Teaching & Learning Arts Bridge 2014 Begins

Transition Plus students in Anoka work together to create a collaborative clay tile and mosaic mural during an Arts Bridge residency 2013.

Teaching & Learning Arts Bridge 2014 Begins

This is a project to build skills through the Arts in students with disabilities and collaborative skills in Teaching Artists and Teachers in Special Education settings.This program is provided under a contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

VSA Minnesota has partnered again with the Perpich Center for Arts Education to implement Teaching & Learning Arts Bridge - a project is designed to build skills through the Arts in students with disabilities and collaborative skills in Teaching Artists and Teachers in Special Education settings.

Arts Bridge aims to develop and implement innovative curriculum that will enhance and support academic learning and achievement through Arts for students with disabilities. This initiative is designed to support collaboration between Host Teachers and Teaching Artists and support Teachers’ efforts to integrate the Arts in the curriculum while engaging students in meaningful, high quality arts learning experiences.

Participating teachers will receive embedded professional development on partnering and planning with a Teaching Artist, an Assistant and a Coach during a 10-session residency in their classroom that integrates dance, music, theater, storytelling, visual, media or literary arts with a goal of deepening student engagement, knowledge and achievement.

In January, Teams will establish clear instructional goals, develop engaging activities, make plans to support and enhance sequential learning, align instruction with standards and benchmarks, and determine assessment outcomes. The residencies will take place during February-May.

For more information about how you can participate, please contact: Jenea Rewertz-Targui, Arts in Education Coordinator, jenea@vsamn.org or 612-332-3888.

 “VSA Minnesota’s Teaching & Learning Arts Bridge,” final in-service, Perpich Center for Arts Education, Golden Valley

In person or by video chat via ‘Skype’ or ‘Face Time', Teaching Artists and Host Teacher Teams shared about their experience in VSA Minnesota’s Arts Bridge Project during a final in-service in partnership with the Perpich Center for Arts Education last week. Thanks to tools from the Artful Handbook, teams had an insightful conversation about their teaching and learning experience during their arts-integrated residency.



A total of 7 teachers , 7 teaching artists, and 6 teaching artist assistants received one and half days of professional development led by Perpich Center for Arts Education staff. Teams designed an arts-integrated residency, tied to curriculum and address selected elements of the Minnesota Academic Standards with assistance from PCAE staff. Using instructional planning tools for collaborative planning, Teams established clear instructional goals, developed engaging activities, made plans to support and enhance sequential learning, aligned instruction with standards and benchmarks, and determined assessment outcomes.

VSA Minnesota’s Teaching & Learning Arts Bridge is a project to build skills through the Arts in students with disabilities and collaborative skills in Teaching Artists and Teachers in Special Education settings. This program is provided under a contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Professional Development Day August 19 – a valuable learning experience!

Professional Development Day– a valuable learning experience!

Twenty-seven people came together at the Perpich Center for Arts Education on August 19 to learn more about the VSA Minnesota Teaching Artist Roster, a community of teaching artists working to create engaging lessons and environments that meet the diverse learning needs of all students.

Participants:

• became more familiar with VSA Minnesota’s Artists-in-Residence Grant Program as well as how to become a rostered teaching artist.
• experienced a hands-on visual art workshop designed for working with learners with various disabilities.
• engaged in a hands-on theater activity taught during an artist residency with students with Autism.
• explored the Perpich Center for Arts Education Artful Tools by describing what they experienced using facilitated reflection protocols.
• reviewed various disabilities and teaching strategies for each.

Many thanks to the Perpich Center for Arts Education for the use of Glass Box Conference Room and to our fantastic presenters including Lori Brink, Visual Artist/Teaching Artist/Peer Coach; Barbara Hackett Cox, Arts Education Partnership Coordinator, Perpich Center for Arts Education; Steve Busa, Theater Artist/Teaching Artist/Peer Coach; Katie Lipe, Southwest High School Autism Program; and Mary Z. McGrath, Educator/Professional Speaker/Author, Reflections Resources Ltd.