Using the Videos and Web Site

• Teachers - to aid in curriculum planning or professional development.

• Preservice teachers - to observe actual classroom events.

• Teacher educators and professional development providers — to enhance their instruction, introducing preservice teachers to the realities of middle school arts integration. Each program could be used as a case study to examine and assess teacher planning and implementation, teacher and student attitudes, and the ways in which each lesson succeeds or could be improved.

• Administrators - including supervisors, principals, and group or team leaders.

• Community educators - to disseminate to parents and community members as examples of what successful arts integration can look like in middle school.

• For professional development — Districts, schools, or teacher teams that want to integrate the arts with other areas of study can use the library programs to build instructional skills in various aspects of arts integration. Use one or more programs for inservice courses or workshop sessions, watch a program as part of a team or department meeting, and make individual programs available for teachers to view on their own.

• For parent and community information — By highlighting middle schools that have greatly enhanced students' experiences through the arts, these library programs make strong statements about the value of arts integration that can speak powerfully to parents and community members.

• As a supplement to the companion workshop — These library programs illustrate in greater detail the concepts and lessons explored in the companion workshop programs.

Tips for Facilitators

The library programs can be viewed on their own or in combination with other programs. The half-hour length of the programs makes them easy to use as a discussion starter or as the heart of a presentation. Here are some suggestions for making your presentation successful:

• Set your objectives. Why are you showing this program to this audience? What is the insight, information, or skills that you want viewers to come away with?

• Know your audience. What are participants' interests, goals, and biases? Anticipate how they might react to the program, and plan how you would answer possible questions.

• Build a presentation. Plan how you will use the library program to achieve your objectives. Identify aspects of the program that you especially want the audience to see, and draw their attention to these things before you watch the program. You may wish to distribute in advance discussion questions (those provided in the print guide or your own) that the audience can consider while viewing the program. After the program has ended, take a few minutes to discuss it before you move on.

• Know the topic. Use this Web site to learn more about the schools, teachers, and lessons in these programs. The site offers additional resources, including Web links, for each program.

• Prepare the audience. Provide participants with information that can help them get the most out of the program. For example, you might distribute profiles of the featured teachers or schools. This information is available in the print guide and on this Web site.

Materials Needed

To use these library programs for professional development, you will need the following materials:

• The appropriate videotapes/DVDs

• A television monitor and videocassette/DVD player or computer

• The library print guide

• Background information about the program, available in the print guide and also provided on this Web site

For professional development, team-building sessions, or facilitated discussions, you also may need:

• Copies of your own learning objectives and the discussion questions listed in the print guide

• Flip chart and markers

• Pads and pens for individual notes and reflections

To use the Connecting With the Arts teaching practices library, we recommend the following:

Netscape 4.7 (or a higher version) or Internet Explorer 7.0 (or a higher version). Javascript should be enabled, if your browser allows you to disable it. Text fonts and colors may not be displayed correctly in older browsers.

To print the resources provided, or to print a hard-copy version of this guide, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in. To use the interactive slideshows for each library program, you will need the Macromedia Flash Player 7 (or a higher version). These plug-ins are available as free downloads:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Macromedia Flash Player