PROJECT NARRATIVE
Lead Teachers: Frank Jump & Gen Berretta (P.S. 119)
Teaching Artist: Robert Ross From “WE SHALL OVERCOME" To "YES WE CAN": The First African American President
ARTS IN EDUCATION NYSCA LCB REGRANT APPLICATION
1. What are the shared educational and artistic goals and expected student outcomes for this project?
There are two primary goals for this project. One, to inspire the rap and lyric writing of the students of PS 119. And two, to understand the election of the first African American President in America in the larger context of African American history.
Many of these dedicated young students already possess writing abilities beyond their grade level so our intent is to deepen their artistic scope, raise their social awareness, and expand their knowledge of history. To do that we will expose them to music that has the power to entertain and inspire while teaching history. We will also spread the peace, brotherhood, sisterhood, and tolerance throughout the school and the community at large.
2. List the art and non-art curricular areas on which your project will focus. Briefly describe how students will study these subjects in an integrated fashion. Briefly describe how the primary New York State Learning Standards in the arts and non-arts areas that will be supported.
The program will integrate music, visual art, and history. Non-art curricular areas will include slavery, the abolition movement, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s., and recent events culminating in the election of Obama. We will also discuss some of the previous African Americans who held high office, gained great celebrity, broke color lines, or ran for high office. Finally, we will find out who Barack Obama is and how he came to break the ultimate color line with a message of hope, an appeal to our better instincts, and a vision for a brighter future.
The classroom teacher and the musician in residence will introduce a particular topic providing photos of relevant personages, events, and maps. The lyrics of a selected song will be projected onto a screen and/or distributed to the students. The musician in residence will then sing the song while accompanying himself on guitar. The students will be encouraged to ask questions, and make observations as to the deeper meaning, artistic value, and historical relevance of the song. The class will learn to sing the song together with the musician in residence. The final element will be the writing of original lyrics by the class often in follow up sessions with their classroom teachers. The students can compose a free form rap, or use the selected song as a melodic template for their own lyrics. This component of the program will involve students working independently, in small groups, or as a class unit. Artistically, students will learn the fundamentals of song writing, as well as create and perform songs and/or raps of their own.
In all of its aspects the program will work to support the curriculum of American history. In doing so it will address the New York State Learning Standards for Social Studies.
The program will support Standard 1, that students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States by requiring them to explain the historical and political context in which songs were created.
It will address Standard 5, demonstrated knowledge of the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation, by exploring the role of civic participation in Government through various forms of nonviolent political protest.
In addition to addressing these New York State Learning Standards for Social Studies the program will also support all New York State Learning Standards for The Arts. Under the New York State Learning Standards for the arts students will engage in Standard 1, Creating, Performing, Participating in the Arts, by learning and singing the songs of various American musicians.
Students will engage in Standard 2, Knowing and Using Arts Materials and Resources, by actively discussing and interpreting song lyrics distributed to them or projected onto a screen. In addition, they will also examine song composition and construction. Students will engage in Standard 3, Responding to and Analyzing Works of Art, by participating in class discussions and critiques about the songs presented in class. Finally, students will engage in Standard 4, Understanding the Cultural Contributions of the Arts, by participating in discussions and writing assignments related to the music presented in class. As a class, and as individuals, we will analyze the origins of the songs and their lyrics to find their deeper cultural and historical significance. In doing so we will discuss the greater historical implications and cultural contributions of the arts in society throughout the history of the United States.
3. Provide a brief timeline of the project activities. Include planning meetings, artist contact sessions, sessions where teachers will work with students before or between teaching artist sessions, reflection meetings, etc. If professionl development will be a project component, please include these sessions in the timeline and describe the proposed activities. In addition, if certified art, music, dance, and/or theater teachers wil participate in the project, describe their role. Note: Eligible projects must include at lease three artist contact sessions conducted during the regular school day.
The lead teachers, school administrators, and the teaching artist have already met twice and communicated by email and telephone to plan the project. We will continue our planning as we go forward and meet after each visit to evaluate progress, to detail the continuity of the classroom teacher's independent lesson plans vis a vis the project, and to plan for the following teaching artist visit. The musician in residence and the lead teachers will also stay in constant contact by telephone and email to plan the sessions in advance The classes will meet with the teaching artist a total of 10 times over 10 weeks. Each period will last 45 minutes and there will be two periods per day. During the sessions the musician in residence will sing and play the following songs and cover the following topics pertaining to the history curriculum.
