Evolution of a STEAM School: Chief Charlo takes beginning steps in dance integration
By Karen KaufmannDirector, Creative Pulse Graduate Program
University of Montana
Chief Charlo Elementary in Missoula serves as a statewide model for arts integration as the principal and teachers commit to integrating the arts into science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Julie Robitaille, executive regional director of Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS), worked closely with Chief Charlo Elementary principal Vinny Giammona as the school implemented a STEAM model to include arts integration. To support their efforts, 20 K-5 teachers experienced a series of after-school professional development sessions in creative dance, taught by UM professor Karen Kaufmann.
They explored movement strategies for classroom teachers, body/mind integration approaches, and dance and math integration ideas. Teachers became animated and engaged while dancing the curriculum, which led to brainstorming about how they could implement dance and movement into their classrooms.
Individual coaching with grade-level teams followed, where teachers brainstormed creative dance ideas they could implement in winter and spring curriculum topics. Soon, grade-level teams began developing original dance lessons into math, science and social studies. Kindergarten danced number lines; third grade developed geometric shape dances; and fifth grade teachers taught Colonial Dances.
One team participated in a Learning Walk – a brief classroom visit utilizing a research-based tool that provides opportunities to reflect on what students are learning, and the learning strategies in place.
Chief Charlo teachers developed a variety of arts lessons for parents for the April STEAM Night, demonstrating their creative processes. School-wide bulletin boards and movement charts visually demonstrated artistic process/product throughout the building.
According to principal Giammona, “As a staff, we have put an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math (STEAM), to create learning opportunities and pathways to best meet the needs of every student. Through these engaging experiences, students work through dynamic learning environments which support a deeper understanding of the skills and standards at grade level and ultimately better support student growth.”
“I am excited to share with others the success the Chief Charlo school community has experienced throughout this process of becoming a STEAM School,” said Robitaille. “We are creating a model for professional learning as well as student and family engagement.”
“At Chief Charlo, I have observed teachers, students and families all taking pride in, and ownership of this work, and the positive results in achievement, engagement and school climate are evident,” she added.
The district intends to replicate aspects of this model in all of its nine elementary schools.
SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning, Missoula’s Kennedy Center Any Given Child Initiative, is committed to ensuring equal access to the arts for all K-8 students. SPARK! Arts works in collaboration with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and University of Montana’s College of Visual and Performing Arts to expand professional development that provides MCPS educators with strategies to integrate the arts with other content areas.
This arts integration professional development is provided by the 21st Century Learning Grant, funded by the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation and administered through UM’s College of Education School of Visual & Performing Arts and MCPS. SPARK! Arts professional development committee has developed a long-range plan to build on Chief Charlo’s success, using it as a model for additional arts-integrated schools.
For more on SPARK! Arts, visit www.sparkartslearning.org.
Chief Charlo teachers explore geometric shapes and angles using elastic bands in an after-school professional development session on dance and math. (Photo by Sienna Solberg)
Tags: Arts Education