A 21st Century Guide to Professional Development for Art Educators
By Courtney Pla
Contents
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.
Professional Development: Pros and Cons
3
Professional Development: Its all about YOU
4
Conferences: A Rewarding and Enlightening Experience
6
Conferences: A Quick Break Down
7
Social Media
11
Resources
13
“Most useful PD has been selfselected instead of imposed.” -Survey Response
Locally-Based
pros
cons
v Choices
v Cost
v New experiences
v Time
v Connect with local
v Limited options in
artists
ConferenceBased
some areas
v Targeted topics
v Cost
v Opportunities to
v Travel
present
v During school
v Connections
Web-Based
Social MediaBased
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 Public
community v Collaboration
v Requires accounts v School rules about Social Media
opportunities v At-home
Professional Development: Its all about YOU! It starts with an email reminder:
There are four main categories of professional development (PD) in the 21st century.
My first reaction was to place the
“Training today after school!” And onus on my school district. After you sigh, roll your eyes, and dis- all, they hired me, wasn’t it their miss the note. “Oh great,” you
job to make sure I continued my
think, “I get to waste a huge ch-
education?
1.
Locally-Based
2.
ConferenceBased
3.
Web-Based
4.
Social MediaBased
unk of time listening to someone In a perfect world, the answer to talk about something that has no that question is yes. The world we relevance to me. Where the heck live in requires we the art eduis my art-specific professional
cators to take on the responsibility
development?”
of staying educated and up-to-date
I have been working in Central
in our field.
Florida for the past four years. In
And you know what? That
those years I have noticed that
works in our favor.
there is a large hole in the prof-
We get to decide what we want to
essional development (PD) sys-
pursue and how we might go
tem as it applies to art educators. about pursuing it. It gives art Having taught several workshops educators the power of choice and at the Florida Art Education Asso- the ability to create the best ciation conferences over the
personal learning network for
years, it appeared that art edu-
them.
cators from all over the state had similar issues.
It really is all about YOU!
Conferences by the Numbers Of those who responded to the survey, 92% of art educators belonged to an Art Education Association. 83% are members of their local association 3/4 are members of FAEA 1 out of 3 are NAEA members 58% said that they attend conferences regularly - Professional Development Experiences and Preferences, July 2015
Conferences: A Rewarding and Enlightening Experience As the myriad of ribbons on my Art Education Association. My name tag in the image to the left first conference was NAEA 2009, would suggest, all kinds of art
and though I can’t always make
educators come together to
national conferences, it has
attend conferences. I have found become a yearly practice for me a lot of joy and professional sat- to attend and present at FAEA’s isfaction through attending and annual conference. presenting at the Florida Art Education Association’s (FAEA)
Conferences are like any other
annual conference.
professional development: you get out of them what you put into
Being a member of the
them. It is up to you, the art
organization helps me feel a
educator to create your personal
great-er connection with the
learning network.
world of art education, and I stay connected to that world even
Attending conferences is a great
after the conference is over
way to establish those
through the relation-ships I’ve
connections, learn new skills and
built there.
get inspired by well-known artists and scholars no matter how
I first became a member of an
many years you have been an
association when I was still a
educator!
pre-service teacher- the National
“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 conferences� -Carol S. Jeffers, Professional Development in Art Education Today: A survey of Kansas Art Teachers
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 of teaching host presentations which cover many different areas of art education from research, to artmaking techniques.
Many state-level art education associations have yearly conferences as well. The Florida Art Education Association holds their conference in October each year. These conferences are a great opportunity for art educators to travel closer to home and access similar presentations. Association members at all art education levels apply to present information geared towards all grade levels.
A Quick Breakdown
The Art of Education is a website that offers, lesson plans, videos, and a cadre of professional art educators that use their experiences to help others. This web-based conference allows art educators to learn on their own at their own pace, and revisit the information whenever they need to. The cost is minimal in comparison to national- and statelevel conferences, and there are several per year.
Pro-tips for your best conference ever!
College Board AP Summer Institutes and Trainings are geared towards AP course teachers across the US. Their objective is to help teachers embrace the challenging expectations and coursework required of students to gain college credit. The conferences are divided into courses and are very helpful for those beginning to teach at the AP level and refreshers for experienced AP teachers.
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!