NOTE: An overhead projector, available at the school, will be used to project the lyrics onto a screen. The teaching artist has a field recorder for recording original student lyrics. As a class we will analyze and discuss the historical meaning and importance of the lyrics as they relate to the topic being studied. We will also discuss the composer and any other illuminating information. We will then sing the song together as a group accompanied by the musician in residence.
The classroom teachers will prepare the classes in advance by focusing on the period of history to be covered by the teaching artist. During these regular classes the students will also take time to reflect on what they have learned in the previous session with the teaching artist. This will give the teachers a chance to continually evaluate student progress. Students will be required to reflect on their learning in the form of journal writing to be evaluated at the end of the project. The classroom teacher and the teaching artist will meet each week to evaluate progress and plan future lessons to keep the project on target.
4. Describe how parents, school and community members will be made aware of the project.
Parents, school and community members will be made aware of the project either through letters, emails, and/or flyers posted around the school. In addition a hallway display describing the project and including pictures will be maintained throughout the duration of the project. We will also produce a cd and/or a video for the students to take home and keep. Parents and friends of the family will enjoy the student work for years to come. A school performance is also being planned.
5. How will you recognize success? Describe the methods you will use to evaluate the effectiveness of your planning and project implementation.
Students will be required to participate in discussions and write original lyrics in journals based on the songs and information they have heard in class. The performances of this original student work will be recorded onto CDs and DVDs This work will be evaluated by the classroom teachers and the teaching artist. In this way students will demonstrate their level of academic achievement and artistic mastery. We expect to see significant student growth as young artists and scholars. We expect to see the greatest progress to be in language skills, history, current events, community involvement, and citizenship skills.
The teachers and teaching artist will have interim reflection meetings each week to see what's working best so we can plot the course forward, and keep the goals of the project on target. A final feedback session will give us all a chance to evaluate our progress as a team of educators and determine what lessons we have the learned from this project.
6. Briefly describe the credentials and the previous experience of the teaching artist who will be involved with the project.
Robert Ross (The Bluesman) combines the skills of an award winning singer, songwriter and guitarist with that of a seasoned educator.
As a performer, Robert has 7 internationally distributed CDs out in his own name, appears at major music festivals, and tours both the USA & Europe. He has worked with John Lee Hooker, Lightning Hopkins, Otis Rush, and Mama Thornton. He has recorded and worked with Big Joe Turner, Johnny Winter has recorded one of Robert's songs. Robert won a New York Music Award for Best Blues Artist in 1989, and an East Coast Rocker "Makin Waves Award" in 1992.
As an educator Robert has completed 34 teaching artist residencies in NY Public Schools since the spring of 2002 and has conducted two professional developments. He received 3 New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) LCB Grants since 2005 and was assigned 4 CASA Grants since 2006. One of the professional developments Robert conducted was in collaboration with Hawley Hussey, Director of Education at the Rotunda Gallery (B.R.I.C) was entitled Integrating Music into the Social Studies Curriculum for middle and high school music and history teachers.
Robert uses a wide variety of American music in his classes including work songs, blues, spirituals, jazz, folk, country, rock 'n' roll, patriotic, protest, and union songs to illuminate issues and events in our nation's history. His programs are designed to foster tolerance, nonviolence, and peace. Students develop critical thinking skills, language skills, and a deeper appreciation for the arts. Robert has worked with all grades from K to 12. Some of the programs Robert conducts include: "We The People Sing" (an integration of music & American history), "The Songwriting Project" (a lyric songwriting workshop), and "Sing Your Heart Out" (classroom chorus). He has worked with all grades from K to 12, and with at risk teens.
7. If you previously received funding for this project, describe what you learned from your evaluation process and what improvements you are planning to implement.
This being a new project, I have not previously received funding for it. However, the culminating video of our project from last year called "We The People Sing and Rap" was featured during KIDS Art in P.S. 119's multimedia installation entitled The Peace Sanctuary in BRIC Rotunda Gallery. The video was on exhibit for a full month in the project room where it was viewed by students, school administrators, parents, and the community. When the power of the student's work is on exhibit in the community it is a galvanizing force for everyone involved.
SUMMARY: Total number of artist contact sessions: 10
Duration of individual artist contact session: two 45 minute periods per day for 10 weeks.
Total anticipated number of related class periods devoted to project (outside of time with artist): 10
Total anticipated number of planning/reflection meetings: 10
Total anticipated number of related professional development sessions: none are planned presently but the process itself is a professional development
Project designed for blog by Frank H. Jump.
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