Professional Development

Team Building Through the Arts

California Heritage

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Goals & Purpose of Professional Workshops:

73% of LAUSD student population has a Hispanic background. California Heritage Program aims to bring forth a more profound awareness of Spanish cultural traditions and history into daily curriculum. Through the medium of Flamenco music and dance, students and teachers will gain personal knowledge and appreciation of this rich heritage that remains unfamiliar to the public at large. Using Flamenco as a modality, strategies to facilitate learning will be presented, leading educators and students into a journey of self-discovery.

On the surface the art of Flamenco dancing encourages proper posture, self-awareness and confidence, respect for oneself and others; it promotes team work and cultivates leadership skills. On a more fundamental level, it deepens one’s cultural identity and global understanding of Spanish’s beautiful legacy, thereby instilling a sense a dignity and belonging in our community.

Alignment with State Standards in the arts and district arts initiatives:

To become aware of the arts education standards, curriculum support and resources available is critical to building a strong arts program. While utilizing Flamenco as a catalyst, teachers will master the use of California Arts Standards to become proficient in skills such as: rhythmic expression, geometric motion, creative movement, language development and space management. Since standards are concerned with providing educational goals, California Heritage program supports this intention by supplying benchmarks to assess the learning curve. Sequential workshops are presented to stimulate and develop one’s own natural creativity and acquire a new level of competency, by harnessing beauty of multiple perspectives. Through this process, they receive a thorough grounding in this rich art form and the skills required to successfully transmit it.

1. Classroom Teacher arts subject mastery or skill description:

California Heritage Flamenco Program will transfer the following skills to teachers:

Rhythmic skills: Palmas (hand clapping techniques), Zapateado (footwork using different parts of the feet); Creating rhythmic sequences combining both elements ; Synchronizing the performance of both elements at once (i.e., dividing the room in two, half the room will keep the beat with the palmas, while the other execute the rhythmic combinations they have created).
Creative movement skills: Communication through movement by using language development tools. This process leads to choreographing a dance. Tools for memorizing the dance sequence are taught.
Space management skills: Techniques in space management such as line rotations and various ways of moving from one geometric formation to another are taught. Using these ideas, the dance sequences previously created are elaborated upon and restructured to incorporate these concepts.
Choreographic skills: Choreographing a dance by incorporating and integrating all the component skills listed above.
Performing /Assessment skills: Teachers perform the dance they have created and have an opportunity to give each other constructive criticism, thereby developing performing skills and assessment tools

2. Why do students need to student access to the arts curriculum or experiences?:

Assimilation of ideas and information improve when students establish relevance with the subject matter and their lives in a real-time manner. In this way, they can experience and integrate the curriculum versus think about it. Flamenco enhances learning through appreciation of movement, music and language. When an appreciation of Flamenco is instilled, students will identify the many expressions of dance seen in their daily lives, and draw connections of inter-cultural origin, history, romance and drama. They also gain powerful tools for understanding cultural / historical experiences, both past and present, resulting in a feeling of completion and fulfillment. With proper coaching teachers can become successful leaders in making this knowledge accessible to students.

3. How does this program meets the needs of special education, English language learners and culturally relevant and responsive education:

Musical movement and rhythms are powerful catalysts in reaching children with various challenges, because it allows them to by-pass their cognitive limitations and experience a non-linear approach to absorb information. By being exposed to techniques that are fun and accessible, their learning becomes real, tangible and powerful. The art of Flamenco dancing, by its very nature, meets the goals of culturally relevant and responsive education by offering Los Angeles students a lens to their cultural and historical background in ways that no other content area could accomplish.

4. Short or Long-term professional development plan:

The short term plan is to have the teachers acquire enough background information and knowledge to start using these tools immediately.

The long term plan is to establish a Spanish dance curriculum in the schools, so that students may continue to learn about California history through direct exposure to Flamenco dance and music.

5. Number and type of participants recommended:

Minimum 15 / maximum 50

6. Access to special opportunities unique to the organization:

A school assembly presented in conjunction with workshops is the best way to utilize this program. The California Heritage Assembly Program presents a wide variety of dances from Spain and Mexico. Through the medium of dance, music, and language and with beautiful authentic costumes, staff, educators and students can effectively experience major influences that were brought to California by the first Spanish and Mexican settlers and be involved in an educational experience that is visual, lively and entertaining.

This professional development series can be presented in conjunction with the California Heritage Artist in Residence Arts Learning Package.

7. Special requirements

These are interactive workshops and require a space large enough to accommodate the number of participants to move freely.