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Fine Arts Road Trip 2020: Bridging Curricula
CALL FOR PRESENTERS
Thursday, October 22-24, 2020
Lethbridge, Alberta (CASA and other locations)
Teachers, artists, and other fine arts community members throughout Alberta are invited to share their skills, experiences, and ideas with Fine Arts Council teachers at our 2020 conference. Our 2020 conference theme is Fine Arts Road Trip: Bridging Curricula, and will take place in Lethbridge, Alberta. We anticipate an attendance of in between 50 and 100 kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers who teach as specialists or integrate the fine arts.
SUBMIT A SESSION PROPOSAL HERE
Our fantastic logo was created by FAC Visual Art Rep Laura Mulvey! We invite you to save the date and look into the professional growth subsidy opportunities available to you through your local, so you're ready to apply in the fall!
The FAC is carefully monitoring the recommendations from the Alberta government regarding COVID-19; at this time we are proceeding with our conference, but will be following the recommendations from AHS, should they impact our conference date. For more information about the conference, please contact Andreas Berko, conference chair.
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SUBJECT AREA TIPS
This month's tips involve something that we're all struggling with, all of a sudden: teaching from home! As fine arts teachers, this is particularly difficult, as our subjects require specialised equipment and rely heavily on physical presence.
To start off, we'd like to invite you to read this article, printed in The Conversation, from our University of Calgary Rep Brittany Harker Martin: 5 Expert Tips for Working from Home in a Crowded House During the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Our subject area reps are putting forward some of the most interesting and useful links that they have found - some are specific to current events (e.g. free trials during COVID-19).
We hope that you find some that are useful as you navigate your online instructional environment.
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Dear Drama Teachers,
In these times I’m learning about using digital media to conduct interactive rehearsals and devising work. Credit to online initiatives such as Alberta DramaCHINES messenger group for some great ideas. We don’t know how long we will be out of our classrooms for sure, and so, what kinds of work are meaningful while in limbo and how do we augment the work we have done so far. For fun, my students are in the middle of a Commedia Dell Arte unit and this solo practice snippet from Tony Kishawi is gold.
It’s axiomatic to say that everyone’s needs are different, and so I’ve just included a bunch of links for you to browse through. There are some subscription sites that offer some free intro resources. There are ideas for collaboration through Teams and Zoom. Please preview these before sharing to see if they meet the needs of your students. I’ve included them as examples for teachers. Here we go:
Lastly, time and family contact are abundant resources we have and so verbatim and documentary style drama are great ways to explore our own family stories.
Having looked through these resources, I also see some creative options to set as future sub plans or as a strategies for differentiation.
All the best with your next steps.
Yours,
Glenn Taylor
tai1z@me.com |
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No doubt you have been bombarded with resources and information for teaching online. Every day I look at my email inbox and see more posts on resources for teaching online. If you are not receiving these messages, please let me know and I can forward you a few! While I think it is so important to have conversations about resources, I want to remind you that you are the most valuable resources for your students. I have created short videos for each of my grade levels, just saying hi and letting them know that I miss them. Our students want to see and engage with us! What a huge gift that is for us as teachers. I am also giving myself permission to start slow. I see first hand through my own children how this is so overwhelming. The last thing I want to do is create anxiety for students through my music lessons!
That being said, things are going to be very different. As I have been working on what this is going to look like for myself, I have been drawn to suggestions provided on "Decolonizing the Music Room." I found the simple, yet affirming ideas listed, really focus on student learning, engagement and equity. Here is the link to the full article.
As well, I have been looking through my vast collection of children's literature and looking at ways to make those cross-curricular connections between music and literacy. If this is something that you too have been considering, here is a link to information on copyright.
Please be in touch if you need to talk through ideas or to get connected with further information on online music teaching.
Kim
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With all of the unknowns about how this school year is going to pan out and how we will be delivering content to our students, this month I would like to share the story of what Morgan, an elementary teacher in Calgary, is doing to keep her musical theatre program running digitally.
Her students were devastated that this year's show was going to be cancelled, so she decided to film a live musical theatre lesson as a treat for her theatre students. The video was posted on her school's Instagram page, so all students at the school had access. The response was so positive, she received footage from parents whose children had participated. Morgan stated that she "wanted to offer her school community an opportunity to continue participating in Musical Theatre at home. I hope to give these kids an outlet to express themselves and have some fun!" Morgan has decided to post live musical theatre lessons every Friday.
If filming your own fine arts lessons is out of your comfort zone, here is a list of resources you can try out to keep your students engaged in the arts while social distancing at home:
- Under "MY ATA" on the ATA website, you can access professional resources, including 2Learn, an online resource full of lesson plans. If you search by subject, you can find Dance lesson resources under the Drama tab. Learn more at the ATA Library site.
- On the Boards TV: Contemporary Performances, subscription is free through April 2020 using promo code “ARTATHOME20”
- Marquee TV : You get 30 days free and have access to professional dance performances, opera and theatre.
