Artists, Teachers Spark Creativity

High school students in one St. Louis English class don't have to worry about writing persuasive essays, but they do have to figure out how to write persuasive public service announcements and record them on video.

More than 30 arts groups and St. Louis public schools have formed a coalition called Interchange to help teachers find relevant ways to reach their students, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The group matches art professionals, such as dancers, writers, filmmakers and poets, with a teacher. The pair creates a plan to defeat the students' resistance to learning basic skills in core subjects, such as reading, writing and math.

In the previously mentioned English class, for example, the students learn how persuasian and the media works, then they put that knowledge to practice. They create public service announcement topics, write scripts and shoot videos. Interchange hopes that integrating the arts into regular schools will improve students' achievement and the group's relationships with educators.

Programs like this one cost less than $1,500, which a grant from the Ford Foundation helps cover, and nine schools are currently incorporating them into their classrooms.

For the complete story, visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.