Connecting to Curriculum with DCPS Arts Workshop
Submitted by: Julianna Smith, Program Intern, DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative June 26, 2019
On Tuesday, June 18th, representatives from the DC Public School Arts Team as well as educators at various cultural organizations throughout DC gathered at the beautiful East Wing of the National Gallery of Art for the DC Collaborative’s “Connecting to Curriculum with DCPS Arts” Workshop. This workshop covered the state of arts education in the DCPS school system, the ways in which cultural organizations can better connect their educational programs to the DCPS arts curriculum, and some lesser known ways organizations are already working to give students access to the arts across DC.
Meeting Resources
Meeting PowerPoint
National Gallery of Art Education Resources
Attend Connecting to Curriculum with DCPS Arts on June 28
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Meeting Recap
At the beginning of the workshop, representatives of the National Gallery’s education department Deirdre Palmer and Reema Ghazi gave a warm welcome to the group. Reema shared the many online educational resources that the museum offers to help give access to arts education. These resources can be used as a guiding tool for teachers in the classroom, or as a discovery tool for students in their own home. For example, the National Gallery of Art offers numerous online articles and videos that describe the history and inspiration behind various pieces of art in the museum, giving easy access to students and teachers that want to learn more. The Gallery even provides an online course for visual art teachers that focuses on teaching and critical thinking through art. She also shared a new resource called “Uncovering America”. This is a series of modules that showcase historical American art and the themes that they connect to today, such as opposition and protest. This is a great educational resource that can resound with students in America from all different backgrounds. These resources can be accessed here.
This intro was a great segway to discuss an important issue: How accessible are the arts for students in the DC Public Schools? Mary Lambert, Director of Arts at DCPS, sought to answer this as she explained the state of arts education in the city. Out of the 118 schools in DCPS, currently 98% of them have visual arts teachers, 95% of schools have music teachers, but only 16% of schools have performing arts teachers. There are gaps lying in all of these areas, including schools that only have one discipline and not the other. The primary goal for the upcoming years is to have visual arts for every student and at least two music teachers per school so that both vocal and instrumental music is represented. Additionally, the DCPS school system will have to work together with parents and outside donors to gain the support they need to improve the severely underrepresented area of performing arts. All this being said, DCPS arts curriculum is looking strong. Based on a combination of student development cycles, achievement expected of each age group, and overarching themes that are important for every age, the curriculum seeks to make art more meaningful for every student. For a more detailed visual of the arts education framework, see the matrix on page 7 of the presentation here.
The new aspects of the curriculum aim to make artistic themes more relatable to the students using culturally relevant pedagogy with a focus on culturally affirming education. For example, the visual arts department has presented three different programs, one each for elementary, middle, and high schools, that relate directly to DC youth. The “Build Day” program asks elementary schoolers what they think is most needed in their community. The students spend a day at the National Building Museum and build a model of their ideal city, giving them both a fun day of crafts and inception of how they would imagine their ideal city in the future. “Everyday DC” is a middle school photojournalism project and self curated exhibition through the Pulitzer Center that allows students to express how they see and experience their city. The “Transform DC” program allows high schoolers to transform a physical space in DC by collaborating on the painting of a mural.
According to music education manager James Mitaritonna, the music department is making similar efforts to make arts education more fun and relatable for students. “DC Keys” replaces the traditional starter instrument, the recorder, with the piano in an effort to teach a much more common, applicable instrument to students. This program also allows for instruction in improvisation, letting students freely express themselves or a story through music.
After the presentation from DCPS Arts Team, Lissa Rosenthal-Yoffe, Executive Director at the DC Collaborative, opened a discussion about the connection of AHFES Programs to the DCPS curriculum. It is very important that AHFES Providers make an effort to integrate the content of their programs with what is being taught in the classroom in order for students to get the most out of the experience. For example, if a student can apply what they learned in music class when they go on a field trip to a concert, their learning is reinforced. We hope our members and AHFES Providers will use the information shared in these curriculum workshops to inform their programming for next year. Please join us on Friday, June 28th for our Connecting to Curriculum Workshop with the DCPS English/Language Arts teams!
Lastly, to all members interested in participating in our Arts and Humanities for Every Student program next school year, please be mindful of the July 5th deadline for submissions to be included in our AHFES Review! Logistical information is not needed for this deadline, but we would love to hear about the content of your programs for next year! Please complete the appropriate form(s) below, by submitting one form per program.
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