Tuesday, July 11
Arts Integration with Specialty Classes: From ESE to ESOL
Edna M. Bland
Edna M. Bland is a certified educator, arts integration specialist and teaching artist in theatre and puppetry arts who has honed her skills at The Kennedy Center’s CETA and VSA programs, Lincoln Center Education at The Juilliard School’s Teaching Artist program, and the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, England.
As a professional puppeteer, she was mentored by Carroll Spinney, “Big Bird” and Dr. Loretta Long “Susan” of Sesame Street. She toured with Dr. Long with her original puppets promoting reading literacy. She was also a puppeteer for Jane Henson’s Nativity for two seasons.
Edna is one of the only professional African American female puppeteers in the country. She along with others was a guest artist at the Ballard Institute and Museum’s Living Objects: African American Puppetry Exhibition at the University of Connecticut.
She is an arts advocate and serves as an executive board member for the Puppeteers of America where she also serves as the chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She also is a board member of the Florida Association of Theatre Education and chairs the Florida Jr. Thespians District 2 where she oversees theatre directors in Seminole and Volusia counties, as well as the Kennedy Center’s VSA (arts and special needs) content committee. Recently she was selected as one of the recipients of the 400 Distinguished Award given by the US Congress as part of the commemoration of the 400 years of African American History. And in 2022, she was awarded Theatre Arts Educator of the Year by the FATE organization. Miss Edna is the creator of the edutainment brands Lovely Day Creative Arts. She currently is a theatre arts instructor at performing arts middle school where she created the only puppetry arts elective program in the nation.
Edna has a M.F.A. in Entertainment Creative Writing, M.S. in Entertainment Business, B.S. in Organizational Management and A.A.S. in Music Business and resides in Sanford, Florida.
Thursday, July 13
Arts Integration is not a Theory but a Way of Life
Sarah Sprinkel
Find out how to turn Arts Integration into a habit, a way of living, of seeing, of being. Practice the skills necessary to integrate the arts everywhere and try some new ideas.
Sarah Sprinkel is a longtime early childhood educator who has spent her life studying children, people, places and their interactions. Sarah says she was lucky her mom was an artist and taught her all people were artists of their own trade. Her accomplishments include teaching kindergarten for ten years, overseeing early childhood programs for Orange County Public Schools, starting prekindergarten in 1988 in Orange County, providing a ‘state of the art’ childcare program for Walt Disney World employees’ children, creating Florida Virtual Elementary school and serving her community as a city commissioner, member of various boards while being a wife, mother, Sunday school teacher and all around good citizen. Sarah has provided many seminars on brain development, literacy, and the arts.
Tuesday, July 18
Adding Movement to Learning
Shane Bland
Shane is honored to be a part of this webinar series for FAAE. Florida performing credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame In Concert with the OPO (William Daniel Mills Theater Co.), And The World Goes Round’ (New Generation Theatrical), and The Beast in Beauty and The Beast (Broadway World Award Nom. - Garden Theater). National performing credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams (Original Broadway Cast, 1st National Tour); Disney's The Lion King (Toronto Company); and Harold Prince's Show Boat (Canada, 1st US Tour). Regional credits include Leading Player in PIPPIN, Ain’t Misbehavin’, ANNIE! (Rooster); How Now, Dow Jones (NYC Fringe), The Producers, Disney’s Aladdin (Genie), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Montreal), J.C. Superstar, Peter Pan, and Man of La Mancha (Canadian tour). Television: Live! With Regis and Kelly; Good Morning America; Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; and Cartoon Network's Knights of the Zodiac. Shane served as assistant director on several Off-Broadway shows and director for the D.C. Fringe and Off-Broadway production of Diary of a Dancer. Shane is on the teaching staff at The Dr. Phillips Center School For The Performing Arts and the Orlando Ballet School.
Thursday, July 20
Transdisciplinarity, Learning and Leading for the Arts
Dr. Enrique A. Puig
Enrique A. Puig taught in Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), Florida for 24 years before moving to the College of Community Innovation and Education at the University of Central Florida. He has worked as an education consultant for numerous school districts from Washington to the U.S. Virgin Islands and major publishing companies and has presented on various aspects of K-12 literacy learning and instruction at state, regional, national, and international conferences. Currently, Enrique is the director of the Morgridge International Reading Center and UCF Professor-in-Residence at a Title I elementary and middle school in central Florida working with teacher-colleagues and teacher candidates. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. His most recent publication is Teaching K-12 Transdisciplinary Literacy: A Comprehensive Instructional Framework for Learning and Leading (Routledge/ Taylor & Francis).
Tuesday, July 25
Reading the Picture
Susan Merrill Rosoff
Susan Rosoff served as Curator of Education at Orlando Museum of Art where she developed many award-winning programs for students and adults. In addition to writing many educational materials, she led a team of teachers writing interdisciplinary units of study that were available statewide through the Florida Department of Education. She is the co-author with Mary Palmer of a book titled Teaching Through the Arts: Writing. She taught modern and contemporary art history at UCF, and presents lectures at museums and organizations throughout Florida.
Thursday, July 27
YOU Make a Difference!
Dr. Mary Palmer
Dr. Mary Palmer is a 'born teacher" ... teaching her first students at the age 5. Hear more about THAT in this session.
Dr. Palmer is an "all round" musician and studied piano, flute, and voice from an early age. She performed with school and community organizations throughout her life. She is dedicated to the arts and serves on multiple boards locally in Orlando as well as state- and nation-wide. She is the senior author of many textbooks used in schools throughout the world.
Much of her career was working with college students at the University of Illinois and the University of Central Florida, as well as a guest at other universities across the country. She taught music education courses as well as piano at UCF. She founded the UCF Master's Degree in Music Education Program. She served as Dean of the UCF College of Education.
She was a pioneer in the field of Arts Integration and has worked with teachers throughout the world. Her passion for the arts and MUSIC education propels her work.
