2005 Michael Ballam BYU Education Week Notes

BYU
ED WEEK
2005 MONDAY SESSION
WHERE HAS IMAGINATION GONE
August 15, 2005
9:00-12::00 MENTION WEB SITE!!!! Opera for Children by Children - The magic - THE WHY
1. No Man Is An Island
a. George Bailey in Wonderful Life
2. Why do students come to LDS Business College?
a. Support, attention, one on one, spirit
3. Grandmother - Service
a. With a Song in My Heart
4. Wanda Petersen
a. Me and Rodgers and Hammerstein
b. Halloween
c. Nathan Davies
d. Dying
i. Teach Me To Die
e. He IS my student
1. Am I Beautiful to you
2. Opera For Children BY Children
a. The BEST part is that YOU can do it.
3. It is SO important
4. Story of Johnny
5. Send Me a Child by Linda Chapman and Bonnie Heidenreich
6. How do we do that?
a. I'm not just speaking to educators and parents but anyone who
loves children and has hope for the future.
7. Helping out in educational process
a. Core curriculum incorporating the arts
b. Music and the Mind, Chris and 50 Nifty
8. Passive vs active
a. Hands on Creativity
b. Doesn't matter that they play, but that their brain has an
artistically creative Idea every day.
c. Healing force in Children open new windows of knowledge but
heals the soul
d. Inclusion - Wheel chair painting in Las Vegas
i. "Stop the Invasion"
9. Three ways to learn the Arts
a. Passively (Lucky, not me)
i. Drama = Watch a play
ii. Music = Listen to a song
iii. Dance = Watch a Dance
iv. Art = Go to a Museum
b. Actively (Talented, not me)
i. Drama = Being in a Play
ii. Music = Learn to sing
iii. Dance = Learn a dance
iv. Art = Learn to draw
c. Creatively (I can do that)
i. Drama = Write a play
ii. Music = Compose a song
iii. Dance = Make up a dance
iv. Art = Draw from within
10. Department of Labor
a. The U.S. Department of Labor issued a report in 1991 urging
schools to teach for the future workplace. The skills
recommended (working in teams, communication, self-esteem,
creative thinking, imagination, and invention) are exactly those
learned in school music and arts education programs 191 SCANS
Report, U.S. Department of Commerce.
11. Opera for Children BY Children
a. Rules - Nobody Gets hurt, all participate, children's own work
12. If we don't provide: Elvira Voth - East Lansing - Harmony - Community
13. 95% at prison are right brained
14. Providence Elementary - working together
15. It is so important for children to be able to tell their stories
a. Richmond Utah
i. Boy with colorful language
ii. Girl who wanted to blow up Disneyland
b. Wilson School - 5th grade
i. Story about Mayan ruins
1. 3 characters, one mean, one greedy and one altruistic
2. Introduce characters by what they say and what others
say about them.
a) Reasons for wanting treasure. Control the
world, buy all Twinkies, cure hunger.
16. These are humorous examples of children with needs, but there are
sobering ones as well relating to support from parents who otherwise
had no input into the educational lives of their children.
17. A few years ago, as I was participating in a related performance at
Jackson Elementary school as we were about to begin our performance, a
little girl came forward with light and joy in her eyes and pointed
out her mother in the back of the auditorium. "She's HERE she said.
She's out of jail.
18. Weep with me by Susan Ames
19. Helps develop political sensitivity and THE SPIRIT
a. Class basing story on the Sandlot...Crazy old Indian woman.
Perhaps acceptable some time ago, but today it could be
hurtful..."No hurting" = changed to crazy old football fan
b. They learned social skill
c. Kaysville sensitivity to race -
d. Spirituality matures us
20. Harry Potter cameo appearance - Inclusiveness
21. Other ways in which the spirit can testify
22. Ways to incorporate "core" classes into the arts - French class
23. Thinking outside the box - Donald Rumsfeld
24. Being facilitators not dictators - Gospel plan
25. Giraffe story
26. Ellis wizard spoke to adult
27. Young man became a prince - native kindness and love if given
opportunity
28. Ben
29. WE did it!
30. WHAT IS IT?
1. Utah Festival Opera educational personnel work with elementary
classrooms and teachers in several school districts to assist children
in the creation of their own original operas. The children write
their own libretto, compose their own music, and in most cases, create
and build their own sets and costumes
2. You may obtain from Utah Festival Opera a manual with step-by-step
instructions in the process of helping children to create their own
original opera
a. It contains details in the process of writing the story, and the
music, building sets, props and costumes. In this forum, you
can also learn how to work as teams and how to incorporate the
program into cross-curricular studies. You can learn how to
step back and allow the children to be the creators and take
ownership of their own work. 1. A teacher who carried out Opera for Children BY Children describes her
experience with this when she wrote:
a. The class was amazed that singing could be enjoyable. They kept
saying all along that they wanted to do a play, but not to sing.
Now they won't stop singing it. If something someone says
reminds them of a line in the opera, they break out in song. It
has been really interesting to see the turnabout.
2. It has been life changing for those who have participated
a. In October I had a new student come to my class. She cried
nearly every day saying she didn't want to be in school...Then
just last week while we were rehearsing our opera she said to me
in deep anguish, We only have 33 more days left. I can't
believe we almost have to leave this class already."
b. Yesterday, my children made a list of the most memorable things
form this year to put into a time capsule. Without fail, the
Opera was high on the list! Anytime a person steps out of their
comfort one into the unknown, maximum growth is possible! This
is exactly what occurred!!
c. A little boy in my class...struggles academically. He has a
hard time keeping his focus on the task at hand. The day that
Mrs .Ames came to help the students put the script to music, he
seemed to come alive. As Mrs. Ames asked the children to sing
the parts, he wanted to sing them all
d. Thank you for this opportunity. I have involved myself in a few
gigantic projects dn have often come away feeling a bit
disheartened and disappointed. This has been my best work. I
felt so much satisfaction knowing the process, watching the
children accomplish so much and seeing the finished project. I
thought I was giving a gift to the children when in fact the
gift was from them to me.
e. Typically about 80% of my children turn in all of their homework
in a given week. During the few weeks preceding our
performance, when we worked the hardest on our opera, my
homework rates increased to nearly 100%. This is an awesome
accomplishment for a teacher to see.
f. A very shy little girl in my class...was struggling to say her
part loud enough. I watched as several other students rallied
around her. They helped her practice saying her part louder
every day at recess.
g. I noticed an overall change while we prepared this opera. Their
scores in Math and Language Arts rose markedly higher, so much
that there was no longer that large gap between high and low
scores. I believe that when learning comes from within, a
student can't help but succeed and this opera did exactly that
for each one of my students.
i. Ann Theurer, Providence Elementary, Brooke Stoker,
Hillcrest Elementary, Linda Bair, Lewiston Elementary,
Julie Young, Hillcrest Elementary, Julie Orme, Hillcrest
Elementary
3. Benefitting those in trouble
a. Ben - inclusive
i. Hot as Summer, Cold as Winter
1. Cast as a cook - can a person in a wheelchair be a
cook?
a) President Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. Ben said we need a finale! It needs to have high
notes
3. Here is what 9 year old Ben contributed to their
opera
4. Ben is doing great...see front cover
b. Ellis School
i. After School program grades 1-4. Should we do it?
ii. Girl who filled in and became a hero
iii. Wouldn't speak