Welcome
to the second LTTA Newsletter!It's spring! As
part of LTTA's spring cleaning, we are shaking the dust off of our newsletter
system and getting it going again. The newsletter will include updates on our
programming in Fort McMurray schools and the community. We hope you find the
information transparent, and inspiring.
For those on our email list who
are new to LTTA, here is a brief overview of our program. Learning Through the
Arts is a part of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and is one of the
largest public school initiatives in the world. The program pairs school
teachers with LTTA Artists, who together plan and teach lessons around a
curricular objective, but use the Artist's background and expertise to teach the
curricular material a new and fresh way! We believe that artist educators can
bring creativity to classroom instruction, that the partnership between a
teacher and an artist can lead to differentiated instruction skills for the
teacher (together we're better!), and that students learn in different ways and
artist educators can devise lesson plans and can connect with students to bring
more student engagement.
Programming
UpdatesFMCSD CORE
ProgrammingWe have been having a blast with the grade
six classrooms in the Catholic District. Since January, LTTA has provided six
different artist educators to work with 17 different classrooms.
In
February, Jane Mennigke joined with Cheryl Hickey's sixth grade class at St.
Gabriel's School. Jane was kind enough to lend some comments on her
experience:
Our objective was to teach the Social Studies
curriculum, dealing with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To start,
the students were asked to choose a right or freedom from the Charter, and then
to make a drawing and paper sculpture based on images that came to mind as a
result of the Charter's text. The students were given two sheets of paper; one
was used for drawing, and was finally cut and shaped into a paper sculpture
which was pasted down onto two or three places on the base paper. This exercise
gave students a way to think about their chosen right or freedom in a fairly
personal way: through art. Once the sculptures were completed they were added
together on the wall outside the classroom to create a mural.
The next
class we viewed You-tube clips and newspaper cuttings of public protests. Cheryl
read a story called "Dalmore Itch" and the students decided on ways to protest a
about a polluted river to the fictional Mayor. The students made posters and
placards, wrote letters and held radio and press conferences. Life was full of
action. One of the super fun parts was doing the role plays before the meetings
with the mayor. Finally came the last lesson with the presentation to the
mayor- kindly acted by Cheryl's EA, and filmed by Shelley.
One of the
crystallizing moments in the few days I spent at the school was to hear one
student shyly and profoundly reflect, “I learnt that I didn’t have to be a loud
person...to make my voice heard." It was great working with a partner like
Cheryl, and reminded me of how much more we can achieve through the partnerships
than on our own.FMCSD YEP ProgrammingLTTA's
Youth Empowerment Project works with students in grades seven, eight and nine.
Since January, LTTA Fort McMurray has had 12 different artists working in 36 YEP
classrooms.
As a part of her artist training, Sarah Neiman is currently
observing Marce work with Jana Slaney and her two grade eight classrooms at
Father Mercredi. These are a few of Sarah's observations:
On my first day
in Jana's class, what I was struck by was the energy of the students. Marce
introduced her concept of creating a murder mystery to the grade eight's, and
then jumped into our hook activity: looking through other people's trash. We had
the students form groups, and each group was given a garbage bag full of stuff.
The students then sorted through the thrown away items, and were encouraged to
not only catalouge the items, but to infer what the items could tell us about
the person throwing this stuff away. The kid's quickly became engaged, and came
up with some really creative and clever deductions. The energy in the room began
to crackle, and all of a sudden, the whole lesson plan was set in
motion.
From the garbage bags we developed our characters, then we
plunked our characters into the midst of a hip- hop murder mystery! It wasn't
long until we began asking the students to offer their own creative writing, and
with a few more hooks along the way, the students stayed really engaged and
excited about the writing process. One of the my favourite moments happened
after I was side coaching a student; Jana observed that she had never seen this
student so engaged with writing. I felt excited to have been part of that
student's journey in finding the fun in creative writing.
Math Mania
ProgrammingLTTA is thrilled to introduce our newest
pilot project with the FMCSD. We will be partnering with Math teachers in the
Middle School (grades 7, 8 and 9) to bring arts-infused differentiated
instruction into the math classroom.
On Friday, March 16, five of our
Learning Through the Arts artist-educators, three math teachers, and two
consultants from the district met at Holy Trinity School to explore the possible
connections between grade 9 math concepts and visual arts, movement and
drama. We started with an amazing activity led by April Killins– a Cartesian
plane laid out on a tarp– that led us to explore plot points and
reflections/rotations of objects through drama and movement.
In
mid-April, two of our brave artists will work with the teachers to deliver 5
sessions of arts-infused math lessons. We will be following the students'
responses to this work through anecdotes and through their test results. In
September, we will provide more specific training for a larger group of artists
and we will be working with several FMCSD Middle School
classrooms.
