Components

Each year, teachers participate in the following:

One Week Summer Institute

The summer institute is an intensive, hands-on 30-hour training in foundational arts concepts and skills in visual art, dance and theater. The team of Arts Impact Artist Mentors provides direct instruction in a minimum of 12 different arts lessons. They model instructional strategies, classroom management techniques, and a variety of performance based assessment strategies in the arts. The common Arts Impact lesson plan format allows the teachers to easily use the lessons back in their own classroom.

View a Sample Lesson Plan (PDF, 360KB)

The institutes are held in the wonderful spaces of our cultural partners’ facilities, the Tacoma Art Museum and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in Tacoma and the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle.

Artist Mentors train teachers in the responding to art process using original works of art in the galleries of our partner museums. Teachers are also treated to professional dance and theater performances while learning how to lead students in purposeful viewing and response to live performances.

Teachers are introduced to the Washington State EALR’s in the arts and each lesson taught indicates clearly which specific concepts from the standards is addressed. A comprehensive curriculum notebook is provided to each teacher.

Mentorship

Each teacher is paired with an Artist Mentor for a 9-hour mentorship during the school year. The Artist Mentor coaches and supports the teacher through modeling, co-teaching and assisting the teacher in planning, writing, teaching and assessing arts lessons. The role of the Artist Mentor is to support the teacher in their journey to becoming a confident, competent and independent teacher of the arts.

In addition to the support and close relationship with an Artist Mentor, each teacher’s written lesson plan is reviewed by an assessments specialist who serves as a sounding board and editor to assist the teacher in creating a final lesson plan that contains clear learning targets and assessment criteria as they venture into the new area of arts teaching and assessing.

Free Cultural Study Trip for Teachers and Students

A classroom trip to the Tacoma Art Museum, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, Pacific Northwest Ballet, University of Washington World Series , Seattle Art Museum, or Seattle Children’s Theater for an exhibit or live performance allows teachers and their students to observe and apply firsthand the concepts and skills being taught in the classroom. Arts Impact covers admission to the exhibit or performance.

Supplemental Workshops

Twelve workshops are offered throughout the year to deepen learning of arts concepts and skills. Teachers choose a minimum of two workshops but can participate in as many as they like as room allows. Workshops are open only to Arts Impact participants. There is no additional charge for the workshops.

Shared Lesson Plans

Arts Impact uses a common lesson plan format co-designed with teachers. The lesson plan identifies key art lesson components such as targets/criteria, the big idea of the lesson, teaching and classroom management strategies, cultural and material resources, vocabulary, assessment strategies, and state arts standards. The lesson plans are used as a planning and implementation tool. All Arts Impact lessons are a collaborative effort between teacher, Artist Mentor, and assessments liaisons, in order to assure the best potential for student learning. Lesson plans are shared and published for participants in the program; the lesson plans seen on the web site are examples of work within the program.

View a Sample Shared Lesson Plan (PDF, 130KB)

Graduate Credit or Clock Hours

Participants can earn four graduate credits or 40 clock hours each year for the institute and mentorship. An additional 3 clock hours can be earned for each supplemental workshop attended.

Advanced Training

Arts Impact supports the on-going professional development of its two-year training program. Arts Impact graduates serve as teachers in the Arts Infused Summer School Program. Tacoma Art Musuem currently offers a series of classes for Arts Impact Graduates that focuses on integrating visual art with other core content areas. Arts Impact graduates are also invited to yearly Celebrations and on-going graduate workshops. Arts Impact graduates also have access to all lessons written within the Arts Impact program.

Other Program Benefits

Integration with other core content areas
The second year of the program adds conceptual integration as a major component of the summer institute curriculum. Referred to as arts infusion, shared concepts between an arts discipline and another core content area are identified and strategies to teach a concept and have students demonstrate learning in two ways of knowing are taught.

Team of arts professionals
Arts Impact is comprised of a team of arts education professionals. Artists, curriculum and assessment specialists and cultural educators all work together to provide individualized instruction and support throughout the two-year program. The team meets regularly to plan, write and review curriculum and to share best practices in teaching and mentoring.

Nationally recognized program
Arts Impact is one of 17 arts organizations selected from more than 200 applicants nationally by the U.S. Department of Education to receive a $1 million research grant to develop the Arts Impact professional development model. Arts Impact is also a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts “Learning in the Arts” grants, Washington State Arts Commission Consortia grants, and has been recognized by the Tacoma Arts Commission for community contributions.