The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education each year hosts a program of teaching artists that offer a variety of educational programs, including performances, lectures, workshops, master classes, readings and multi-disciplinary experiences who can bring the specialties into K-12 schools, but also parks and recreation centers, senior facilities, correctional facilities, hospitals, libraries, other community centers, as well as private sector businesses and organizations.
Olde Orchard Elementary School, a literature based school, is a Columbus Public School serving 560 students from all over the city. They all learn in a different way than other children as they have specific learning disabilities. A PFW grant was given to bring two artists, which the Literacy Committee felt would benefit their diverse population of students. One performer, Candace Wolf’s theme is that we learn my imagining, the other performer is an interactive music and storytelling program that encourages reading and building self-esteem.
” Stories are the original teaching tool. Long before there were classrooms or teachers, people gathered to share wisdom through stories. The reason for the effectiveness and magic of storytelling is that we learn by imagining—and we never forget a memorable story. We discover the human potential for kindness, courage, honesty, respect and responsibility through our own experience of hearing or reading a story. For this reason, all the cultural traditions of the world have their own rich treasure trove of folktales, myths, legends, parables and fables.”
The Artists-in-Schools experience is intended to complement, rather than replace, existing arts education programs by:
- enabling teachers to integrate the arts with other academic subjects while directly addressing state and district content standards
- enabling teachers to use local arts resources and give participants firsthand contact with practicing arts professionals
- allowing sites to provide participants with a broad range of arts experience.
- www.oaae.net
