The student samples used here in the TTAAP Picture of Practice come from a larger anthology that represented the culmination of a 10-week interdisciplinary arts project conducted throughout the fall of 1996 with Jim DellaCioppa's 5th grade students at Rochester Memorial School. As part of the project, students were required to create an original piece of visual art, compose an accompanying piece of music, and write a poem to illustrate their understanding of the concepts of rhythm, structure, and mood across the arts. The class presented and performed their individual contributions to the anthology for parents, the principal, and the school committee. The kids' and their projects were a smash hit!

Students spent weeks mastering techniques to express the "big concepts" in their individual pieces of artwork. Through a rigorous drafting and revision process, that included learning how to set standards of evaluation, students identified interesting or surprising ideas as they developed their projects, sought connections across the disciplines, and provided evidence and reasons for the connections they discovered.

The pieces of visual art featured in this Picture of Practice are sketched renditions of the original works students created. Some of the students volunteered to donate the visual art component of the anthology to the RMS teachers. Many of the kids were unwilling to part with their projects at all. The easiest (and cheapest) way to compile an anthology for each student was to have the kids sketch a line-drawing rendition of their original piece and then xerox the rendition into the anthology. The students arrived at the compromise to use line drawings in the anthology as the cheapest way for each student to have an anthology to take home. We liked their solution, so we went with it.

1. Johnanne
	Monkey Chatter Riding in a banana boat till the sight of land, monkeys scamper to their hidden island. Singing and dancing as they chitter-chatter, crazily eating sweet passion fruit. Guarding every corner, Munching bugs from their fur. After, a fruit bowl is tipped over, King Monkey's robe is rushed to the cleaners. Furiously, he sends the urchins home.
Johnanne's Explanation "There was mood and rhythm in my pieces. I used a lot of sounds in my music to make it busy. I used bright colors in my art and fast line breaks in my poetry to create a happy mood that you would find at a party."
2. Samuel
	Snowy Day Gazing around, green firs covered with heavy toppings. Not a sound do I hear, when soft crystals hit the ground. Doves soar in clear, crisp air. Furry critters hop silently by. I sit and stare, at this majestic, white heaven. Lying down in fluff, I envision building castles to protect my beautiful scene. Never wanting to leave, I fall asleep dreaming.
Samuel's Explanation "I created mood in my three pieces by using tone in my music, color in my art, line length in my poetry. I also used symbolism to give my three pieces a mystical image. "
3. Greg
	The River The watery field smiles widely at the visitors. Below, anger builds. Old Man River holds a grudge. He begins to roar in rage. Flowing rapidly, thrashing anything in his path. A madman on a rampage. An immortal being, never dying, never resting.
Greg's Explanation "My strongest connection was using the river. I made my art look like a river. It had different colors to show how things get stirred up in a river. My music had a flow like a river in my xylophone part. I chose the bass drum and cymbals to show how it gets stirred up."

Take a look at the Teacher Research Sampler.

© Rochester Memorial Elementary School. Old Rochester Regional School Department. Rochester, MA 1999.
 

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