The School: Milam Elementary

Copy of Copy of Milam School - Herbert (1).jpg

In the spring of 1971, Milam Elementary in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) pre-piloted parts of the LAL curriculum. The following fall, Milam and six other SAISD elementary schools implemented the full curriculum across 4th through 6th grade classrooms. This partnership took many forms, such as teacher training courses, parent/family programming, and direct LAL programming in the classroom.

This information sheet discusses the growth of LAL's work with SAISD. The central idea of LAL came from a university course frist at Baylor University in Waco, and eventually at Triity University, San Antonio. The course "put a student in a fresh position to become aware of his own creative mind processes." Participents were aged 4-17 until 1967, when funds allowed it to be expanded to work with educators to investigate the application of LAL principals in the classroom setting. This eventually grew into a program in conjunction with SAISD.
This photograph depicts Johnny Gutierrez, an original member of the LAL team, introducing the Kenwood Players at Milam Elementary School. Following a 1967 summer program designed to implement LAL tequniques across fifteen schools in San Antonio, a full year program was created in the Kenwood Community. Based in Kenwood, a low-income area in the city, the project developed into a group of players who toured nationally under the name "The Kenwood Players."
This news article from 1971 descripes an early LAL project in colaberation with Milam Elementary. The staff members and teachers of Milam participated in a a "progressive luncheon" at the homes of three Milam families. Meanwhile, their pre-school aged children participated in various hands-on learning activities. Back at Milam, Trinity University education students led the children in culteral festivities to celebrate Italian heritage. This article provides an excellent account of typical programming produced by LAL in conjunction with SAISD.
This May, 1981 issue of American Education Magazine reports on LAL’s partnerships with various SAISD schools, including Milam Elementary. The section titled "A bridge to learning" discusses work done in colabaration with LAL and SAISD. Baker and Wagner state that a large potion of this work takes the form of educator training courses, which work to train teachers to be "moreactive learners." This program was funded by a federal ESEA Title III grant, and gave teachers prectice in using an artistic approach to education. The rest of the magazie includes articles on other facets of LAL such as the retail business of published LAL materials and the future of LAL.

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