| Archive May 2006
Who: Julia B. Morrison Elementary of Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
What: Professional development and long-term student workshop series
Staff: Denise Grande and Traci Cho
The arts seem to have always had a place on the campus of Julia B. Morrison Elementary. For over 13 years, students at this K-5 school in the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District have participated in regular arts instruction through long-term residencies with Music Center teaching artists, including a three-year program sponsored in conjunction with the Disney Learning Partnership. During this time they explored ways music can become core to the curriculum, focusing primarily on vocal music, then percussion. They learned that pitch, rhythm and rhyme -- 3 elements of music -- directly correlated with literacy skills.
In the spring of 2005, about the time Morrison's Principal Marsha Guerrero approached the Music Center to continue the in-depth work at the school, Denise Grande, Director of Strategic Initiatives, was becoming familiar with the "Learning Laboratory School Network (LSSN) Project," offered by the Music-In-Education National Consortium. LLSN, a network of public schools and arts organizations, offered an opportunity, in part, to "put authentic, comprehensive, interdisciplinary music programs at the core of the school curriculum"; with schools "committed to creating, implementing and documenting curricula that reflects music's evolving roles and potential contributions to school improvement; the sharing of common research design and methods; professional development standards; and strategies for planning and demonstrating whole school improvement."(1)
The partnership between Morrison Elementary and the Music Center(supported in part by a grant to the Music Center from the Gilbert Foundation) was accepted into the LLSN Project last spring, one of 20 schools across the nation to participate in this 2-3 year program. One project goal is to do more research-based work at the school under the professional guidance of the Consortium.
Denise Grande explained that for this initial year, there are three basic areas of focus:
(1) Professional development that supports classroom teachers in learning to teach standards-based music lessons
(2) assessing student proficiency in the knowledge and skills described in specific grade level standards.
The means to these first two objectives is through 15-week residencies with Music Center artists for 10 classrooms, featuring either melodic percussion with Ernesto Salcedo or vocal music with Michelle Bourque-Ybarra. Each artist provides grade-specific standards-based workshops to the students and continuous planning with their teachers, which includes the new approach of creating written lesson plans that specifically address music standards by grade.
(3) The third area of focus is connecting music instruction to learning in other areas, particularly language arts.
This research-oriented portion of the project is being led by Music Center percussionist Andrew Grueschow, to explore the links between music and literacy. Four pilot classrooms in grades 1, 2 and 5 were selected to have a series of 15 weekly workshops. In addition to the student series, Andrew conducts monthly, two-hour professional development sessions during which all 28 teachers in the school build their understanding and skills in music.
As the 2005-2006 academic year draws to an end, Morrison Elementary will host a conference on May 10 for the three other California schools involved in the LLSN Project, and their Consortium Project Director, Dr. Larry Scripp of the New England Conservatory of Music. The full agenda for the day includes:
Grades 1 and 5 students presenting drafts of their own compositions using assorted percussion instruments, created during workshops with Andrew Grueschow
A grade 2 teacher conducting a lesson connecting music and literacy
A grade 4 teacher demonstrating a standards-based music activity with students, as influenced by both the weekly residency and the monthly professional development sessions.
The conference will also be an opportunity for the schools to look at each others' work and discuss implications for next year.
For the Music Center and Morrison, this is a planning year to test implementation strategies and assessment instruments. Plans are to continue the partnership next year, with better strategies for working in-depth and more systemically, and with improved ability to measure both teacher and student learning.
For more information about bringing student workshops or professional development to your campus, call (213) 250-ARTS or email at schoolprograms@musiccenter.org. Read more about the Music-In-Education National Consortium and the LLSN Project.
(1)Excerpted from "LLSN Project Overview," as listed on the Music-in-Education National Consortium website at www.music-in-education.org.
Written by Marlene Leuenhagen, Associate Director, School Programs
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