Integrated Teaching Through the Arts

Susan Fisher has over 40 years’ experience as a visual artist and arts educator. An accomplished ceramic sculptor, photographer, and calligrapher, she is actively involved in art making, and exhibits regularly. She finds that staying involved in the creative process is vital to her work as an arts educator. At Lesley, Susan serves as an adjunct faculty and faculty academic advisor, and teaches courses in visual art, art education, and strategies for integrating the arts with students of all abilities. She is also adjunct faculty at Worcester State University, where she teaches courses in studio art and art education. 

Susan weaves theory and practice into all of her integrative arts courses. She has been the recipient of multiple Massachusetts Cultural Council STARS grants to fund an Artist in Residency program at Columbus Park School in Worcester, MA, which links literacy with the art making process for all learners. She has a strong background in working with students of all abilities in inclusive settings.

She worked as an artist in residence, trainer, author and coordinator for VSA arts Massachusetts. In her career as an arts educator, she has worked to make the arts accessible for students of all ages and abilities. She has spent many years in schools across Massachusetts as an artist educator and as a consultant and professional development trainer to support artists, teachers, parents, and administrators learn about the power of the arts in education and the possibilities that arts integration offers for all students to experience success. Susan is a contributing author to Integrating the Arts Across Content Areas.

Education: BA, Clark University (Studio Art), M.Ed. from Clark University (Art Education)

Jennifer teaches in the Integrated Teaching Through the Arts and literacy programs at Lesley. She teaches The Language of Poetry and The Teaching of Writing K-12. For nearly two decades, Jennifer taught elementary school (grades one through five) and received the honor of Teacher of the Year as a first grade teacher. She is also a former literacy coach and served on the Maine State Literacy Team. As a published author for Shell Education, Teacher Created Materials, and Penguin/Random House, she writes books, articles, and educator guides for teachers. Jennifer has presented for professional organizations including the National Council of Teachers of English and the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative.

Jennifer's doctoral research focused on transitional readers, specifically the sociology of families, reading pedagogy, and family and school engagement. She is known for her passion for teaching writing and instilling a love of writing in students of all ages.

Education

M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, Specialization in Language, Reading, and Writing, Lesley University
PhD in Educational Studies, Lesley University

Maureen Creegan-Quinquis is department chair for the STEAM programs in the Graduate School of Education. She is also the director of the Master of Education in Teacher of Visual Arts licensure programs and the arts in education programs. She works in painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and digital. Her work appears on the covers of "Sites," a French journal published by Routledge-Taylor & Francis. Maureen exhibits at a variety of galleries. Most recent exhibits include Boston Drawing Collaborative at the Bernard Toale Gallery and Ward Nasse Gallery in New York.

In July 2021, the Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) named Maureen their newly elected President-Elect. This six year position typically includes a two year position as President-Elect, a two year position as President, and a two year position as Past President. Maureen is stepping into the President-Elect role with just over five months left and will be the President of MAEA as of January 1, 2022.

July 2017: Presenter at Creativity at the Core Summer Institute, California County Superintendents Education Services Association. Exploring Text through Visual Arts and Poetry

Maureen weighs in on how to prevent bullying in schools.

Education

PhD, Lesley University
MFA, Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts
M.Ed., Endicott College

Melissa Kwasny is the author of six books of poetry, as well as a collection of essays on art and poetics. She is also the editor of two anthologies, Toward the Open Field: Poets on the Art of Poetry 1800-1950 and I Go to the Ruined Place: Contemporary Poets in Defense of Global Human Rights. She teaches off campus in Lesley University’s Integrated Teaching through the Arts M.Ed. program, for which, since 2000, she travels to teachers throughout the West, helping them learn to use poetry writing as a powerful language for student expression as well as a creative tool for deeper understanding in all subjects.

Education

M.F.A. in Poetry, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
M.A. in Literature, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana

A theater artist and arts-based researcher, Dr. Donovan teaches arts integration, action research, and arts-based literacy courses. She has broad experience working as an arts educator and administrator in organizations that include Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Berkshire Opera Company, University of Massachusetts' Department of Theater, and Boston University's Theater, Visual Arts and Tanglewood Institutes. She was formerly Executive Director of the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education. She is co-principal investigator of the Integrated Teaching through the Arts Assessment project funded by the Ford Foundation. Dr. Donovan was previously the director of the Graduate School of Education's arts in education programs. She is currently professor in the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Education

BA, State University of New York, Oneonta
MS, Boston University
PhD, Lesley University

Christina Burress is an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University, where she teaches Language of Poetry in the Curriculum and Instruction: Integrated Teaching Through the Arts program. She is also a full-time literature teacher and chair at The Grauer School, an independent college preparatory school, where she gets to practice her passion first hand: integrating arts in the curriculum. In addition, she teaches poetry as an adjunct faculty at U.C.S.D. Extension. In July 2017, Boston Ivy Global invited her to represent Lesley University as a professional development lead instructor to teach arts integration to seventy K-12 English teachers from Daxing school district in China. She has most recently published pieces in the San Diego Poetry Annual. Christina lives in San Diego, California.

