Some Anne Arundel County teachers will be learning songwriting, mime and dance this summer, in efforts to better teach students in math, science and other subjects in the fall.
They will be teaming up with local artists as well as with teachers from abroad at the 21st Century Learning Institute, a summer development program that allows county elementary and middle school teachers to take arts lessons then devise ways to integrate those disciplines in all subjects.
The program will be held at Bates Middle School in Annapolis from July 19-23, and will involve daily hands-on workshops with local talents — including recording artists, theatre actors, and visual artists.
The 21st Century Learning Institute was launched last year by both Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS) Alliance, which uses such programs to help improve the quality of and access to arts in the state's schools.
Last year attendees included a contingent of teachers from middle school districts in Mississippi as well as teachers from a school in Milan, Italy. They combined their own arts initiatives with that of the Anne Arundel schools. The teachers from Milan are expected to return this year.
"It's a chance for practicing artists to pair with practicing teachers," said Diane Bragdon, principal at Bates Middle School in Annapolis. She's working with AEMS to facilitate the program. She said that both artists and teachers shared their unique disciplines.
"The artists taught the teachers about songwriting, mime, drama and visual arts of all kinds," Bragdon added. "And then the teachers showed the artists how to bring art more effectively in the classroom."
Participants will also design an arts-centered education program and examine how the arts affect students' comprehension, motivation and problem-solving skills. Those components will be taught to a group of area students the following week.
Bragdon said that last year's sessions included making paper out of plants to help teach students about the environment. She added that Mississippi teachers used okra to make paper, while the local teachers used bay grass.
AEMS executive director John Ceschini, said that there are similar programs held in Baltimore City and across the state.
"We want to give teachers another strategy; we're using the arts to improve student achievement," said Ceschini. "We've found that the arts area is a good medium for teaching all subjects; there's a natural connection with art and other content areas, and we give strategies on how to do that."
Ceschini said that the program shows that art elements can even be found in arithmetic.
"You could take a Kandinsky painting, which uses geometric shapes, and use that to teach and actually use the painting as an assessment," Ceschini said. "You can draw angles and trapezoids and demonstrate how Kandinsky uses those in paintings. Or you can look at patterns in music or symmetry in dance."
But Ceschini said that using arts to help students understand other math and science is not an attempt to dissolve arts programs by absorbing them into other subjects. Arts programs must remain strong in schools, he said.
"You must have good arts classes to have good arts integration," Ceschini said. "Creativity, collaboration, problem solving and communication are all skills that are highlighted by the arts. It's not like you have either arts classes or arts integration. You have to have both for a strong program."