24
Comm u n i ty H ap p en i n g s
This year the 250 participants will also
hear from four renowned keynote
speakers:
•
•
•
•
Natasha Trethewey: United States Poet
Laureate (2012 and 2014)
Antoine Hunter: Choreographer, Poet,
and Deaf Advocate
Eric Booth: Actor, Author, and Arts
Educator
Angelica Hairston, Founder and
Executive Director of Challenge the
Stats
Since its inception in 2014, The Woodruff Arts Center
Educator Conference has welcomed nearly 1,500
educators and related professionals. Many schools
have sent “teams” of teachers to the Educator
Conference. When participants attend as part of a
unified cohort, they have a transformative experience
that empowers them to move the needle on arts
education initiatives when they return to school.
Bianca Hamilton, Principal of DeKalb Elementary School
of the Arts (Avondale Estates, Georgia), has attended
every Educator Conference with a team of teachers
from her school and has continually credited the
Educator Conference for training and inspiring her
teachers to integrate the arts into their classrooms.
“The sessions at the Educator Conference have proven
that with more training and more instruction, the sky is
the limit for our students,” says Hamilton. “[The Educator
Conference] has been absolutely amazing. There is no
price tag that can be put on this experience.”
Ms. Hamilton will facilitate one of 50 breakout sessions
at this year’s Educator Conference. Breakout sessions
explore an array of topics, including Arts Integration,
STEAM, Performing Arts Instruction, Early Childhood
Education and Inclusion. One highlight from this
year’s offerings is “WANTED: Problem Solvers with
Moves” with Laurin Dunleavy, an Atlanta-based
dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist. In this
two-hour breakout session, teachers will experience
a classroom-based “Escape Room,” or a game in
which participants must solve a series of puzzles
to achieve the provided objective. In the breakout
session, participants will use dance, math, and
historical knowledge and build problem-solving,
communication, and teamwork skills. Teachers will
also brainst orm their own in-class escape room in any
content area.
25
Imagine again that you are that seventh grade English
teacher. Over the past three days, you reimagined
classic literature using drama. You met administrators
from Georgia’s first STEAM-certified school and
identified strategies to apply to your own practice.
You considered how our earliest learners can be
“Little Scientists.” You watched a performance of the
Alliance’s production of Winnie-the-Pooh and spoke
directly with the play’s creative team, gaining insights
into her creative process.
As you head home from the Educator Conference, and
towards the remainder of your summer, you think to
yourself: “I feel renewed and inspired. This experience
has filled my void of hope after giving so much all year
long to others.”
In c it e / In sig h t
C o m m u n i t y Ha ppe n i n gs
Liz Davis serves as Manager of Education
Services at The Woodruff Arts Center. In
this role, she utilizes her experience in arts
education administration and classroom
instruction to support collaborative
education initiatives across the Woodruff
Arts Center Arts Partners: the Alliance
Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,
and the High Museum of Art. Additionally,
she oversees secondary in-school
programming offered by the Alliance
Theatre Institute.
Originally from Princeton Junction, New
Jersey, Liz’s second home is Washington,
DC. She holds degrees from The George
Washington University (BA, English) and
the University of Maryland, College Park
(M.Ed, Secondary Education, English).
Her professional background includes
experience as a program administrator in
the Education Department at the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as
well as several years teaching English and
Special Education in DC area schools.
Her family (husband: Brian, daughter: Riley,
and pup: Peach) resides in Grant Park.
Teachers creating tableaux during Bianca Hamilton’s breakout session at
the 2017 Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference
To find out more about
The Annual Woodruff Arts
Center Educator
Conference, visit:
www.woodruffcenter.org/
programs/educator-
conference/
Rebecca Pogue serves as Institute
Program Manager at the Alliance Theatre,
Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
She facilitates the design, administration,
and delivery of arts integrated in-school
residency programs for grades 1-5 and
leads professional learning workshops for
teachers.
Rebecca has been recognized as an
Arts Leader of Metro Atlanta (2016) and
received the 2014 Nonprofit Leader 30
Under 30 Award from the Georgia Center
for Nonprofits and the Young Non-Profit
Professionals Network. An Atlanta native,
she previously worked as a Program
Coordinator with Arts for Learning,
Woodruff Arts Center (formerly Young
Audiences) and a Development Intern
with the Center for Puppetry Arts. She will
graduate in August from with a Masters
in Arts Administration from the University
of Kentucky and earned a Bachelor of
Fine Arts in Dance from the University
of Georgia with honors. In her free time,
Rebecca enjoys taking dance classes in
the Atlanta community and loves cheering
on her beloved Georgia Bulldogs in
Sanford Stadium.
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