HANOVER TWP. – The loud sounds emanating from the Hanover Area Memorial Elementary School classroom were harsh, lacking the rhythm and proper beat typically associated with popular music. That lack of a discernable composition, though, hardly discouraged the sixth-grade students, teachers and Misericordia University teacher education majors participating in the inaugural Arts Experience during the spring semester.
The collaborative program, which began as an Impact Leadership project through Leadership Wilkes-Barre, did not intend to teach students how to play musical instruments or create master works of art, but rather to supplement curriculum that was short on instruction in the arts overall.
“The arts are really important in education, crucial even,’’ says Megan Ostrum ’18, an early childhood and special education major and president of the Education Club. “They open up other avenues for students in the curriculum. I think they need to be able to express their knowledge and emotions through the arts and music – the kinds of things cut (by budget-conscious school districts).’’
The sixth-graders may have made an inordinate amount of noise playing guiros, tambourines, bongos, maracas, cymbals, sandpaper blocks and an electronic drum set, but the lessons they learned were music to the ears of educators.
Amanda Lloyd, a learning support teacher in the Hanover Area School District, envisioned a program that would expose students to the arts who otherwise would not receive this type of specialized instruction. A partnership with the Misericordia University Teacher Education Department and Education Club amplified her idea and the Arts Experience was born in April.
Misericordia University Education Club students Michaela Halesey ‘20, Rebeca Kaschak ’20, Shane Kreller ‘17, Jackie Tadeo ’19, Sarah Wittle ‘18, Arico and Ostrum worked with Dr. Broskoske and Lloyd to develop numerous stations in three classrooms offering visual, hands-on activities under the supervision of teacher education majors.
The high-participation art and music stations allowed sixth-graders to create sculptures and drawings, and to explore different types of musical instruments and learn about instruments of the orchestra, while providing experience to the aspiring educators at Misericordia.
The school district is working with the teacher education department to develop the program further. The ultimate goal is to have multiple workshops during the school year for the 550 students who attend the public elementary school in fourth through sixth grades.
“That’s part of our university – helping others,’’ says Ostrum, a Dallas High School graduate. “The best way was to include our knowledge and implement a plan to bring these arts back into circulation, back into these students’ lives. Misericordia is wonderful. That is one of the reasons I came to Misericordia – the four charisms, such an attractive quality. I think Misericordia reflects and emphasizes that you should be working for something bigger than yourself.’’
