Students from Mrs. Kieschnick’s third-grade class at Jessieville Elementary perfect expression in tableaus. (Pictured from left to right Ethan Meredith, Aiden Carter, Kaydance Topham, Jackson Canale, Jacob Williams, and Caroline Whiley)
Professional actor and singer, Chelsye Ginn, portrays Annette Hanshaw, a famous singer from the 1920’s, in Mrs. Kieschnick’s third-grade classroom at Jessieville Elementary. Ginn is one of several professional teaching artists working in area schools with Arkansas Learning Through the Arts (ALTTA), a nonprofit organization affiliated with the national Young Audiences Arts for Learning network.
“Chelsye is wonderful! This is the perfect day to see students demonstrate their tableaus,” said Mrs. Kieschnick as her students scurried into groups throughout the classroom.
A tableau requires the students to use their bodies to make still images to represent a scene from a text they are studying. The work requires students to not only think critically to plan each scene they want to portray, but to also give thought to how it should be executed, and who will “act” in each scene. As the student groups form their tableaus, Ginn moves through them, observing each group, looking for the right combination of expression and stillness, praising and encouraging each group in turn.
“This is a unique opportunity for the students,” said Craig Welle, the ALTTA executive director. “Our nine professional teaching artists are teaching three- to four-session programs in approximately 725 classrooms in the 2017-2018 school year.”
The ALTTA workshops integrate language arts and social studies with fine arts standards, taught in well-planned curriculum units throughout the school year. Poets, actors, actresses, musicians, potters, and dancers give the students a fresh and exciting perspective on subject matter while also meeting the required state standards.
For students at Jessieville, this included not only learning about tableaus, but also discovering works from poet Langston Hughes, and songwriter Ella Fitzgerald, both famous creators from the American Jazz Age of the 1920s and 30s.
More information about Arkansas Learning Through The Arts is located at www.altta.org including a brief video and a roster of available programs.
Submitted by ALTTA Program Manager, Mandy Vines
