Picasso in the Wilderness, Part 3.
OPENING ACT

Griffith's first task was to assemble some arts resources, to create an arts "library" of sorts. Although the school already had a library, limited funding had left serious gaps in the children's literature section. Griffith set about ordering books that had been Caldecott and Newberry award-winners. She stocked up on classics such as Shakespeare to serve more advanced students and adult community members at the same time. She ordered videos and compact discs, art prints, and teaching guides. To provide students with hands-on learning opportunities, she ordered musical instruments and art supplies.

Then she used her previous experience and new research to train her colleagues in how to use these materials in the classroom. According to staff, the weeklong inservice Griffith planned before the start of the school year was crucial to the success of the program. Griffith modeled lesson plans, showing how art prints, videos, or compact discs might be used to teach everything from math to social studies. She shared tips on how to use each medium most effectively to reinforce teaching. For example, because many children tend to "zone out" when a video is turned on, she advised showing classroom videos in shorter segments.

After the inservice, Griffith visited each teacher in his or her class to model techniques in front of students.

For some staff members, this was the turning point. Take Mike Nelson. A seventh- and eighth-grade teacher, Nelson admits, "I was probably the biggest foot dragger at the school. I knew my way worked and thought 'Why rock the boat? It might sink.'" But once Griffith modeled lessons in Nelson's class, he began to believe that while his way worked, this new way might work even better. Nelson hopped on board. Now he uses prints by M.C. Escher to teach about angles, architecture to teach geometry, and music to teach fractions.

"It really works," Nelson says. "We know that people learn in different ways, and this way reaches kids we used to miss. We use arts as a hook to catch them, and they look forward to learning because they're finding that learning can be exciting and fun. By teaching this way, everyone has a chance to let his little star shine."

Other teachers show similar enthusiasm.

Gym teacher Delise Paisley Denham, for instance, used art last year to teach quick thinking, coordination, and teamwork. She would point to an art print on the wall and give the students mere moments to reenact the scene.

Debbie Layman, a first-grade teacher, instills a love of visual arts in her students. At ages six and seven, they are already becoming grounded in arts terminology and technique. Poster-sized art prints- by Picasso and Klimt, Pollack and de Kooning-hang on clotheslines across her room.

Recently, she has been instructing first-graders in the use of lines. At her direction, the children stand up straight and tall to imitate vertical lines, lie on the floor to be horizontal, and lean precariously on one leg to demonstrate their understanding of diagonals.

Layman uses a Caldecott Award-winning author to help the students gain further understanding. In Emily Arnold McCully's Starring Mirette and Bellini, the young Mirette uses her high-wire walking skill to achieve a daring rescue. It is a diagonal tightrope, the children point out, that saves the day.

Next the class relates the lesson to famous artworks, noting the use of diagonal lines in a farmer's field and the line of the horizon. The lesson segues into music when Layman introduces a song called "Planting Seeds." She helps students understand which directional lines fit the stages of a plant's life -horizontal for the earth when the seeds are planted, vertical when the seedling reaches for the sun.

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