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Professional Development

Professional Development:

Our professional development mission is twofold. We are committed to helping teachers develop and enhance their strengths in both 1) teaching about the arts and 2) teaching through the arts as well.

Teaching about the arts means workshops, activities, and institutes that increase teachers' facility with specific artistic disciplines and practices, thus increasing their ability to relay those same skills to the children in their classes.

Teaching through the arts (also known as arts integration) modules are designed to inform and inspire teachers with specific ways to use the arts to teach subject matter across the curriculum. A rapidly expanding body of research demonstrates marked, notable results in student learning and participation during arts integration lessons. Visit our Resources page for links to arts education research information.

Our professional development modules are designed to model for teachers how to incorporate the arts with curriculum subjects. SUAVE/Center ARTES presenters demonstrate ways in which core subjects such as social studies, science, language arts, and mathematics can support curricular connections. Options include SUAVE classroom activities, workshops for teachers, and institutes.

Institutes

A Center ARTES institute is a custom tailored series of professional development workshops for teachers in your district. Institutes can last from several days to 1-2 weeks, and are designed to ground teachers in the arts, curricular connections, and state and national VAPA standards.

A recent week-long institute for a local district included workshops in Visual Arts and Math; African Music and Culture; Music, Storytelling and Literacy; Mathematics and Music; and a presentation by Ron Jessee, Visual and Performing Arts Director of the San Diego County Office of Education, on understanding and applying California VAPA standards in the classroom.

SUAVE Classroom Activities:

Award winning SUAVE arts coaches work directly in classrooms with students, modeling for teachers how to use the arts to improve student learning across the curriculum.

  • Drama and the Cultures of California-A 4-5 week curricular classroom activity
  • Put on a Story
  • Make a Simple Shadow or Rod Puppet
  • Paper Mosaics
  • Watercolor Technique-Using Basic School Issued Supplies
  • Large Scale Group Mural of Any Theme with Paint, Oil Pastels, Paper, or Mixed Media
  • Drawing Skeletons-Using Method by David Clemesha
  • Landscape or Architectural Drawings-Using Measurement and/or Fractions
  • Van Gogh's Bedroom in Perspective Drawing-Using Measurement
  • Making African Inspired Animal Masks-Using Symmetry
  • Drawing Geology Landscapes of the Three Types of Rocks
  • Lottery Poetry-Using Technique by Roxanne Kilbourne
  • "Princess Penelope and the Dragon"-by Missoula Children's Theater

Teacher Workshops:

These workshops for educators cover topics such as: groundbreaking arts education research, techniques in specific disciplines (such as ceramics, puppetry, drama, and more), and increasing teachers' facility in using the arts to improve learning across the curriculum.

  • The Storytelling/Literacy Connection: Including Storytelling in Today's "Standardized" Classrooms: Use storytelling to support reading and writing at all ages and reading levels.
  • Bringing Children's Literature Alive Through Drama and Storytelling.
  • Bring Art to Life: Creating Stories From Visual Art-Adaptations to work with students at any age or English proficiency level.
  • Stuff of Stories (Creative Drama, Story Theatre in the classroom).
  • Puppetry 101
  • Early Childhood-Circle Singing Games
  • Reading with Expression
  • Drawing: Human Figures proportionately, in gestures, or with internal body systems.
  • 3D Paper Techniques: create 3D animals, collages in low relief, pop-up landforms, and more.
  • Paper Mosaic: use colorful paper to create art with geometrical math.
  • Watercolor: techniques to create landform scenes or animals in habitat.
  • Clay: basic hand building techniques to create bowls, low-relief sculpture, or 3D sculpture.
  • Using Drama, Music, and Movement to make lessons more interactive.
  • Integrating the Visual Arts into core curriculum.

Institutes:

Let us custom tailor a series of professional development workshops with you to ground your schools' teachers in the arts, curricular connections, and state and national VAPA standards. Choose from the above workshops and more.