5th Planning Day for Program Review

It seems unreal this journey that we have been on of evaluating our schools arts and humanities program. We have worked very hard at evaluating every aspect of our schools Art, Music, Dance and Drama programs. We have thought about how to be more inclusive of the 4 art forms in our classrooms and subjects. We have surveyed our schools teachers and staff. We believe that by evaluating our school we have found areas for improvement and identified some very strong programs already in place. So we are submitting our report to the SBDM and then they will deliver it for review to the District Level. The District will then OK us to submit our results to Assist/KDE. Yes, quite a journey!

The PLCS Team is well on their way to finishing up their evaluation as well. They too have identified the strengths and weaknesses in the areas they have reviewed. The content for review has left them with many collaborations and future plans. Their content revolves around Practical Living and Career Studies. Students love the News Show and Technology is of course a big part of our school. Currently the issue of obesity is in the news and that makes teaching healthy lifestyle choices and Physical Education such a valuable asset of any school. Also, teaching students about careers and giving them direction as they begin to make life choices as well as skills for living is a valuable course. The evaluation of these programs only shows how very needed and valuable this type of teaching is to the students of our school.

Writing Team and PLCS Team Plan Day

The DCMS Writing Team and PLCS Team met today to work on their websites and the Program Review Process. The PLCS team focused on the assessment data and Assist. The writing team worked together to document their program through the website. Check out their progress by clicking on the link to the right!

Planning Day!

The Related Arts Team met today to plan and revise the Arts and Humanities Program Review website and the PL/CS Program Review website. After reviewing the new documents that are no longer in "draft" form, our team divided responsibilities and went through the demonstrators making changes and adding in new documentation. Thanks to Jennifer Madison, Family Services Coordinator for providing us a great quite space to meet. Some ideas from today: 1. Student Survey 2. Using Dance Tool Kit to incorporate dance into our classes. 3. Documenting Dance from the Talent Show 4. Creating Professional Websites to document Leadership 5. Documenting upcoming Family Fun Night activities of Drama, Dance, Art and Music. 6. Uploading videos

Arts and Humanities Survey Results

The Arts and Humanities Committee conducted a survey of Drakes Creek Middle School Classroom teachers. We wanted to document that teachers collaborate in the area of Arts and Humanities. Here are some of our results:

1. How do you implement Dance Core content in your classroom activities?
Answers =
*word problems (Math Teacher),
*dance vocabulary (Math Teacher),
*Dance is explored as a part of cultures when studying art from Africa, Mexico and Native Americans. Often it ties in with the study of Masks and Ceremonies (Art Teacher),
* I teach Dance for an entire week and sometimes we use the Wii game system and play the game "Just Dance"(PE Teacher)

2. Explain a creative way that you use drama in your core curriculum.
*Students can perform skits that illustrate the content being covered (Special Ed. Teacher)
*word problems (Math Teacher)
*Students created a PSA on Earthquakes and Tornadoes in which they used their drama skills to create a skit and then perform and record it with a flipcam. (Science Teacher)
* To tell the story of an artist's life (Art Teacher)
*Students often get to write skits and dialogue and act out mini historical dramas (Social Studies Teacher)
*Students are given the opportunity to complete a task rotation using their particular learning style. They can create a play, poem, parody, or other drama into their independent projects. (Reading Teacher)
*I sometimes use drama to act out scenarios (Special Ed. Teacher)
*We act out literature scenes (Special Education Teacher)
*Raps or Songs for calendar craze activities (Science Teachers)
*Students acted out a work scenario to figure estimate tax. (Math Teacher)

3. How often do you incorporate drama performance into your curriculum?
*6 teachers reported Yearly - Students act out readers theatre, PSA on Earthquakes and Tornadoes
*6 teachers reported Quarterly - calendar crazes
*3 teachers reported that they never incorporate drama

4. Do you require students to respond to dance and drama?

5. How well do you think the students in your team understand the standards that relate to dance and drama?

6. In what ways are you using art in your assignments?

7. In what ways do you use music in your assignments/classroom presentations?

8. Will this survey influence your future lesson planning?
Five Teachers reported "No"
Eight Teachers reported "Yes"

Program Review

The state of Kentucky has mandated that all Arts and Humanities programs in the state must participate in a comprehensive analysis of their program. This process is called a Program Review and will measure the whole Arts and Humanities program. Our website (http://sites.google.com/site/dcmsprogramreview) has been developed to make the process of program review inexpensive, convenient, and responsive to the needs of our school and Program Review adminstration in Frankfort.

This blog has been created to encourage an exchange of ideas on how to make this website useful to all parties involved and to share information with others. If you are interested in commenting and leaving an idea, please leave a comment below. This blog will be checked for comments and all ideas will be considered. Let us know your thoughts and ideas!