Armstrong Middle School's First Summer Institute

What an amazing week at Armstrong Middle School in Rayne, LA! Teachers at this new Louisiana A+ School learned the basics of Visual Art, Music, Dance, and Theatre and how to integrate them into their classrooms, while also exploring the 4 pathways of learning: Auditory, Kinesthetic, Tactile, and Visual. Educating students through the arts with the multiple learning pathways, prompts student engagement and allows them to process information more effectively.

Music 101: Armstrong teachers discover that the length of an instrument determines the pitch it produces.

During their professional development training, teachers made connections to real world concepts in order to provide their students with purpose and meaning behind what they are learning. They discovered new behavioral management strategies, tools for managing art supplies, and techniques to build space for movement in their classrooms. 

Louisiana Tableau: Teachers create a tableau of a Louisiana Swamp scene using elements that are found within the state's geography and habitats.

Teachers were also exposed to lesson demonstrations that used the different forms of Art to teach concepts that would ordinarily be hard to grasp for students. They danced through light reactions and frequency to plot points on a graph, explored elements of music using the scientific method, compared and contrasted works of theatre with written text to create Venn diagrams, used Cubism to map out events in ancient history, and created light drawings by exploring the similarities between the structure of an eye and the structure of a camera.

In addition, they discovered how to teach sound through kazoos, matter through poetry, and vocabulary through tableau. They conquered the week's theme of maintaining a growth mind-set and are heading into next year with a whole new bag of tricks!

Pipe Cleaner Challenge: Teachers use engineering skills to collaborate in groups to build the tallest pipe cleaner tower.

Mondrian: Teachers use scale to transform an ordinary blue print into a Piet Mondrian replica.

LAA+ Fellow Uses Dance and Movement to Engage Students

Louisiana A+ Schools is a professional development model that provides training to teachers PK-12 in arts integration strategies. Training is provided by teams of LAA+ Fellows, master educators who are experts in their field. Fellows include nationally board-certified teachers, arts specialists, professional teaching artists, principals, school district administrators, and nonprofit education directors.

This month, LAA+ is featuring dance educator Cissy Whipp, one of the many exceptional Fellows who inspire teachers every day. In addition to working with LAA+, Cissy is also a Kennedy Center teaching artist and works full-time as a dance specialist at J. Wallace James Elementary in Lafayette.

Fellow Cissy Whipp holds her award for 2015 Dance Educator of the Year from the Louisiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

We asked Cissy:

When/where did your love of dance begin? Was there anything in particular that ignited that interest?

My earliest childhood memory is of dancing - improvising to music real, or imagined. I danced down grocery store aisles to the "muzak." I did impromptu living room performances whenever my parents had company. I remember doing a surprise entrance one time when I was around 4 years old, leaping over the couch and onto the coffee table and spilling coffee all over everybody. My parents enrolled me in dance classes out of self-defense.

Where did you study?

I have a BFA in Chorographic Design from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and a MA in Dance from American University in Washington. DC. I am a life-long learner and still love taking classes. I train weekly with Acting Up in Acadiana's Theatre Company and love to drop in at Basin Arts for dance classes.

Photo of a news article from Lafayette, LA, where Cissy started a new dance company.

What prompted you to become a Kennedy Center teaching artist? How long have you worked with them?

I have been an arts-education advocate for most of my adult life and designed workshops for both teachers and students. The amazing people at Acadiana Arts Council had returned from the Kennedy Center's Partners in Education Conference in 1998 and said that my workshops were on par with what they saw and they nominated me. I went to DC and presented my "Exploring the Wetlands through Movement" workshop and they liked it. I joined their roster of Teaching Artists in 1999. I have been fortunate to be a presenter for them for 18 years now.

How long have you been an elementary school dance specialist? Why do you love to teach?

I have been an elementary dance specialist for 16 years now. I have always loved working with children. They have so much energy, enthusiasm and potential. Even when I was teaching dance at the university level, I sought out opportunities to do residencies in the schools near me. When the opportunity arose for a full time elementary dance position at the new arts school, I jumped on it.

Cissy during a solo dance performance.

Why is dance an important part of the curriculum? What benefits does dance hold for students?
Dance is so basic to us as human beings; we react and respond to the world with our bodies. Dance provides young people with skills that can be of life long value: a means of purposeful recreation, building a positive self-image, and developing their self-discipline. Children are naturally kinesthetic learners and love the opportunity to dance during the school day. It provides developmental benefits and teaches children to think and organize their thoughts in aesthetically pleasing way.

What led you to become an LAA+ Fellow?

I had heard of the work being done by the LAA+ Founding Fellows and was intrigued. I had not thought it was possible for me to join the organization because my work as a full time Dance Specialist at JW James Elementary kept me really busy. I was already working with Acting Up! In Acadiana, doing plays and traveling occasionally to lead professional development for the Kennedy Center. However, I discovered that I could fit it into my schedule. I could pull ideas from workshops I had already created both for teachers and for students.

Cissy leads her students in practicing dance technique.

In what ways have you seen arts integration impact teachers? Impact students?

