VITAL
(Visual Integration of Technology, Arts, and Language)
Partners: VITAL is a partnership of Project UNIQUE, Inc., George Eastman House, and selected schools in the Rochester City School District. Past and present school partners include Schools #42, #2, #34, #33, #29.
Goals: To motivate student learning and positive behaviors; to provide students with opportunities to gain new perspectives about themselves and their world through the arts; to empower students to communicate symbolically about themselves through the creation of art with Project UNIQUE artists and the study of photography with the George Eastman House; to articulate and share effective teaching strategies and best practices; to involve children, educators, and parents in collective arts experiences.
Research Questions: How do students comprehend, interpret, and communicate through visual art, music, and English Language Arts? How do students select, combine, and manipulate elements in the 3 disciplines to communicate symbolically about themselves? How do comprehension and interpretation inform the creative process?
Approach: An Action Research study by artists, museum educators and partner teachers, fuels and focuses classroom practice. Based on the research investigation, UNIQUE artists, with their teachers, develop visual arts, sound and creative writing residences that include a developmental sequence of 6-14 participatory workshops. Related in-school and field experiences with the George Eastman House, additional professional development workshops, and family events for parents and children are included.
Features:
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Research-based; standards-based
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Interdisciplinary units and lessons collaboratively developed over 15 years with artists, museum educators, and teachers
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Addresses the needs of students with a variety of different learning styles
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Includes accompanying assessment instruments
Third grade students performing an original story with narration, dialogue, homemade instruments, puppets, and scenery.