Kentucky Teacher

Chinese dance instructor Shuling Fister leads a classroom of teachers in the Chinese Yangge Dance during the Next Generation Academy at Bowen Elementary School (Jefferson County).
Photo by Amy Wallot, June 22, 2011

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Ten students watched Brent del Bianco play the flamenco guitar and Hong Shao play the pipa, a pear-shaped, four-string instrument, at Bowen Elementary School (Jefferson County) last week. But this summer school lesson was really for the 40 or so teachers attending the Next Generation Academy: Integrating World Languages and the Arts who were looking on.

Shao strummed and plucked furiously with her right hand as her left hand raced back and forth across the frets. The audience could hear the similarity to a guitar.

“This is dancing music,” Shao said.

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Flemingsburg Elementary School (Fleming County) teacher Lindsey Moran, left, and Garden Springs Elementary School (Fayette County) teacher Lanora Long dance the Sir Roger de Coverley during the Next Generation Academy in Lexington. Photo by Amy Wallot, June 16, 2011

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

During the last school year, 8th-grade social studies teacher Robyn Hetman did something different with her classes at F.T. Burns Middle School (Daviess County).

Hetman said she emphasized primary sources, including using pictures from Kentucky Educational Television (KET) taken in Louisville during a unit on Civil Rights. Students couldn’t get enough, she said.

She had a student tell her, “I love this class. When did I start loving this class?”

Hetman said using the photographs made all the difference, and she wanted to find additional ways to integrate visual arts and other art forms with social studies. Read the full story