BEST USE OF ARTS VALLEY TEACHERS IN RUNNING FOR BRAVO AWARDS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Valerie Plaisance has her second-graders at Welby Way Gifted Magnet lie on their backs and paint overhead, as Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, teaching them about perseverance as well as art.

``They'll say, 'Oh, my arms are getting tired,' and I'll say, 'Sometimes it takes a little extra effort to do something spectacular, but you feel so good when it's done,''' said Plaisance, 54, of Woodland Hills.

``Then it carries over into math - they stop saying, 'I can't.' (They say) 'I can paint upside down like Michelangelo and I can also do these times tables.'''

Plaisance, who has taught for 31 years, believes that art doesn't have to be a separate subject, but can be integrated into all areas of academics. That's part of the reason she, three other San Fernando Valley-area teachers and an elementary school are among the finalists for the 24th annual Bravo Awards.

The Bravos are given to one outstanding arts specialist teacher, one general education teacher and one school who use the arts to enhance education. The awards are presented by the Music Center of Los Angeles. Winning teachers are given a $4,000 prize and the winning school is given $10,000.

``The arts do so much for a child,'' said Bravo Awards producer Lynda Jenner. ``It deepens both their life and academic skills, and when you use the arts to integrate other subjects - music for math, drama for history - it makes that course subject so much clearer to the child.''

The winners will be announced Tuesday at a gala dinner at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, with producer/director Garry Marshall as the master of ceremonies.

``I don't know where people got the idea that the arts could be dumped and nobody would be bothered and changed by it,'' said another finalist, Alex Hakobian, who teaches film arts at Grant High School. ``The arts are necessary. They're as necessary as math and science.

``Many of the great scientists played musical instruments. Different parts of our brain need to be exercised. If you just do academics and you don't have something that reaches deep into your mind and tugs at these emotional responses, you're not going to be very good at your scientific work, either.''

Hakobian, 59, of Van Nuys, teaches his students the value of seeing a project to completion and always giving their best effort as he helps them create short films. He says he sees too many students who simply cannot finish what they start.

``As soon as they get some idea of a subject, then that's enough for them,'' said Hakobian, a 20-year educator. ``Finishing is just not in their vocabulary. They gear themselves toward the mediocre.''

But with Hakobian's encouragement, his students have won several awards with their short films, and several of his former students have gone on to jobs in the film and television industry.

Jennifer Hopkins, a fifth-grade teacher at R.D. White Elementary School in Glendale, has her students act out history lessons, learn traditional Colonial dances, and study how music and math are related when they cover fractions.

``It's really funny when the light bulb goes on, and a kid thinks, 'Well, maybe I do like math, because I like music,''' said Hopkins, 29, of Woodland Hills.

``Learning should be fun, and I feel the arts are fun,'' said Hopkins, who has taught for eight years. ``I grew up not really liking school that much. I was very shy and it was painful for me to participate in class. I didn't have any confidence until I got this great music teacher in fourth grade who taught me school can be fun.''

Carmel Gardner, a traveling music teacher at Calabash, Dearborn, Haynes Street, Pomelo and Woodland Hills elementary schools, wants children to experience music with all their senses. So she has them sing, dance and play a variety of musical instruments, including recorders, rhythm sticks, African instruments, maracas and plastic percussion tubes called ``boomwhackers.''

``I focus on inspiring and developing creativity in my students,'' said Gardner, of West Hills, who has taught for eight years. ``It forces them to become completely involved in what they're doing, to really focus and be enthusiastic and involved.''

Rockdale Elementary in Eagle Rock is a finalist in the schools division, along with Aldama Elementary in Highland Park; McKinley School in Pasadena; and Polytechnic School in Pasadena.

Rockdale Principal Desiree de Bond Vargas said arts specialists come to the school from time to time, but regular teachers also are incorporating the arts as both stand-alone lessons and as teaching tools.

``They're infusing drama and music and the visual arts into (their teaching,)'' de Bond Vargas said. ``It makes it more interesting for the kids so they're not just filling out a workbook.''

Other teacher finalists are Lori Quinn, a fourth-grade teacher at Ocean View Elementary School in Whittier; Carolyn Kelley, a vocal music teacher at Bellflower Middle/High School; and Michelle Riggs-Jackson, a dance teacher at Fairgrove Academy in the Hacienda/La Puente Union School District.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) Valerie Plaisance helps Hailey Serna paint in her second-grade class at Welby Way Elementary School in West Hills.

(2) Carmel Gardner, a traveling music teacher, leads a class in a song using musical tubes at Woodland Hills Elementary School.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(3) Grant High School teacher Alex Hakobian, who teaches film arts, says one of the things he teaches his students is to finish a project. He's a finalist for the Bravo Awards.

(4) Jennifer Hopkins, a fifth-grade teacher at R.D. White Elementary School in Glendale, has her students act out history.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer