Developing Critical Consciousness of Diversity and Equity in Education

Nicole R. Robinson, Ph. D., Presenter

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Dr. Nicole Robinson from the University of Utah came to Weber State University to present her Diversity and Equity in Education Workshop to WSU faculty, staff, students and teachers from Morgan, Davis, Weber, and Ogden School Districts and Charter Schools. Attendees learned about diversity, privilege, and equity in the lives of students, administrators, families, and schools through playing a game developed by Dr. Robinson.

Participants split into groups and were given a different scenario and socio-economic status. They had to figure out which bills to pay with the salary of the person in their scenario. They then came together to talk about their situation.

Participants would roll the dice and move the amount of spaces rolled. Each space prompted the team to pick up a certain card, which contained a specific development that dealt with the particular socio-economic status.

Holbrook Elementary Veteran’s Day Performance

Davis School District

Katherine Fowles, music specialist

Friday, November 11, 2016

On this Veteran’s Day, we visited Holbrook Elementary School in the Davis School District. Katherine Fowles, the music specialist there, and her students have been putting on a Veteran’s Day performance for several years. (Davis School District is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program, which helps support one visual arts and three music instructional coaches who then support the elementary visual arts and music specialists in Davis.)

The students invited military service members and Veterans to the performance and featured them at the front of the auditorium. The performance offered a great tribute to their service and showed a range of musical abilities from singing, playing recorders, choreography, and playing percussion using plastic plates! The students sang an Armed Forces Medley (covered by all of the grades – K-6) among many other songs. Thank you Mrs. Fowles, the faculty, staff, and administrators for such a great performance!

Thank you, Veterans, for your service!

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The Veterans were invited to introduce themselves, where they served, and who invited them to the performance.

Students sang songs, accompanied songs with recorders, and had choreographed movements with props.

The Veterans were invited to walk through a line of saluting boy and girl scouts.

Mrs. Stevenson is the BTSALP Visual Arts Specialist at Ascent Academies – Farmington. The morning we visited, she taught the first graders about mixing colors, primary, and secondary colors. She talked about Thanksgiving and read a story about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Mrs. Stevenson also talked about how important corn or maize was. It was great seeing the first graders work and interact with Mrs. Stevenson and her teacher’s assistant, Mrs. Hart (she’s so helpful!)! It was also fun to see the different projects they had done with the students throughout the school!

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Mrs. Stevenson showed the students how she dyed the corn kernels, while also discussing primary and secondary colors.

Mrs. Hart is Mrs. Stevenson’s teaching assistant.  She helps to set up supplies, with classroom management, and assists students as needed.  Thank you for your help, Mrs. Hart!

Here are some of the other projects that were posted around the school:

Students used warm and cool watercolors to paint the continents and oceans.

Students created owls after discussing animals and their environments.

Students illustrated different types of weather.

First graders talked about their communities and neighborhoods and recreated cityscapes.

think it’s so great and important that Mrs. Stevenson posts information about the art projects! It helps to show that integration is happening, creates a gallery in the hallway, and helps parents know what their kids are learning.

The main hallway features a wall for artwork created with the BTSALP specialist!  Thanks for supporting the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program!

Maria Asp from the Neighborhood Bridges program at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis worked with some of the fifth graders from Shadow Valley Elementary, had a workshop with Weber State preservice teachers, and had another workshop with teachers from Ogden, Weber, Morgan, and Davis School Districts and charter schools. The students created their own stories and acted out versions of Little Red Riding Hood. The teachers participated in our Acting Out Stories from Familiar Books workshop which focused on storytelling with Pre-K through 1st graders and having the students act out those stories. Here are some pictures from the demo at Shadow Valley Elementary and from the workshop with the teachers (they acted out the Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Little Red Hen). Thanks for visiting us at Weber State and for all of your work, Maria! (I apologize for the poor quality or graininess of the photos.)

