Artists in Education: Making Connections for Kids!

1. Artists in Education:Making Connections for Kids! Florida Alliance for Arts Education Dr. Linda Lovins, Presenter May 18, 2009

2. Connection Point: Classroom Teacher • Host or on-site collaborator with the arts teacher • Specialist in general or specific content-area curriculum • Breadth, rather than depth • Expert in various instructional methods and how children learn • Responsible for helping students achieve grade-level standards

3. Connection Point: Arts Teacher • Host or on-site collaborator with the classroom teacher • Curriculum specialist in Dance, Music, Theatre, or Visual Art • Breadth, rather than depth • Expert in various instructional methods and how children learn • Responsible for helping students achieve grade-level standards

4. Connection Point: Teaching Artist • Supplemental Arts Provider • Specialist in a single art form and medium • Depth, rather than breadth • Focus is on the process with an end-product • Generally comes to the school

5. Connection Point: Performing Artist • Supplemental Arts Provider • Specialist in a single or integrated art form • Depth, rather than breadth • Focus is on the performance • Occasionally includes education components (pre- or post-performance information)

6. Connection Point: Arts Standards • “Sunshine State Standards” (SSS) in the Arts; soon to become “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards” (NGSSS) in the Arts • Strands, Standards, and Benchmarks – “Oh, my!” • Grade clusters: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 • Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs) – K-5 for Music and Visual Art

7. Connecting to the Arts SSS • DOE website: www.fldoe.org. • Locate “Site Index” on the DOE home page. Click “Go.” • Click on the “S,” and then click on “Sunshine State Standards.” • Scroll down the page to where it says “Fine Arts – Pending” and click on the 1996 Standards link. • Again, scroll down to a chart listing all subject areas; you’ll find four lines that begin with “Arts.” • On the line that lists the Arts discipline you need, click on the small, green button under the appropriate grade level or cluster. (http://www.fldoe.org/bii/Curriculum/SSS/sss1996.asp) • The Standards for K-5 Music and Visual Art are detailed further in the Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs).

8. The Goldilocks Problem: Some Standards are too big; some are too small The Overload Problem: 255 content standards and 3,968 discrete benchmarks (Marzano and Kendall (1996) Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design, 2nd ed. Connections, Connections: Getting It Just Right!

9. Reasons for Connecting: Levels of Importance • “Enduring” understanding • Important to know and do • Worth being familiar with Wiggins and McTighe

10. Reasons for Connecting: Rigor and Relevance • Acquisition-Acquire knowledge and skills within a subject area • Application-Apply knowledge and skills to real-world situations • Assimilation-Synthesize knowledge and skills within a subject area • Adaptation-Adapt knowledge and skills to unpredictable, diverse real-world situations

11. What is the need of the school? How do we learn to understand each other’s vocabulary? Who is good at what, and how do we fit all the pieces together? What are my skills? What are my comfort levels with the project, age group, and benchmarks? Connections that Fit

12. Connecting with Students • How do I engage students in the project? • How do I keep them engaged? • How do I design a lesson or work session? • Am I a demonstrator, lecturer, or facilitator? Can and should I change? • What can I do, in advance, to optimize students’ success?

13. Connecting the Dots… • Which “players” need connecting? • Who does what? • Who is responsible for what? • Who decides…and who decides who decides? • Which benchmarks and how many? • Classroom management

14. Keeping the Connection Dr. Linda Lovins Arts Education Specialist FL Department of Education Linda.Lovins@fldoe.org 850-245-0762 www.fldoe.org