Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners (ELL): Book 2 - Adolescent Newcomers

This course recommends the use of the Center on Instruction book, "Research-based Recommendations for Serving Adolescent Newcomers." ELL adolescent newcomers to the United States have a relatively short period of time in which to simultaneously develop academic language skills and master grade-level content. Districts and schools need research-based strategies to support middle school and high school students in this rapid adjustment to the United States education system. This course was funded by the U.S. Department of Education through grants provided to the Center On Instruction and Mc3.

Eureka! The Art of Being

This course features a documentary that focuses on the Ozark town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, home to over three hundred artists, writers, and musicians. After a brief overview of the town's artistic history, various Eureka artists share personal stories about their lives, work, and artistic ideas. They also discuss their feelings about the community in which they live, emphasizing what they think makes Eureka Springs a special place to be.

Disciplinary Literacy: Music - K-12

This course provides a comprehensive overview of what disciplinary literacy is and how it applies to music instruction. Teachers present during this workshop participated in model disciplinary literacy lessons that required them to, among other activities, compare and critique recordings of music and compose a new verse for a song.

This course, with Vocal Music Instructor Cynthia Outlaw, was recorded on August 1, 2014 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Disciplinary Literacy: Art - K-12

Disciplinary literacy has become essential to standards-aligned art instruction. This course provides educators with a detailed overview of disciplinary literacy as it applies to the visual arts. Teachers will explore the thinking tools and creative practices shared by both art and literacy in order to learn how disciplinary literacy can enhance art instruction by encouraging students to read, write, and think as artists. The presentation, which features Terri Taylor, a visual arts instructor from Hazen High School, was taped at the Arkansas River Educational Service Cooperative on June 30, 2014.

Curriculum Framework Revision: Fine Arts - Theatre and Dance

The Fine Arts Curriculum Framework was recently revised, and it is important for arts educators to know and understand the changes. In this course, Ms. Hannah Sawyer, Cabot School District, and Ms. Lana Hallmark, Arkansas Department of Education, lead a workshop that includes an explanation of the organization and layout of the new standards, a crosswalk with the old standards, lesson plan alignment, resource sharing, and more.

This course was taped at the AETN studios on July 7, 2015.

Curriculum Framework Revision: Fine Arts - Music

The Fine Arts Curriculum Framework was recently revised, and it is important for arts educators to know and understand the changes. Casey Buck, an orchestra teacher and musician, served on the revision committee. In this course, he explains many of the revisions to the organization and language of the frameworks, using examples with an emphasis on music education. He also shares many online resources helpful to arts educators.

This course was taped at the AETN studios on July 9, 2015.

The Arts in Every Classroom: What is Art?

Elementary school students and professional learning teams, which are comprised of principals, arts specialist teachers, and classroom teachers, are guided by workshop leaders from the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts to investigate the nature of art by identifying elements of four art forms:  theatre, music, dance, and visual art. The teams explore their perceptions about each art form separately and then examine how the art forms work together in the multi-arts example Quidam.

The Arts in Every Classroom: Historical References in the Arts

How do artistic and historical references inform our understanding of works of art? Using visual and dance elements, students and professional learner teams recognize the uses of historical references in Quidam and take on the role of art historian to discover how art history is being made today. They use costumes to investigate the ways that historical references can affect a work of art, examine a painting by René Magritte, and study choreography by Alwin Nikolais in order to gain insight into the influences of the creators of Quidam.

This workshop for elementary school teachers explores the concept of integrating historical context into art curriculum. It features professional learning teams comprised of principals, arts specialist teachers, and classroom teachers, who are guided by workshop leaders from the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts. 

The Arts in Every Classroom: Creating a Multi-Arts Performance Piece

In this workshop for elementary school teachers, professional learning teams and students create, rehearse, and revise a multi-arts performance piece that is based on the central narrative theme in Quidam. In a sequential series of large- and small-group interactions, they create original plots based on Quidam’s “journey” story structure, communicate their stories in a multi-arts medium, and critique and refine their performance pieces. 

The professional learning teams featured in this program, which are comprised of principals, arts specialist teachers, and classroom teachers, are guided by workshop leaders from the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts. 

The Arts in Every Classroom: Designing a Multi-Arts Curriculum Unit

This program introduces the Understanding by Design curriculum development process sometimes called “backwards design.” This process builds on the enduring ideas/understandings that drive a curriculum unit — the “why” rather than the “what.” Using a multi-arts unit of study as a model, elementary professional learning teams comprised of principals, arts specialist teachers, and classroom teachers, are guided by workshop leaders from the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts to investigate the components of this process — how the enduring ideas form the basis for essential questions and unit objectives. The learner teams then construct enduring ideas, essential questions, and unit objectives for integrated units of study that they can use in their own schools.