Professional Development Offerings

Jenn and Lisa facilitate workshops on integrating the arts in Language Arts for educators who are looking for ways to:

• Provide experiences that allow access to curriculum through multiple modalities

• Support social emotional learning

• Support English Language Learners

• Implement flexible strategies

• Enliven their everyday lessons

Workshops are offered in the following formats:

• Two-hour pre-recorded webinar that educators watch when convenient (includes the choice of one strategy below)

• Two-hour live webinar (includes the choice of strategy below)

• One day in person (includes choice of 5 strategies below)

• Two days in person (includes the full list of strategies listed below)

We offer the following arts-based strategies below. These descriptions are drawn from our text Integrating the Arts in Language Arts: 30 Strategies to Create Dynamic Lessons published by Shell Education.

Tableaux

In this workshop, educators will learn the power of using the dramatic strategy of tableaux, a drama technique that gives students an opportunity to explore an idea without movement or speaking.

Workshop participants will create tableaux, or frozen statues, without moving or speaking in order to explore the theme of a text. Students locate evidence in the text to infer a theme (such as belonging, friendship, survival) and use their bodies to create a tangible representation of the theme. Working with the placement of one’s body on different levels (low, medium, high); relationships (body placement and eye contact); and action frozen in time enables students to explore ideas and provides ways for them to share what they know about a theme.

Visualization

In this strategy, students imagine a moment as it unfolds by listening to a sensory description read aloud. Sometimes called mental movie, guided imagery, or guided tour, a dramatic visualization invites students into the world of a text, character, moment, or setting.

In this workshop, participants will listen to a script with rich, sensory details that encourages students to become part of an imagined world within a curriculum area (experiencing it by imagining what they see, hear, feel, taste, and smell as the script is read). Students explore how descriptive words can create a sensory experience, deepening their interest and understanding of a topic.

Monologue

A monologue is a dramatic scene performed by one person. In creating a monologue, students take on the perspective of a character in a story, real or imagined, and speak directly to the audience for one to three minutes. The character must be established without interacting with others (that would be a dialogue) and must speak in a way that engages the audience with this singular focus.

In this workshop, participants use monologue to deeply understand a significant person or character. They read a variety of texts from a collection of books and primary sources (letters and quotations) and draw from various modalities (print, audio, photographs, and artifacts). Using information from a variety of sources, students write and perform monologues in which they take on the perspective of a historical figure.

Poem for Two Voices

A poem for two voices encourages students to explore two different perspectives on a topic. This form of poetry works well with opposite but related concepts or perspectives. Similarities and differences between concepts can be explored, providing the rhythm and feel of a dialogue.

In this workshop participants explore poems for two voices that are constructed in a variety of ways (for example, some are conversations back and forth, while others compare and contrast). Participants work in groups to create their own poems for two voices. As they do so, they gain a deeper understanding of perspective and point of view. We will also explore the interweaving of voices around a common issue or idea. Poems for two voices can provide opportunities for the close reading of primary sources and documents.

Found Poetry

This strategy prompts students to find and collect words or phrases from a variety of sources and encourages experimentation with the placement and juxtaposition of ideas to reveal fresh language, insights, relationships, and content connections.

This workshop starts with a shared sensory event, such as a rainstorm, or a weather event experienced virtually. Participants drop what they are doing and observe with their senses. As a class, they use their senses to brainstorm a list of words and phrases that come to mind in the moment, and the teacher records the ideas.This creates a bank of rich, sensory words and might include onomatopoeia, strong verbs, repeated words for rhythm (drip, drip), and more. Once the word bank is created, students pluck their favorite words and phrases right from the bank and arrange them into found poems by playing with rhythm and beat and repetition, setting a word on a line of its own, using circular endings, and more.

EKPHRASTIC POETRY

Ekphrastic poetry invites students to translate a work of art into a poem. Responding to works of art through poetry encourages literacy learning for all levels. While ekphrastic poetry is most often associated with visual art, it works well with other art forms such as music, dance, and theater.

In this workshop, participants immerse themselves in examples of poems inspired by art. They visit a museum (virtually or in person) and choose a work of visual art (painting, drawing, sculpture) that sparks their interest. They engage by viewing the artwork closely and translating it into poetry. When creating their original poems, students might take the perspective of a subject or inanimate object within the art; speak directly to something or someone in the art; respond to colors or shapes that strike them; focus on a detail or a piece of the scene; and more, depending on their interest.

SOUNDSCAPES

In this strategy, students have the opportunity to understand a particular environment, habitat, or historical setting purely through sound. Students analyze a particular event, place, or situation by experimenting and then, as accurately as possible, re-create it by making accurate sounds. The audience will feel as if they are immersed in the soundscape, whether it be a particular habitat such as the rainforest, a desert oasis, a moment in history or a moment in time from a book.

In this workshop, participants explore ways to create a soundscape creating details of a setting through an auditory sense. We will work together to determine the specific characteristics of settings within a text. The goal is to create an accurate “scene” or setting using only sounds. This process involves careful analysis, revising, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. By engaging in this sound exercise, participants will deepen their understanding of a written text of any format and genre (an excerpt of a book of any genre, a letter, a monologue, a poem, a painting, and so on) and any modality (visual, audio).

SONGWRITING

When students sing, they create a deep connection with the melody, rhythm, and lyrics of a song. What’s more, creating and making music deepens the development of language arts skills by increasing vocabulary and using musical strategies for expressing mood, creating metaphors, telling stories, or describing a person, place, or time. This is a strategy for directly connecting to and enhancing a particular content area. Songwriting invites students to become lyricists, and as they do, they become familiar not only with the importance of tone, rhythm, and tempo but with the power of rhythmic language to convey meaning.

In this workshop, participants will create original lyrics to familiar melodies in order to deepen and demonstrate learning.

ALTERED TEXT

In this strategy, students transform found materials such as books, images, posters, record album covers, and other found items into new forms. Students work with a variety of media and found materials to give new life and new meaning through the translation of their ideas in the creative process. Through the process, the appearance of the materials and the meaning are altered.

In this workshop, participants experiment with putting together material in new ways by working with discarded books and transforming the meaning of the words on the page. They choose specific letters, words, or sentences and color or paint over the rest of the page, allowing the chosen words to stand out and with a new meaning. The texts are altered, giving new form and meaning by transforming them artistically. They explore how visual art elements such as color, texture, and composition communicate meaning and mood and work with text to communicate an overall message.

Strategy descriptions adapted from the Integrating the Arts series, published by Shell Education.
Used by permission. www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/shell-education/integrating-the-arts/