Growing Up Artfully 2012
Awards for Excellence in Arts Education
Thursday, May 10, 2012 | Penn State Lehigh Valley Campus, Center Valley
.jpg) .jpg) The Lehigh Valley Arts Council congratulates the recipients
of the 2012 Linny Fowler Growing Up Artfully
Awards for Excellence in Arts Education!
2012 Awards for Excellence in Arts Education
Orefield Middle School (Jazz Program)
Louis E. Dieruff High School (Theater Program)
Fogelsville Elementary School (Visual Arts Program)
The 2012 Arts and Education Forum addressed the current research and press attention focused on the need for project-based learning, a collaborative approach that is fostered in the schools by arts integration. Also a key topic of the forum was arts integration - the implementation of arts theory and practice across the curriculum. Arts integration encourages creative thinking and problem-solving skills while forging links among diverse subject areas. Creative thinking and problem solving are, in turn, valued in the workplace. The forum
highlighted regional successes with awards to k-12 programs that bring quality arts experiences to our students and community. Mr. Booth lead a round table discussion with teaching artists, whose role is highlighted in the 2011 White House report, Reinvesting in Arts Education.
The forum began with a presentation by Susan Hall , (Media Specialist) and Julienne Hogarth (Visual Arts Learning Coach) of The National Inventors Hall of Fame School (NIHFS) Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Learning in Akron, Ohio. Ms. hall and Ms. Hogarth presented best practices in arts-centered learning and their positive impact on students' test scores.
  Ms. Hall and Ms. Hogarth’s presentation was informed by their firsthand experience with best practices in creative, project-based learning and the positive impact of these practices on students’ test scores and attendance. They discovered that when their students used creativity theorist Donald J. Treffinger’s process of fact-finding, problem-finding, idea-finding, and solution-finding, original, practical ideas were generated and curriculum goals were met. The fifth graders at NIHFS were challenged to figure out how to reduce the noise in the library—its windows faced a public space and, even when the windows were closed, they let in too much noise. Given four weeks to design proposals, the youngsters came up with amazing results.
As described in “The Creativity Crisis” (Newsweek, July 10, 2010):
Along the way, [the] kids demonstrated the very definition of creativity: alternating between divergent and convergent thinking, they arrived at original and useful ideas. And they’d unwittingly mastered Ohio’s required fifth-grade curriculum—from understanding sound waves to per-unit cost calculations to the art of persuasive writing.
In their address to the forum, Ms. Buckner will also discuss the community partnerships that support and encourage her school’s core values, and Ms. Hogarth will explain the successful arts-integration strategies that are employed across NIHFS’s curriculum.
 Eric Booth, internationally known teaching artist, author, and consultant, was this year’s keynote speaker and, along with Ms. Hall and Ms. Hogarth, a panel participant. Mr. Booth is frequently described as one of America’s most creative teachers and a leader in the teaching-artist profession. His perspective focuses on the idea that making art is not just the creation of objects, it is a learning process and a creative habit of mind.
The forum concluded with a reception celebrating excellence in arts in education. Mr. Booth delivered his keynote address at the Lehigh Valley Arts Council member reception, and three Lehigh Valley Schools were given awards in recognition of their K–12 programs that bring high-quality arts experiences to our students and our community. Congratulations to our 2012 winners!
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