Instructional Practices

Abstract

In many ways, an OMA classroom is much like any other classroom. Students are learning and making connections between previous knowledge and new experiences. For any lesson or set of lessons to be successful, the Classroom Teacher, Arts Integration Specialist or Teaching Artist should use a combination of instructional practices in order to reach and involve the learner in the learning process. Certain instructional practices are integral, even definitive of the OMA Program. • Create, Present, Reflect: Each of these three aspects of the performing arts, as outlined by Deb Brzoska, consultant to The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, affords a different angle to learning, and, in combination with core curriculum expectations, provides a powerful strategy for creative problem solving and critical thinking. • Describe, Infer, Evaluate: This organized method of experiencing art, again described by Deb Brzoska, leads children through a more complete thinking process. Students begin with simple and complex observations, move through interpretations of those observations and, then and only then, make judgments about the artistic piece. • Higher Order Thinking Skills: OMA lessons go much further than a simple repetition of basic facts. Students learn to apply abstract thinking and problem solving skills to all manner of situations. established a new set of intelligences that can't be judged by an IQ test. Whereas the regular classroom might focus more teaching toward linguistic (word) or mathematical (numbers) intelligences, the OMA classroom draws from spatial (picture), kinesthetic (body), musical (music), interpersonal (people smart), intrapersonal (self) as well as linguistic and mathematical intelligences. OMA teaches and reaches the whole child and, as such, uses the Multiple Intelligences to guide students in making viable connections. • Whole Brain Learning: One of the keys to the success of the OMA Program is that both the right and left hemispheres of the brain are involved in the active learning process, creating a more complete and balanced experience. • Interdisciplinary Teaching: As a rule, activities and lessons relate to a number of disciplines simultaneously. • Inquiry: Teaching by asking questions rather than making statements encourages children's natural curiosity and desire to learn. Students take ownership of their learning when led through a discovery process. The active nature of an OMA lesson is in the spirit of inquiry-based learning. • Analogies: OMA lessons are built upon relating the art form to other curricular disciplines. Discussion guides students to make those connections. • Modeling/guiding: …