JAMESTOWN – “I Love Lucy” is making a return, but not in the way you may expect.
Jamestown Public Schools will be using “Lucy Lessons” as a supplemental educational tool in elementary school classrooms. The episodes will depict common student-centered problems and lessons and feature Jamestown’s own Lucille Ball.
The program was provided for free to JPS and was created by Desilu, too LLC, Howling Hounds Entertainment and ViacomCBS.
“We are so excited to begin this journey to bring ‘Lucy Lessons’ to Jamestown schools,” said JPS Superintendent Kevin Whitaker. “We have such an iconic comedian, Lucille Ball, who hails from Jamestown. It is a wonderful opportunity to take her internationally-known television show to a new generation and at the same time, enhance our student’s learning in a fun and engaging way, while supporting district and NYS learning goals. We know that children are more likely to be excited about learning the curriculum when they are engaged and entertained.”
Classes will be shown clips from “I Love Lucy” that focus on English, Math, Science, and Social Studies, along with clips that have instances of social-emotional learning lessons.
The program will be tested by the “Teacher Troop,” who will use the “Lucy Lessons” throughout the 2021-22 school year with support from Howling Hounds Entertainment.
“Lucy Lessons creates a learning environment that gives students confidence in their ability to access new information in order to process, understand, explain and show what they know,” said Bonnie Kole, M.Ed. from Howling Hounds Entertainment. “The I Love Lucy episodes that we use are highly engaging and entertaining for all age groups and can really make a reluctant or struggling learner want to learn the lessons.”
Lucie Arnaz is the Chief Executive Officer of Desilu, too LLC. She is also Lucille Ball’s daughter, and she is supporting the effort.
“It’s a fitting 70th anniversary gift to that timeless source of love and laughter that we use its magic to help students better understand the world around them,” said Arnaz. “What a wonderful legacy that would be to my parent’s original concept.”
A second group of JPS teachers will have “Lucy Lessons” training in August. Howling Hounds Entertainment will be collecting educational data and feedback from JPS teachers and students about the “Lucy Lessons” throughout the upcoming school year. Howling Hounds Entertainment and Arnaz hopes the success of the JPS pilot program will allow schools across America to use “Lucy Lessons,” to “help students learn with laughter.”
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