Area Teachers Attend Asheville Area Arts Council's
Teacher Training Institute for Arts-Integration

Teachers practice a movement activity

How do puppetry, music, African drumming, andinkra printing, theatre arts and quilting relate to reading, social studies or math? Ask any of the 20 Buncombe County and Asheville City schools teachers who recently participated in the Arts Council’s Teacher Training Institute for Arts-Integration at UNC Asheville.

Thanks to the generosity of the Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, second, third and fourth grade teachers from five area schools spent an intensive week discovering their creativity with the help of partner artists. This is the second session of a three year project; participants attended a five-day session last June.

During the program, teachers immerse themselves in a selected art form. They then infuse the artist skills they learn into their standard third grade curriculum. Teachers gain additional help integrating arts in the classroom as each artist spends at least one week in the classrooms of their partner teachers during the school year.

Participating teachers and artists have lead students in creating puppets and puppetry stages to perform Reader’s Theatre, printing adinkra cloth to teach literature lessons, playing Celtic music to trace Appalachian heritage for a unit in North Carolina social studies, miming a unit of literature and quilting scenes from a reading lesson.

"This hands-on creative learning process makes the information much more memorable," said Adrienne Crowther, program coordinator and the Asheville Area Arts Council’s Arts in Education coordinator. "The students have fun while the lesson becomes a part of them."

The Teacher Training Institute for Arts-Integration is facilitated by Mark Sidelnick, UNCA Education Department chair, Patricia Snoyer, UNCA associate professor of drama, and Crowther. A steering committee of area educators, arts administrators and artists have been developing the program for two years. A third session will be held next summer.

The following teachers and artists attended the institute this year:

* Black Mountain Primary: Judy Councill, Nancy Hudson, Michele Schaich, Amy Snyder and puppeteer Lisa Sturz of Red Herring Puppets.

* C.C. Bell Elementary: Cathy Wells, Dietra Garden, Patty Lyda Long, Joan Goff and visual artist Norma Bradley.

* Claxton Elementary: April Soja, Brian Mahoney, James Cassara, Carol Ray and mixed media artistic group The Magic of African Rhythm.

* Emma Elementary: Anita Owenby, Susan Jones, Wanda Peele, Jane Arnaud and theatre artist Kim Christman.

* Pisgah Elementary: Jennie Krichbaum, Aimee Stewart, Melody Davis, Angela Morrow and musician Pat Talbert.

For more information, call Mark Sidelnick, UNCA Education Department chair, at 828/251-6960 or Adrienne Crowther, Asheville Area Arts Council Arts in Education coordinator, at 828/258-01710.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Mark Sidelnick, UNCA Education Department Chair, 828/251-6960
• Adrienne Crowther, Asheville Area Arts Council Arts in Education Coordinator, 828/258-0710
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526