Wisconsin Arts Integration Symposium Speakers

Day 1 : SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2021

9:00 a.m. Welcome Address

Yorel Lashley

Position title: Director of Programs

Yorel Lashley is the Director of Programs for PLACE and the Director of Student Empowerment for the Center for Arts Education and Social and Emotional Learning. He is a developmental psychologist interested in self-efficacy and social-emotional learning in arts, academics, and integrated environments and is the Founder/Director of Drum Power. Drum Power uses learning West African Traditional, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban percussion to help young people develop and practice social-emotional skills—discipline, community, and leadership. The program has supported more than 3,900 young people from New York City, Denver, and Madison, Wisconsin to date. Lashley, who also provides professional development, created the Relationships First framework for building and maintaining healthy classroom culture, fully integrating academic content with social-emotional learning. Yorel is also a professional musician who trained with the Kankouran West African Dance Company in Washington, DC, and the Harbor Conservatory for the performing arts in Spanish Harlem and led bands in New York City.

9:15 a.m. KEYNOTE: We Gon’ Be Alright, But That Ain’t Alright: Abolitionist Teaching

Bettina L. Love

Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author and the Athletic Association Endowed Professor at the University of Georgia. Her writing, research, teaching, and activism meet at the intersection of race, education, abolition, and Black joy. In 2020, Love co-founded the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN). ATN’s mission is simple: develop and support teachers and parents to fight injustice within their schools and communities. Love is the author of “We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom” and “Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South.” Her work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including the English Journal, Urban Education, The Urban Review, and the Journal of LGBT Youth.

10:45 a.m. Shaping The Future of Arts Integration in Wisconsin

Erica Halverson

Position title: Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Mayor of Whoopensocker

Richard Halverson

Position title: Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis

Richard Halverson is the Associate Dean for Innovation, Outreach, and Partnerships and Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education. He oversees the School of Education’s work in developing innovative programs and professional learning opportunities. His research aims to bring the methods and practices of the Learning Sciences to the world of educational leadership and interactive media. Dr. Halverson is the founder of the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning project (CALL), and was a co-founder and co-director the Games + Learning + Society Research Center. He is a former high school teacher and administrator. Dr. Halverson earned a master’s degree in philosophy and a doctorate in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University. He is co-author, with Allan Collins, of “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America” and “Mapping Leadership: The Tasks that Matter for Improving Teaching and Learning in Schools,” co-authored with Carolyn Kelley.

10:45 a.m. Brain Dance: A Movement Tool for the Brain & Body

Mary Patterson

Position title: Outreach Specialist

Mary Lynn Patterson graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison Dance Department with a bachelor of fine arts degree before going on to earn a master of fine arts degrees in dance/movement therapy and counseling from Drexel University. She is a practicing dance/movement therapist, educator, and artist. A former company member of Philadanco, Patterson performed works by Rennie Harris, George Faison, and Talley Beatty. As a dance artist, she has performed across the country and internationally on concert and pop music stages from the Kennedy Center to Madison Square Garden. Mary is in her third year of programming as a dance/movement therapist and outreach specialist for Performing Ourselves.

10:45 a.m. Following the Story Path

Terry Kerr

Terry Kerr is an actress, director, and Teaching Artist for Overture Center Residencies as well as Disney Musicals in Schools. She has taught theater skills to a range of students from elementary school up to master of architecture students at the School for Architecture at Taliesin. A member of the inaugural acting company at American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin, she performed with the company for twelve seasons in works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Moliere, and Marlow. She has directed traditional plays and created original devised works with students. Terry has created and directed outreach programs at Children’s Theater of Madison, First Act Children’s Theater, and the Wisconsin Film Festival. Kerr’s residencies focus on empathy, collaboration, and presentation skills.

1:30 p.m. Hip Hop and Social Justice Learning

Johnathan Tunstall

Jonathan Tunstall is an educator, hip hop artist, and doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Tunstall previously taught middle school social studies for eight years in Harlem, New York. During his time as an educator, Tunstall focused on creating culturally relevant pedagogy through arts integration, specifically using hip hop and spoken word as counter narratives. He currently serves as a teaching artist with Whoopensocker while working on his Ph.D. in hip hop education.

