Dear Students and Parents,
I welcome you to Mark Twain Intermediate School for the Gifted and Talented as we begin our 32nd year as a magnet school.
On behalf of our staff, we pledge to provide you with a most sophisticated educational climate. We know you will do your share in working toward your maximum potential. Together, we will continue to strive to make Mark Twain the best school in the City of New York.
Parents are urged to become active members of our Parents' Association dedicated to serving the needs of our student body.
I eagerly look forward to greeting each of you personally. Educators have an important responsibility to help students make connections in learning. When we teach children to sing or play the flute, we teach them how to listen. When we teach them how to draw, we teach them to see. When we teach them to dance, we teach them about their bodies and about space, and when they act on the stage, they learn about character, plot development and motivation. When we teach children about folk and traditional arts and introduce them to the great masterpieces of the world we teach them to celebrate their collective roots and their own cultural place in history.
The arts provide connections to other disciplines, including language arts, social studies, math, computer science, and science. Consequently, the arts deserve a central place in the school curriculum. Engaging in the arts also challenges us to think differently. Creating and evaluating are the most complex forms of cognition, and these skills are reinforced through the arts. In the "No Child Left Behind Act," Congress named the Arts as one of the core subjects that all schools should teach. Current research data indicates that good arts programs in elementary and middle schools build skills that translate into other subjects and act as a motivation for further learning. The Arts meet the needs of all students from the student at risk to the gifted child. Children participating in Arts classes exhibit fewer discipline problems and have better attendance records. Enhanced reading development and good spatial reasoning skills that are integral to the understanding of complex mathematical concepts are also reinforced by Arts instruction.
By providing our students with the background and skills to understand and appreciate the unique qualities of the various disciplines of visual arts, music, dance and theater, our students will be well equipped to take their places in society as critical and creative thinkers.
Carol Moore
Principal