Summer Institute
A representative subset of REACH’s 150 teacher leaders (~15%) will come together with teaching artists, subject matter experts, and influential principals and superintendents during the national convening Summer Institute each year to explore how to leverage this work further into the nation’s education system. As a result of intense, deep PD investment in 150 teacher leaders, the ripple effect from sharing via School Collaborative Teams and cross school/LEA peer sharing, 4,000 teachers across REACH’s twelve districts will gain knowledge and learn best practices developed through this initiative. These leaders will also be acquiring skills in: team building facilitation techniques; mentoring; and learning principles.
Teachers will develop foundational content knowledge in each of the arts disciplines of music, theatre, dance, visual and media arts, storytelling and folk arts, in collaboration with the teaching artists so that students can develop skills in creating, performing, responding, and connecting to the arts consistent with national standards. They will also learn integration strategies to support their embedding creativity and arts learning into other subject areas. They will also learn to support English language learners and students who are differently abled and with disabilities and supporting the idea of developing curriculum with UDL and instruction that is culturally responsive, that explores issues of race relations and equity, and investigates the hidden histories that are not often taught in today’s curriculum.
Milestones: Launch Convening in first year leads to annual summer convening in which
influential educators explore strategies to build greater support structures for schools
and districts that embrace arts learning and arts integration as a pedagogical strategy;
teams work year-round to explore content and design program for annual convening.