"It's where there's a natural fit in the curriculum," said Snyder, who also is an advanced studies and program resource teacher for the county. "You're not forcing the arts."
School officials will grade the pilot program by looking closely at state test scores and comparing them with schools without arts integration programs, Snyder said. They also will be surveying students and teachers to see if students have changed their outlook on learning - another goal of the program.
This week, the sixth- and eighth-graders worked on the tableau lesson. Watkins said the lesson got her students to stop talking and get more involved with the lessons.
"It was really wonderful to see kids who always want to talk stay quiet," she said. "I couldn't believe it."
The students had to identify the key events and characters to act out and then broke into groups to figure out what faces and positions to take. Eventually they had to write and perform their own dialogue.
Sabrina, 11, of Annapolis, said class is better when there's more to do.
"It makes it more fun," she said. "It's like a privilege."
Brooke Benton, 11, of Glen Burnie, said students normally sit at their desks and talk about the stories they read.
"It was a nice change," Brooke said. "This was more interesting."
The sixth-graders made wildflowers out of construction paper to illustrate a story about what pioneer children saw on their way out West. Watkins said she is hoping to do more tableaux and is looking for puppets to use in another lesson.
"The kids love it," Watkins said. "It's something that they really seem to want to do."
Arts integration
Arts integration programs infuse music, dance, drama or the visual arts into every school subject from math to history. For example, students in math class can study geometric shapes and then use those shapes to draw nature scenes.
The philosophy of arts integration is that teaching through the arts gives students another opportunity to connect to subject matter they might find hard to understand or that does not capture their interest. Arts integration helps motivate students by engaging them and shows how two different subjects can interconnect, said Lori Snyder, an advanced studies and program resource teacher for Anne Arundel County.
Arts integration programs are gaining steam in the educational field. So far, 15 county teachers are planning to earn an arts integration teaching certificate from Towson University's Arts Integration Institute in partnership with the University of Maryland campuses at College Park and Baltimore County, and the Johns Hopkins University.
Susan Gvozdas
