Centreville Elementary School is proud to have been selected as one of 16 schools in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area to be a member of the Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program.  Our school’s partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which began in September of 2008, helps teachers develop their expertise in integrating the arts with the teaching of other school subjects (such as history, language arts, science).  This focus on arts-integrated instruction is designed to help all students learn with greater motivation and ease.  To that end, the Kennedy Center and the schools work together to develop, implement, and evaluate an in-depth staff development program of courses, workshops, coaching, and study groups.

Ten CES teachers have participated in CETA workshops this year.  A representative from the Kennedy Center came to our school in March to help launch the program.  We look forward to expanding CETA training opportunities to a greater number of staff members in 2009/2010.

Our CETA committee has developed a vision statement for how CES plans to integrate the arts in the coming years:

CETA VISION STATEMENT
At Centreville Elementary School, arts integration will be a natural extension of creative expression and critical thinking in all disciplines through best instructional practices.  Through the arts, students will be actively engaged in learning and will gain a deeper understanding of themselves, each other, and the world they live in.

Goals and Objectives:

• Arts integrated work (students and teachers) will be displayed in the school and community.
• All teachers will collaborate with one another to develop arts integrated lessons.  This will be a part of PLC as well as scheduled meetings with specialists.
• Teachers will be trained in CETA.  They will create and connect instruction combining VA Standards of Learning in the arts with VA Standards of Learning in academic subjects.
• Students will participate in artistic endeavors outside of the classroom:  field trips to art museums, musical/dramatic performances, artists in residence, enrichment classes and other community events.
• Opportunities to engage in arts integrated learning will be developed for community members.

 

To learn more, please visit the Kennedy Center’s CETA program website at www.kennedy-center.org/education/ceta.