Unlocking the Light (UTL) is designed to assist teachers, who must motivate, reach and teach juvenile students in one-room, multiple-grade, and multi-ethnic classrooms with arts-based teaching strategies for non-arts subjects. The goal is to increase their capacity to use both art techniques and artist educator strategies with students who have chronically failed in schools in order to boost their engagement and achievement, help them form visions of how they can lead more productive lives, and strengthen their capacity for self-management. The program offers DYS teachers the opportunity to host a multiple-day residency in which an artist educator works with with both the teacher and students to demonstrate creative approaches to curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
What teachers are saying
Residents (students) that rarely read or participate in class, started trying harder to better understand the concepts and historical meaning of what they were working on.
Brian Barret (DYS Teacher)
I realized that all students are able to communicate in someway through poetry – even the stubborn ones. The students really opened up and trusted themselves.
Katie Zarling (DYS Teacher)