Changing Education through the Arts (CETA)

The CETA Program (Changing Education through the Arts) is a partnership with The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that provides staff development training for integrating Standards of Learning (SOL) instruction through the arts. Partner schools are selected through application to the Kennedy Center . The program's main goals are to affect school change through arts integration, develop the knowledge, skills, and beliefs among individual teachers to integrate the arts across the curriculum, enhance student learning, and establish a network of schools to share information and resources in order to support teachers' understanding and confidence in integrating the arts. Schools from Arlington , Fairfax , Prince George 's, and Montgomery counties, and Alexandria City participate.

What is arts integration?

A true arts integrated lesson will have objectives in both the subject area and the art form. Here is an example provided by a CETA workshop leader, Lenore Blank Kelner , in an integrated lesson teaching reading comprehension through drama:

What does arts integration look like at Hunters Woods?

The teachers attend many workshops through the CETA program to learn new ways of arts integration and create great ideas to take back to their classrooms. When we reach the advanced level, teachers can choose to work with fantastic Arts Coaches who come to our classrooms to work with us and our students directly for a period of time. This year we were lucky to have Sean Layne , who teaches drama techniques, and Peg Koetsch , who worked with our teachers on Museums in Progress, in our school.

The Museums in Progress concepts learned this year helped to transform our annual Imagination Celebration, a museum dedicated to the integration of art and science held in December, and our annual Spring Museum , a celebration of concepts learned in the classroom throughout the year. Interactive learning activities created and lead by students to showcase concepts that they have learned and to help teach others those concepts were a great addition to the museums.

Sean Layne works with a fifth grade class.

Peg Koetsch working with fourth and second grade students to create a museum.

 

 

After attending a workshop by John Bertles, "Building Musical Instruments from Recycled Materials", a fourth grade teacher developed an integrated unit for her classroom.  Using recycled materials to build their instruments, students learned scientific concepts of sound and vibration.  Math concepts were used for measurement and patterning.  Students composed music with their instruments and wrote lyrics.  The musical compositions were about the social studies concepts they were learning about Virginia history.  They incorporated Howard Gardiner's multiple intelligences as they constructed, composed and performed.  Here is a short video of the final performances!

Look for other great arts integration ideas in action throughout the school everyday!

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