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