Printer Friendly
The Free Library
4,719,178 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Program uses arts to help prevent risky behavior: Regional Office of Education 11 / Illinois.


A research-based program designed to improve morbidity and mortality Morbidity and Mortality can refer to:
  • Morbidity & Mortality, a term used in medicine
  • Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a medical publication
See also
  • Morbidity, a medical term
  • Mortality, a medical term
 rates among teens resulted in the Regional Office of Education 11 in Charleston, Ill., being named the state's winner in the 2007 National Civic Star Award competition. The collaborative effort, called I Sing the Body Electric, combines the arts and themes related to preventing risky behaviors and is led by the school district and Sarah Bush Lincoln Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln (1788-1869) was the second wife of Thomas Lincoln and stepmother of President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. She was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to Christopher and Hannah Bush.  Health Center. Other members of the coalition include Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University is a state university located in Charleston, Illinois. Institution
Eastern Illinois University has approximately 10,000 undergraduates, 1,700 graduate students, and 2,000 faculty and staff. Admission is selective.
, Lake Land College, Paris Community Hospital and public television affiliate WEIU-TV.

The coalition's mission is to provide a supportive framework to nurture resiliency, reduce risky behaviors and build leadership in youth as they communicate about healthy lifestyle choices among their peers and in the community through the arts.

Body Electric challenges youth to use music, art, creative writing and dramatics dra·mat·ics  
n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
1. The art or practice of acting and stagecraft.

2. Dramatic or stagy behavior: Cut the dramatics and get to the point.
 to talk to their peers and their parents about lifestyle choices.

The program includes assessing teen risk behaviors through a biennial biennial, plant requiring two years to complete its life cycle, as distinguished from an annual or a perennial. In the first year a biennial usually produces a rosette of leaves (e.g., the cabbage) and a fleshy root, which acts as a food reserve over the winter.  survey in high school and sharing the resulting data with principals and community health organizations. The survey has become an integral part of local and regional planning regional planning: see city planning.  and program development.

Since 1998, the top health concerns of area youth have been alcohol, teen sexuality, suicide and body image. Data from the surveys have shown:

* The age at which alcohol consumption begins has risen 6 percent since 1998.

* Marajuana use has decreased 17 percent since 1998.

* Attempted suicides have decreased 20 percent since 1998.

The program aims to reach underserved and at-risk youth, and in a predominantly rural region, it offers enrichment experiences at schools suffering from declining arts funding. Principals invite Body Electric to present kickoff events to generate enthusiasm for the program.

Teens take a pre-test to determine baseline knowledge of health issues and leadership skills. Training follows during small-group sessions conducted by well-trained university interns This article or section is written like an .
Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view.
Mark blatant advertising for , using .
 using specially developed Body Electric curriculum. During the sessions, teens are guided in investigating a teen health issue highlighted by research data and in identifying a target group.

They then develop a prevention message and choose what they believe is the best art form to deliver the message. They develop plans to use to obtain funds and support from national, state and local sources to research, develop and complete their projects. The projects are presented in a spring arts and health festival and are then taken on tour to other schools the following fall. In 2005-2006, the local PBS PBS
 in full Public Broadcasting Service

Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural,
 station broadcast three programs throughout central Illinois Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central section of the state, divided in thirds from north to south. It is an area of mostly flat prairie.  featuring the students and their projects.

Completed student projects become the focus of lesson plans, aligned with state learning standards Learning Standards is a term used to describe standards applied to education content, particularly in the US K-12 space.

The Learning Standards themselves can can be found on the individual web sites for states [1]
, that are distributed to middle and high schools in the region. In addition, the dean of the college of arts and humanities at Eastern Illinois University has identified Body Electric as a model for teacher training, engaging future teachers in practical application of the arts. Plans are being developed to present the model to deans at other universities.

Body Electric has been cited for innovation and collaboration by the Illinois Principals Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Directors of Public Health Promotion and Education, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Illinois Drug Education Alliance and the state Board of Education. The program was also named a Coming Up Taller semifinalist by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities was established in Washington, DC in 1982 by an Executive Order from President Ronald Reagan. The Committee's role is to identify issues and develop initiatives in the arts and the humanities that the President and Committee .

An ongoing program evaluation Program evaluation is a formalized approach to studying and assessing projects, policies and program and determining if they 'work'. Program evaluation is used in government and the private sector and it's taught in numerous universities. , begun in 2001, has found that 27 percent of participants report that Body Electric is their only extracurricular activity. The evaluation has also found improved attitudes against risk behaviors, an increased ability among students to resist peer pressure and positive self-perceptions as a teacher or helper of others. The program helps teens gain the knowledge and resources to help influence their communities and engages a community coalition as the sustaining force in long-term change.

For more information, contact Superintendent John McNary at (217) 348-0151 or by e-mail at jmcnary@roe11. k12.il.us. His mailing address is Regional Office of Education 11, 730 Seventh St., Charleston, IL 61920.
COPYRIGHT 2007 American Association of School Administrators
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Publication:School Administrator
Date:Apr 1, 2007
Words:664
Previous Article:Service learning for the suspended: Albemarle County Public Schools / Virginia.
Next Article:Team helps instill area appreciation: Maine School Administrative District 12 / Maine.



Related Articles
Talking about Youth Development.
Researchers win grant to study troubled girls.(General News)
Using theory in curriculum development: the future selves curriculum.
Communicating risk without creating unintended effects.
Protecting your finances: why you need a compliance program for your business.(Finance/Legal)
Factors associated with the content of sex education in U.S. public secondary schools.
The art teacher as censor.(All Levels)
Men contribute to and suffer from infertility.
College students sexuality education, sexual behaviors and sexual behavioral intent.(Survey)
Risky business: at-risk behavior dropping among black teens.(FACTS & FIGURES)

Terms of use | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles