Facing History We & They Humanities Art Integration

02 Dec 2011, 11:36 AM by caitlinmeissner, High School

In the 9th Grade Humanities integration class with teaching artist Caits Meissner and classroom teacher Paul Zuppello, students have been exploring the concepts of We and They through societal differences theyve identified as relevant to their own lives. Working in the collage/cut paper medium, here are a few standouts!

Teens and Parents:
A call for parents to let their teens express themselves creatively through clothing.

Women and Men:
A statement that women have value beyond traditional domestic roles. Women are doctors, lawyers and CEOs too!

Homeless and Non Homeless:
A call to see all as equal members of society, whether they dwell on streets, in shelters, apartments or homes. They earth is our true home!

Unemployed vs Employed:
Help the unemployed! Jobs, what happened to them Obama?

PS 20 Share at Dixon Place Theater

30 Nov 2011, 1:30 PM by kaya, Elementary School

A few weeks ago students from PS 20’s 3rd grade Urban Arts Dance integration shared the work they’ve done in dance and social studies at Dixon Place Theater. The students had the opportunity to visit a ballet the week before, this time they were onstage in a professional theater!

A few weeks ago students from PS 20’s 3rd grade Urban Arts Dance integration shared the work they’ve done in dance and social studies at Dixon Place Theater. The students had the opportunity to visit a ballet the week before, this time they were onstage in a professional theater!

Students warm up for the performance with Ms. Seabreeze:

This was their project description: We will explore their place in the world through dance and its many significant uses in cultures around the world. Our class will understand and become aware of their bodies, how to explore various types of movements, and how to use this information to tell a story of the culture and/or location being explored.

3rd graders watch a movie of their rehearsals and interviews:

Here’s what teaching artist Michelle Seabreeze had to say: “It was an amazing experience, for myself, as well as the students. The students had a wonderfully professional experience performing in the space, as a result of the use of the entire space as well as a special treat watching themselves projected on the large screen. The teachers and parents were extremely impressed!”

Thanks to Fabian for the photos... and to Dixon Place for letting us use your space!

PS 155 Dance Class

29 Nov 2011, 5:11 PM by kaya, Elementary School

At PS 155 3-5th grade students have been working with teaching artist Claire Tunkel to create their "I AM" series, learning how to combine dance, poetry, and visual arts into one performance. Here are some photos from dance class!

Students warm up with Ms. Claire -

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Jaylen and Josue will be doing cartwheels- see if you can catch Jaylen in action!

Student Interviews:

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Guadalupe - dance class is fun, we dance and we have a good time with each other.. and sometimes we also get to say stuff about ourselves

Yasmin- we are working on I am proud. It's a dance about us we made.

Kya- we got our "I am" ideas from poems in dance class - Ms. Claire did "I am proud" and we did the rest.

Joanna- one thing I'm excited is that we get to show parents our dance and what we've been working hard on.

Taniyah- something I like about dance is the free dance that we do because we get to be whatever we want.

MAAL Students Create Original Propaganda Posters

12 Nov 2011, 12:14 AM by keith, High School

This year at Manhattan Acadmy of Arts & Language (MAAL), teaching artist Elise Rasmussen has been collaborating with Ms. Delgado in two Global History classes.  Throughout the year, students will be creating arts-based projects that use photography and visual arts to showcase their understanding of various historical concepts and eras from the curriculum.

In the Global History 3 class, students have been studying political revolutions from around the world to better understand the roots of revolution and how revolutions affect the lives of the people.  They worked in groups to create propaganda posters each related to a specific revolution, and then presented them to the class to explain the background, and important events and people involved.  Each poster included a slogan and at least one original photo that the students created to capture the spirit of the revolution.

The Global History 1 class has been exploring religions from around the world, and examining the differences and similarities across religions.  Students created and presented posters to communicate messages of non-discrimination based on religion, each using an original photo devised and shot by the group.  In these images, students experimented with using lighting techniques to help make their intended messages come across even more powerfully.

"We were learning about world cultures and religions and how we can all live together.  It's an important message because some people think that our differences are bad, and they might act weird.  My favorite part was taking the picture.  We're trying to say that we might come from different cultures, but really we're all the same." - Emelly, 9th grade

"My project is about how religions shouldn't make boarders between us.  My favorite part was how our picture uses hands to represent people of different cultures.  In the world, there are so many people, and so many religions." - Freddy, 9th grade

"My poster is about how there are no real differences between our color or religions.  This message is important because we are all equals.  My favorite part was taking our photo, because it shows that we can all be unified and equal." - Manuela, 9th grade

Film Program at ITAVA

11 Nov 2011, 1:12 PM by keith, High School

Students in the after school Filmmaking program at It Takes a Village Academy (ITAVA) in Brooklyn have begun work on a series of original short films with teaching artist Brendan Boland.  The films depict scenes set in a fictional high school and tell stories of daily life for students and teachers.  The students are participating in the project in a range of roles, such as writing the scripts, acting, and also doing the camera work.  

"The film is really interesting.  It's about typical high school days and how students deal with stuff.  Today we were working on a specific scene about a girl who has issues at home.  She has a lot of anger and is talking to a teacher about it.  I love both writing and acting.  I wrote the script, but once we all talked about it as a group, it came out different and better.  I love this class because I can be myself and different characters at the same time." - Christelle, 10th grade

"Today I was using the camera.  I moved around to different places to help show what characters were saying and what was happening.  Sometimes I did close ups to show the person who's talking more clearly and what they are feeling.  I'm filming the action, and the actors are acting according to how the scene goes." - Shener, 11th grade