- Steezy Studio: You can do a seven-day free trial. This would probably be geared towards older students, but the platform allows you to access classes from a huge variety of styles, and classes are taught by sought after choreographers.
- CLI Studios: This is a collection of filmed dance routines. The contest that encouraged people to submit their own video is now over, but the choreography videos are still available.
- Broadway HD is offering a 7 day free trial, but you are also able to access many full productions on YouTube:
- Legally Blonde
- Aladdin
- Into the Woods
Stay safe and stay healthy,
Stacy Kelba
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Help Develop PD in the Calgary Area
New members needed for Calgary Regional Fine Arts Council (CARFAC). Develop professional development and social opportunities for Fine Arts Council members in and around your city.
Please contact Dawn Marshall if interested.
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Tips from Visual Art Reprsentative, Laura Mulvey
Wow, so here we are in isolation. Teachers, I know that the province has mandated that the core subjects are what are the focus now. Our teaching assignments presently look different for all of us and teaching art is not at the forefront.
However, what we do know is that now more than ever is when we are relying on the arts to carry us through. Your students need this as well. Perhaps if there was ever a time to assemble to support one another and provide art for our students it is now.
Here are two ways to do it:
- If you are able with your new designations or assignments, I would like to have art teachers virtually send out the following ART PROMPT to their students.
My Covid-19 Experience.
I encourage you to submit a student piece from this prompt to myself so I can display the works that come in from our students in the province and show the valid work that we as art teachers continue to do.
- Please submit a lesson of yours to myself at the Fine Arts Council. We can create a library of lessons to do online and build best practices.These will then be compiled and shared with all of you.
I look forward to your responses. Please stay safe and stay home.
Laura Mulvey
Art Representative FAC
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Events in Alberta
The following events may be of interest to Alberta fine arts teachers, but are not organized by the Fine Arts Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association.
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CELEBRATE A FINE ARTS TEACHER
We would like to celebrate the wonderful work that Fine Arts teachers are doing across the province. If you would like to share and celebrate the exemplary contributions of a colleague in teaching or supporting the Fine Arts, use the link below to give us some details. We will publish these nominations each month in our monthly mail out to acknowledge the outstanding work happening in Alberta.
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EPSB Arts Education Update
Below is a link to the March 2020 issue of the Arts Education Update.
The Arts Education Update is a monthly document created to share news, events and opportunities with District arts education teachers. This document has been created to help keep you up-to-date with events and opportunities. Feel free to revisit the Update throughout the month, as it is kept up-to-date.
The Table of Contents is hyperlinked- feel free to click on the area(s) that is pertinent to you in order to help you navigate the document.
Please pass on this information to others that you think would be interested and feel free to contact us if you have any inquiries.
March 2020 Arts Education Update
Stay warm,
Jorgianne and Tracy Tracy Stener
Consultants, Curriculum and Resource Support
Edmonton Public Schools
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Professional Development at the University of Alberta
EDEL 495/597: Kodály Level I: Musicianship, Pedagogy & Choral
On-campus classes: July 6-17, 2020 Monday - Friday
This course is designed for elementary teachers interested in strengthening their teaching skills related to the development of children’s music literacy. Pedagogical principles and practices to develop music literacy skills in primary grades will be explored with a special emphasis on contemporary pedagogy inspired by Zoltán Kodály. Building a positive classroom environment for music learning within the context of developing musical understanding will be discussed with daily hands-on exploration of learner-centered materials, resources and teaching strategies appropriate for each grade level. Choral repertoire and vocal pedagogy suitable for singers in primary grades will be examined. Students will also have the opportunity to continue developing their own personal singing, conducting, and general musicianship skills (e.g., inner hearing, tonic solfa, sight singing) in the context of daily course activities.
For more information, email aperlau@ualberta.ca or Dr. Kathy Robinson at kr10@ualberta.ca.
EDEL 597: Orff Schulwerk Levels I & II
July 20 – July 31, 2020 Monday - Friday
Level I (495/597):
The Orff approach to music education is holistic, experiential and process oriented. Students learn by active participation as they experience music through moving, speaking, singing, performing body percussion, and playing non-pitched and pitched instruments. Level I explores basic Orff techniques including the use of the pentatonic scale, ostinato, bordun (drone) accompaniments, and the elemental style developed by composer Carl Orff and his colleague, Gunild Keetman. Prerequisite: The ability to read, write, and analyze music.
Level II (495/597):
Builds on the skills and concepts learned in Level I. Students expand their repertoire of orchestration possibilities with the moving bordun and accompaniments for diatonic melodies requiring I-V and I-IV-V harmonizations. Recorder study includes the soprano and alto recorder and movement classes expand students’ understanding of movement pedagogy, including the teaching of structured folk dances. Pedagogy classes focus on the use of Orff Schulwerk in a lesson- planning framework for teaching skills and concepts. Prerequisite: Orff Schulwerk Level I. Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of an Orff Schulwerk Level I endorsed by Carl Orff Canada.
For more information, email
rdefrece@ualberta.ca or Dr. Kathy Robinson at kr10@ualberta.ca.
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