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Dear Parents and Caregivers, The 2008-09 school year marks the second year of Performing Arts Workshop’s Project ARISE arts programming at your child’s school. ARISE stands for Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education and is a project with the U.S. Department of Education, San Francisco Unified School District and Performing Arts Workshop. Five schools in the SFUSD have been participating in this project since 2007. What does this mean for your student? Special education and general education students in grades 3-5 at Cesar Chavez, Edward Robeson Taylor, Starr King, Stevenson, and Ulloa Elementary schools are receiving classes in Theatre Arts or Creative Movement once a week taught by a professional artist. The arts program runs for the full school year and will continue through 2009-10. What have we learned? In 2007-2008, students in ARISE learned how to be more respectful of their classmates and adults at their school, and became more enthusiastic about learning in comparison with students who did not receive the program. Students with special needs experienced increased feelings of success at school and an increased ability to persevere through challenges. We hope this year will give us even more information on your students’ progress. In the meantime, I invite you to read about what is happening in your child’s class. Our artists are happy to share their experiences and stories about their work, and I hope you enjoy reading about them! Please contact me with any questions or feedback about Project ARISE, and thank you for your time. Sincerely,
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Starr King: Moving Bodies, Moving Minds Every Tuesday at Starr King my two classes have so much fun dancing, you’d think it was pure play. And it is! The important aspect of this play, however, is just how full of learning it is. We play games with a blue ball that challenges the students to articulate specific motor skills. We practice a choreographed dance, and add new movements every week. This dance challenges the students’ ability to recall and memorize movement. In groups, they perform this dance for each other, developing a sense of social confidence and audience appreciation. We also do the “Airplane Dance,” which creates space for exploration of various locomotor movements, as well as a short “free dance” where students make up their own dance moves. Often, during the free dance, students can’t help laughing. They show theirthe utter joy and freedom through movement. For our next four months together, we will explore even more complex motor skills and dance composition. I look forward to more joyful learning with these brilliant students. |
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Edward Robeson Taylor: The Reasons for Theatre
At the beginning of the next class, I asked my students what skills theater class teaches them that people use in everyday life. Eagerly they answered that theater teaches them how not to be shy and how to speak in front of people. What jobs require good public speaking skills? “President,” they said. A shy student raised her hand saying, “Teachers need to talk in front of large groups of people.” Theater education does more than open a student’s occupational options. It expands their understanding of the world and brings joy into their lives. Through theater, your students are learning about teamwork, self-confidence, creativity and problem solving. In our classes together, I see theater bring joy and wonder into your children’s everyday experience. |
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Theater at Starr King: The Art of Action
by Suraya Keating Leadership is part of Theater. How do you trust others and get others to trust you? Students at Starr King explored this with movement – learning the shapes and movements of their own bodies, and working as a team to create their own human sculptures. They created environments, vehicles, and objects. At first, students seemed shy, but they have become comfortable on stage and show an amazing ability to take creative risks and to volunteer to go on stage. Starr King students have shown their healthy self-esteem and willingness to take on new challenges. Their next challenge will be role playing and storytelling using simple pictures and props. I am excited to see what they develop next! |
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Ulloa: The Joy of Learning I have worked with your student’s teacher to bring Social Studies into my theatre class. Together, we discussed “Dio de los Muertos”, or “Day of the Dead,” a tradition in Mexican culture. We spoke of the similarities between this and other traditions where we honor those who have passed. Together, we created a ceremony by using our voices and bodies to honor the memories of grandparents, other family members and our beloved pets. There was a grace in the students’ movements as they imagined lighting candles for their loved ones. They were connected by a shared experience and showed great respect and maturity beyond their years. As we explored the life and history of native peoples, I shared a Miwok story called “Silver Fox and Coyote Create Earth.” Together we found a way to bring this traditional story to life. It was thrilling to watch as the students acted the part of the Fox or the Coyote. They moved their bodies with strong clear movements and played their characters with loud, clear voices. Many of them enjoyed forgot their own shyness! Recently students learned about the California Missions. We started with dialogue…what was life like then? Who were the people involved? What were they like? We looked at all sides without judgment – remaining curious rather than critical. In groups, students created tableaux or still pictures representing the lives of these people. They learned the art of collaboration as they found relevance and connections to their lives. While I have been working with your children here at Ulloa, I am struck by their willingness to go beyond their comfort zones, to try new things. I am inspired by their good work, and together we live the joy of this work while enhancing our thinking and engaging our imaginations. |
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Starr King: The Art of Resolving Conflicts At Starr King, students are learning how important it is to solve conflicts in a positive and peaceful way. As actors, they explored these techniques by playing characters with different This improvisation helped a lot of the students solve some real conflicts in class, by remembering how they solved conflicts in their scenes. For instance, two students who wanted to play the same character were able to reach an agreement using the same negotiation skills they learned in acting class. This shows me that the students are being more reflective of the choices they are making in class as well as outside of class. This is another example of how Art imitates life and Life imitates Art. |
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The ARISE project is made possible by the following partners. For more information, please contact the Workshop.
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Teaching theater in elementary schools, I realize most of my students will not grow up to be actors. But when one of them asked, “Why do we study theater in school?”, I wasn’t sure how to respond. Theater is such an important part of my life that the answer seemed obvious, yet the words escaped me. So, I was forced to consider the purpose of our work together. The answer occurred to me in an ice cream shop. As I looked at all the interesting flavor choices, I realized that education opens opportunities for young people; the more diverse their education, the more choices they will have in their lives. 
points of view. For example, we created a scene: two students want to use the same kick ball at recess. As they improvised the scene together, students used their listening and logic skills to work together to resolve the imaginary conflict. 
