Opening Minds through the Arts
Learning with OMA
OMA's Nationally Recognized Curriculum
On September 27th, 2024, research collected by OMA Arts Integration Specialist Joshua Floyd was featured at the National Association for Music Education's 2024 Biennial Music Research and Teacher Education Conference in Atlanta, GA. Joshua's experimental curriculum, which took place over a 16-week program, sought to demonstrate the impact of music education on elementary students with varying intellectual and emotional disabilities. Active lessons pertaining to rhythmic integrity, instrument procedures, improvisation and critical thinking helped promote engagement and mastery of musical concepts. Joshua's program found that these musical activities positively impacted students' interests in classwork, social interaction skills, creativity and participation, proving the invaluably profound impact music has on growing minds in learning and social development across different grades and age groups. Joshua's emblematic efforts in music education are a glowing reminder of the OMA mission to open young minds through arts education.
Instrumental Music Collaborative Model
Thoughtful collaboration between OMA Arts Integration Specialists, Music teachers and Classroom teachers is essential to support students' academic and social growth.
Scott Anderson (OMA Orchestra teacher) and Deborah DeVere (Classroom teacher) build on each other's instructional strengths as 4th grade Lynn/Urquides students demonstrate the impact of meaningful integration between their OMA violin lesson and language arts.
We recharge educators' passion for teaching and assist them in developing techniques that fully engage the multiple intelligences of all students.
- Arts are part of classroom instruction in all OMA schools
- Specialists, classroom teachers, and artists work together with students
- Promote community bonds with artists and organizations, including UA
Creative expression and the arts are the oldest tools humans have used to explain their world and order their reality.
What is OMA?