By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
Teachers are busier now than ever with heftier curriculums, science standards to meet and literacy initiative demands.
For a teacher, hands-on learning like the arts, “does get harder to do often,” said Rob Hanson, a sixth grade teacher at Prosper Valley School.
“There are so many demands now — I don’t want to sound jaded,” Hanson said.
As the learning experience is jampacked and teachers scramble to meet education standards, ArtisTree held an open house last Saturday attended by 12 teachers from area schools.
In an effort to bring more art to the classroom, ArtisTree is brainstorming possibilities like adding drama to a social studies unit or music to a culture students are exploring.
The expanding arts organization has new facilities in Pomfret and it has clay, paint, music, fiber arts and visual arts space that most classrooms can’t offer.
“We’re expanding a lot… it’s really an open question,” as to what ArtisTree could become for teachers, said ArtisTree Education Coordinator Karen Rodis.
Rodis declined to say how much such collaborations could cost.
Reading Elementary School student Kelton Maxham adds to his craft project during art class Tuesday. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photo)
“I don’t have expertise in those areas. It makes sense to utilize the human resources there, not to mention the facility,” said Hanson, who has been a teacher for 30 years. “I kicked myself that I haven’t utilized them because in terms of the arts it’s such a valuable resource.”
ArtisTree is collaborating with schools more and more.
This past fall, ArtisTree provided an afterschool program for Woodstock Elementary School on Fridays and Reading Elementary on Wednesdays.
“They did not charge us for it,” said WES Principal Karen White.
Last Monday when Prosper Valley School was closed due to water problems, 14 students spent the day at Aristree, going for a walk in the snow, making Valentine’s Day cards, jewelry and up-cycled art crafts.
ArtisTree’s Rodis, a former language teacher, knows the mandates that teachers face well.
“Arts integration is important because it gives students another way to access learning,” said Rodis.
Busier schedules makes it hard for Lisa Kaija, who teaches art at Reading, Prosper Valley and Killington schools, to collaborate.
“Teachers have so much going on in terms of curriculum that they have less time to communicate with me. I have to seek them out,” said Kaija. “It’s kind of distressing to see how much they have on their plates.”
Art and music is something that the Woodstock Elementary School board has prioritized despite budget constraints.
“I’m not sure you can ever do enough in that area,” White said, adding: “We can’t lose sight of the fact that that’s what’s meaningful.”
ArtisTree’s plans for what school collaboration could look like were vague. Rodis said it would become clearer in the coming weeks. One plan is to offer teachers professional development opportunities.
“It’s a way to have the arts be not an add-on to what teachers are dong but a way to give teachers more support to the work they want to do in their own classroom,” Rodis said.
This article first appeared in the February 11, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.