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Getting in on the ACT
Moorpark district gets $999,000 grant to develop creative, dramatic teaching methods
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James Glover II / Star staff Majesta Wallot, 10, of Moorpark pretends to be hot air while leapfrogging over her friend Camille Frias, 10, of Moorpark, who is pretending to be cold air, at Flory School in Moorpark. The two are part of a program that utilizes drama techniques to help students learn.
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More from Education: K-12In Genevieve James' fifth-grade class at Flory Academy of Science and Technology School in Moorpark, answering questions during a science lesson review sometimes doesn't involve pen and paper, but leapfrog skills.
Last week, 31 students did the leap frog to convey a weather phenomenon: as cold air sinks, warm air rises.
When James asked the students what happens during a tornado, students moved their little bodies in circles. Some turned faster than others to show that during a tornado, air travels at different speeds and directions.
"We get to have fun," said 9-year-old Tanner Groff. "We remember it a lot more than just reading from the book."
Since last year, a handful of Moorpark Unified School District teachers like James have used creative, dramatic techniques to teach their lessons. This year, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Moorpark Unified a $999,000 grant to start a formal program called Project ACT.
Under the U.S. Department of Education's model development and dissemination grant, Moorpark Unified and 13 other award recipients will develop programs to integrate various disciplines such as music, dance, theater and visual arts into elementary and middle school curricula.
Moorpark Unified's Project ACT, which stands for Active Collaborative Teaching, involves a partnership between the district and professors and students at California Lutheran University, who will train elementary school teachers in dramatic techniques they can incorporate in all subject areas, district project director Nema Pierce said.
Eventually, the goal is to share best practices with schools not only within Ventura County, but also throughout the nation, Pierce said.
"There are certainly teachers within the Moorpark Unified School District that are using active teaching strategies within their classrooms," Pierce said. "The difference with Project ACT is that we are bringing teachers together in conversation and collaboration, to share what they know, learn more and use this knowledge to foster student achievement and creativity."
The program was launched earlier this month at Walnut Canyon School, where CLU professor Michael McCambridge and students from his creative dramatics class taught more than 30 teachers fun acting and improv exercises to use in the classroom.
One teacher from each elementary school will be chosen to serve as a "lead." These teachers will share their ideas and lessons as members of an advisory committee and eventually share their lessons with other teachers throughout the district.
As part of the grant, the program will also involve a research component. Over the next four years, a team from Moorpark Unified will assess whether the methods have improved students' learning.
McCambridge, an associate professor in CLU's School of Education, has been teaching the Active Collaborative Teaching method for more than 20 years along with retired CLU professor Julia Sieger.
"The highlight is academic achievement and creativity," McCambridge said. "This adds a whole active level to the class, which enhances the more traditional methods, and for the first time, we will get to measure its successes."
While teachers learn performance methods from McCambridge, CLU students who are also preparing to become teachers will serve as classroom interns.
Another component of the program is the Project ACT Summer Institute, where at least 60 teachers will be trained each year for the next four summers, Pierce said.
Professional actors from the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company in Thousand Oaks will also lend support by visiting classrooms and bringing literary characters to life, Pierce said.
During the Project ACT launch at Walnut Canyon School, CLU students led various exercises, from using props to act out a scene to the "math walk," where teachers used music and body movements to explain math problems.
Arroyo West School third-grade teacher Janet Pultorak walked out of the training all smiles and full of ideas.
"I'm really thinking hand puppets," Pultorak said. "This definitely gave me the idea to use puppets to make characters from stories. I'm all for this collaboration, and this definitely has sparked my own creativity."
Posted by lthomas on October 30, 2008 at 10:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow 999,000 to MUSD to show teachers how to integrate action into teaching. Here again is a fine example of misappropriated money. I suppose these teachers will also have to have a bunch of inservice days which will take them out of their classrooms. Teaching and money from our State, Federal and local governments has become so political.. I think it is great that we have such hard working dedicated teachers. But, I do believe that most of our teachers could use this money more wisely if it was up to them to decide where to place it. In other words, let the teachers and school have the money, not strings attached. Why does everything have to be "granted".... I mean come on, of course we need accountability, but that can be done on a local level, that is why we have principals, school districts and parents.
Posted by believe30 on October 30, 2008 at 11:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
lthomas How is this misappropriated money?
Giving educators the tools they need in order to succeed and teach our children in innovative ways so that they are able to understand the material better is not a misappropriation of money. The people of Moorpark should be more greatful that there is a local university and dedicated professors that are willing to spend many many hours away from their own families to write grants and truly advocate for our children and demand that they be recieving a top quality education by top quality teachers and educators.
Posted by NowHearThis on October 30, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with Itthomas on wasted $ for hokey educational mumbo-jumbo. Why can't ONE teacher be responsible to teach a gaggle of kids, like I experienced in the 1960s? You have kids leaving important lessons to go to RSP, and other programs the LIBS have concocted. Then because these kids leave the classroom, they miss what is taught to the other kids.
