Flower is a verb

Michael Miller

In a spacious room at the Orange County Performing Arts Center

recently, three teachers danced to recorded music -- one crouching in

the middle with the other two upright alongside her, their arms

waving to the beat.

It may not have looked like an English lesson, but it was. The

teachers, among the more than 20 participants in the center’s

“Building Literacy Through the Arts” program, had read a poem about

flowers, and their task was to create a dance to illustrate the

verbs, adverbs and adjectives in the text. “One of the reasons why I

developed this institute is that art is an entree to teaching and

learning,” said Nancy Warzer-Brady, the Arts Center’s director of

education and community programs. “Often, teachers have students who

are English language learners, and the arts help teach subjects.

“If a kid is having problems reading or writing, they can sing it

or dance it.”

“Building Literacy Through the Arts,” which began Wednesday, leads

kindergarten through second-grade teachers in four days of

interactive seminars. The purpose of the program is to weave music,

theater and dance into standard school curriculum.

The program is the brainchild of both the Arts Center and also UC

Irvine Extension, which offered the seminars as part of its

teacher-training curriculum. Participants in “Building Literacy,” if

they are enrolled in UCI Extension, earn three professional

development units.

“This institute really serves as a catalyst for us to create an

arts and education certificate program,” said Morgan Appel, director

of education at UCI Extension. “It’s really a jumping-off point.”

For the Arts Center, the tuition-funded program also represents a

breakthrough. Not only is “Building Literacy” the center’s first arts

and literacy summer course, but it also marks the first educational

collaboration between the center and two of its partners -- the

Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Society of Orange

County, both of which contributed to the lesson plan.

The California Arts Project and Orange County Department of

Education will also lead workshops for the teachers.

Two teachers from the Newport-Mesa area entered the program this

year -- Linda Messenger, a music specialist at Harbor View and Sonora

Elementary, and Yvette Itano, who teaches music at St. John the

Baptist Catholic School.

Both Sonora and St. John belong to ArtsConnect, a program begun in

January by the Arts Center that seeks to integrate the arts into core

curriculum.

“I’ve always wanted to learn as much as I possibly can to enhance

what I’m doing in the classroom,” Messenger said.