named Fred (a secret ninja)
A crazy-eyed, evil Spanish circus ringmaster named Pablo who wants to take over the world
Paul, a dreadlock-lassoing, toga-wearing, road kill eating, magic Honda driving, Great Clips employee
“My name’s Jeff, have a problem with it?” – A gold haired alien with a weakness for lawnmowers

Overview:
Five friends set off on a journey to save the planet from litter (boxes, broken down cars and buses, and trash), and along the way, three of them manage to overtake the evil Pablo and his henchmen Vector, who pretended to be their friend. The game includes special objects such as a purple dinosaur, a magic wand, and a flying bus.

Lesson Learned…
As well as being fun, the game teaches people how to create a sustainable civilization. A sustainable civilization includes a good government and people that don’t litter.

Video Game Name:
The Misfits of Raketopia

Creators:
Adam, Ivy, Hannah, and Mason

Characters:
Timmy (turtle) and Flo (bird) try to change the government, especially the Queen’s law that restricts them from finding more species of birds
Big Bob, whose lazy-eye is in no way connected to his personality – he’s a strict, bossy, hard worker who loves baseball and works for the queen
A boring, crazy-haired, evil and strict Queen Rakelina who flushed a goldfish down the toilet for being too loud (Bob thinks she just needs to play a game of baseball)

Overview:
The Misfits of Raketopia is a game of adventure to prove that misfits can make a difference. Throughout the game, the characters must help Flo fly, collect keys to escape the castle, find materials to build a baseball field together, and convince Queen Rakelina that having fun isn’t so bad!


Lesson Learned…
By working together, planning, and accepting each character for their talents, the kingdom’s strict bans can be lifted and citizens can enjoy life!

Congratulations to the two wonderful groups for all your hard work – your creativity is impressive and entertaining.

This residency was made possible by the generous support of MetLife through Young Audiences, Inc. and Triton Middle School. This is part of a national program that allows Young Audiences affiliates around the country to develop a residency that integrates the arts, digital games and a content area in partnership with schools. Locally, Triton Middle School is one of three schools that participated during the pilot stage along with 6th grade classes at Center for Inquiry #2 and a 7th grade class at Raymond Park Middle School. Nationally, YA Indiana is joined by Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio and Young Audiences Kansas City in this initiative.

For more information contact Ploi Pagdalian at ppagdalian@yaindy.org.

Arts Integration Prize Winners

In honor of our 50th anniversary, YA Arts for Learning has awarded $5000 in Arts Integration Prizes. Teachers from across the state of Indiana were asked to submit a lesson plan that was integrated with the work of one of our artists. Five winners were chosen and awarded $1000 each toward Arts for Learning programming for the fall semester. Here are the winners!



1. Gloria Boyd - Sheridan Elementary in Sheridan, IN

Lesson Title: "Celebrating Johnny's Seeds of Wisdom"

Academic Area: Social Studies with Reading/Writing/Story Telling/Visual Arts

Students will learn the history of Johnny Appleseed and his connections to Indiana with the help of teaching artists Hank Fincken and Bob Sander. The students will then create and tell their own stories of Johnny Appleseed. Finally, they will create visual art collages, drawings, and paintings that will be pieced together as large murals and put on display in the community.



2. Laura Schultz - Winding Ridge School of Inquiry and Performing Arts in Indianapolis, IN

Lesson Title: "Fun with Fairy Tales"

Academic Area: Reading and Writing

First, students will read and analyze popular fairy tales for vocabulary that describes mood and tone. They will also analyze the development of character within the structure of a fairy tale plot. Teaching artist Deborah Asante will tell stories and illustrate voice, volume, pacing, pauses, tempo, pitch, and development in story telling. The students will then create their own original fairy tale.



3. Joyce Click - North Central High School in Indianapolis, IN

Lesson Title: "African Influences on American Gospel and Jazz Music"

Academic Area: Choral Music and Performing Arts

High School students at North Central will learn how American jazz music and contemporary dance, as well as gospel music, has been greatly influenced by the songs and dances that came to America from Africa. The Arts for Learning artists that will assist with this lesson plan are Everett Greene and Marvin Chandler, Virginia Wesley and Annamaria Crider, and Tony Artis and Iris Rosa.



4. Deb Carrell - Cumberland Road Elementary in Fishers, IN

Lesson Title: "Diary of a Worm...or other creepy crawly!"

Academic Area: Science, Reading, and Writing

First grade students at Cumberland Road Elementary will discover how earthworms grow, where they live, and what they eat. With teaching artist Bonnie Stahlecker, the students will create books using the information they have learned about earthworms.



