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Since 1976, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has
reached out to local teachers in the Washington, D.C. area
to help them incorporate the arts as an integral and necessary component
of a comprehensive education. One of the benefits of arts-integrated
instruction is that it involves students in active learning by drawing
on students' multiple intelligences and various learning styles. They
observe and respond, imagine, analyze, hypothesize, create, reflect,
revise, evaluate, and revise again.
Recent studies have found a significant improvement over a four-year
span in academic achievement and effort grades. For example, CETA
students' 3rd grade standardized test scores in English and history
improved significantly over time compared to control groups.
The following Abingdon teachers have participated in the CETA program thus far: Kathi Aagaard (2nd grade), Kerry Brown-Abbott
(Communications), Alicia Donoghue (1st Grade), Jason Finch (3rd grade), Lynn Robinson (K), Judy Schwanbeck (3rd grade), Laurie
Shaw (4th grade), Joanne Uyeda (Principal), and Paddy Waldner (3rd grade). Classes throughout the school incorporate many
of the techniques into their daily teaching.
A teacher talks about the CETA program:
"I found that using drama to explore curriculum subjects was a
meaningful way to reach every learner. It also helped students
understand concepts that may have been inaccessible through reading and
discussion alone. I found that through our drama rehearsals, students
were able to visualize, internalize, and comprehend a huge amount of
vocabulary and content."
A 3rd grade student on the drama strategy of tableau:
"Just reading a book doesn't make things stick in your head, but when
you do a tableau, what you read really sticks in your head." --3rd Grade
Student
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