A 21st Century Guide to Professional Development for Art Educators by courtneypla

A 21st Century Guide to Professional Development for Art Educators

By Courtney Pla

Contents Professional Development (PD): Pros and Cons

Professional Development: Its all about YOU

Conferences: A Rewarding and Enlightening Experience

Conferences: A Quick Breakdown

Web-Based PD: Limitless Options

Web Sites: Digital Resources

Social Media: Personal Learning Networks

Social Media: Follow the Leader(s)

References

Legal Notes

About the Author Courtney Pla teaches art at the high school level in Orange County, Florida. She is an artist and educator, and loves collaborating and, you guessed it- professional development! She has a husband, two dogs and a cat.

There are four main categories of professional development (PD) in the 21st century. Locally-Based PD

ConferenceBased PD

pros

cons

v  Choices

v  Cost

v  New experiences

v  Time

v  Connect with local

v  Limited options in

artists

some areas

v  Targeted topics

v  Cost

v  Opportunities to

v  Travel

present

v  During school

v  Connections

Web-Based PD

Social MediaBased PD

time

v  At-home

v  Internet access

v  On your own

v  Time expense

v  Mostly free

finding resources

v  Account sign ups

v  Built-in

v  Limits privacy

community v  Collaboration

v  Requires accounts v  School rules about social media

opportunities v  At-home

Professional Development:

“[My] most useful PD has been selfselected instead of imposed.”

Its all about YOU! It starts with an email reminder:

issues.

“Training today after school!” You My first reaction was to place the sigh, roll your eyes, and dismiss onus on my school district. After the note. “Oh great,” you think, “I all, they hired me, wasn’t it their get to waste a huge chunk of

job to make sure I continued my

time listening to someone talk

education?

about something that has no

In a perfect world, the answer to

“I would like more hands-on play time. Less paper writing.”

relevance to me. Where the heck that question is yes. However, the is my art-specific professional

world we live in makes lifelong

development?”

learning our responsibility.

I have been working in Central

We get to decide what we want to

Florida for the past four years. In pursue and how we might go those years I have noticed that

about pursuing it. It gives us the

there is a large hole in the

power of choice and the ability to

professional development (PD)

create the best possible personal

system as it applies to art

learning network for us.

“I wish I didn't have to sit through PD that had no application to my class-room.”

educators. Having taught several work -shops at the Florida Art Education Association (FAEA) conferences over the years, it appeared that art educators around the state had similar

It really is all about YOU!

Pla, C. A. (2015). Survey Responses. Professional Development Experiences and Preferences

Conferences by the Numbers Of those who responded to my survey, 8 out of 12 belonged to an Art Education Association. 10 out of 12 are members of their local association 4 out of 12 are members of FAEA 4 out of 12 are NAEA members 7 out of 12 said that they attend conferences regularly Pla, C. A. (2015). Survey Responses. Professional Development Experiences and Preferences

Conferences: A Rewarding and Enlightening Experience As the myriad of ribbons on my teacher. My first conference was name tag in the image to the

in 2009. Though I can’t always

left would suggest, all kinds

make national conferences, it

of art educators come together has become a yearly practice for to attend conferences. I have

me to attend and present at

found a lot of joy and profess-

FAEA’s annual conference.

ional satisfaction through attending and presenting at the Conferences are like any other Florida Art Education

professional development: you

Association’s (FAEA) annual

get out of them what you put into

conference.

them. It is up to you, the art educator to create your personal

Being a member of the

learning network.

organization helps me feel a greater connection with the

Attending conferences is a great

world of art education, and I

way to establish connections with

stay connected to that world

colleagues, learn new skills and

even after the conference is

get inspired by well-known artists

over through the relationships

and scholars no matter how

I’ve built there.

many years you have been an art educator!

I joined the National Art Education Association (NAEA) when I was still a pre-service

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The proportion of art teachers who are members of [state] and/or NAEA remains relatively constant, regardless of the number of years of [teaching] experience. Moreover, it appears that, for the most part, those teachers who join [state and national art education associations] also attend state and national conferencesâ&#x20AC;? Jeffers, C. S. (1996). Professional development in art education today: a survey of Kansas art teachers. Studies in Art Education, 37(2), 101-114.

Conferences:

The National Art Education Association holds their annual conference in March. The conference is held in a different city every year giving art educators the opportunity to experience the art scene unique to each city during the conference. Art educators at all levels offer presentations that cover many different areas of art education from research, to artmaking techniques.

The Florida Art Education Association (FAEA), like many state-level art education Associations, has a yearly conference. The FAEA holds their conference in October each year. These conferences are a great opportunity for art educators to travel closer to home and access presentations similar to what they would experience at NAEA.

A Quick Breakdown

The Art of Education (theartofed.com) is a website that offers, lesson plans, videos, and a cadre of professional art educators that use their experiences to help others. The Art of Ed sponsors two yearly web-based conferences that allow art educators to learn on their own at their own pace, and revisit the information. The cost is minimal in comparison to national- and statelevel conferences.

