iEARN ONLINE CREATIVE ARTS COURSE

When you integrate iEARN and the Arts into your classroom, your students will be able to explore art, music, and other forms of creative expression. You and your students will learn greater appreciation for the arts and discover how the arts can be integrated into all subject areas. You and your students will also learn how to work with others internationally while they produce their own works of art and share them in the project forums. By doing so, they will learn to appreciate diverse cultures and take pride in their own

In this workshop, you will:

• Learn how to integrate an iEARN art project by being involved in one
• Explore the various art projects and their correlation with your local/state/national curriculum standards
• Choose a project that best fits your classroom
• Plan and implement your project with your students
• Discover and learn how to use the appropriate tools to guide your students in their art production both in hardcopy and/or digital form.
• Share your students' artwork and essays in iEARN forums.
• Along with your students, appreciate and give constructive feedback to the work of others.
• Join an open discussion about the issues related to integrating online project-based learning in your classroom.
• Meet and collaborate with local and international teachers who are interested in addressing the same projects/issues using the medium of art. Discuss and plan your project implementation
• Develop ways to teach your students to gather and organize information for print and online publication.
• Make your art lessons more challenging, interesting and engaging and network with colleagues around the world

Current Course Facilitators: Betty Burgos and Nancy Petrella

Betty Burgos

Betty Burgos lives in Paramaribo, the Republic of Suriname. Except for the 11 years of my youth which I spent on the nice little island of Aruba, I have always lived in Suriname. I have studied physical education. I started teaching at the age of 18 and I have been teaching for 42 years now.

I have taught at primary school, at junior high school and at senior high school. At the latter for 30 years. I have also taught at the Teacher Training College and Business School. I have been adjunct principal for seven years and currently am one of the student counselors at the senior high school. I have also been a board member of the Association for Roman Catholic Schools. In sports I have also done a lot. I have played in competition Basketball and Volleyball. I have worked as a board member in the several sports associations. I have trained students for tournaments and competition. I have visited countries in South America and The Caribbean as a sport official. I have participated in several workshops at iEARN conferences and have done the first one line course of creative writing in 2001.

As a project coordinator I am trying to get more schools and students involved in iEARN projects and I am very satisfied with the work done so far. Most of the projects I have coordinated are creative /language arts. The project that is the most interesting in my country is Folk Costumes. We have a multicultural population and have combined that with a lot of creative subjects.

Nancy Petrella

I am an artist and educator. I have a BFA from the University of Delaware. My favorite medium is printmaking, especially etching. I also work with various painting and drawing media. My recent works are paintings in acrylic and drawings in colored pencil.

I have a Teaching Certificate from Delaware State University. I am currently teaching students in grades 6, 7 and 8 at Everett Meredith Middle School in Middletown, Delaware. The group of students I teach now is as diverse at at the elementary level. In my school district I work to promote international education. I have served on our Global Studies Committee and currently serve on our International Education Advisory Board. I have been a member of iEARN since 2005 when I participated in the Creative Arts course. Betty and Susan were my course facilitators. I enjoyed the course very much, it validated my own ideas and opened the door to new possibilities. The projects I have worked on, with my students, have been Eye to Eye, The Great Apes, and The Art Miles projects. For 3 years I was a mentor for teachers in Delaware who were new to iEARN and international education.Participation in the iEARN community has been a great experience for me and my students.