Teachers See How to Bring Exhibit to Life for Students

Escondido teacher Carol Shuffelton learned how to use a Russian folk tale like “Peter and the Wolf” not only to enrich the reading of her Miller Elementary School students but their music and understanding of theater as well.

Linda Rasmussen from Sundance Elementary in Poway ran through a hands-on approach to learning basic Soviet vocabulary, an approach that included bingo and dance, from Soviet arts consultant Tatiana Popova.

Ideas for History Classes

Janice Allen and Diana Groff from the Cajon Valley elementary district maneuvered small blocks of petroleum wax into crowns and other shapes preparatory for pewter casting into a mock Russian Imperial seal, although their first efforts only hinted at the ornate designs shown by seminar instructor Carol Lockwood, an arts teacher at Grossmont High School.

Warrene Dawson of Muirlands Junior High and Gwendolyn Ickstadt of University City High picked up ideas for their history classes from social-studies

resource specialist David Vigilante, who described the changing Soviet interpretations of dictator Josef Stalin and the way America has viewed the 1917 Russian Revolution through film.

There were more suggestions and models Saturday for how to bring next month’s Soviet arts festival into county classrooms than teachers could ever hope to use. The daylong curriculum fair was sponsored by the County Office of Education and will be followed by separate workshops in the next couple of weeks by the education committee of the San Diego Arts Festival, which is sponsoring the three-week-long exhibition.

The teachers on Saturday plunged enthusiastically into the various seminars and lessons, putting aside the dispute among some arts educators over what emphasis to take with the materials. The dispute has led to competing curriculum guides and workshops.

Miller Elementary principal Judith Adams sent seven teachers to the event.

“It’s great to be able to pick and choose out of so many quality ideas,” Miller teacher Paul Scull said. “For example, our third-graders will be visiting the Faberge Egg exhibit so with them we probably will concentrate on their history and way the eggs were made.”

Newsletter Planned

Scull said the entire school is involved in integrating the Soviet festival into its curriculum “and that will include a weekly newsletter to parents,” teacher Paula Scull said. Although the information has already brought offers from some parents to help with transportation to museums, the newsletter also is intended to help avoid problems with parents who might see the festival as promoting Soviet political goals.

Russian art expert Roberta Shaw showed slides of icons and other artifacts that will be displayed during the festival, explaining their cultural and historical background. For example, the famous Church of the Assumption inside the Kremlin is a major part of the scenery in the opera “Boris Godunov” to be staged by the San Diego Opera. The church is where all the czars were crowned, Shaw explained.

“And in Soviet churches, there are no pews . . . people stand.”

The teachers took note as Shaw displayed slides depicting the work of Ivan III, also known as Ivan the Great, in rebuilding the Kremlin from a wooden fort into the stones and brick that exist today.

At Time of Columbus

“That was 500 years ago, about the time that Columbus was discovering America,” she said.

San Diego city school resource teachers Momiji Seligman and Mary Ellen O’Malley, who helped write the county’s Soviet Arts curriculum guide, said that any and all of the arts can be used to reinforce reading, writing, math and other basic skills.

Arts consultant Popova showed a group of teachers how to use music in teaching students about Soviet culture. After 10 minutes of vocabulary instruction, she led them in a rousing rendition of “Brat Ivan,” or Brother John, a universal song for elementary school children.

“And Russians often use percussion instruments when singing,” she said, “so find some wooden spoons to have children hit together and also some bells, either tone bells or sleigh bells.”