College Board AP Summer Institutes and Trainings are geared towards AP course teachers across the US. Their objective is to help AP teachers embrace the expectations and coursework required of students to gain college credit. The courses are divided by subject and give beginning teachers a framework. They serve as a refresher for experienced AP teachers.

Pro-tips for your best conference ever! ü  Book your hotel room early to get the special rates offered by the hotel ü  Travel with a friend or colleague to cut your hotel costs in half ü  Make sure your membership is up to date and keep up with emails ü  Have fun!

3 Great Blogs to Check Out Right Now

Web-Based PD

1. The Art of Ed

The Web is a gateway to all of Blogs are a wonderful

http://www.theartofed.com/ Written by art educators for art educators. Includes lesson plans, podcasts, videos and more for all grade levels.

2. The Art of Apex High

http://www.artofapex.com/ High school blog written by the Apex High Art Dept. Lesson plans, student examples and resources.

3. Free Tech for Teachers http:// www.freetech4teachers.com/

All about free technology, apps, etc. for teachers of all subjects. Great for technology integration.

the information a person could resource for art educators. possibly want to know! We as

They document the authors’

art educators are so lucky to

personal experiences, and

have this amazing, expansive, therefore cover an extensive and massive resource at the

range of subjects. There are

tips of our fingers practically

blogs specific to just about

24/7.

everything that might interest

But therein lies the problem:

an art teacher. Many art teacher

how do you even begin to

blogs have lesson plan ideas,

create a personal learning

student examples, and the

network online?

author’s personal anecdotes on

What’s the best way to get

their life and career.

inspiration? Lesson plans?

Videos on platforms like

Catch up on contemporary

YouTube and Vimeo are

artists? There are a few basic

amazing curriculums resources.

categories to Web-based

There are huge numbers of

professional development that “how-to” videos that can easily can help to launch your search. be utilized in the classroom by

How do you even begin to create a personal learning network online?

students and art educators alike. There are many that cover art history, critique, and artists and their works. There are non art-related videos that can help students understand social issues.

Limitless Options! Organization-specific websites provide a place for art educators and students alike to explore topics relevant to their learning. Of note are sites for museums, non-profit

Don’t worry about the quantity of resources; worry about the quality.

organizations, and historical

These resources are just the tip

sites and monuments.

of the iceberg, and by no means

One of the most useful Web-

the only things worth looking at

based resources for art

online. My goal has been to give

teachers is digital book-

art educators a jumping off point

marking. Websites like

from which they can find their

5 Tips for getting started with online PD

v  Follow 5 twitter users v  Read 5 art ed blogs v  Create 5 Pinterest boards

Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) own resources best suited to allow users to create digital

their unique needs. Its all about

inspiration boards using any

creating your personal learning

image on any website. For art

network! Your network will

teachers this means boards

continue to expand and change

filled with artists, techniques,

as you move through your

artworks, lesson plans,

career in art education.

handouts, and other forms of

It is important to take time out to

visual inspiration. Some

digest and think about your

bookmarking sites have a

resources so you don’t get

related to

social aspect to them:

burned out.

different media

Scoop.it (www.scoop.it) and

Don’t worry about the quantity or

Pinterest allow users to share

resources; worry about the

their content with others.

quality.

v  Find 5 art museums online v  Find 5 websites

Welcome to my pinterest page! Â

Web Sites: Digital Resources Google Art Project https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project

Take students on a digital field trip to view works in famous museums, or curate your own exhibition to be viewed.

ARTSBlog http://blog.americansforthearts.org/

ARTSblog is your go-to resource for the latest perspectives on the art education field, from Arts Education to Public Art to Community Engagement through the arts. It serves as not only a source of valued information and professional development, but also a home for important discussions.

Met Publications http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications

This database contain full text articles and books made available by the Met Museum. Many feature artists and movements and are free to access.

What do art educators use the Web for? v  Inspiration v  Research v  Images v  Lesson Development v  Forums v  Effective strategies v  Art history v  Project examples

Art of Apex Portal http://artofapexportal.weebly.com/

A site geared towards students to help them in the creation of work. This is a great resource for art educators in organizing choice-based educational projects. It is written for the high school level.

v  Community

Pla, C. A. (Professional Development Experiences and Preferences, July, 2015).

Welcome to my Twitter page! #awesome

Social Media Personal Learning Networks The first thing that you might

a global community full of ideas

find yourself asking is “Why

and resources.

didn’t you include social media My favorite thing about social with Web-based PD?” The

media is the connections I can

short answer: social media is

make with people. Applications

social, its not on-your-own PD like Facebook and Twitter help like a lot of Web-based

me keep in touch with friends

resources.

and people I have met at

Social media has become a

conferences and beyond.

pervasive part of our lives.

