Our partnership brings teams of 9th-grade ELA and Social Studies teachers and their students together with museum staff and teaching artists to 1) assist teachers with new teaching strategies (including VTS), professional development opportunities, and resources (the museum's collection, exhibitions, professional art staff, teaching artists, and opportunities through its collaboration with NU’s Theatre Department) to develop meaningful learning experiences/units of study for their students and 2) to assist these students in finding their creative voices, becoming more engaged in learning, and discovering the joy of making art. Now in our third year of arts implementation, the CAM continues to play a vital role in engaging students in active learning experiences that complement and extend classroom practice.  A core belief underscoring our partnership is that the arts can inspire, challenge and offer fresh perspectives on learning that will transfer from teachers to their students in the form of both creative and higher order thinking, writing, and art-making, enabling students to become “producers” of knowledge (creating meaning) versus “consumers” of knowledge (memorizing facts for standardized tests). Our program challenges the “teach to the test” academic rationalist model because students become engaged when creating things they care about (Booth).

Achievements:

In 2008-09, 650 9th-grade NFHS students directly involved in this project participated in two arts-integrated, active learning experiences. Each of the 5 teams produced integrated units in the fall and spring. Students made art with teaching artists; selected analyzed, and wrote about artworks at the Castellani; attended a number of programs at the museum that included exhibitions of work pertaining to their integrated units and wrote essays and short stories; attended specially-arranged school day matinees of both Metamorphosis, performed in conjunction with an art installation of the same title, and Romeo and Juliet, that included a slide lecture by an art historian on the art of the Renaissance and Middle Ages; talked with actors; & worked with CAM's Folk Arts Curator on a world religions unit. Student artworks were exhibited at the high school. In 2007-08, students participated in 6 integrated learning experiences both in the classroom and at the museum. Working with a photographer, poet, collage artist, and musician/composer, students wrote poetry, created artworks, produced music collages, and wrote essays utilizing artworks from the museum’s collection and special exhibitions.  In addition, teachers attended a day-long professional development workshop at the CAM in Fall 2009 taught by experienced art educators and teaching artists.