Budgets are shrinking and people are getting used to the word \u201cless,\u201d but a grant for the Juneau School District just added a whole lot of \u201cmore\u201d to the arts.<\/p>\n
With the help of a $550,000 grant from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the district will begin helping teachers integrate the arts into their curriculums \u2014 for every subject and for every grade.<\/p>\n
JSD Director of Teaching and Learning Ted Wilson said the program, called \u201cArtful Teaching,\u201d will include training that is place-based and culturally relevant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arts is one way to make the educational experience more engaging for students,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Time constraints make it hard for teachers to cover multiple subjects within an established \u201cblocked\u201d time period, he said; fusing curriculums is one solution.<\/p>\n
In partnership with the University of Alaska Southeast, the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, the Canvas and other community organizations, teachers will have the opportunity to attend classes taught by local art instructors. They will also hear from guest teachers, or \u201cart integration specialists,\u201d from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cArts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form,\u201d according to the Kennedy Center\u2019s website. \u201cStudents engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Jenkins, a Kennedy Center cartoonist who authored \u201cComics in your Curriculum\u201d, will visit the district in March. Melanie Rick, also of the Kennedy Center, will visit in April and works specifically with training teachers to integrate visual art and poetry throughout the K-8 curriculum.<\/p>\n
The grant will provide stipends for teachers who dedicate extra time to professional development. UAS will also be offering continuing education credits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the professional development can be a model to teachers on how to integrate any curriculum,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
The grant funds the program for two years. If it is deemed successful by the grantors, it can be renewed for up to 10 years.<\/p>\n
Wilson said the district will hire a person to organize the program with teachers\u2019 schedules. He said the district will begin searching for a project coordinator with an awareness and appreciation for the arts who also has leadership skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very art-rich community,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThere have been a lot of efforts to make sure the arts are kept at the forefront, even in the face of budget cuts. So to have a grant ensure that we\u2019re going to be providing arts education for students is exciting for everyone in Juneau.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or at paula.solis@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Budgets are shrinking and people are getting used to the word \u201cless,\u201d but a grant for the Juneau School District just added a whole lot of \u201cmore\u201d to the arts. With the help of a $550,000 grant from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the district will begin helping teachers integrate the arts into their curriculums […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23941"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}