The Urban Gateways Blog

Archives for January 2009

January 14, 2009 :: , :: 1 Comment

Never Too Early for the Arts

Singing with Carol 2.jpgThe earlier, the better. This is one commonly accepted principle of arts education, emphasizing the value that lies in exposing students to the arts from a young age. At Horace Greeley Elementary, a fine arts magnet school, the Early Morning Program provides an excellent look at the benefits of this practice. During this program, kindergarten through third grade students meet with different Urban Gateways artists each morning of the week to partake in arts learning well before the school day begins. On December 17, teaching artists and students came together to give a culminating performance for a proud audience of parents and Greeley staff members.

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January 14, 2009 :: , :: No Comments

Global Rhythms Take Hold at Carson Elementary

Now in its third year partnering with Urban Gateways for the Cultural Education Program (CEP), Carson Elementary School is working alongside teaching artists John Knecht and Jason Wolf to immerse its students in “Global Rhythms,” the theme for this year.

Serving a mostly Hispanic community on the city’s Southwest Side, Carson is committed to promoting artistic and cultural understanding as part of students’ academic curriculum, making it an ideal CEP partner school. The program focuses on collaboration between Urban Gateways teaching artists, school art specialists, and classroom teachers, linking fine arts to other subject areas like language arts and social studies.
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January 13, 2009 :: , , :: No Comments

New Teaching Artist at Perspectives Calumet Engages Students to Redesign the White House

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Erin Foley’s first residency as an Urban Gateways teaching artist had a significant start date: November 6, two days after the presidential election. Foley, a recent addition to Urban Gateways' roster, spent the first half of the 2008-09 school year participating in the New Teaching Artists Mentoring Initiative, run by Urban Gateways Artist-in-Residence for Professional Development and Curriculum, Amanda Lichtenstein. She was assigned to teach architecture and design in Ms. Spoelstra’s tenth grade geometry class for special needs students at Perspectives Calumet High School of Technology, located in Chicago’s South Side Auburn Gresham community. Along with a four-day training institute at the start of the school year, ongoing professional development workshops, and mentoring meetings with Lichtenstein, Foley’s five-week residency served as her introduction to the Urban Gateways teaching experience.
 
Her plan: To engage students in art and important current events simultaneously by having them redesign the White House. Each student created architectural plans for a new building, striving to represent through architecture the change that a new chief executive could bring to the presidency.
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January 13, 2009 :: , :: No Comments

Urban Gateways Gathers Leaders at Home of Susan and Nick Pritzker

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Susan Pritzker, Board Vice President of Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education, hosted an event on Tuesday, December 9 for Chicago’s leaders in the field of arts learning. Forty-five Urban Gateways supporters joined Pritzker for cocktails and dinner, speeches by arts education experts, and related discussion.

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