SchoolArts - April 2007

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experience

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semester. Each of these projects is prepared and presented by a group of two or three regular education students who are responsible for writing a lesson plan, prepping material, demonstrating techniques, and creating a grading rubric. We’ve made plaster masks, sand paintings in the style of Picasso, papier-mâché vessels, self-portrait puppets, clay theme tiles, and woven scarves as well as many other decorative and fine arts projects.

A Grand Finale

We always finish the semester with a puppet show presented by our class for the children who attend our on-campus preschool. We make the puppets, the props, and the puppet theater. We also write, direct, and choreograph the entire production.

Now in its fourth year, Cooperative Art Education attracts enough enrollment to be scheduled in both semesters. Students who have been in the program are utilized as interns in my other classes. The greatest measure of success is seeing the joy in the faces of every student and teacher working in the Cooperative Art Education room every day, every week, all semester long.