By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

LIBERTY TWP. - For a few minutes, Allison Morton took on the role of an overloaded washing machine in a violent agitation cycle.

She shook, she moved up and down and sideways, imagining herself to be a machine. Minutes later, she donned a body bag-like piece of material and became a sculpture, twisting and turning before freezing, trying to evoke emotion.

They were exercises the New Haven Elementary School teacher might later use in her own Union classroom with her students.

She was one of 125 Tristate teachers who spent this week at an Arts Connection workshop learning how to integrate the arts into their curriculum - whether it's science, math, language arts or social studies.

Getting children to move around is also a good tool to use on those days when her students get antsy or distracted, particularly near breaks, Morton said after the exercise Wednesday.

"This allows them to demonstrate that they understand a concept without using pen and pencil," said Cindy Dover, a St. Bernard Elementary School art teacher.

St. Bernard has sent teams of teachers to four previous workshops. This time Dover acted as one of the instructors.

Teachers spend part of their time with artists - musicians, actors, actresses and others - learning how to make a concept come alive through hands on activities. After experiencing an exercise, teachers write their own lesson plans based on objectives.

The concept is important because children learn in different ways, says Lauren Hess, arts projects manager for WCET. This workshop, sponsored by the merged Association for the Advancement of Arts Education and WCET, shows teacher how to use the arts to present materials other than the traditional lecture format.

"The most important part of doing activities is it allows students use higher level thinking skills,'' said Amy Dennison, of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. "They apply their knowledge to find sound, to connect to an idea. At the end of the day they've done a sophisticated learning skill and don't even know it."

Dennison showed teachers how to make instruments using household items.

They made shakers by dyeing rice with food coloring and putting it in empty plastic cassette cases. And drums by gluing together pieces of wood into a frame and then covering back and forth and up and down with packing tape.

Each of the 21 teams of teachers who participated will receive a $1,600 grant they can use to bring an artist to their school or bring their students to an arts performance.