FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Stacy P. Sherman
Marketing Specialist
Ph: (262) 472-5705
Email: ShermanS@uww.edu
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/youngauditorium
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/young-auditorium
Website: www.uww.edu/youngauditorium
Date: October 23, 2014
Arts Integration Teacher “Play-dates” Hosted by UW-Whitewater,
Young Auditorium and Nasco Partnership
WHITEWATER – Earlier this week, Young Auditorium, UW-Whitewater Continuing Education, and
members of the art and educational sales teams from Nasco International, Inc. in Fort Atkinson
hosted the first of several “Lesson Planning Play-dates” on October 21st at the UW-Whitewater
University Center. The Play-dates are arts integration workshops offered for free to area teachers
with a goal of providing them with inspiration and an introduction to new arts education teaching tools.
Nasco provided the related materials and workshop hosts demonstrated some possible applications
to the session’s topic and its alignment with Common Core State Standards for teachers.
The Play-dates are a tactile component of Young Auditorium’s Reaching New Horizons-Arts
Integration in the Classroom professional development program for PreK-12 teachers. Reaching New
Horizons was developed as a result of being selected (along with the School District of Janesville) in
2010 to participate in The Partners in Education Program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in Washington D.C.
A total of 12 UW-Whitewater College of Education students attended the workshop led by Shannon
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Dozoryst, Director of Education & Outreach/Assistant Director of Young Auditorium, Linda Nortier,
Outreach Program Manager of UW-Whitewater’s Continuing Education department, and Kris Bakke,
Jordan Nelson, and Rhonda Hutchison from art and educational sales teams at Nasco.
The theme of the Play-date workshop on October 21st was “Observe, Infer, Inquire,” which was
directly related to the information shared at the first Young Auditorium Reaching New Horizons
(Kennedy Center) workshop held at Kennedy Elementary School in Janesville on October 6th. The
presenter was Jamin Carter of Focus 5, Inc. He led the workshop through his “Reading Portraits as
Biographies: Observe, Infer, Inquire” presentation for teachers of students in Grades 2-8.
The Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is
designed to assist arts organizations throughout the nation to develop or expand educational
partnerships with their local school systems. The primary purpose of these partnerships is to provide
professional learning in the arts for teachers. The Partners in Education program is based on the
belief that teachers’ professional learning is an essential component of any effort designed to
increase the artistic literacy of young people.
Arts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate
understanding through an art form. Young Auditorium’s Reaching New Horizons program addresses
Common Core Standards for teachers by focusing on arts integration - which demands creativity,
problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration and synthesis of ideas and concepts to create a final
product.
The purpose of the Kennedy Center’s and the Young Auditorium’s programs are to empower
teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to connect an art form (music, drama, dance, visual
art) with another subject area, such as math, science, social studies or reading. Teachers had time to
work with the instructional materials and plan lesson activities during the “Play-date” workshop.
There are still several Reaching New Horizons (Kennedy Center) workshops and Lesson Planning
Play-dates planned for the current school year. These opportunities are open to all teachers.
Information about any applicable fees and how to register is available online:

November 11, 2014: 4-7 p.m. “Movement Choreography to Manage Informational Text”
For teachers of Grades 2-8. www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/horizons/kennedy-center
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
November 20, 2014: 4:30-7 p.m. “Informational Text” Play-date Workshop (free)
www.uww.edu/ce/camps/workshops-training/nasco

March 3, 2015: 4-7 p.m. “Navigating the Emotional Worlds”
For teachers of Grades 6-12. www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/horizons/kennedy-center

March 7, 2015: 8:30-11 a.m. “Vocabulary & Emotional Expression” Play-date workshop (free)
www.uww.edu/ce/camps/workshops-training/nasco

April 13, 2015; 4-7 p.m. “Creating a Musical Story with Students”
For teachers of Grades 3-5. www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/horizons/kennedy-center

April 25, 2015: 8:30-11 a.m. “Music & Story” Play-date workshop (free)
Register online: www.uww.edu/ce/camps/workshops-training/nasco
Individuals may contact Shannon Dozoryst at (262) 472-1432 with any questions, or by email at
dozoryss@uww.edu.
The Young Auditorium serves as a presenting organization for the performing arts and as an
educational and cultural center enriching the lives of regional communities, offering a full season of
world-class performing arts presentations. The mission of the Horizons Matinee Series and related
outreach and educational programs are to support the curriculum of schools by providing culturally
diverse programs for K-12 students. This mission is accomplished through cultivating a lasting
appreciation of the performing arts among young people through performances and hands-on,
interactive outreach opportunities, offering culturally diverse programming that address the Common
Core curriculum, and supporting teachers through professional development opportunities in the arts.
To learn more, visit www.uww.edu/YoungAuditorium or follow us at www.Facebook.com/Young.Aud.
PHOTO CAPTION 1 (Kennedy Center 1): Special guest, Jamin Carter, with Focus 5, Inc. instructs
elementary school students how to “observe, infer and inquire” by looking at portraits during a Young
Auditorium Reaching New Horizons (Kennedy Center) Arts Integration in the Classroom workshop
held at Kennedy Elementary School in Janesville on Monday, October 6 th.
PHOTO CAPTION 2 (Teacher Playdate 2): Participants in the first of several “Lesson Planning Playdates” for teachers held on October 21st review instructional materials and discuss opportunities to
create new lesson plans for their classrooms using an arts integration approach. The “Play-dates” are
held at UW-Whitewater and hosted by Young Auditorium, UW-Whitewater Continuing Education, and
members of the arts and education sales teams at Nasco International, Inc.
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