1:30 p.m. Developmental Rhythms: Understanding Children, Understanding Ourselves

Suzanne Hastie

Suzanne Hastie, MA, BC-DMT, NCC, LPC, is an experienced therapist and educator in Pennsylvania. She works with children, adolescents, and adults, both individually and in groups. Hastie is skilled in Child/Adolescent Therapy, Dance/Movement Therapy, and Expressive Arts Therapies. She is an expert in the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP), a psychological and personality assessment based entirely on the nonverbal. Hastie teaches, publishes, and offers clinical services guided by the KMP as an assessment tool and provides graduate-level courses, both face to face and in distance learning formats, integrating vast clinical skills to enrich teaching. In 2018, she was a major contributor to the foundational text on the KMP, “The Meaning of Movement: Embodied Developmental, Clinical, and Cultural Perspectives of the Kestenberg Movement Profile.”

1:30 p.m. Building Equity, Access, and Community Through Artistic Partnerships

Theresa Felton

Terri Felton is a music educator in the Madison Metropolitan School District, where she currently teaches beginning orchestra at four elementary schools. She actively works to provide access to meaningful musical experiences for all students, and she firmly believes that every child has the right to study a musical instrument, regardless of their circumstance. She previously served on the executive board for the Wisconsin Music Educators Association and is an active coach and adjudicator for the Wisconsin School Music Association.

1:30 p.m. How to Plan a Culturally Relevant “Day of the Dead” Celebration

Araceli Esparza

Araceli Esparza, a graduate of Hamline University’s master of fine arts program in children’s literature, writes bilingual-bicultural picture books and poetry. She is a four-time YWCA Racial Justice Facilitator, a graduate of Overture’s Kennedy Center of the Arts teaching artist training, and has led several artist residencies at community centers and non-profit retreats. She also serves as a consultant and speaker. Esparza has led several bilingual storytime events at local libraries and has been featured several times on Wisconsin Public Radio. She also served as a bilingual substitute teacher for close to five years in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

1:30 p.m. Sidewalk Surprises: Artful Outdoor Play Supporting Classroom Learning

Kia Karlen

Kia Karlen, Director of Education at Madison Children’s Museum, has worked in the field of informal museum education for 28 years. Karlen oversees the museum’s education programming, visitor engagement, and community outreach, all within a uniquely local arts-rich environment. Karlen serves in a leadership role on several Madison-area boards and advisory committees, including the Madison Arts Commission, Any Given Child Madison, and the University of Wisconsin’s Adult Role Models in Science. During non-pandemic times, Karlen can also be found performing with a diverse lineup of local musical ensembles and working with local music education initiatives.

1:30 p.m. Theatre Games, Improvisation, and Story Adaptation in a Virtual World

UW COMMUNITY ARTS COLLABORATORY Whoopensocker

Whoopensocker is an education residency focused on creativity, expression, writing, and collaboration. It is also a dynamic community-building experience for the whole class. Whoopensocker’s ensemble of teaching artists bring in a toolbox of new ideas to the classroom. They use performing and creative arts to design innovative classroom experiences. The focus of the Whoopensocker residency is self-empowerment of students. Whoopensocker’s six-week residency is ideal for elementary schools. Dr. Erica Rosenfeld Halverson developed Whoopensocker in partnership with Theatre LILA. Halverson is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UW–Madison’s School of Education.

Day 2: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2021

1:30 p.m. Building Your Fully Integrated SEL Classroom for Youth Empowerment

Yorel Lashley

Position title: Director of Programs

Yorel Lashley is the Director of Programs for PLACE and the Director of Student Empowerment for the Center for Arts Education and Social and Emotional Learning. He is a developmental psychologist interested in self-efficacy and social-emotional learning in arts, academics, and integrated environments and is the Founder/Director of Drum Power. Drum Power uses learning West African Traditional, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban percussion to help young people develop and practice social-emotional skills—discipline, community, and leadership. The program has supported more than 3,900 young people from New York City, Denver, and Madison, Wisconsin to date. Lashley, who also provides professional development, created the Relationships First framework for building and maintaining healthy classroom culture, fully integrating academic content with social-emotional learning. Yorel is also a professional musician who trained with the Kankouran West African Dance Company in Washington, DC, and the Harbor Conservatory for the performing arts in Spanish Harlem and led bands in New York City.

