DEANNA JOY WHITLEY

Social Studies Teacher Grades 9-10
Arts High School
Newark, NJ

DeAnna became committed to helping uplift inner city youth while in college and began volunteering as a tutor with a small private school in her college community then. "Knowing I’ve made a difference and been a positive influence on a child’s life keeps me going. Helping them in numerous surprising ways also makes my career worthwhile, whether it’s counseling them or tutoring after school in such things as writing cursive, typing with more than one finger, becoming more responsible, and correcting the mechanics in their writing."

DeAnna was an advisor for her school newspaper for two and a half years and learned a good bit about newspaper publishing which became like a second full-time job which she loved. The same thing happened when she coached a national youth leadership program called Do Something (now known as The League) as an extra-curricular activity. "Being able to teach my students about life skills and financial empowerment is another passion which I’ve sometimes acted on as a teacher. Knowing I have something important to offer continues to drive me."

"The arts are crucial to education because creativity is the highest level of thinking and we want to produce great thinkers in our schools. The arts enable students to get more pleasure out of school because they get to have fun while developing and fulfilling talents, hobbies, and interests and their brains at the same time. Studies show that children who have developed a talent used in school, also tend to do better academically."

“Getting nominated and selected for this privilege is such an honor for me. I have learned various techniques through aTi that I would love to share on how to integrate the arts into teaching history. Cooperative learning groups have learned to tell historical stories through creative movement while others choreographed movements to Native American music while on that region of the world. Some students have sung or played instruments to teach about historical events to classmates. I have been sharing the value of blending colors to create one’s own; the only difference is, we’ve worked in pastels vs. oil paint. On top of this, they've been doing some acting followed by playwriting and even poetry. Many have also enjoyed seeing some of my own artwork, acting, and dancing skills combined with theirs. Other history teachers can benefit from such inclusions as well and reach some students that were unreachable while building self-esteem in others through the arts."