Connecting to the Core Curriculum: Building Teacher Capacity for Arts Integration through Prism.K12
Arts Integration Teacher Course
Exhibition on view:
The Phillips Collection at 21st St.: Winter 2019
This exhibition showcased arts-integrated projects created by students throughout Prince George County Public Schools. The teachers had developed arts-integrated curricula as they progressed through the course Connecting to the Core Curriculum: Building Teacher Capacity for Arts Integration with Prism.K12.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Phillips Collection and the University of Maryland have collaborated to offer Connecting to the Core Curriculum: Building Teacher Capacity for Arts Integration with Prism.K12. This course introduced Prince George’s County Public School teachers to the Phillips’ Prism.K12 framework. Prism.K12 helps teachers develop rigorous arts-integrated lesson ideas for the classroom.
Throughout the semester, the participating teachers gained a working understanding of how to integrate the visual arts into the K-12 core curriculum using Prism.K12 strategies and tools, as well as online resources. The course offered in-depth professional development for the Maryland-based educator community, which is nationally recognized for its commitment to arts integration and innovative programming.
SELF-IDENTITY
SCHOOL: Rosa L. Parks Elementary School
TEACHER: Eileen Cave
CLASSES: Discover Club (after school, Grades 3–6); Portfolio Portraits Grade 6
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: IDENTIFY, CONNECT, and EXPRESS
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Edward Weston portrait; photography (The Phillips Collection); Portraits of the Obamas by Kehende Wiley and Amy Sherald at the National Portrait Gallery
Through an arts-integrated instructional approach that uses the visual art standards combined with the Social Justice Standards framework, students used their field trip experiences followed by art studio instruction, to explore self-identity and cultural context. After museum site-based art critique experiences were completed, students created a series of portraits. Mirror drawings, plane drawings on photographs, abstract patterned self-portraits and silhouettes were explored in this unit. Artist statements were written so that students completed their reflective learning process.
EMPATHY
SCHOOL: Panorama Elementary
TEACHER: Angelita delaPena
CLASS: Art, Grade 5
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: CONNECT, EMPATHIZE, and EXPRESS
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series, Dorothea Lange, Photographs of the Children of the Great Depression and Migrant Mother
As students read and discussed the stories of children during the great war, and of the migration of different people to America, students studied the expressions of the people in each photograph and empathized with their experience by “walking” in their shoes to understand the challenges and the difficulties each person faced. Students connected to the fear, anger, frustration, sadness, and passiveness that they observed in the photographs and expressed themselves by giving their person their names and their own personality through their drawing.
ART & POETRY
SCHOOL: Thomas S. Stone Elementary
TEACHER: Sylvester Felder
CLASS: Art, Grades K-5
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: CONNECT, EXPRESS, and SYNTHESIZE
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: William Christenberry’s Photography
The purpose of this arts-integrated project is to demonstrate the connection between the visual artist and the poet. By studying the photography of William Christenberry, students are able to see the use of text in his images and further interpret the sense of mood and expression of the subject matter he chose. Students synthesized their study of text and mood into artist books by combining many elements and aspects of the creative process. They expressed themselves in their photos and poetry, connected their theme to their drawings, and used a variety of materials to synthesize their books. Poetic styles include Free-verse, Diamante, Found, and Haiku.
ART & GEOMETRY
SCHOOL: Calverton Elementary School
TEACHER: Sara Levi
CLASS: Art, Grade 3
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: IDENTIFY, CONNECT, and SYNTHESIZE
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Piet Mondrian, Composition No. III and No. 9
Through this arts integration unit, grade 3 students identified and connected art concepts of linear and radial symmetry to 3rd grade math standards about partitioning shapes. In school, students developed an understanding of symmetry, reflection and rotation by manipulating artwork by Mondrian, building with blocks, and using graph paper to organize symmetric patterns. To further enhance their learning process, students engaged with original works of art during a visit to The Phillips Collection. They synthesized these art and math concepts by translating their knowledge of symmetry, reflection and rotation to design a radial symmetry collage of meaningful personal objects.
MIGRATION
SCHOOL: High Point High School
TEACHER: Lindsey Mack
CLASS: Drawing and Painting 1
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: CONNECT and EMPATHIZE
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series
Students observed and discussed Jacob Lawrence’s paintings in The Migration Series, while learning about the causes and effects of the Great Migration in the United States. Inspired by Lawrence’s style and subject matter, students reflected and researched for their own painting that depicts a symbolic migration scene personal to their identity. This project enabled students to empathize with the obstacles black Americans faced in the Great Migration, and connect to contemporary migration issues that may affect themselves or their peers.
ART & SYMMETRY
SCHOOL: Edward M Felegy Elementary
TEACHER: Dominique Reid
CLASS: Art, Grade 1
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: CONNECT, EXPRESS, and IDENTIFY
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Piet Mondrian’s Composition No.3 and Composition No. 9
Through this project, students connected to math concepts of symmetry and parts of a whole. Students compared Mondrian’s artworks, identified parts of a whole using circles, and expressed themselves in their final artworks, creating an image with meaning. Students have retained a considerable amount from the unit including information about Piet Mondrian’s paintings, Mondrian’s use of black line with primary colors, and the math concepts of dissecting a circle into equal parts (halves, thirds, and quarters).
MASTERPIECES REIMAGINED
SCHOOL: Eleanor Roosevelt High School
TEACHER: Adeline Vanik
CLASS: Art 2, Grades 10-12
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: IDENTIFY, EMPATHIZE, EXPRESS, and SYNTHESIZE
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Roger Shimomura, Shimomura Crossing the Delaware, Acrylic on canvas, 2010, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
In this arts integration unit, Masterpieces Reimagined, students were introduced to some famous artworks that have an impact on history, society, and our own artmaking process. They were assigned artworks and were asked to imaginatively recreate it using their own characters or their favorite pop culture characters. This was done with a hope to develop a deeper understanding of not only the artwork, but also to be immersed in the process in which the artist participated.
STORYTELLING
SCHOOL: Eleanor Roosevelt High School
TEACHER: Christine Wilkin
CLASS: Art 1, grades 9-12
PRISM.K12 STRATEGIES: IDENTIFY, CONNECT, EXPRESS
PHILLIPS ARTWORK INSPIRATION: Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series
Through this arts-integrated unit, students studied Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and used the Feldman’s model to identify how Jacob Lawrence expresses different themes throughout the Migration Series. Students connected to the work by writing their own stories about important events that affected them. Students then expressed their stories through painting.
