COLLEGE PARK, MD (March, 2016) Angela Malone, a science teacher in the Prince Georges County Public Schools (PGCPS) and a graduate student in Arts Integration at the College of Education, received quite an honor this February: a 2015-16 Milken Educator Award. This year, she was one of 37 outstanding teachers the only one in Maryland who received this prestigious national honor.
Angela was presented the award by Dr. Jane Foley, senior vice president of the Milken Educator Awards, during an assembly at Oxon Hill Middle School on February 17, 2016. Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, Congresswoman Donna Edwards, interim Maryland State Superintendent Dr. Jack R. Smith, Prince George’s County Board of Education chair Dr. Segun Eubanks, and PGCPS chief executive officer Dr. Kevin Maxwell were all in attendance. Surrounded by her students and fellow teachers, Angela was praised for her exceptional work in the classroom.
“Angela is a pro at marrying the arts with science,” said Dr. Foley. “She is also respected as a leader at Oxon Hill in its transition from STEM to STEAM. We are thrilled to welcome her into the Milken Educator family. I anticipate a wonderful future for this charismatic educator.”
Transitioning from STEM to STEAM – the A stands for arts – is the chief focus of Angela’s graduate studies. She belongs to a cohort of PGCPS teachers enrolled in a nine-credit certificate program in Arts Integration, supported by an Improving Teacher Quality grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC). The certificate program is an offshoot of the Master’s of Education in Teacher Leadership with a focus in Arts Integration, a program offered by the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership.
The M.Ed. program in Arts Integration supports certified teachers in further developing their scholarly, artistic, and leadership capabilities. Students teach in local elementary and secondary classrooms in every discipline, from the arts to math, science, and English. Over fifteen months, they engage in art courses, lesson planning, and arts integration policy in their classrooms and in the school system. Many have gone on to become leaders of arts integration in Prince George’s County.
“The Arts Integration program places great emphasis on individual growth while exploring new approaches to researching, creating, teaching, and assessing arts integration content and processes,” says program coordinator Dr. Margaret Walker.
“This program has changed my life,” Angela says. “It has been a tremendous opportunity to collaborate with like-minded colleagues. It’s also given me permission to be more vocal with my ideas, to develop them so that I could effectively implement them.”
Angela describes one such off-the-wall idea: the incorporation of art and literature into a recent unit on genetics, which her students kicked off by painting watercolors in response to the prompt “what family means to me.” The class read poems and short stories about family and then dove into learning about DNA, alleles and genes, genotypes, phenotypes, and Punnett squares. Angela topped the lesson off with a Socratic seminar about the relationship between family and genetics.
“I believe the arts offer a chance to examine scientific principles from a different perspective, one that deepens understanding,” Angela says. “This is how I’ve always thought education is supposed to be. When the arts and other content areas are woven together, as they’re meant to be, the instruction is more cohesive and more engaging. I've been able to tap into student's enthusiasm, so their learning is embedded deeper. I now think through every unit of instruction with this lens.”
Established in 1987 by the Milken Family Foundation, the Milken Educator Awards recognize excellence in education by honoring top educators around the country with unrestricted cash prizes of $25,000. The award means more than merely a cash prize: as a Milken Educator, Angela will reap benefits, including professional development opportunities and networking with leaders in education, throughout her teaching career.
Click here to learn more about the M.Ed. program in Arts Integration.
Click here to learn more about the Milken Educator Awards.
Angela Malone is currently enrolled in the M.Ed. program in Teacher Leadership with a focus in Arts Integration. An educator of 14 years, she chairs the science department at Oxon Hill Middle School, where she teaches 7th and 8th grade Honors Science. She earned her undergraduate degree at Dallas Baptist University and her teaching certification through a post-baccalaureate program at LeTourneau University.
Dr. Margaret Walker (B.S. Art Education ’91) is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, where she coordinates the M.Ed. program in Arts Integration. She was recently named to the board of directors of the Art Gallery at UMD. Her research interests include the influence of artmaking on critical and creative thinking skills, maintaining relevancy in art curriculum and teaching, understanding the artist as teacher and student as artist, and art education in out-of-school settings. She studied painting at Pratt Institute of Art and earned her Ed.D. in Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
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