After-School Programming: Father Mercredi and Holy
TrinityLTTA is proud to offer not just classroom
programming, but after school programming as well. Students from all cultural
backgrounds gather once a week to share in games/physical activity/team building
fun, cultural activities and creating or sharing a meal at both Father Mercredi
and Holy Trinity High School. The intergenerational program brings middle school
students (grade 7 to 9) and high school youth (as mentors) together with adult
mentors Gitz Derange, Nick Heffelfinger, and Aboriginal Elder Hazel Derange. The
students discuss and agree on cultural activities and the menus for their time
together. Shelley MacDonald and Mar'ce Merrell are welcomed to the group when
they are in town and the feeling is one of a family playing, growing and
sharing.
After-School Programming: Fort
McKayIt is a pleasure to report that after school
programming at the Fort McKay Youth Centre has recently begun, and will be
running until the end of June. Four LTTA artists will be offering eight sessions
of their artform each for the youth. The artforms being offered are voice
lessons ending with an open mic night, recording studio instruction, hip hop
dance classes, and visual art sessions culminating in the creation of a black
light room.
The Youth Centre has been open for about a year now, and it
is beautiful facility that offers the youth a place to hang out, cook, do
homework, and experiment with art. Part of the mission statement of the Youth
Centre is, "To create a safe, fun, and empowering environment for the youth of
Fort McKay. This is a youth directed program: if they can dream it, we can make
it happen!" LTTA is honoured to work at this centre, and so far the youth have
been really excited and responsive about the programming we've
offered.
FMPSD Programming
We are happy to report that we'll be working with 10 junior high
classrooms at Ecole MacTavish Junior High School. Our focus will be with
Language Arts and Social Studies classes with an interest to tie into the
project-based learning initiatives that Ecole MacTavish staff have been
exploring this school year.
FMNI Elder-in-Residence
Programming
We're pleased to report the huge
success of our Elder-in-Residence program. Hazel Derange, from the Pikani Nation
of The Blackfoot Confederacy, has been living in Fort McMurray for the last 40
years and has been an integral part of our programming in FMCSD. She's
presented, alongside several artists in the classroom, at the FMCSD and FMPSD
Professional Development Institute Day, and at the LTTA Banff Institute. With
support from Shelley MacDonald and the LTTA team, Hazel has become a welcome
celebrity in the schools! Her most recent work with Jason Campbell's classes
have used the medicine wheel and cultural teachings to explore language arts,
health and wellness, and social studies. Along with her son and LTTA artist Gitz
Derange, she and Shelley MacDonald have partnered with Mr. Campbell to create a
project that will culminate in students gifting handmade culturally inspired
items to local Aboriginal Elders.
Info for Artist Educators Old and
New!FNMI Artist Information
LuncheonDate: April 20, 12-1:30
pm
Location: Father Turcotte
Who is
invited: LTTA Artists and local FMNI Elders and Artists
FMNI Artist
WorkshopDate: April 21, 10:30-3:30
pm
Location: Father Turcotte
Who is
invited: LTTA Artists and local FMNI Elders and Artists
Training for New
ArtistsDates: May 11, 12, 13, and
14
Location: TBA
What the training is
about: Our training provides the foundation for work in classroom
settings and after-school programming in Fort McMurray and outlying regions. We
train the way we teach, through hands-on exploration of ideas and reflective
questioning. Part-time to full-time work is available in the fall of
2012.
Who is invited: Any artist who is interested in
working with LTTA in Fort McMurray's classrooms. We are always looking for new
artists who fit well with our program; please pass on this info, as well as our
names and numbers if you get a chance!
ALL Artist
TrainingDates: May 12, and
13
Location: TBA
What the training is
about: As a large group we will explore the areas where we can all
benefit from more time together: creating a worthy and "short" hook, breaking
down the art of instruction, improving our ability to ask a great question,
understanding the brain part 2, and partnership with the teacher! Shelley Mac
and Mar'ce M will lead the session that's sure to have us laughing, thinking and
walking away with new ideas and insight.
Who is invited: All
current LTTA artists, and any artist who is interested in working with LTTA in
Fort McMurray's classrooms.
How to get
PAID!Reminder for all artist educators.
Placement sheets must be sent in to head office...attention Laura Blanco...by
the 5th of each month will be paid out in that month. Please copy me on any
e-mails you send to Laura so that I can follow up on them. If you are having any
difficulty with the placement sheets, contact me ASAP! I want to make sure that
you are paid for your hard work!
If you are still feeling
mystified by the payment process,
please check out the xtra-normal video
below. It is a lot of fun, and has the answers to all of your
questions!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tur2tivEewsConvocation for
Level One ArtistsDate: Thursday, May
12th
Time: Evening
Location:
TBA
What it's about: Artists who have completed their level
one training and classroom hours will be invited to attend convocation through
an e-mail invite. Shelley and I are thrilled to make this a special
event!
LTTA CalendarIn an effort to
better communicate to schools exactly when artists are in their classrooms, LTTA
Fort McMurray is in the process of creating a master calendar of artist's
schedules, that can easily be shared with school administrators. The calendar is
in the process of being updated with artist information, and we hope to begin
sharing the calendar with artists and schools in the next week or
so.
Thanks for reading,
Marce Merrell, Shelley MacDonald,
Sarah Neiman
LTTA Fort McMurray
