2005-2007
LEADERSHIP IN PRACTICE GRANT SUMMARIES

Bronx

PS 205 X: The LaGuardia Academy of Arts
and Technology
Region: 1
District: 10
Grades: K-5

Student Population: 1010
Project Contact: Maria Pietrosanti
Partner(s): Young Audiences/New York

PS
205 X is located in the Belmont area of the Bronx and is partnering
with Young Audiences
New York. The Leadership grant enables PS 205 to build on
their development of instructional extensions to the arts activities
in the residencies.
The two units of study explore identity, culture, and community
with the fifth grade students. The first unit, "I/You/We,"
uses sculptural self-portraits and journel writing to explore
self-identity and self-expression. The second unit, "Family
Link with Mexico." Explores cultural identity and community.

To
assess student work, a newly created arts rubric will be used,
as well as documentation of the teaching and learning that is
taking place that will be shared with others, both inside and
outside the school community.

PS 220 X: The Mott Haven Village School
Region: 9
District: 7
Grades: K-5, 8

Student Population: 490
Project Contact: Erica Beck
Partner(s): Dreamyard Project, Inc.

PS
220 X is located in the lower Bronx and is partnering with the Dreamyard Project. Two
consecutive theater residencies allow the partnership to build
on the literacy instruction in the fourth grade classroom by providing
a response to literature and a way to explore and understand character
development. Ensemble-building and theater production skills will
be learned through the production of two plays based on books
read in class.

The
units of study will include inter-disciplinary arts integration,
an approach that is new to PS 220 X, but will be developed and
strengthened throughout the year, with focus on theatre and visual
arts. To further develop effective assessment tools, PS 220 X,
along with Dreamyard, will put a special emphasis on exploring
ways to capture meaningful moments of spontaneous teaching and
student learning that can escape documentation.


Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School X
Region: 2 Autonomy Zone
District: 12
Grades: 9-12
Student Population: 485

Project Contact: Katie Younkin
Partner(s): The Studio Museum in Harlem

Fannie
Lou Hammer Freedom High School (FLH) is partnering with The
Studio Museum in Harlem. FLH’s student development emphasizes
arts in the context of interdisciplinary learning and project-based
instruction. To this end, four teachers and one teaching artist
are developing an integrated curriculum based on Greek mythology,
and the role of women in ancient Greece. Project activities include
student papers, mask making, rehearsals and performance of the
Greek play, Medea.

FLH’s
unit of study will focus on integrating a humanities curriculum
with visual and performance arts, and include 9th and 10th graders.
Tools of assessment will likely involve photographs and/or video
of student activity, teacher discussion and student writing samples.

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Brooklyn

IS 259 K: William McKinley School
Region: 7
District: 20

Grades: 6-8
Student Population: 1370
Project Contact: Carney Haberman
Partner(s): Symphony Space, Creative Arts Team

IS
259 K is a multi-themed school and is partnering with both Symphony
Space and The
Creative Arts Team. Through its earlier Center for Arts Education
Partnership grant, IS 259 K has established a program entitled
"Making Instructional Connections," based on the study
of ancient civilizations, by examining their art, culture and
literature. During the Leadership grant residencies, teaching
artists from Symphony Space will visit with Social Studies and
dance classes and introduce Asian cultural arts through discussion
and demonstration of Japanese Tai-ko drumming, Indian dance, Chinese
Opera and Asian art. Teaching artists from Creative Arts Team
will work with English Language Arts teachers and engage students
in role-play using an Asian folktale as the vehicle for developing
critical thinking and literacy skills.

IS
259 K’s unit of study will focus on 6th graders, as they integrate
the visual and performing arts with a Social Studies and English
Language Arts curriculum. Assessing student work will be done
on a more sophisticated level using the benchmarks in the NYC
DOE Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, as well
as video documentation.

PS 321 K: The William Penn School
Region: 8
District: 15
Grades: Pre K - 5

Student Population: 1275
Project Contact: Eve Litwack
Partner(s): Brooklyn Museum, Together in Dance: Zalesky &
Associates

PS
321 K is partnered with the Brooklyn
Museum of Art (BMA) and Together
in Dance (TID). The BMA educators and TID teaching artists
will work closely with teachers on each grade to design and outline
a skills-based, process-oriented and sequential approach to learning
about, talking about, and creating visual art and dance. One of
the goals of the collaboration between the school and these organizations
is to help make an explicit connection for students between the
processes used for creating a piece or art or a dance. Since PS
321 is a long-standing model of literacy in the city, students
and teachers at the school are already well acquainted with the
process skills used in writing. The collaboration further establishes
this link between the visual arts, the performing arts, and literacy.

The
unit of study this year will focus on one second grade class.
Data will be collected through transcripts, videotape, photographs,
and narratives as the students participate in the dance cycle,
create work in the BMA art studio, and participate in classroom
art lessons and projects. Students will be interviewed at the
beginning and end of the dance cycle, and samples of the student’s
work, which may include written pieces, will be used to assess
their growth.

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Manhattan

PS 142 M: Amalia Castro School

Region: 9
District: 1
Grades: Pre-K - 6
Student Population: 549
Project Contact: Stuart Pyle
Partner(s): Mark DeGarmo & Dancers/Dynamic Forms, Inc.

PS
142 M is partnering with Mark DeGarmo & Dancers/Dynamic Forms,
Inc. The partnership will bring 16 weeks of dance residency to
classes in Grades Pre-K through 3. Two teaching artists will work
with the classroom teachers to develop an integrated curriculum
based on themes to be identified during the partnership. Promising
practices include dance teaching and learning; teaching artist/classroom
teacher collaboration; involving physically challenged and special
needs students in dance study, rehearsal and performance; and
improving literacy through dance activities, journaling, and other
reflective practices.

Units
of study will most likely focus on kindergarten and second grade
students and involve assessment of student journals, dance skill
rubrics, and analysis of standardized tests.

PS 188 M: Island School
Region: 9
District: 1

Grades: Pre-K - 8
Student Population: 480
Project Contact: Alice Schiller
Partner(s): Third Street Music School

PS
188 M is located on the Lower East Side and is partnering with Third Street
Music School. The Leadership grant provides an opportunity
to refine the "laboratory" atmosphere where students
have already developed promising practices (innovative violin
repertoire, composition techniques, sight-reading) as well as
undertake new challenges. The Leadership grant will also dovetail
with the school wide initiative to implement student multi-media
"Who I Am" portfolios.

The
first unit of study will focus on the 4th grade as they learn
the choral techniques of reading and singing from soflege notation
at the beginning level. The second unit of study will include
mixed grades in the middle school and will focus on developing
instrumental, choral and performance skills. Assessment tools
will include Partnership developed rubrics, aligned with the NYC
DOE Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts.

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Staten Island

PS 37 R
Region: 7
District: 75
Grades: Ungraded
Student Population: 280 Special Education
Partner(s): Marquis Studios

PS
37 R is a District 75 self-contained Special Education school
partnering with Marquis
Studios. For this Leadership in Practice grant, PS 37 R, along
with the teaching artists from Marquis, are setting out to prove
that the Visual Arts can contribute to developing the skills needed
for students to achieve their Individualized Education Program
(IEP) goals. One teaching artist will collaborate with classroom
teachers in a residency that will include a final project of a
mosaic with each child contributing by making his/her own tile.
Each week the children are being taught the different skills that
are needed to accomplish this final project.

Within
the completion of this Visual Arts residency there will be one
unit of study that will have connections to the NYS
Standards, IEP goals, and the NYC
DOE Blueprint for Teaching and Learning, 2nd grade. The children
will be video taped and photographed to document their growth.

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