Education

BA in Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley
MFA in Creative Writing, Naropa University

Kim Silbaugh has been a teacher since 1980. She currently is an adjunct instructor for Lesley University in arts integration and Western Colorado State University in the areas of research and curriculum and instruction. Kim has presented at national conferences, consulted with school districts on technology and arts integration, received awards for excellence in education, as well as being a recipient of the Power of Art awarded by Robert Rauschenberg. She has been involved with the Kennedy Center teaching artist program, participated in an internship in Ravenna, Italy, doing mosaics, and has been accepted into juried shows for her steel and glass sculptures. Kim believes the arts are a natural pairing with other curricular areas of study and has taught several STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) residencies.

Education

BS in Art Education, Drake University
M.Ed. in Technology in Education, Lesley University
PhD in Education Leadership with an emphasis on technology, Breyer State University

“Teaching is a performative act. And it is that aspect of our work that offers the space for change, invention, spontaneous shifts, that can serve as a catalyst drawing out the unique elements in each classroom. To embrace the performative aspect of teaching we are compelled to engage “audiences”, to consider issues of reciprocity. Yet it is meant to serve as a catalyst that calls everyone to become more and more engaged, to become active participants in learning”  From Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks.

My teaching, research, and artwork include video, arts-based research, stop motion animation, ‘zines, performance, sound, and new media. As an educator, I am deeply interested in fostering the creative space that occurs during the process of making an artwork. Throughout the process of teaching a class, I want to make the classroom a center of dialogue, discourse, discussion. I also want it to be a place where students can feel free to experiment in both form and content. I am very interested in the intersection of art and ecology, as well as crossing interdisciplinary boundaries. 

Sam teaches in the M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, Integrated Teaching through the Arts program at Lesley.

Video Portfolio

• https://vimeo.com/channels/smileyvids
• https://vimeo.com/channels/invaders
• http://astrodime.org
• http://virtualberet.com

Education

MFA in Integrated Electronic Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, studio arts
BFA, Studio for Interrelated Media, Massachusetts College of Art (graduated with distinction)
Additional Certifications: TEFL Certification, International Teacher Training Organization, Guadalajara, Mexico
Teaching English through Technology, International Teacher Training Organization

A professional storyteller for 4 decades, Margaret (Meg) Lippert is the author of 22 award-winning books of multicultural folk tales, including four co-authored with Liberian storyteller Won-Ldy Paye: Why Leopard Has Spots (Illustrated By Ashley Bryan), Head Body Legs, Mrs. Chicken and The Hungry Crocodile, and The Talking Vegetables (illustrated by Julie Paschkis). A former classroom teacher and professor of children’s literature at Teachers College Columbia University, she has taught Cultural History through Storytelling to Lesley University students since 2006.

For 7 years she served as a national faculty member, mentoring 11 storytelling instructors. In addition to founding her own elementary school, she has taught elementary through high school students in public and independent schools and has served as Folklore Consultant for Macmillan Publishing Company’s School Division. Meg has traveled coast to coast (and to Alaska and Hawaii) teaching and telling stories in the United States and has performed in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

Her website www.StoryPower.net describes her storytelling performances and workshops. Meg lives on Mercer Island, Washington, with her husband, a story listener. Meg believes that teaching through storytelling gives students powerful opportunities for building community, creating meaning, deepening learning, and having fun. Meg wants everyone, including students, to know the joy of hearing, reading, learning, and telling stories.

Education

BA, English Literature and Fine Arts, Swarthmore College
MA in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Ed.D. with specialization in curriculum development and teacher education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Dawn Kolakoski is an adjunct professor in the Creative Arts in Learning programs in the Graduate School of Education, where she has taught since 2003. She has experience as an elementary music teacher, choir director and organist, music studio owner, national trainer for teachers in music and art, professor and department chair of a large undergraduate teacher education program, and most recently, as Director of Online Instruction at Northern Virginia Community College near Washington, D.C.

She has been teaching teachers for over 30 years. Her interests include integrating the arts into the classroom, curriculum development, mentoring beginning teachers, early childhood education, educational leadership, and online instruction. She teaches the courses Multiple Perspectives through Music; Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; and Educator Inquiry: Seminar and Thesis Project. 

Education

B.S.,The College of St. Rose—Music Education
M.S.Ed.,The College of St. Rose—Music Education
M.Ed., The College of St. Rose—Early Childhood Education.
Ed.D., Nova Southeastern University—Curriculum Development and Systemic Change