I find that arts integration really engages students who might not otherwise be engaged. It requires them to think creatively and cooperate with others. I love seeing put on their "artist's persona" and get invested in a project. Teachers are often surprised at how some of their students really shine during an arts integrated project! It gives teachers tools to reach every student and find their strengths.

LAA+ Fellow and Educator Share Their Expertise

Teacher training is at the heart of Louisiana A+ Schools (LAA+). Since the program began in 2013, over 5,000 Pre-K-12 grade teachers have received LAA+ professional development in arts integration. Training is provided by LAA+ Fellows, a cohort of over 63 master educators with a wide range of expertise. Many Fellows are National Board Certified classroom teachers and arts specialists; others are professional teaching artists including actors, sculptors, dancers, painters, musicians, and choreographers. LAA+ also boasts Fellows who are school principals and district level supervisors and administrators.

Fellow Julia Smith at the LA State Capitol on Annual LAA+ Day sharing the importance of arts integration with legislators.

Fellows are regarded as experts in arts integration and often share their knowledge outside of LAA+. One Fellow, Julia Smith, a 5th grade math teacher, was recently invited to present at the Louisiana Association of Teachers of Mathematics (LATM) conference in Baton Rouge. She and her co-presenter, 3rd grade math teacher Heather Williams, both teach in Shreveport at S. Highlands Elementary Magnet, the first and only LAA+ Arts-Integrated Laboratory School in the state.

Heather Williams and Julia Smith co-facilitating how Mondrian's work can deepen student understanding of fractions.

At the LATM conference, Smith and Williams facilitated a session entitled, "Coloring Outside of the Lines," which highlighted cross-curricular instruction by demonstrating how to integrate visual art and theatre into math lessons based on the Louisiana State Standards.

Heather Williams fields questions from participants on how visual art can be used in other subjects besides math.

Using the National Core Arts Standards as a foundation, participants were led through interactive lessons that modeled how teachers could utilize the work of Piet Mondrian to compare fractions in math and how to use the theatre technique of performing tableau to understand equations. The session culminated with participants collaborating on ways to use visual art and theatre skills in other content areas with all grade levels.

Participants use tableau to understand different types of math equations.

Julia Smith and Heather Williams are both National Board Certified teachers. They collaborate frequently throughout the school year always exploring new ways to incorporate the arts into math.

The Power of Collaboration in the Classroom

Collaboration is one of the A+ Essentials that makes LAA+ unique among education programs. Classroom teachers and arts specialists are trained to design and teach arts-integrated lessons to help students make meaningful cross-curricular connections. As certified teachers who are trained to teach music, dance, visual art, or theatre, arts specialists often work in isolation in schools, rarely interacting with classroom teachers.

LAA+ Schools are different. In our network, collaboration is a key essential for success, and monthly planning time between classroom teachers and arts specialists is required. Collaboration not only supports cross-curricular arts integration but also school transformation.

Tiffany Jeansonne (left) and Melanie Alexander (right) collaborate to present a special lesson plan on math and music.

Rollins Place Elementary in Zachary, LA, began their journey as an LAA+ School in 2015. Led by Principal Jennifer Marangos, Rollins Place serves 1st and 2nd grades with almost 1,000 students and close to 45 teachers. Five Rollins Place teachers have also been invited to serve as LAA+ Fellows, a cohort of 63 master educators who provide training to the 18 LAA+ Schools.

Two Fellows, Melanie Alexander (music specialist) and Tiffany Jeansonne (2nd grade math teacher) recently designed and co-taught a math and music-integrated lesson.

Alexander and Jeansonne frequently meet to discuss activities that integrate the arts into the math curriculum. They decided that creating pan pipes using measurement skills learned in math and knowledge of pitch in music fit perfectly.

In music class with Alexander, the 2nd graders learned about higher and lower pitches through experimentation with xylophones. They knew that longer bars on a xylophone made lower pitches and shorter bars made higher pitches. In math class with Jeansonne, the students completed a unit on measurement in centimeters and practiced how to use a ruler to measure different objects.

In this collaborative activity, the students relied upon their musical and measurement knowledge to create a set of pan pipes from drinking straws. They measured and cut the straws to specific lengths to create a working instrument that played six different pitches. They then used color-coded music sheets to perform a few well-known songs. The colors of the notes on the page matched the colors of the straws.

Through this project, student demonstrated knowledge of pitch and measurement, as well as math and music skills. 

The teachers benefit from these collaborative activities, as they strengthen math content knowledge for Alexander and music knowledge for Jeansonne. As LAA+ Fellows, they continue to add to the bank of activities that can be shared with educators receiving professional development through LAA+ Schools.

About the Teachers

Melanie Alexander has taught music for twelve years in the Zachary Community School District. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University, receiving her Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2002 and her Master of Music in 2006. She is also National Board certified in Early/Middle Childhood Music.

Tiffany Jeansonne is a second grade math, science, and social studies teacher at Rollins Place Elementary in Zachary, LA. This is her 16th year teaching. She received her National Board Certification in 2007, serves as a LAA+ Fellow, and received the honor of Rollins Place Elementary's Teacher of the Year for this school year.