http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/making-difference-be-civil-be-heard_41435.mp3
MAKING A DIFFERENCE WHERE YOU LIVE: AIR DATE 17 JULY, 2012
As outside temperatures soared to triple digits one recent afternoon, inside the Creamery Arts Center and Jordan Valley Park, a group of K-4thgrade age kids learn some of the finer points of Ballet..(SOUND: As recorded piano music plays in the background, a Ballet teacher instructs kids: “Let’s try and do marches backwards, so nice high knees, and look straight ahead”…) This class is taught by members of the Springfield Ballet, and is but one of many arts oriented sessions included in the 11thannual Arts in the Park Summer Workshops Program, sponsored by the Springfield Regional Arts Council.
Stephanie Cramer is Director of Programs and Exhibitions for the SRAC, and oversees Arts in the Park: “We have an average of 70 kids in here each day. About 86% are African American, and 70% are girls. Most of them go to Springfield Public Schools, and nearly all of them are on the free or reduced lunch program. Each week of the 8 week program, Arts in the Park offers children different local arts groups who instruct them. This gives them the opportunity to hear and learn about Springfield Regional Opera, the Springfield Symphony, Springfield Ballet, Springfield Little Theatre, The Moxie Cinema, and Springfield Pottery. The kids have also excelled at spoken word poetry, and if it weren’t for Arts in the Park, these children wouldn’t normally have the resources to have lessons by those different organizations.”
Last year the SRAC added a new dimension to Arts in the Park: Social interaction and civility training based on 10 tenets of civility from the Be Civil Be Heard project. This year, with help from a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, the SRAC, in cooperation with the School of Professional Psychology at the Forest Institute, is not only implementing Be Civil Be Heard, but is assessing and analyzing it too. Brian Fogle is President and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks: “One of the things that caught the eyes of the grants committee, was the evaluative process, looking at and evaluating this. Our Innovation Grants last spring were just for projects like this. Innovative; different; and collaborative. Trying to address something in the community, but perhaps not your typical initiative, but we think this was perfect for it, and from all things I’ve heard it’s working and we’re seeing better behavior.”
Dr. Glenna Weis agrees: “Yes it’s working!” Gelnna Weis is a clinical psychologist and coordinator of the Child and Adolescent Program at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield Missouri. “We put together and observational check list. Created some reliability for the check list, and then what we’re doing is twice a week, I have students using the check list to measure civility behaviors occurring in the group.”
The observational check list used by the Forest Institute doctoral students and by a Missouri State University Graduate student working for the SRAC, is based on Be Civil Be Heard’s 10 Tenets of Civility: Be attentive; Acknowledge Others; Be Inclusive; Listen; Speak Out with Courage; Respect Other Views; Act With Compassion; Give and Accept Constructive Feedback; Treat Your Environment with Respect; and Be Accountable.
Elizabeth Brooks is a 2ndyear graduate student of the MBA program at Missouri State University. This summer she works for the SRAC and Stephanie Cramer, as an Arts in the Park Intern: “I observe the students interactions with each other and with the teachers. I also interact with them as well, and they all know me as “Miss Elizabeth”. I’m looking at the grade level expectations each week, and for example at Springfield Little Theatre, I look at how they sit during a performance, are they attentive, are they respectful. Do they interact with the performers. I look at facial expressions and see if they react at the correct parts. Do they laugh when it’s funny, that sort of thing. I record all of that and grade them weak, average or exceptional.”
The 10 Tenets of Civility are worked into the arts lessons each week of Arts in the Park, and when a student’s civil behavior is observed, he or she is rewarded with a colorful “Badge Of Honor” metal tag imprinted with the tenet corresponding to the behavior. Jourdyn McKinney is in her 3rdyear of Arts in the Park, and this year will enter the 3rdgrade at Sunshine Elementary in Springfield. Jourdyn had earned several “Badges of Honor” for civility this summer including Be Inclusive, Be Attentive, and Speak Out With Courage. Jourdyn McKinney wants to be a veterinarian some day and now, even at the tender age of 8, realizes how the Arts in the Park program, combined with Be Civil Be Heard, will help her in the future: “ You don’t have to feel nervous about what you’re doing here because when you grow up you’ll already know how to respect and treat others. If you treat others the way you want to be treated, they’ll treat you back with respect.”
For more information on the SRAC, springfieldarts.org. To learn more about the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, cfozarks.org.
For KSMU and Making a Difference Where You Live, I’m Mike Smith.