The arts coordinator was assigned to train teachers to integrate the visual and performing arts into the district's core curriculum.
"Our teachers need to have the tools for [art] lessons to teach students," Deputy Supt. Joel Shapiro said. "Teachers who go through teacher training, they get a very broad overview and understanding of the arts standards, but it's not an area where they get hands-on methods development. The arts is the least well-developed part of pre-service training."
The arts coordinator created a professional development plan for elementary and secondary teachers, Shapiro said.
Elementary school teachers received training in visual-arts instruction in August, he added.
"We organized it in such a way where they got introduced to the curriculum with artists and lessons," said Barbara Eisner, a retired teacher and the district's arts consultant. After receiving visual-arts training, teachers applied art concepts and methods in the classroom, Shapiro said.
Students study fine art, which includes lessons about artists, art movements, style and composition.
They apply their study of an artist's work to their own drawings and paintings, Shapiro said. "It's not just understanding what is unique about the artists but its application of their style of work," Shapiro said.
The Arts for All plan also includes a performing-arts component, which entails music, dance and theater. District are still working on developing a music curriculum for students in second, third, fourth and fifth grades, Shapiro said.
The Board of Education recently hired two elementary-school music teachers with the grant money and plans on hiring two more teachers to give music instruction to students in all the district's elementary schools, he said.
