Intergenerational Learning:

Problem:

Young students who are struggling to fit in thrive in an arts environment that supports their emotional needs and challenges their artistic abilities.

Solution:

Arts Alive, an award-winning program for students in grades K-12, has provided students and educators 23 years of exemplary arts education in northeastern Pennsylvania. The program is conducted through a collaboration with the Everhart Museum, Ballet Theatre of Scranton, Broadway Theatre of Scranton, the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit and regional school districts.   Funded through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and local school districts, the program affords an opportunity for professional artists, vetted through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, to work as teachers and mentors to students and educators during four intense summer weeks. Participants choose to focus on performing arts (musical theater) or visual arts (painting, drawing, mixed media, and ceramics) and demonstrate artistic excellence in a public final performance and exhibition.  The program is fully inclusive and participants include special needs populations, ELL learners, court assigned juveniles and general education students.  

Educators participate as peers to the high school students and receive Act 48 professional development hours for the development of integrated lessons based on their specific classroom content. Researchers, including Brouillette (2012) and Deasy (2002), have pointed out that integrating arts across the curriculum has a positive impact on learning development of struggling learners and English language learners. By implementing drama, music and visual activities into classroom instruction, teachers can afford students the opportunity to learn through multiple intelligences and build on their prior experiences. The fully inclusive program is an example of how the arts enable all students to learn and work together.  

The presenters will look closely at the benefits of the arts in content based instruction and provide visual and audio examples of students’ work from the Arts Alive program.