1:30 p.m. Virtual Story Building: 3 Ways!

Jenna Grossman Spiers

Jenna Grossman Spiers is in her fourth season as the Education Associate at Children’s Theater of Madison. Jenna has a master of arts degree in theater education from Emerson College and a bachelor of arts degree in drama from Ithaca College. She has presented at arts education conferences nationally, including American Alliance for Theatre Education (AATE). Spiers is a teaching artist who has worked in school, theater, and community education settings across the country. She has worked with Portland Stage Company and Children’s Theater Company, among others. Spiers is an improviser and dramaturge in the Madison community.

1:30 p.m. Cinema Around

Gustavo Jardim

Gustavo Jardim is a filmmaker and educator based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He develops artistic, cultural, and social projects that explore different approaches in cinema and literature. He has received awards for his research process, experimentation, and artistic achievement from the Tiradentes Film Festival, contemporary art festival VideoBrasil, and Instant Video Marseille, among other festivals. He is a researcher with Poetics of Experience (UFMG) and has served as curator of the International Short Film Festival of Belo Horizonte for three years. He holds a master of education degree (UFMG) and a Ph.D. in cinema and media studies (UFMG and University of Chicago). Artistic residencies include Kooshk (Iran, 2016) and Guajajaras indigenous tribe (Brazil, 2017). He coordinates cinema and education programs and develops methodologies for the use of cinema in inclusive pedagogies with communities with high rates of social risk.

3:00 p.m. Teaching Music Virtually in an SEL-focused “Classroom”

Shawna Longo

Shawna E. Longo is the general music (music technology) teacher and arts integration specialist at Durban Avenue School, Hopatcong, New Jersey. She also serves as the arts integration and STEAM specialist for TMI Education; coach for The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM; and an ambassador/consultant for Music First, Hal Leonard, and Jamstik. With 20 years of teaching experience, Longo holds a bachelor of music education degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; a master of public administration degree in arts administration from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey; supervisor/curriculum director’s certification from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey; and certification as an arts integration specialist (level 1) as well as certification as an arts integration leader (level 2) from The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM. She is a clinician and consultant for music education, music technology, social emotional learning, arts integration, and STEAM. She is also a recipient of the 2019 Mike Kovins TI:ME Music Technology Teacher of the Year, 2019 New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education, 2019 TeachRock Star Teacher Award from The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, 2018 NJMEA Master Music Teacher Award, and 2016 Governor’s Educator of the Year for Hopatcong Middle School. Twitter: @shawnalongo

3:00 p.m. Culturally Responsive Music Teaching in Urban Schools

Chadijah Craig

Chadijah Craig is a motivational speaker, author, mentor, musician, and educator. Her name means “trustworthy” and “most-revered” or “highly-respected.” Craig is swiftly becoming known as a powerful force, inspiring educators and young adults with her candid yet insightful conversations across the nation. Showing audiences what it means to identify one’s purpose in life, Craig travels around the country to many school districts. She keeps students and teachers inspired by sharing her experience as an “unteachable student” to a now first-generation college graduate. Craig holds a masters degree in music performance. Her motto is, “Once you identify what your purpose is on Earth, therein lies the key to the door of EVERYTHING you could ever want or need.” She specializes in educational consulting work with high school and college students by giving paradigm-shifting presentations to show students how to be successful in and out the classroom.

3:00 p.m. Picture Books as a Vehicle for Exploring Disability Inclusion

Jill Jaworski

Jill Jaworski is the director of arts education at ARTS for ALL Wisconsin, where she coordinates statewide arts programming for individuals with disabilities. A former early childhood educator, she holds a master of science degree in special education from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. During her time at UW, she researched the psychological underpinnings of children’s prejudice toward peers with disabilities and explored the intersection of art and disability in interventions to increase understanding and empathy.