A joint E.T.F.O. & O.E.C.T.A. professional development project for Northern Ontario Marathon Area Schools – Holy Saviour October 7, 2010

1)Why Are We Here? 2) How do we define Arts Education? 3) A Look at the NEW Revised Arts Policy in Ontario 4)BREAK OUT: Looking at an in-progress arts activity, engaging in music 5) An introduction to SPIRIT HORSE 6) Pre-Show Activities, an example activity laid out 7) Some web resources and how we can keep in touch 8)Assignment for next time

- ETFO and OECTA have joined forces to provide a very rare opportunity to teachers in the north – a chance to collaborate and share ideas around THE ARTS! - This initiative is bringing a free professional theatre group to almost every town throughout the fall for a performance of Drew Hayden Taylor’s SPIRIT HORSE by Roseneath Theatre of Toronto. - As a result of the P.D. and the performance, students and teachers will have an opportunity to “reflect, respond, and analyze” upon this theatre experience while supporting the new Arts curriculum.

Two truths and a lie… -Think about three things you can tell the group about yourself. Make sure one of the things you tell us is not a truth. - The group will then try to decide which item was false.

 Think  Pair  Share  As a Professional Learning Community, what do we collectively feel that Arts Education is in an “Assessment Drives Instruction” atmosphere?

WHATEVER YOU MAKE IT! Differentiating Instruction with Learning Through The Arts in various other curriculum areas.

Sir Ken Robinson Schools Kill Creativity

The NEW Arts Document, 2009 and Reporting Requirements -Broken down by grade vs. the strand - In addition to overall expectations, also lists Fundamental Concepts. Similar to “Big Ideas” in math, these are embedded in the specific expectations. - Provides teacher prompts for each specific expectation Learning Through the Arts - Focuses more on Learning Through the Arts vs. the old Learning in the Arts.

Growing Success: - On new reports, Drama and Dance have now been separated as two distinct strands to be reflective of the curriculum changes. - All strands must be reported on ONCE between Report 1 & 2 in addition to the progress report in the fall.

SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS: Drama, Grade 3

Begin by reading the first two or three pages of the story to your students. Then, put them into groups of three and assign characters (Ronald, Dragon, and Princess). Provide them with some time to brainstorm and develop some ideas of what they feel the princess should do next. (B.1.3) Then, have them work toward a brief presentation to perform their idea of where the story should go next. (B.1.1) Add a level of complexity to the task by limiting them to a series of tableaux only to present their story idea, like a human story board. (B.1.2)

-Creative Writing (not only in writing and creating comics, but also character development) - A fun way of having the students respond to texts critically. - A form of media/arts response that contains a lot of unwritten writing - Students can access and evaluate the success of each others’ comics, which leads to making inferences and thinking critically about the author’s intended message.

Turn to page 5 of your guides Setting: The Stoney Nakoda First Nation in Alberta which is shadowed by Wildwind Mountain.

Think D.I., Think M.I., Think Arts!

PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES TURN TO PAGE 6 CLIPS FROM THE SCRIPT TURN TO PAGE 8

EXTENSION ON PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY USING TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA: - have the kids create the scene they feel is going on in the play using BitStrips -MUSIC SOUND TRACKS IDEA -Go to - Log in with my credentials (it’s still in Beta Version and I was lucky to get trial access) - User Name: dburke - Password: 7svXlbX7 - Have the kids develop some sound tracks to fit their scene - This can also be done using Mac program GARAGE BAND

Classroom Visit: Grade 8 Students working as a class with BOOMWHACKERS to play a complex song.

Mr. B’s Workspace (Classroom Blog) Mr. Burke’s Wiki (a way for kids to access files online that you create without printing) BitStrips for Schools Ujam Spirit Horse: Interactive Website by Roseneath Theatre Ontario Educational Resource Bank

Your Assignments for our next session: -Try some of the activities in the Spirit Horse Guide and evaluate your success with them in your classroom, share your results. -Bring any ideas, tools, materials, or “must have” resources you use to teach the arts. I’m hoping to do less talking next time -Be prepared to lead us all in an activity or two. - We’re going to have time to do some collaborative planning to, as a group, decide how to keep the staff and students of our schools excited about the arts long after SPIRIT HORSE has gone.

What would you like to do? Dive into the SPIRIT HORSE ARTS GUIDE. Show you how to set up a classroom blog/do it today. Discuss the Arts and integration issues in your classroom?