Teachers connect and create at Partners in the Arts 19th annual institute
On June 24, 2013, Partners in the Arts will launch its 19th annual teachers institute for arts integration, the Joan Oates Institute for Partners in the Arts. Registration for the Institute is now open.
The Institute offers a week-long concentrated learning experience for K-12 educators seeking to use the arts to teach subjects across the curriculum. Teachers and teaching teams from public and private schools across the Richmond area are invited to attend the Institute to engage with artists, curriculum specialists, technologists, scholars and fellow educators in developing an innovative arts integration unit plan.
The Joan Oates Institute offers to participating educators the combined resources of corporate and nonprofit sponsors with cutting-edge academic scholarship, artistic excellence, curriculum development and instructional technology. As a result, participants are able to leave the Institute with a complete unit plan they can implement in their classrooms the following school year.
Among session leaders scheduled this year are VCU advertising professor Scott Sherman, who brings his “Curiousness” workshop on tearing down inhibitions and sparking creative idea generation, and educational consultant Kenneth A. Wesson, who will speak on applying the arts to interdisciplinary learning from a neuroscience perspective. Other workshops will explore sound art, special needs education, STEM and jazz, and visual storytelling.
New this year, Partners in the Arts (PIA) will fund implementation of one teaching team’s outstanding unit plan. PIA funding for unit plan development and implementation normally follows a lengthy funding process—this option fast tracks funding for one lucky teaching team’s unit plan, but only for participants in the Institute. And participants who don’t receive this fast track treatment remain far ahead of the game, having already developed a plan that can be submitted for funding.
Another new feature this year is the option to attend a single day or a single session. While participants will benefit most from week-long attendance, busy schedules may prohibit week-long participation. As a result, the Institute will offer non-credit one-day or single-session participation options. And as always, week-long participation in the Institute is available for University of Richmond graduate or undergraduate credit.
Educators who are part of the PIA Consortium receive a significant tuition discount when they register for the 3-credit course, but the Institute is open to all K-12 educators and administrators.
Altria is the lead corporate sponsor of the 2013 Joan Oates Institute. Media sponsorship of Mr. Wesson’s talk is provided by Science Matters, an educational program of the Community Idea Stations. Other partners include CultureWorks, SPARC, the Visual Arts Center, Richmond CenterStage, Black Iris Music, VCU Advertising and the Virginia Repertory Theatre.
Partners in the Arts is a program of the University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies.