Educators from 13 Arkansas schools are learning about how to integrate the arts into their everyday lessons.
The schools are part of the Arkansas A+ Schools network, which trains teachers to become more creative using art -- whether it be visual and performing art, music, creative writing or technology -- to get students engaged in learning.
"Arts are very powerful," said Tracy Steele, director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services' Youth Services Division. "It really connects the children to something they're more familiar with."
Arkansas Consolidated High School, a school run by the Youth Services Division in Alexander, was one of 11 schools accepted into the Arkansas A+ program for the coming school year.
To become part of the Arkansas A+ program, schools go through a rigorous application process. At least 85 percent of staff members must vote in favor of joining the program, and letters of support are required from the school district superintendent, a school board member, teachers and parents.
Schools chosen to join the Arkansas A+ network receive three years of intensive training, which includes an annual institute during the summer in Little Rock and smaller workshops throughout the year at their schools.
Teachers from the newly admitted schools participate in five-day training institutes in Little Rock led by "fellows" who are trained by A+ Schools to host the workshops.
Amy Mejia, principal of Arkansas Consolidated High School, is participating in this week's training session, which ends Friday.
She said she has been learning tools to get her students more engaged in class.
"We're just really excited," she said. "We're already coming up with new ideas."
In one of the workshops Mejia attended, educators talked about how to develop exercises that combined skills from multiple disciplines.
They played a game designed to test their abilities in math, English and communication.
One person was shown a drawing of geometric shapes. That person showed the drawing to another person, called the "runner." Then the runner walked to a third person across the room and described what she had seen using mathematical terms.
In a unit on nonfiction informational writing earlier in the week, educators used Legos to build an accessory for a superhero and wrote a news release or news article describing the accessory. They then had to use their colleagues' descriptions to find the matching Lego creation.
The exercise, or one like it, could be used in a classroom to allow students to use their creativity while testing their ability to write clearly and concisely, said Arkansas A+ fellow Sandy West.
"You have something visual, and you also have the accountability," she said.
After each activity, educators reflect on how the skills they're learning could be applied in their own classrooms.
Kim Wilson, a fellow and virtual professional learning network facilitator for Arkansas A+, said taking the time to sit and think is the most valuable part of the training process because teachers don't have that opportunity during a normal school day.
"There's so much of a push for the data and the results," she said. "There's precious little time to reflect. The craft and art of teaching comes from that."
Arkansas is one of four states that has an A+ Schools program, which started in North Carolina in 1995. Oklahoma and Louisiana also have the program.
The Thea Foundation revived the initiative in Arkansas in 2007, said Paul Leopoulos, executive director of the foundation. It's now a network of 18 schools across the state.
Leopoulos said the program had previously started in Arkansas by the Windgate Charitable Foundation, but faded away when they couldn't get state support for the program.
The rebooted program receives support from the Windgate Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.
In addition, each school pays a fee to join the program depending on its size. Leopoulos said the average cost is between $60,000 and $70,000 for the three years of training.
Arkansas A+ received some state general improvement funds in this year's budget, but Leopoulos said the program needs more support. He said legislators passed a law creating a pilot program to study arts-infused curriculum, but they didn't fund the project.
"We are doing work that is so important to help education across the state," he said. "We have to have state government on board."
Leopoulos is also working to get colleges' education programs on board with the A+ philosophy.
"In the future, our schools of education across the state will produce teachers that know the A+ model," Leopoulos said.
Metro on 07/17/2014