Jackson Middle School

Key features of the Bernstein model:

• The arts are used as vehicles for learning across the curriculum, because they engage students powerfully, exercise multiple learning styles, and provide many opportunities for authentic applications.
• High levels of student engagement linked to rigorous academic standards.
• High quality professional training in the arts is ongoing
• Best practice schools become professional learning communities characterized by a culture of continuous research and improvement.

At Jackson Middle School a Bernstein unit might:

• Utilize a local author/illustrator to help students apply their knowledge of a particular animal to produce an original book
• Require students to create a dance based on geometric terminology with the help and instruction of a local dancer or troupe
• Ask student to create a periodic table of their own design that shows their understanding of the periodic table of elements
• Perform an original monologue, piece of music, or scene from a selection of literature
• Apply their knowledge of the dynamic earth to a mosaic creation of their own design
• Create a work of art that reflects an understanding of a particular technique or culture

For more information contact the Leonard Bernstein Center for Learning at artfullearning.com.