5. Helen Geglio - McKinley Primary Center in South Bend, IN

Lesson Title: "Idea Book"

Academic Area: English Language Arts and Visual Arts

Students will explore where ideas come from and learn to create their own mind map. Teaching artist Bonnie Stahlecker, will lead the students in a one-hour workshop where they will create their own "idea book" to store ideas from their mind map.



Congratulations to all of our winners!



To find out how you can bring these exciting programs to your classroom, go to our website at www.yaindy.org and discover what our teaching artists can bring to your students.



Intern Angelina

From S.T.E.M to S.T.E.A.M

A recent trend in arts integrated learning has begun to take hold in several schools across the country. A new learning program called STEM, (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), integrates these four disciplines throughout the curriculum. However, some schools have taken it one step further and changed the STEM program to STEAM. The added "A" stands for the arts!

This fall, Robbinsdale Schools in Robbinsdale, Minnesota will be launching a new "STEAM" school for grades K-5 in an effort to take pressure off of other schools in the district that are reaching capacity. The school district originally agreed on the STEM program, but then decided that the city had too long and too rich of a history in the arts to not incorporate them in the curriculum. On choosing the STEAM program, Tia Clasen, a district spokeswoman, said "We have such a rich tradition in the arts, it seemed like such a seamless fit."

STEAM programs have been gaining popularity all across the country in recent years and another district in Minnesota, the Mounds View School District, plans to introduce the program into all three of its middle schools in the fall of 2012. The curriculum combines the five listed disciplines for a well-rounded, engaging, innovative education. To learn more about why Robbinsdale School District chose the STEAM program, click here!

The "hot" new concept of STEAM is also having an impact at the university level. Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio now offers a course for art and music education majors called STEAM3. This uniquely designed course uses the creative arts to teach science and mathematics. The class combines the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine with art and music.

The concept for this new innovative course came about when Edgar Hardy, a former chemist and former director of research for the Monsanto Company in Dayton, approached Herb Dregalla, chair of the Department of Music, about designing a course that combined these disciplines. The first STEAM3 class was taught in the Fall of 2008 and continues to grow and take shape. The select few art and music education majors selected for this experimental course believe it had a profound effect on their students and their teaching methods. To read more about the STEAM3 project at Wright State and discover what the professors and students have to say about using the arts and music to teach science and math, click here!

To learn more about what you can do to advocate for the arts in your school district, please visit our website at www.yaindy.org.

Intern Angelina

National Young Audiences Week

This week we are joining our fellow affiliates in a national celebration. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives recently issued resolutions designating this week of 2012 (March 12th-16th) as "National Young Audiences Week" to honor the contributions Young Audiences has made to schools nationwide through its arts-in-education programs. The goal of this week is to encourage people across the nation to recognize the importance of arts in society.

The Senate resolution states that arts education "including dance, music, theatre, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students." President Barack Obama even wrote a proclamation recognizing National Young Audiences Week and the importance of arts-in-education.

The arts-in-education programming offered to schools by Arts for Learning not only fosters academic success, but supports personal growth by developing critical thinking, problem solving skills, teamwork, creativity, discipline and cross-cultural understanding. National Young Audiences week will be celebrated across the nation all week with events, programs, and speakers to promote Young Audiences arts-in-education programs.

Our Indiana chapter is proud to be celebrating 50 years this year of making the arts an important part of learning. To discover more about our program offerings, please visit our website at www.yaindy.org

On a sweeter note, Chocolate Fest is back with a fun new twist! Click here to find our profile and click on the Chocolate Fest blog for up-to-date information on what is sure to be a tasty event!

Angelina, Arts for Learning Intern

Arts in Education Goes National

In recent years, many schools have focused less on the arts and more on math, science and reading test scores. However, that hasn't stopped many educators around the country from using the arts to teach these academic subjects. Many believe teaching math, science, or history through the arts helps students become excited about the topic and develop their own concepts. In doing so, they not only learn the required information, but they remember it too! Take a look at some instances of "arts in education" happening around the country.

Recently, students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama used
mosaic art to learn about math and history. The designs were modeled after the historic quilts from Gee's Bend, a former ex-slave community in Alabama. Click here to read more!


In 2008, the National Education Association published an article that interviewed several teachers from around the country using art in their classrooms to teach math and science. In Tacoma, Washington an arts education group called Arts Impact uses dance and visual arts to teach kids about geometry. Fourth graders are learning to use their bodies and giant rubber bands to represent the concept of geometric transformation. Math teachers in East Oakland, California have their students use real-world statistics to understand big numbers and how powers of ten can be used to describe these numbers. The students then make posters to share their findings with the rest of the class. Read the full article here!

Last year, in the Kenton County School District of Kentucky, 8th graders learned about the history of Kentucky through music, dance, and drama. The program is part of the District's gifted and talented ASCENT Arts program. Watch the video here to see what the students say about using the arts to learn!

