The Arts in Action: Stacey Keffeler on Weaving Standards with Arts
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
When Stacey Keffeler first stepped into sixth-grade teaching, she never imagined middle school would become her professional home. Twenty-one years later, she's not just teaching—she's revolutionizing learning through artistic expression. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: How Rae Cooper is Reimagining Education Through Arts at Lowell Elementary School
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
Principal Rae Cooper is leading a quiet revolution in education—one where paintbrushes, dance moves, and creative expression become powerful learning tools. With 74% of her students on free and reduced lunch, Cooper sees arts integration not just as an educational strategy, but as a gateway to opportunity. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Maria Ahnen Weaving the Arts in Special Education
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
In a special education classroom at Lowell Elementary in Missoula, Montana, learning looks a little different. On any given day, students might be performing a readers theater script built from their fluency lessons or using Tableau to explore character development in a novel. These methods aren’t add-ons or enrichment—they’re central to how Maria Anne teaches. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: How Lindsay Bixler Reshapes Learning Through Art
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
In the corner of an eighth-grade science classroom, a student carefully etches a personal symbol into a pendant—a cross, a soccer ball, a representation of identity transformed into a learning tool. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Harmony in Learning Math with Kristin Zschaechner
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
In the bustling halls of Russell School in Missoula, Montana, Kristin Zschaechner orchestrates learning differently. With 18 years of teaching experience, she has discovered that music is more than an art form—it's a dynamic educational tool that transforms how students understand complex concepts. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Mary Beth Jourdonnais on arts integration best practices in her classroom at the TEACH Academy
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
Like any typical morning at the TEACH Academy, energy filled the halls before students filed into their respective classrooms. Inside MaryBeth Jourdonnais classroom, the kindergarten teacher at the newly opened Missoula charter school, 15 students wiggled into their spots on the colorful rug. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Dancing Through Learning with Jordan Dehline Burt
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
Jordan Dehline Burt has been in the dance studio almost her whole life. But it wasn’t until a decade and a half ago that she made a career teaching with the skills she’s learned. One of nine dance teaching artists at SPARK! Arts, Burt has had residencies at nearly every school in the Missoula County Public School District teaching art standards through dance movements. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Mindy Hammitt on Social Studies using Shadow Puppets
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
After four days of prepping their large poster boards to display a shadowed screen and rehearsing their scripts, 7th graders in Mindy Hammitt’s social studies class at C.S. Porter Middle School, gather around their peers as the lights dim to listen to stories of West African folktales. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Kinza Cusic Combining the Arts in her 2nd Grade Classroom
Spring 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
Nearly two dozen students in Kinza Cusic’s 2nd grade classroom wiggle in their seats as Cusic, teacher at Missoula’s Lowell Elementary School, goes over the “bossy R” vowel in the morning’s ELA lesson. Link to full article!
The Arts in Action: Jennifer Molloy Using the Arts for Reading, Math
January 2024 - Article Written By Melissa Dickson
The classroom sits tucked away in the corner of a pod in Russell Elementary School, lit with warm string lights and the smell of sweet vanilla where it’s no exception to the whirlwind of energy illustrative of a second-grade classroom. Jennifer Molloy settles into the chaos, bringing each student to her attention. It’s a process she’s got nailed down after 27 years. Link to full article!
EDUCATION HELPS GROW ARTS ECOSYSTEM
September 12, 2021 - Missoulian
Missoula is a thriving ecosystem of the arts that interconnects, never ends, replenishes, and contributes to the health and vibrancy of our community, creating a lifeline to the heart of who we are and what we value. Link to full article!
Transformative Power of the Arts
September 16, 2020 – Missoulian
Sept. 13-19 marks National Arts in Education Week, a celebration designated by Congress and led by Americans for the Arts. This week recognizes the transformative power of the arts in education and to support equitable access to the arts for all students. Link to full guest column.
Arts and Education: Missoula class combines physics and theater
March 5, 2020 – KPAX
MISSOULA — We recently headed over to Chief Charlo Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where students were getting a unique look at a sometimes difficult subject. Link to full story!
600+ sixth graders attend special screening at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
February 20, 2020 – ABC FOX Montana
MISSOULA – Hundreds of sixth graders arrived at The Wilma Theatre on Thursday morning for a special educational screening with the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (BSDFF). Link to full story!
