Arts-integrated learning is incredibly moving for students. In theatre artist Michele Minnick’s programs, we mean that literally! As an Arts for Learning teaching artist for more than six years, Michele provides arts-integrated experiences in a variety of subjects through a simple yet powerful idea: movement.

“When students engage with their bodies and emotions, it gets their brains going,” she explains. “They become more open and able to engage with the ideas. It also stimulates social emotional learning, which is essential for students in and beyond the classroom.”

In her classroom programs, Michele collaborates with teachers to craft a creative, movement-based experience that relates to the curriculum and resonates with students through the many elements of theatre. Students learn to depict emotions such as anger, fear, love, surprise, and courage by creating shapes and tableaus with their bodies.

While exploring the science of bees, a 2nd-grade class at Lakeland Elementary in West Baltimore got on their feet and imitated the movement (and emotions!) of bees to enhance their study of pollination–all led by one of Michele’s invented characters, Ms. Buzziworth! In another class, Michele guided third graders as they performed a play based on the book How Many Days–a story of immigrants coming to the United States on a boat. In the process, students saw how text can be adapted for theatrical purposes while improving their reading fluency in the process.

One look into a classroom where Michele is working illustrates the impact: students cry out with delight when she arrives. “I regularly see typically shy students come out of their shells and participate. Their joy, enthusiasm, and excitement about making discoveries is so infectious and fulfilling.”

That joy and curiosity inspires Michele’s work outside of the classroom, where she works as a curator, director, educator, and performer. Most recently, Michele has incorporated that influence into Vital Matters, an interdisciplinary laboratory for change that produces arts-based events addressing climate and environmental justice. Vital Matters directly relates to her work in the classroom.

The central emotional tone of Michele’s work is joy, vitality, and connection. When engaging in topics like climate, or science lessons in the classroom through creative practice, it opens the heart. It surprises participants–old or young–at how fun and joyful the process can be–even with serious topics. That’s what creativity can do!

View Michele’s Program Offerings