| Deaf
and Hearing Students Perform Together as Part of Digital Arts
Program
The
show will go on at Community School District 25 with a student
production that combines live performances and digital demonstrations
of classic works such as “The Crucible” and “Romeo and Juliet.”
The Digital Arts program stems from a Teaching Matters initiative
called “Digital Storytelling” that uses technology to help students
understand and appreciate classic literature.
 In
a unique twist, this year’s program will feature deaf and hearing
students performing together as part of a collaborative effort
between District 25 and the Lexington School for the Deaf. The
performance will take place at the Lexington School’s Ralph and
Ricky Lauren Performing Arts Center.
“The
Digital Arts program gives students the chance to display their
individual talents while also learning the importance of teamwork,”
said Arlene Jordan, Community School District 25’s Supervisor
of Expressive Arts. “Working with local artists, actors, musicians,
their teachers, and other students, they discover how each individual
contributes to the success of the whole production.” In addition
to working with the local community, some classrooms also collaborated
with students from overseas. New York City students and their
“cyber-pals” in London wrote plays set in each other’s location,
so that each group taught the other about their city, geography,
and culture.
Arts programs that incorporate a variety of technologies are particularly
effective in helping students learn in the core content areas,
especially “hard to reach” students, according to Teaching Matters
Executive Director Lynette Guastaferro. “When you expand a student’s
horizons, he or she becomes more motivated to learn,” she said.
“Digital arts are not just about painting pictures. People are
surprised by how much reading and writing kids have to do in these
types of programs.”
Additional collaborators in the Digital Arts program include the
Epic Theatre Center, Artsgenesis, Inc, Flushing Council on Culture
and the Arts, and the Queens Council on the Arts. Digital Arts
is supported by the New York City Department of Education’s Project
ART’s, the New York State Council on the Arts, the U.S. Department
of Education and The Helena Rubenstein Foundation.#
Education
Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001.
Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919.Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express
consent of the publisher. © 2003.
|
