Pla guide draft

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!