CLU provides free arts training to teachers

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Oct. 19, 2011) Educators will receive free hands-on training for using art, dance, drama and music to teach a variety of subjects on Saturday, Nov. 5, at California Lutheran University.

The Arts and Learning Symposium: Crossing Curricular Boundaries will be held from 8 a.m. to noon in the Lundring Events Center.

This is the first event in the Susan Greiser Price Arts Integration Program, which was funded by a recent $150,000 gift to CLU's Graduate School of Education. Expanding on a pilot that CLU started in the Moorpark Unified School District for using drama techniques as a teaching strategy in all subject areas, the new program will include additional schools and incorporate music, art and dance as well as drama.

Ventura County teachers and CLU graduates and students will lead interactive breakout sessions where educators will paint, dance and act as they learn to integrate arts in the classroom. The presenters will provide participants with opportunities to try research-based strategies for blending visual arts, music, dance and theater with language arts, math, science and history. The presenters will also cover the elements of art, visual-thinking routines, color theory and classroom organization. Separate sessions will be held for elementary and middle school teachers. Participants will leave with a variety of tools and ideas that they can use in their classrooms the next week.

Rio Mesa High School's Folklórico Club will perform and teach participants some traditional dances. Joe Mendoza, director of special populations educational support for the Ventura County Office of Education, will give the keynote address. The program will also feature breakfast, music by Los Cerritos Jazz Band and artwork by Ventura County students.

The initial pilot program was funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Called Project ACT (Active, Collaborative, Transformative), it has been implemented in six elementary schools in Moorpark. Led by 60 teachers who have been trained through the program, students are learning about and demonstrating their understanding of various subjects through theater games, creative dramatics, drama enactments and process drama.

Initial results show that student's grades have improved. English learners are more engaged, teachers are reenergized and CLU teacher candidates and undergraduate interns involved in the program are developing a better understanding of the teaching and learning process.

Space at the symposium is limited. To register, go to http://www.callutheran.edu/artslearning or contact Christina Houston at chouston@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3423.