Instagram has made image-

New applications are ima

sharing social too. It has the

-gined all the time, and allow

potential to be a great tool for

unique ways for people to

sharing artwork, ideas, and my

connect with one another.

life as an art educator.

Some are more visual than

A mild warning about social

others, but all serve as a

media: make sure you review

virtual meeting place for

privacy settings and know your

individuals.

work location’s policies about

Art educators connecting with social networking accounts. one another is not a new idea Many art teachers are familiar but these digital connections

with rules about communicating

make it possible to reach a

with students on social media.

much wider audience. For the As with anything else, use your lone art educator that can

best judgment. Social media is

make a huge difference. They an amazing tool. Give it a have the ability to connect with chance!

#Twitter Art ed hashtags trending on Twitter: #artsed Tag anything art education related! #k12artchat Meetup every Thursday at 8:30 CST to chat about art ed #edtech Education meets technology! #arthistory A lot of images and info from museums and art educators

“ Art educators are do-it-yourself by nature. We all create art resources and lessons from pulling together ideas and information at our disposal. We have our own personal learning networks already and what the Web/Internet does is give us the capability to easily expand our personal learning networks to include new digital colleagues all over the globe.” Castro, J. C., Danker, S., Delacruz, E., Fuglestad, T., Roland, C., & Stokrocki, M. (2011). Do-it-yourself professional development through online personal learning networks. Canadian Art Teacher, 9(2) 38-51.

Social Media

® Twitter is a social media platform that uses hashtags (#) and other symbols (@) when users are communicating. Each “tweet” can only contain 140 characters which makes the messages short. Users can follow other users by their names (@username) and trending topics (hashtags). Groups like #k12artchat have weekly meetings Thursdays at 8:30 CST. Digital PLCs with art educators from all over!

® Facebook is a great platform for creating groups and staying in touch with people. Users can upload images, videos, links and more. They can share these items on their “friends’” pages, and connect with organizations by “liking” that page. I prefer to use Facebook to communicate with people I know and have met face to face but many art educators have created private groups where they share their knowledge.

What sites do art educators most often use to connect with other art educators?

Follow the Leader(s)

v  Facebook

Instagram is the newest of the platforms mentioned here. It is an image-based social media app that is only functional on cell phones. Users can tag other users, trending hashtags, and leave comments on images. The app has popularized the use of digital filters. Users can apply a variety of filters to their images when they upload them. Many artists prefer to share ongoing works through the platform.

Art Education 2.0 is an online professional learning community of art educators. According to found, Craig “[It] allows art teachers to share, interact and collaborate with others using a variety of tools and features including forums, special interest groups, blogs, a chat screen, photo and video sharing, and RSS feeds… resources, best practices, and strategies with each other keeps members engaged.”

v  Art of Education v  Instagram v  Pinterest v  Edmodo v  Twitter v  LinkedIn v  Wordpress v  Email

-  Pla, C. A. (Professional Development Experiences and Preferences, July, 2015).

A special thanks goes out to everyone who made this guide possible: My husband, who helped me make the time. Craig Roland and Michelle Tillander for giving me expert advice and sticking with me. All of the teachers who participated in my survey- YOU ROCK! Any art educator uses this guide to broaden their PD circle- thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what its for!

References Art of Apex High http://www.artofapex.com/ Arted2.0 http://arted20.ning.com/ ARTSblog http://blog.americansforthearts.org/ Castro, J. C., Danker, S., Delacruz, E., Fuglestad, T., Roland, C., & Stokrocki, M. (2011). Do-ityourself professional development through online personal learning networks. Canadian Art Teacher, 9(2) 38-51. Cohen-Evron, N. (2002) Why do good art teachers find it hard to stay in the public school system? Studies in Art Education, 44(1), 79-94. College Board http://collegeboard.org Facebook http://facebook.com Florida Art Education Association http://www.faea.org/ Free Technology for Teachers freetech4teachers.com Google Art Project https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/ art-project Grundler, L. (2015) #k12artchat. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/k12artchat

Resources Continued Jeffers, C. S. (1996). Professional development in art education today: a survey of Kansas art teachers. Studies in Art Education, 37(2), 101-114. Met Publications http://www.metmuseum.org/research/ metpublications National Art Education Association http://www.arteducators.org/ Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com Pla, C. A. (2015). Professional Development Experiences and Preferences The Art of Education http://www.theartofed.com/ Twitter http://www.twitter.com

Legal Notes The trademarked logos in this document are being used for educational purposes only and are covered under the Fair Use provision of copyright law. This document and the original images in it are covered by Creative Commons and can be shared and utilized if the original author (Courtney Pla) is credited.

“To retain good art teachers in the educational system, one has to attract the teachers that continue to be critical and reflective. One has to provide basic teaching conditions that will allow teachers to voice their professional identity and negotiate the formal expectations of their roles.” Cohen-Evron, N. (2002) Why do good art teachers find it hard to stay in the public school system? Studies in Art Education, 44(1), 79-94.