Arts Learning

Two Rivers involved three urban and four suburban schools and one rural school in an educator staff development institute followed by art and poetry residencies in each school. The outcome achieved was to expand instructional strategies/learning experiences for educators/students that integrate poetry and visual arts with life sciences. Data gathered through 1) pre-planning meetings with artists and teachers at each school; 2) midpoint reflection meetings to determine changes and/or improvement to the project; and, 3) student interviews, as well as artists and teacher final reflection meetings in which student work was examined and the impact of the project on instructional practice discussed/documented was used to measure achievement of this outcome. In addition, a final survey was administered to all artists, teachers, and other project participants to determine the overall impact of the project on instruction and learning. 2: The second outcome was to deepen each participant's understanding of the relationship between arts, culture, and the environment. With the addition of a workshop by Gwen Westerman, Dakota artist and poet, these three concepts were beautifully brought together. She conducted a half day workshop during the staff development component and also spoke to all 10th grade Edina High School students during the residency on the Dakota Conflict and the importance of the confluence to the Dakota People. Educators, artists, and naturalists at Fort Snelling gained a new appreciation for the significance of place to a culture. School board members in Edina and other teaching staff also gained a similar appreciation of arts integration at the secondary level to inspire and inform the cultural/historical significance of place. In addition, each school presented what they created either in a performance piece, exhibit and/or poetry reading with parents and other students and teachers in attendance.