STAR: "During the Project ACT launch at Walnut Canyon School, CLU students led various exercises, from using props to act out a scene to the "math walk," where teachers used music and body movements to explain math problems."
Just frickin' teach Math. All these programs do and show is that previous teachers have done a crappy job at teaching, these kids need distractions in hopes of learning.
I'm not proud of this so-called ACT program. It's a waste of time and energy and a whole lot of liberal hooey!
Taking illegal aliens kids out of our schools would be another great step to teaching "OUR" kids!
Posted by lthomas on October 30, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
to believe 30.... I believe we have top quality teachers who are dedicated and go above and beyond... As I said, the Federal Government, State, and Local Political Offices have to much of a hold on our tax payer money. Let the TEACHERS AND LOCAL SCHOOL PRINCIPLES HAVE THE MONEY TO USE WHERE THEIR INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL NEEDS EXTRA RESOURCES, MUSIC, ART, SCIENCE, ETC.. WE as tax payers should not have to get "special permission" to use our tax money. THIS GRANT WRITING BUSINESS IS Crazy. In fact I wonder if I can write a grant to get money to study the effectiveness of grant money?
Posted by moorpark118 on October 30, 2008 at 2:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How about donating a dozen shovels and teaching them how to “make music” tossing dirt. I will guarantee you there is more money in that than learning that hot air rises through playing leap frog. The teaching system of this State has turned into a joke.
Think how a foreign country would look at this. Let’s say India, Mexico, Japan, and China. They have to be seeing this and saying to themselves, just one more generation and they will be so soft we can just walk over and have our way with them.
If this is successful I say we have the Marines teach the recruits how to clear out areas like Falusa by letting the Marines in boot camp play hide and seek.
Posted by believe30 on October 30, 2008 at 3:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The ignorance from the people of this city is absolutely appauling.
Just as doctors and those in the medical field need constant training and new knowledge on the latest medical techniques, teachers need to keep up to date on the best teaching ideas and concepts.
It would be good for you to remember that public school is about the children who attend it, not about you and your tax payer money. You can complain all you want, if your think your tax dollars are being wasted, but when you are old and need medical attention, or if you need a lawyer or any other kind of help, remember who will be treating you...the children who are in the classroom today. What they do and how they learn it in elementry school as well as through middle and highschool affects their future performance. I cannot even belive people are arguing over money being spent on education in the first place.
Posted by moorpark118 on October 30, 2008 at 4:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good point believe30:
First the school system is not about the children if it were we would have focused on them long ago and their grades and test scores would not be at one of the lowest in the country. The reality is the school system is a way for a bunch of bureaucrats to stay gainfully employed. I’m not saying just the teachers I am saying the whole system of public education in this state is corrupt. They suck over 50% of our taxes. If I had a choice to employ an educator or an illegal alien I would take the guy who sacrificed his family and left his country for the job not some one who “made it thru” a few years of collage only to expect protected employment in a system without accountability.
Is for being taken care of when I am old, if my Lawyer starts swinging his/her hands and twirling saying "this is the success of your case, or a Dr. leans their head back and says "visualize this" I will fire them and hire some one who went to a real school and can fire off discipline facts and causes based on what they learned. Come on "Leap frog", that is fine in the play yard but as a formal learning platform, no way. Also read the article, look at all the schmoozing these teachers are going to get to "learn" a new way to teach. How about this, God gave me hunger so when I am a looser I go hungry and it motivates me to focus on what is important if I am not doing so already. These teachers remind me of a kid I knew in school who smoked a lot of pot and though the world would accept his "knowledge" and experience. He is now homeless and should be.
PS: I did not let a bunch of educators screw me up and now I hire, on staff, lawyers and "educated" people to execute on my ideas and I do quite well than you very much. In fact thanks to the teachers we have a lot of good workers but they do not produce many leaders.
Hey staff lets play leap frog!
Posted by moorpark118 on October 30, 2008 at 4:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ACT (Accountable Curriculum Terminated)
Posted by KathrynAsh on October 30, 2008 at 7:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No wonder the poor school districts hate the rich white suburbs, when poor districts have schools that are falling apart and no textbooks, and the Moorpark is wasting nearly a million dollars having their kids play leapfrog.
How far would $999,000 go buying new textbooks and things kids actually need in school? Rather than giving them a new opportunity to goof off.
And what's wrong from learning from a book in a classroom? No wonder countries like China and India are beating American kids in math and science.
Posted by NowHearThis on October 30, 2008 at 9:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I disagree wholeheartedly with believe30. Sure doctors need updated training, but they don't need to play leap frog to tell patients that if they go to Phoenix in mid-summer, their body temperature will rise for crying out loud.
I just don't know how a liberal's wires are crossed up in their brains that make them think nonsensically.
Districts gripe and moan that they're short $$, then they get it and waste it on teaching kids how to play leap frog.
What a disgrace!
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