SEELEY LAKE – Seeley-Swan High School started incorporating the SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning program this year in Dr. Kathleen Pecora's senior English Class. The two-hour photography lesson was incorporated with a personal essay and artifact that the students brought in that pertained to the story that was shared. While the students wished they'd had more time to practice the photography concepts they were taught, they each learned something new.
In 2013, Missoula was chosen as one of 14 cities to participate in the John F. Kennedy Center's Any Given Child Initiative, a national effort to ensure equity and access to the arts for public school students. In 2014 a Community Arts Team, comprised of local leaders, pledged to continue to champion arts education and formed SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning to facilitate arts education opportunities for Missoula County students.
SPARK! is a community-wide partnership working to expand arts programming in Missoula County Public Schools. The program facilitates and fosters connections between district schools, local arts organizations, and teaching artists helping to ensure access to the arts for all MCPS students.
When it started, the program focused on kindergarten through eighth grade. In 2016-2017 Missoula expanded the program to Willard Alternative High School and did a media program. This year SSHS is also able to take advantage of the program.
Hatton Littman, communications director for MCPS, said one of the initial benefits to MCPS schools was the expanded exposure to arts for kindergarten through fifth grade students. It also offered one quarter of art and year-long music classes for middle schoolers.
"It is also connected to our 21st Century Model of Change and Achievement for All Plan strategic goals to engage students," wrote Littman. "We know that engaging students in traditional content areas through the arts increases their connection to the content as well as their academic outcomes."
Pecora, who is also the SSHS principal, first heard about the program through Seena Demmons, SSHS's instructional coach from MCPS. She thought it would be a great addition to a personal essay assignment that the students were working on following their study of "Wendy's Button Box" by Stephen King.
The students each wrote stories about a personal experience that changed their lives. The students brought in an artifact that pertained to the story that was shared helping make the story more concrete. Then they took photographs with their artifact that captured that life-changing event.
"Photography seemed a natural way to tie in their writing with their artifacts and their oral stories," said Pecora.
Photographer Lulu Delphine and SPARK! Program Director Jackalynn Snow taught different photography techniques and principles during a two-hour session with Pecora's class. After the students orally shared their stories, they shot photos with the guidance of Delphine and Snow.
The students had already been exposed to many of the principles that Delphine and Snow taught. Elizabeth Done said that rule of thirds is something that is used a lot in art class. This was applied to photography which was new, but the concepts were the same and built on what they had already learned.
Ibby Lorentz said that SSHS does offer an online photography class through digital academy, but it was helpful to have people come in, talk to them about the different components of photography and work one-on-one with the students.
Iriey Anderson said that she had already learned some of the techniques in yearbook but she learned a few new things from the session.
While the students thought it was great exposure, they wished they'd had more time to work with the different concepts they were taught.
"Even doing a small simple project like this gives you a new perspective," said Jasen Sokoloski. He explained that breaking down a significant event and writing about it opens a lot of doors. Then taking a photo to show that and having so many different ways to do that, it helped to have Delphine and Snow there to work with them.
SSHS students will soon start a photographic project for all grade levels entitled "Humans of Seeley Swan." The project will be an arts integration collaboration with Delphine and the English Department.
"It will celebrate the individuality and diversity of students in the community and it would teach students to communicate ideas through multiple mediums, including self-portraiture and writing," wrote Snow. "Each student will create a self-portrait communicating a key piece of what makes them who they are. The project would culminate in a gallery for the community, wherein students would add one more element of communication to their piece, be it movement, spoken word, or music."
Discussions are also in the works to offer a wide-range of arts instruction on Friday including: African dance and drumming, ceramic sculpture, swing dancing, theater and painting.
Pecora said, "I see the SPARK! program as a huge asset to SSHS since we have such a small part of our program focused on fine art."
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