VOORHEESVILLE — Elementary school Principal Kenneth Lein says he is a firm believer that the arts support academic learning.
"Since schools keep cutting art programs, teachers and administrator have to find other ways to incorporate the arts into learning," Lein said.

He has applied and received, through the Empire State Partnerships in conjunction with the New York State Council of the Arts, a matching $10,000 grant to train elementary teachers with an artist in residence.

On the opening day of school, Sept. 1, when teachers arrive before students, they will be greeted by Eric Booth, who has acted both on and off Broadway, taught at Juliard, and has published in teaching magazines, Lein said.

The plan is for elementary-school teachers to incorporate the dramatic arts into the writing curriculum.
"A big part of this is teacher-driven," Lein said.

All the educators in the building — teachers, teaching assistance, and special-area teachers — will attend the professional development sessions, Lein said, so that the arts-in-education program can be incorporated throughout the school.

This is considered a planning year, and, he said, a lot of the grant money will go towards paying substitute teachers so that Voorheesville’s teachers have more planning time.
On the first day, Booth will lead the staff through "examining our own core beliefs about the importance of art," Lien said, and discussing individual beliefs about the place of arts within education.

Then, later in the day, the teachers will break into grade levels and plan how they can embody that, he said.

In the first year, Voorheesville Elementary School will focus on writing, Lein said. He said he thinks this is one of the easier connections to make — incorporating the dramatic arts into writing.

The plan is for each individual teacher, through her own style, to figure out and plan how the arts, in particular this year, dramatic arts, can work within the program they already deliver, Lein said.

When teachers are allowed to come up with their own lesson plans rather than imposing a lock-step way on each classroom, it works out better and the programs longevity, he said
"The beauty of teaching is your style that you have," Lein said. What is great about a teaching career is the freedom each educator has in the way he or she approaches learning and reaching children. Certain topics are mandated, and state tests have to be taken, but, Lein said, "Getting there is the beauty."
"This is just another way to incorporate another strategy," he said. "It’s about exciting kids about learning."

The arts is another way to reach another group of kids who may not have been intrigued about writing before, he said.

Arts at the center

Voorheesville’s local partner in this venture, which will supply the teaching artist, is the Capital Region Center for the Arts in Education, a not-for-profit cultural organization.

Elisa Cotroneo has been the center’s executive director for a year and a teaching artist for 30 years.

The center has been bringing programs to Capital Region schools for 22 years, she said. Before the terrorist attacks in 2001, the center used to be funded through the New York State budget, but it now relies solely on community support, Cotroneo said.

Near to Voorheesville, the center has already worked with Clarksville Elementary School in the Bethlehem district and with Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Cotroneo said.
When asked what impact she has seen this professional development program have on students, Cotroneo responded, "Many students wouldn’t have experience with the arts at all without it."
"The arts are an important aspect of the total educational experience," she said.

Cotroneo said she has seen how highly motivated students become once the arts are woven into the core content of the curriculum — such as when students do a written response to a performance. It engaged the kids, she said.

Cotroneo said that the Capital Region Center for Arts in Education program uses the Lincoln Center model, where the work of art is at the center.
A teacher starts by looking at a piece of art, such as a painting, and then thinking "what would I not want my students to miss," Cotroneo said. Then, from knowing that, the teacher builds the activities outward from that piece.

The teaching-artists that the center brings into local schools receive extensive training, Cotroneo said. The center looks for professional artists who are interested in working in schools and then they train them in teaching, for example, the artist attend workshops on classroom management, she said.

Teamwork

Together as a team, the artist and the district teachers create lesson plans; the artist uses his expertise and the school’s teachers use theirs, Cotroneo said.

One artist will give 10 to 12 sessions with Voorheesville teachers throughout the year, Lien said.

To highlight how the program has worked for other schools, Cotroneo gave the example of a school which used a cappella singing as the art.

The students looked at literary devices, to see how they were similar to musical rhythms.

The students then studied the lyrical rhythms and worked in small groups to create their own verses.

The children ultimately end up writing songs about the academic units they were studying such as the Revolutionary War, Cotroneo said, using the rhythm patterns they had learned.

Usually the students look at or listen to a professional performance in their field of study half-way through the semester, she said.
"What is exciting about this is the potential for long-term funding," Cotroneo said; Voorheesville will have the opportunity to receive more grants over the next 10 years.

Lien said that he hopes to continue to get funding and have a partnership with the Capital Region Center for the Art for quite a few years, focusing on different aspects of art over time. The elementary school will have a steering and planning committee to determine how to go beyond the dramatic arts.