Arts and Education: A new way to learn about the weather
February 20, 2020 – KPAX
MISSOULA — We headed over to Franklin Elementary School for a different take on learning about weather for this Arts and Education report. Link to full story!
Drumming helping Missoula students learn life lessons
February 13, 2020 – KPAX
MISSOULA — We headed over to Missoula’s Rattlesnake Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where the kids there are moving to the beat of their own drum. Link to full story!
Dance and PE class come together at Missoula Middle School
February 6, 2020 – KPAX
MISSOULA — SAPRK! Art Missoula has teamed up with CS Porter Middle School for a different take on everyone’s favorite class – PE. Link to full story!
Arts and Education: Missoula students learning about filmmaking
January 30, 2020 – KPAX
MISSOULA — We headed over to CM Russell Elementary School for this Arts and Education Report where some students are using their newly acquired skills to make and star in their own movie. Link to full article and video!
Arts and Education: Teaching history through art
January 23, 2020 – KPAX
MISSOULA — MISSOULA — We’re taking a look at a class where art and history come together for this Arts and Education report. Link to full article and video!
Arts and Education: Rattlesnake students learning science through dance
December 5, 2019 – KPAX
MISSOULA — We headed over to Rattlesnake Elementary School for this Arts and Education report to see how kids are learning science through dance. Link to full article.
‘Tell Us Something’ teaches middle schoolers empathy through storytelling
November 27, 2019 – Missoulian
MISSOULA — Everyone has a story to tell, but it’s the way it’s told that makes listeners follow along and feel like they’re a part of it. Link to full article.
Arts and Education: Supaman bring unique message to Missoula
October 17, 2019 – KPAX
MISSOULA — This edition of Arts and Education takes a look at a special event where kids are learning all about art, diversity and culture in Missoula. Link to full article.
Arts and Education: MCPS marks Arts Appreciate Week
October 10, 2019 – KPAX
MISSOULA — Arts Appreciate Week in Missoula wanted to acknowledge more than just art and theatre. For the actors who visited Missoula from around the country, it was about fostering a love of expression that should begin at a young age.Link to full article.
Arts and Education: A new way to look at science
October 3, 2019 – KPAX
MISSOULA — We headed over to Lewis and Clark Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where they are focusing in a whole new way on science. Link to full article.
Arts and Education: A look at the SPARK! Arts initiative
September 26, 2019 – KPAX
MISSOULA — This marks the first installment of our school year segment Arts and Education. It’s a time where we take you behind the scenes to show you just how the arts are being used to further education in our schools. Link to Full Article
Math, science and dance come together at a local Missoula Elementary School.
May 27, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – Students at Paxson Elementary School are learning that math, science and dance all go hand in hand.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Missoula students learning spanish in a unique way
May 16, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Paxson Elementary School in this week’s Arts and Education to get a look at their unique ways of learning a second language.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Dancing and Learning about Science
May 9, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over the Missoula’s Franklin Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where the sciences are being learned — but not in the usual way.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Missoula students learning math in a unique way
April 25, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Hawthorne Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where kids are learning math in some very unique ways.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Combining science and dance at Rattlesnake Elementary School
April 18, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Rattlesnake Elementary School for this Arts & Education report where students are learning science through dance.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Missoula students learning to move with the beat
April 11, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Rattlesnake Elementary School for this week’s Arts and Education report where students are learning to move with the beat.” Link to Full Article
Artists, creatives and supporters honored at annual Missoula awards
April 9, 2019 – Missoulian
“A Salish contemporary artist, a retiring schools superintendent, a storytelling advocate, an arts philanthropist and a theater educator were all honored on Tuesday.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Missoula students making movie documentary
April 4, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Meadow Hill Middle School for this Arts and Education report where the seventh grade class is working on a project that will get them in front of the big screen.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Bat Honey entertains Missoula students
March 21, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Paxson Elementary School where the kindergarten class is learning some very valuable lessons in a unique way.” Link to Full Article
Arts and Education: Laughter is the Best Medicine
March 14, 2019 – KPAX
“MISSOULA – We headed over to Jeannette Rankin Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where students there are learning that laughter really is the best medicine.” Link to Full Article
6th graders take over Big Sky Documentary Film Festival for educational program
February 20, 2019 – KTMF
“MISSOULA – The 16th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival saw a boost in attendance Tuesday, when hundreds of 6th graders took over MCT.” Link to Full Article