Metropolitan Opera Guild and PS 10, Brooklyn Last Updated 5/22/2009
Member of the New York City Elementary School RLLN
Cultural Organization Contact
Maggie Koozer , School Programs Coordinator
Metropolitan Opera Guild
70 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-6593
Phone: (212) 769-7026
Fax: (212) 769-8519
Email: mkoozer@operaed.org
Website: operaed.org


School Partner Contact
Laura Scott, Principal
P.S. 10K
511 7th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: 718-965-1190
Fax: 718-369-1736
Email: lscott3@schools.nyc.gov

NYC Dept. of Education Region 8
Superintendent: Marcia Lyles
Phone: (718) 935-3900


Project Description:
The ESP partnership between PS 10K and The Metropolitan Opera Guild is integrating the arts (focusing on the elements of opera - music, theatre, visual arts and dance/movement) with the school curriculum, not as an extracurricular activity, but as a vital part of the classroom experience. During the 2004-2005 school year, our planning year, Guild teaching artists partnered with PS 10K's classroom and arts teachers to provide unique arts education programs such as Sing, Speak, Play: Language Acquisition and Creating Original Opera (COO), which allow students to create and present a real-life experience as it related to opera. With COO, students from two classes formed a production company in order to write, compose, design, build and perform an original opera/musical theatre work. COO is process-oriented and incorporates core curriculum education course work into the classroom by way of arts programming. In Sing, Speak, Play: Language Acquisition, students learn to use language and build confidence through theatre games, improvisation and creating music to help tell stories. The program centers on themes, which are connected to the curriculum of each participating class. Both of these programs were tailored by the Guild and PS 10K faculty and administration to best fit the needs and interests of the students. Prior to the COO process, a few PS 10K teachers participated in the COO Professional Development Program during the summer of 2004.

Achievements:

  • The arts reinforce skills in reading, writing, math, hand-eye coordination, and social skills, as well as provide opportunities for students to take on responsibilities and realize their full potential. The Guild and PS 10K partnership recognizes that while enhancing the students' educational experience, the arts encourage the vital development of each student's sense of self-building a whole, well-rounded person.
  • Through the initial arts partnership work in the planning year (indicated above), the school experienced some "best practices" models of arts integrated work with which to use as a common ground basis of information for multiple conversations with the Steering Committee. The original performances and in-class presentations with COO and Sing, Speak, Play programs not only benefited the students involved, but exposed the entire school community to the arts. The enthusiasm and confidence of the students in the program during this introductory year was contagious. PS 10K has established a long-term plan which strives to expand the program and bring the arts into every classroom. Their vision is to build on the "buzz" of students' curiosity, musical talents, inquiry and energy sparked by the partnership into an everyday part of each student's educational experience.