Using the Videos, Print Guide, and Web Site

The Art of Teaching the Arts: A Workshop for High School Teachers is designed for arts teachers from different disciplines to view together. While individuals can benefit from watching the programs alone, we recommend that you try to assemble as mixed a group as possible, including but not limited to teachers of music (vocal as well as instrumental), dance, theatre, and visual arts. Making connections across their areas of specialization helps teachers gain clarity about the elements of truly good teaching practice, in all disciplines.

Together, the video, Web activities, and print materials form a vigorous professional development opportunity for teachers. The video programs offer examples of high school arts teaching in dance, music, theatre, and visual art, organized around seven principles of good arts teaching; the print guide offers questions to guide group discussion; and the online activities help you reflect on your practice.

You can watch the video programs via Video on Demand if you have access to a high-speed connection, or you can order the videos from this site or by calling
1-800-LEARNER. Print materials can be downloaded from this site.

Graduate credit is available at a reasonable cost. Use Teacher-Talk, the workshop's email discussion list, to continue exploration of ideas outside the workshop session.

The guide for each workshop session consists of the following sections:

Technical Notes

To use The Art of Teaching the Arts workshop Web site, we recommend the following:

Web Browser

Netscape 4.7 (or a higher version) or Internet Explorer 5.0 (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.

Plug-ins

To print the forms and readings provided, or to print a hard-copy version of this guide, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in. To use the interactive activities in the workshop sessions, 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

Video on Demand

You can view the Art of Teaching the Arts programs online with a broadband
connection by watching on demand whenever you see this icon:

There is no charge for this service. Free sign up is required for first-time users. To hear the sound and view video, you should have Windows Media Player, DSL, a cable modem, or a LAN connection to a T1 line or greater, and have Javascript enabled. For more information, please visit our broadband FAQ.

 

NEXT: For Facilitators