Counties Collaborate On Arts Integration At Riviera Beach Elementary

Teachers from Frederick County Public Schools recently visited Riviera Beach Elementary to learn about arts integration in classrooms.
 

Riviera Beach is an arts integration school, which is “an approach to teaching where students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process that connects the art form to the non-art area, and they meet evolving objectives in both,” said Lacey Sheppard, an arts integration specialist for county schools.
 

Arts integration is important because “the arts, historically, have been where all students have success,” said Riviera Beach Elementary Principal Jason Anderson. “It’s important because it’s an opportunity to put kids in a position to be successful throughout the day.”
 

The nine visiting teachers from Frederick County sat in on different arts-integrated classes to have firsthand experience with the format.
 

“We wanted to come see a school where it has been institutionalized and it’s a common practice to be integrated all throughout the content areas,” said Susan Thomas, the curriculum specialist for visual and performing arts at the elementary level for Frederick County Public Schools. “Now we can have individuals at these different buildings figure out how can we get this to get some teeth or maybe get it started in our county as well.”
 

Riviera Beach teachers Kelli Johnson and Stephanie Wineke worked with the visiting teachers.
 

“I think [arts integration] awakens the students to the point where they really start to connect more,” Johnson said. “They’re able to apply more of what they love when they do it in a fun way and a creative way.”
 

Wineke agreed, saying that creative approaches help students understand why they’re learning different material.
 

“The imagination is endless,” Wineke said. “If they’re connecting to it, they will remember it more.”
 

The partnership was formed through Anderson, who was previously the executive director of curriculum, instruction and innovation of Frederick County Public Schools for two years.
 

“Frederick County is looking to move more schools than they already have in that direction,” Anderson said. “Ms. Thomas reached out to me, and it was great to hear from her, and I wanted to set up this cross-county collaboration.”
 

Cross-county collaboration is important because it promotes sharing strategies and successes across the state, Thomas said.
 

“We don’t have the programs and the resources, but we do have the ideas and connections,” Thomas said.
 

The event took place during Teacher Appreciation Week, and Anderson said it was a cool to celebrate by bringing in teachers from other counties to talk and learn from one another.
 

“Often times, we lose sight of the good stuff that’s happening in neighboring counties,” Anderson said. “We’re all held accountable to the same standards in the state of Maryland, and we can learn from one another.”