Here is another strong boost for arts in the curricula of Culver City schools, further testimony to the melting pot nature of the community and its convenient pocket size.
The School District is partnering with the Music Center/Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County to enhance arts education in the District’s five elementary schools and Culver City Middle School.
Principals and teachers will conclude a five-day professional development program at the Music Center on Friday afternoon.
This is part of the District’s commitment to making the arts an important part of the curriculum for all students.
At 1 o’clock Friday at the Music Center, teams from each school will present brief shadow puppetry performances to showcase the new skills they have learned in theatre and puppetry.
By engaging in this creative hands-on process, the educators become familiar with the new curriculum material and gain insights about effective teaching strategies.
The project is made possible by a $80,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and support from the Boeing Corp.
The educators have been studying the poem “On the Pulse of Morning” by Dr. Maya Angelou.
She wrote the poem for the inauguration of President Clinton in January 1993. The poem presents insights on the advance of human civilization as observed by “the rock, the river, the tree.”
Culver City educators are learning new skills in theatre and puppetry that will allow them and their students to communicate the big ideas of the poem through the arts.
When school resumes in the fall, each of the participating Culver City teachers will be visited by teaching artists from the Music Center.
Over the course of 10 visits, the artists will help the teachers as they teach the “On the Pulse of Morning” lessons to their own students.
Several meetings also will be held with the principals to continue to support their leadership role in advancing arts education.
Mr. Maleman may be contacted at gmaleman@aol.com
