ARTFUL TEACHING; INSTRUCTOR, ADMINISTRATOR MAY GET AWARDS.Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer Five Ventura County teachers and a school administrator have been nominated for the 18th annual Bravo Awards
Presented by the education division of the Music Center/Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, the Bravo Awards help ensure that all students experience the arts as part of their education. ``For the community to be complete and rich and purposeful pur·pose·ful adj. 1. Having a purpose; intentional: a purposeful musician. 2. Having or manifesting purpose; determined: entered the room with a purposeful look. , education must include the arts,'' music center spokeswoman Ann Bradley said. ``Art helps not just to generate creativity but helps students think innovatively. Students must be allowed to think outside the box. These skills will help them succeed in the 21st century.'' Ventura County nominees took such varied approaches to the arts as talking with their students about the lives of famous artists, introducing guest poets, building a theater and passing on the secrets to a successful self-portrait. Four years ago, Amy Friedlander, a seventh-grade teacher at Medea Creek Middle School in Oak Park, started a program combining art with Spanish. One of the students' favorite projects, she said, is creating a comic book comic book Bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. with Spanish dialogue. Another popular assignment is learning about the Aztec culture, and then making their own Aztec calendar The Aztec calendar is the calendar system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient Mesoamerica. which revolves around the students' self-portraits. ``It is a pictorial history of their life as a 12- or 13-year-old,'' said Friedlander, who plays classical music in her classroom while the students are working. ``At the beginning of the year the students complain that they don't like that type of music,'' Friedlander said. ``But later in the year, some end up buying their own copies.'' Twelve-year-old Daniel Metzger said he never realized he had any artistic talent until he was in Friedlander's class. ``She plays music while we work and it feels good. The music helps me draw because I draw to the melody,'' Daniel said. ``Mrs. Friedlander has made me see that the world would look really pale if we didn't have art. It would be sad and cold.'' Ann Oppenheim, a third-grade teacher at Ladera Elementary School elementary school: see school. in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , choreographs four dances a year for her students, with parts for singing, dancing, speaking and sign language. ``When we talk about writing, punctuation punctuation [Lat.,=point], the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used; the term also refers to the signs themselves. In every language, besides the sounds of the words that are strung together there are other features, such as tone, accent, and and grammar we back it up by writing about a composer or a dancer,'' said Oppenheim, who has a dance background. ``We have guest poets and host an evening of the arts in which all students can express themselves.'' Sherrill Hyink said her sixth-grade students at Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks learn various art techniques. They also spend 10 weeks studying the lives of six well-known artists and can also join a club in which they sing upbeat contemporary songs for senior citizens. The club, she said, has 50 members this year. ``It's like a song and service club,'' Hyink said. ``I play my guitar and they learn the words and bring their smiles, their enthusiasm and their youth to the seniors. It's a lot of fun.'' Art teacher Kristi Colell labored 23 years to help get a theater built at Newbury Park High School. It finally opened in January. ``When we did our first show, I got the key and unlocked the door and I just couldn't believe it had finally happened,'' Colell said. ``Without art there is no life. Artists design everything we live in, everything we wear, everything we read.'' Nancy Carsten, principal at the private Carden Conejo School, said she applied for the Bravo Award on behalf of all her teachers - each of whom is dedicated to the arts. Even kindergarten students are learning how to illustrate even the simplest of sentences, she said. ``The students enter art contests and put on performances of books they've been reading,'' Carsten said. ``They've done scenes from `Huckleberry huckleberry, any plant of the genus Gaylussacia, shrubs of the family Ericaceae (heath family), native to North and South America. The box huckleberry (G. brachycera) of E North America is evergreen and is often cultivated. The common huckleberry (G. Finn,' `Tom Sawyer' and `The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Sleepy Hollow out-of-the-way, old-world village on Hudson. [Am. Lit.: “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in Benét, 575] See : Isolation .' It helps the students become confident because they can talk or sing or contribute to things in so many ways.'' The Nominees Winners of the Bravo Awards, given annually by the education division of the Music Center/Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, will be announced Feb. 28. The nominees include: Nancy Carsten, principal at Carden Conejo School in Westlake Village; Kristi Colell, a teacher at Newbury Park High School; Amy Friedlander, a teacher at Medea Creek Middle School in Oak Park; Sherrill Hyink, a teacher at Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks; Lou Lingo, a teacher at Isbell Middle School Isbell Middle School is a middle school that houses grades 6-8 in the city of Santa Paula in Ventura County, California. The principal is Mr. Fernando Rivera with assistiant principal Mr. George Alessi. Address 221 South Fourth St. in Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. ; Ann Oppenheim, a teacher at Ladera Elementary School in Thousand Oaks; and Delores Walker, a teacher at Charles F. Blackstock School in Oxnard. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1 -- color) Medea Creek Middle School teacher Amy Friedlander, with student Melissa Feldman, has been nominated for a Bravo Award. (2) Seventh-grader Daniel Metzger designs a personalized per·son·al·ize tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. Aztec calendar, as part of a school program combining art with Spanish. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News Box: (ran in Conejo edition only) The Nominees (see text) |
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