Teachers get creative in grad school

SANDPOINT — Lesley University sits on Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., shoulder-to-shoulder with its larger and more famous academic neighbor.

Since it was first established by Miss Edith Lesley in 1909, the school has gone from an initial focus on training kindergarten teachers to becoming a cutting edge institution with more than 50,000 alumni and an expansive off-campus presence that now includes graduate degree courses at more than 70 sites in 23 states.

For the first time in its 101-year history, Lesley University will offer one of its master’s degrees in North Idaho.

The Integrated Teaching through the Arts program, part of the university’s Creative Arts in Learning Division, begins Nov. 6 at Sorensen Elementary — a magnet school for the arts and sciences in Coeur d’Alene.

More than a dozen teachers from both Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene will make up the “cohort” that will spend almost two years together in once-a-month, weekend sessions.

Lynda Ryan was one of four teachers from the Lake Pend Oreille School District who graduated from the same master’s degree program in 2006. At the time, those Sandpoint educators traveled to the Spokane Valley for classes with about 20 teachers from Eastern Washington. Since graduating, Ryan has been a vocal advocate for the course and has spent the past few years drumming up interest in bringing those classes to North Idaho.

Her enthusiasm, she said, is based on the doors that were opened for her by the graduate course.

“I just thought I would be a better classroom teacher when I completed the program,” Ryan said. “However, this degree allowed me to teach music in this district, which was the dream of my life.”

The ITA course explores ways teachers can incorporate music, poetry, visual arts, movement and theatre in the classroom. For Ryan, it lead to a new career track, but she also views the program as a powerful tool for veteran educators who feel that something important has been wrung out of the teaching profession.

“When I switched from being a classroom teacher to music, I saw how teachers had become discouraged about all the testing that was going on,” said Ryan, who now teaches general music classes at Washington and Sagle elementary schools. “A lot of them felt like they were having to leave behind the reasons they got into teaching in the first place.

“What I’ve learned is that — when you’re teaching children by incorporating music and movement, drama and poetry — they really learn the material,” she went on. “And the test scores go up.”

Nicole Dash, who also earned her master’s degree in the ITA curriculum in 2006, is a first-grade teacher at Farmin Stidwell Elementary in Sandpoint. She began the graduate course early in her teaching career and credits it with increasing her effectiveness in the classroom.

“I use skills that I gained in the Lesley program every day, from creative movement for ‘Brain Breaks’ to being more open to the creativity of my students during an art project,” she said.  “Now I look at lessons I’m going to be teaching and think about how I can teach them through the arts. I’ve found that my students are much more involved in the learning process.” 

Next week, Dash will begin to teach her students about action verbs. Transforming what could have been a painfully dry introduction, she called on her ITA skills and designed a comprehensive lesson plan that incorporates art, music, movement and even some basic anatomy combined with word play to support her language and writing curriculum.

“We cut out skeletons and connected the bones with brads,” the teacher explained. “My class will move their skeletons into different positions and then write about what actions they are doing. We also talk about the different bones in the skeleton and sing a song called ‘Macarena Bones.’ 

“Throughout this process, the kids are learning by doing — and by being creative.”

Louise M. Pascale, Ph.D. and director of Lesley’s ITA program, said the graduate degree offers creative ways to serve the changing face of the nation’s classrooms in what has become a test-intensive climate.

“Our curriculum is very targeted and culturally responsive to reaching students of varied ethnic, linguistic and ability backgrounds,” Pascale said. “We are also quite aware of the challenges of testing — and the arts activities introduced address these challenges.

“Teachers love this program, because it addresses real problems and transforms students and teachers,” the program director added.

This same message was the one Ryan used to generate interest in bringing the Lesley course to North Idaho.

“People told me that I wouldn’t recognize myself when I was done with the program,” she said. “I didn’t — it changed my life.”

A free professional development workshop titled, “What Does It Really Mean to ‘Integrate the Arts?’” will be presented by Pascale on Friday, Nov. 5, from 2:30-4:30 p.m. at Sorenson Magnet School, located at 310 N. 9th St. in Coeur d’Alene. Attendance will be limited to 30 participants.

To register for the free workshop or for more information, contact Michele Anderson at Lesley University by calling toll-free: (866) 600-9208.

Interested participants can still enroll in the upcoming Integrated Teaching through the Arts master’s degree program. For details about that course, contact Lynda Ryan at (208) 290-7154 or by e-mail at: lryan3@lesley.edu