INNOVATION MASTERPIECE MIXING ART, WRITING IS KEY TO PROGRAM THAT ATTRACTS GRANT.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO

Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Teacher Lisa McKendry has come up with a way to combine writing lessons with art masterpieces.

And for her innovation the Juniper Intermediate School teacher has been awarded a $1,000 grant from the Citi Foundation.

The project is for McKendry's students in Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, a college-prep program targeting underserved, middle-of-the-road students.

"One of the strategies for AVID is writing. We teach them to be good writers," said McKendry, an eighth-grade instructor who also teaches algebra. "If they want to go to college, they have to learn to be good writers."

McKendry was among 34 middle school and high school teachers from Los Angeles County, and the only one from the Antelope Valley, to receive funding from the Citi Foundation. Grants ranged from $500 to $1,000 for the 2007-08 school year.

Foundation officials said the projects selected were designed by teachers to appeal to a diverse group of students and to increase their interest in and chances of going to college.

"I'm thrilled about the opportunity to honor the hard work and innovation of our AVID teachers who applied for this grant program," said Laurie Wiebold, director of the AVID program of the Los Angeles County Office of Education. "This is the first time we've been able to specifically honor the teachers."

McKendry, who has a degree in art, wrote in her grant application that she wanted to increase students' awareness of fine art and develop their writing skills.

Students will view reproductions of artwork at the J. Paul Getty Museum and write about what they see in the format of a newspaper article.

The artwork includes Dorothea Lange's iconic Depression-era photograph of a migratory farmworker mother and her children, "American, Nipomo, California, 1936," and a French manuscript illumination from the Middle Ages that depicts a king at court.

They will also look at an 1892 painting "A Centennial of Independence" by French artist Henri Rousseau, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the first French Republic in 1792.

Other works are the "The Musicians' Brawl," by painter Georges de La Tour dating from between 1625-1630, and "The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis," an 1818 painting by Jacques-Louis David.

"Since AVID is an elective, they never get art classes," McKendry said. "This was my way of exposing them to the finer arts, understanding what fine art is about."

A highlight will be a field trip to the Getty in February where about 100 seventh- and eighth-graders will view up close the work they've been studying.

"A lot of kids have never been to an art museum before," McKendry said.

During the visit, McKendry and her students will pick more artwork to study for the remainder of the year.

This year was the first year the Citi Foundation has offered its grant program in Southern California. Created in 1987 and currently offered in nine U.S. markets and five Asian countries, it has motivated and inspired thousands of students and hundreds of teachers, officials said.

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Teacher Lisa KcKendry, of Juniper Intermediate School in Palm dale, won a $1,000 grant from the Citi Foundation.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer