PS/MS 95, The Sheila Mencher School and the DreamYard Project

PS/MS 95, The Sheila Mencher School, is located in the northwest section of the Bronx. PS/MS 95 has partnered with the DreamYard Project for the last six years, committing to build a unified culture of teaching and learning through the arts. DreamYard currently hosts a wide array of arts programs both during and after school at PS/MS 95. DreamYard Teaching Artists collaborate with teachers at PS/MS 95 in year-long residencies to integrate the arts with their curricula.

DreamYard and PS/MS 95 arts integrated classes range from visual arts, theater, and dance. DreamYard Teaching Artists and PS/MS 95 teachers meet for 45 minutes a week in a planning session. Together, they collaborate and co-teach an arts integrated unit for 90 minutes a week. DreamYard classes regularly share the work that they do with other students and classes to promote the importance of arts learning throughout the school community.

Teachers on grades K-5th have the option to participate in a semester long Arts Lunch Workshop series in either Visual Arts and Theater. The goal of the Arts Lunch PD Workshops are to increase teacher comfort levels and expertise in teaching in the arts. These workshops aim to empower teachers with arts knowledge and skills in order to provide PS/MS 95 students with more arts learning experiences.

Over the course of one semester, teachers attend six workshops in visual art or theater, led by a DY Master Teaching Artist, which the teachers are then expected to try on their own.  Teachers also receive support in the classroom from their Teaching Artist through observations, hands-on assistance, and arts integrated lesson and unit development.

Through these Arts Lunch PD Workshops, teachers explore:

• Student centered inquiry and creative problem solving
• Higher order thinking
• Reaching visual and kinesthetic learners
• Empowering students to be more expressive, articulate and observant
• Opportunities for collaboration across grade levels
• Approaches to integrating arts activities into their regular teaching practice

Thanks to ESP funding, DreamYard Teaching Artists and the teachers from PS/MS 95 have come together  to find innovative ways to integrate the arts into their unique classroom cultures.

PS/MS 95 is also a part of the Bronx Arts Learning Community (BALC), a community of schools who have come together to support arts learning within their schools.  Each school in the BALC has designated an Arts Coordinator (or Co-Arts Coordinators) as well as an Arts Leadership Team (ALT) that represents the voices within their school community, serving as arts learders and decision makers.  

PS/MS 95's ALT meets monthly to collect and analyze data and on the arts in their school, make recommendations for strengtheing arts programs, and plan school-wide arts events. 

DreamYard and PS/MS 95 continue to strive to build teacher capacity and expand the reach of this partnership to provide continuous arts learning to  every student.

Achievements:

Statistics:

• DreamYard residencies reach 10 classrooms and teachers for an entire year (about 50 hours of teaching time and 25 hours of planning time per residency).  
• Each semester, 10 teachers in grades K-8th are supported in the arts through professional development workshops and in-class arts coaching. 
  
• DreamYard partnerships have the opportunity to participate in multiple arts festivals throughout the year including the Visual Arts Exhibition at the Bronx Museum, the Dance, Theater and Music Festival at the French Institute, and a week-long arts festival at Lehman College through the BALC.  
• In 2006-07, about 14% of the graduating class continued on to an arts-based high school.
• From 2007-08 to 2008-09, visual arts time increased for students in grades K-2nd and additional visual arts classes were added in grades 6th-8th. 
  
• From 2007-08 to 2008-09, theater time was increased for students in kindergarten.