Implementing the arts requires thinking outside of the box. The fine arts cohort this year is searching for ways to think outside of the box in order to make arts programs available to more students. We are also working to help content area teachers to use the arts through innovative and engaging strategies, specifically literacy strategies that address the ACCRS, with literary and informational texts.
Many of our recent professional development opportunities through a state arts grant helped shape our direction for the year. Mrs. Crocker, Ms. Gonzalez, and I (Mr. Littleton) attended the Alabama Institute for Education of the Arts (AIEA) this summer. In our cohort meeting, we shared many of the presented strategies in music, visual arts, and theatre that not only apply to our programs, but that also provide a diverse toolbox of instructional strategies that can engage students across all content and curriculum. Mrs. Bailey, our new secondary visual arts teacher, shared her experiences with similar training in content and literacy application through the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Mr. Tidwell recently attended the Show Choir Camps of America in Chicago, and he shared with us about networking with other choir teachers and participating in music skill clinics and reading workshops with music publishers. Clearly, we are all excited and ready to share our resources with students and other teachers.
In our first cohort meeting of the year, we set our two-tier goal addressing our own programs and the content area classrooms. We then considered opportunities that would help us attain our vision for the arts. We are planning sessions involving site visits and guest presenters that will allow us to become more familiar with other successful fine arts programs and the logistics that make these programs work. With content area application, we are planning a session to share many of our strategies with the secondary literacy cohort, and we are seeking other similar opportunities as well.
With our programs and our relationship with the content areas, it is all about:
Out of the Box……Into the Arts
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