TAD Studio Training Curriculum
Each cohort will participate in:
Foundation Workshops (4 four-hour workshops)
(1) Structure & Invention (curriculum design based on arts practice and
process)
Participants will explore and create lessons that include rigorous structure
and inventive form, planning and improvisation. Topics include: bringing studio
practice to classroom curriculum; bridging identities as artists and teachers;
finding the core ideas of an art form and how to effectively teach the art form;
using high quality artworks as models for teaching; planning and creating
lesson plans and curriculum.
(2) Collaboration with Teachers on Content
Participants will work with classroom teachers to practice planning dialogue,
explore content and standards, agree on responsibilities, and create assessment
rubrics to exemplify academic-artistic connections and true collaboration.
Topics include: effective partnerships with teachers; child and youth
development; arts integration; time and classroom management; working with
students with diverse needs.
(3) Authentic Critique, Documentation and Reflection
Participants will learn how to respond to students as artists and investigate
student artwork with true critique practices. Topics include: approaches to the
critique process; peer-to-peer critique; process documentation of student
learning; protocols to look at and reflect on student work.
(4) Designing an Engaging Space
Participants will
explore the idea of engagement beyond traditional definitions and design
classroom spaces to maximize engagement. Topics include: developing lessons
that utilize the space of the classroom as the “third teacher”; developing
studios-in-schools; arranging the classroom space to maximize the teaching of
an art form; utilizing the school, neighborhood and cultural resources in the
city as source material for curriculum.
Project Design (12 hours)
Participants will apply the material covered in the Foundation Workshops to create their own lesson plans. TAD Studio faculty will share a variety of curriculum plan structures used by different arts organizations across the country. Plans will be shared and critiqued within the cohort learning community.
Implementation (4 hours)
Participants will apply the material covered in the Foundation Workshops to practice teaching their lessons to one another and then teaching the lesson with a master teaching artist and teacher in a school classroom or after school setting. Classroom teachers will meet with participants before the class session to review teaching plans.
Reflection/Revision (2 hours)
Participants will apply the material covered in the Foundation Workshops, as well as work with peers and faculty mentors to revise their teaching units pilot-tested in the schools. Participants will use a version of the Tuning Protocol developed by the Chicago Public Schools Fine and Performance Arts Magnet Cluster Program to reflect on the effectiveness of teaching units.
Implementation Part Two (2 hours)
Participants will return to their teaching placements to teach a continued part of their unit plans. They will be asked to incorporate the lessons learned from revision and reflection into their teaching practice.
Closing the Circle (4 hours)
Participants will present the documentation of their lessons and teaching experiences to their peers at a culminating curriculum share.
Colloquium Series
The TAD Studio will also offer a colloquium series of two evenings with guest speakers and the final culminating presentation at the end of the year. The series is designed to bring the teaching artist field in Chicago together to extend the professional learning community created via past and current cohorts. For more information about the Colloquium Series.
