Editor’s note: This commentary is by Cindy Mosedale, who is a science teacher at the Barnet School.
[D]uring this era of high-stakes testing, art integration in core content has resounding support and is more important than ever. Enter the Vermont Creative Schools Initiative which last summer brought together 23 classroom teachers and teaching artists from eight schools in six communities to work with Evelyn Glennie, a solo percussionist and global superstar. Teachers then returned to the classroom and, during the 2015/16 academic year, projects inspired by working with Glennie were put into motion.
I was one of those teachers, and returned to my students at Barnet Middle School where we began to explore a project on innovation. Our theme: “We are all innovators and our contributions help our community thrive.” It took the form of a year-long collaboration with our artist-in residence, actor/ director/ educator Susan Palmer. I and other Barnet teachers – including art teacher Beverly McCarthy and music teacher Susan Persson – have been enriching student learning in art-infused classrooms throughout the year. We have focused on two essential questions: How has innovation influenced our world, and, how can we influence our world through innovation?
We teachers have joined together to stretch our comfort levels and expand our expertise by employing artistic mediums to foster higher-order thinking and understanding in science content. In our classrooms, learning is centered around a growth mindset and the habits of mind that allow students to develop: persistence, listening with understanding, questioning, and communicating with precision and accuracy. Participants are taught to constructively critique and craft their products and performances as an infinite process. The team uses phrases such as, “I notice that …” and, “I wonder what would happen if …” with each other and students, with a goal of providing additional information and building on what the students have already mastered, rather than destroying what they’ve created by implying that it is lacking and suggesting a need to start over.
Barnet’s experiences have demonstrated that students do learn better when they are taught to use a growth mindset and are encouraged to experiment with multiple modalities of expression and communication.
Through the Creative Schools Initiative, we have been able to bring together community artists with classroom teachers, collaboratively plan creative projects to be implemented in core curriculum, and program public events that exhibit student learning and bring communities together to explore themes central to everyday life. Barnet’s year of learning will culminate in a school and a public performance.
Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe has said, “The Creative Schools Initiative has the potential for transformative impact on students, teachers and communities.” Barnet’s experiences have demonstrated that students do learn better when they are taught to use a growth mindset and are encouraged to experiment with multiple modalities of expression and communication. This often results in synergistic experiences, where the learning is greater than the sum of its parts.
Creative communities are thriving communities, and creativity is alive and well in Barnet, the Northeast Kingdom and Vermont this spring.
Evelyn Glennie and the Festival Orchestra will perform in “The Heart of Sound” concert April 9 at St. Johnsbury School, April 10 at Barre Opera House, and April 11 at Flynn Mainstage. Students’ work will be featured. Information and tickets @ www.CommunityEngagementLab.org.