Around this time last year, sixth graders at Grand Ridge School in Jackson County, Florida used bottle art to explore history. Students re-created a historical figure using recycled soda bottles. They then had to learn three facts about the person they chose and share them with the class. Click here to read the full article!



Finally, nursing and medical students right here in Indianapolis, Indiana are using the arts to learn. A voluntary program developed by Meg Moorman (RN) and Jeff Rothenberg (MD) unites nursing and medical students from IU at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where they learn about Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). Observations and conversations about objects of art help the students convert their observations into thought and their thoughts into a shared dialogue. This also takes two groups of students, who rarely get to learn together in the classroom, and puts them in a situation where they can learn together, so they can work together. Read the full article here!

Young Audiences Arts for Learning in Indiana provides a great residency taught by dancer and choreographer Melli Hoppe that teaches kids some of the fundamentals of science through dance. The residency is called "Water Dance" and allows students to choreograph their own dances that represent parts of the water cycle and states of matter. Watch Melli in action here!

For more information on how Young Audiences Arts for Learning can help you integrate arts in education in your classroom, visit our website at www.yaindy.org

Angelina, Young Audiences Arts for Learning Intern

(No copyright infringement is intended. All credit goes to the original authors of the articles, photographers of the photos, and producers of the video.)

An Arts in Education Flashback

Let's face it...for most of us, it's been a while since we cracked open a textbook, wrote a book report, or constructed a science project. Much of what we learn in school as children is lost by the time we reach adulthood. But what DO you remember most from your school days? Has a particular concept or lesson stuck with you all of these years? If so, it's probably safe to say it was presented to you in a unique and engaging way. Maybe you played a game or designed a poster...and we all learned our ABC's from singing a simple song.

Arts in Education is our philosophy at Young Audiences Arts for Learning. We believe that the use of arts in other areas - such as science, social studies, language arts, technology, and math - can be a helpful tool to engage children in learning and bring fun and unique activities into the classroom. However, the philosophy of integrating the arts into education is not a new concept. In fact, teachers have been using the arts to engage students in the classroom and aid in the learning process for generations!

Does anyone remember the educational film created by Disney called
Donald in Mathmagic Land? Released in 1959, this was one of the most popular educational films Disney ever created. The movie combines the visual arts, music, and the classic humor and animation of Disney to explain to children how math can be found in music, architecture, painting, sculpture, sports, games, and nature. The short film also makes references to history, science, engineering, and technology. Donald in Mathmagic Land is a wonderful example of how education can be integrated and how the arts can be used to learn about math.

Watch Donald in Mathmagic Land here!


During the 1990s, a couple educational programs on PBS television emerged that taught children about basic science concepts. Shows like The Magic School Bus and Bill Nye the Science Guy are two of my favorites! Bill Nye the Science Guy ran from 1993-1998 and is still frequently used in classrooms today as an educational medium. Each episode was about 25 minutes long and featured Bill, a funny, upbeat scientist who taught kids about a specific science topic. The show
mixes serious science with fast-paced action and humor to keep kids interested and learning.
The episodes incorporate the visual arts and music to convey science concepts. Most episodes contain a mock song parody and a music video substituting a scientific summary of the episode for the lyrics to a popular song. There is even one episode devoted entirely to music!

Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy "There's Science in Music" here!


Who remembers the last time Saturday morning cartoons were an educational experience? I do! One of the best things to ever happen to Saturday mornings was Schoolhouse Rock! This was a series of animated musical educational short films that aired during Saturday morning cartoons on ABC. The topics covered included: grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The show originally ran from 1973-1985 and was revived from 1993-1999 with both old and new episodes. The episodes are only about three minutes long and use cleverly animated cartoons with very catchy songs to teach kids about different scholastic subjects. The great thing about Schoolhouse Rock! episodes is that they are still useful in classrooms today because they truly work. If you have ever watched an episode you know what I mean. You can't help but learn because the song won't leave your head for days!

History/Government in Schoolhouse Rock! (The Preamble). Click here!

Grammar in Schoolhouse Rock! (Conjunction Junction). Click here!

Math in Schoolhouse Rock! (My Hero, Zero). Click here!

Science in Schoolhouse Rock! (Interplanet Janet). Click here!

Integrating the arts in education has always resulted in fun, engaging ways to learn and ensures that educational experiences become lifelong lessons. I can still recite the Preamble to our constitution and sight examples of math in architecture thanks to these wonderful instances of the arts in my early childhood education. So, share these videos with your children, or your students, and continue the movement to use the arts in education as a way to engage children in an interactive way of learning that helps develop valuable academic, social, and emotional skills.

-Angelina, Young Audiences Arts for Learning Intern