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Here are some photos of Maria Asp working with the Shadow Valley Elementary fifth grade students.

Here are some photos from Maria’s workshop with the teachers from Ogden, Davis, Morgan, and Weber School Districts and Charter Schools.

Little Red Hen

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Three Little Pigs

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The second graders performed Sleepy Hollow, written by Ms. Burton.

The first graders performed a play about goblins and monsters helping witches make a stew. They also had a choreographed dance to the “Monster Mash.”

This week we visited Alisa Webb, the BTSALP visual arts specialist at North Ogden and Hooper Elementary Schools. Alisa was at North Ogden this week and we got to see her present a lesson with kindergarten students, as they explored patterns and their initials. She had them write their initials in pencil, cover it with tape, and then paint over the tape (they were supposed to paint in a pattern). In a future lesson, the students (or Alisa) will remove the tape to reveal their initials. It was great seeing Ms. Webb in action, watching the classroom teacher assist Ms. Webb and the students, and seeing the kindergarteners work and learn!

She also had a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr quote created by found objects – it was really neat!!!

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Ms. Webb introducing the lesson.  She broke down the lesson into smaller tasks.

Letters with curves can be tricky!  This student mastered cutting short pieces to cover the curved letters.

Students were asked to paint their paper with patterns.  Can you tell what their patterns were?

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Created by the students at North Ogden Elementary with Ms. Alisa Webb (BTSALP visual arts specialist) – Found objects project

Below, the students were asked to create animal sculptures and will be making habitats that correspond to each animal.

Lincoln Elementary Choir and Ukulele Ensemble at the Capitol

Davis School District’s Lincoln Elementary Choir and Ukulele Ensemble performed as part of the Centennial Celebration of the Utah State Capitol Building.  The choir and ukulele ensemble were led by Kim Graff, the music specialist at Lincoln Elementary (the ukulele ensemble accompanied the choir too).  There was a great turnout of support!  What a fun opportunity for the students to perform!

Davis School District is affiliated with the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program.  The BTS Arts Learning Program helps to fund three music instructional coaches and one visual arts instructional coach.  These coaches put together monthly professional development opportunities for the music and visual arts specialists in the school district.  The coaches also work with the specialists to help plan lessons, come up with classroom management ideas, and more!

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Kristy Tubbs, the BTSALP visual art specialist at Syracuse Arts Academy (Antelope Campus), invited us into her classroom today (Sept. 27, 2016). She had a special visitor, Professor Colorfritz, a mad scientist, come in to help teach the 1st grade students about primary and secondary colors by doing color mixing experiments!

After Professor Colorfritz taught her lesson on primary and secondary colors, Mrs. Tubbs talked about shapes and forms.  The students discussed the differences about shapes and forms and drew cylinders/beakers.

Here are some self portraits the students did earlier in the school year:

Weber State University’s Arts Learning Collaborative hosted a booth at the Urban Arts Festival in SLC on Saturday, Sept. 17 and Sunday, Sept. 18.  Artists of all ages were invited to create sculptures out of Crayola’s Model Magic.  Here are some highlights from the festival!

A Snowman and it’s dog

The Moon

On June 17, 2016 the WSU Arts Learning Collaborative arranged for Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University (our Arts Integration Conference keynote speaker), to present his work with whales and jellyfish to Weber State University’s PREP Year 1 students (a STEM summer academy).  The students then explored sculptures, scale, and other math concepts with Erinne Roundy and created miniature sculptures of large animals and objects.  Check out some of their examples below!

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Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen presenting his research from Stanford University.

WSU PREP Y1 students watching Dr. Goldbogen’s presentation.

After Dr. Goldbogen’s presentation, Erinne Roundy talked to the students about sculptures and scale.  She had the students create miniature models of large animals and objects.

Many thanks to Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen, Erinne Roundy, WSU PREP, Tamara Goldbogen, and all of the others behind the scene for making this happen!