ICYMI - Approaches to Lesson Planning Part 2 Artist Educators Resource Sharing Event

June 11th, 2021 @ 10AM – 11:30AM EST
ONLINE VIA ZOOM 
FREE FOR MEMBERS & NON-MEMBERS

Dear Members & Artists Educators Community,

On Friday, June 11th, PAONE held Part 2 of its “Approaches to Lesson Planning” series for artist educators. Artist educator subcommittee board members Breanne Ritchie, Cameron Grant, Reynold Thomas, and Tim Walker kicked off the morning session with a quick presentation offering insights on how they approach building a lesson plan. Responding to feedback from our previous artist educator events, attendees were then split into arts discipline-specific breakout rooms to share their go-to tips for building lesson plans. Artist educators and administrators working in dance, music, theatre, and creative writing shared their perspectives in small groups then shared highlights afterwards to the larger group. Below is a brief summary of the tips shared and the conversation from the breakout rooms!

Breanne: Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk. Focus on the journey vs the product. Assessing where learners are at and what work needs to happen to arrive at a common goal OR be open to helping each learner on their personal journeys - the outcome will not be the same for everyone. Opportunities for self-empowerment and accountability for your students. Setting a learning goal for the session then working backwards from the end goal allows you to slot in enough time for everything and not miss the crucial check-out moment at the end of class/day.

Cameron: Building around learner engagement. Choosing exercises and activities that make it possible for the learner to engage with the concepts and ideas you are bringing forward even if they have their cameras off. Building in opportunities for participants to provide feedback and reflect on how the exercise/ activity or concept is landing with them.

Reynold: Focus on creating an environment that is conducive to growth, exploration and transparency. Building on concepts and artistic development activities that are opportunity focused providing structural approaches to building career portfolios and artist statements while also developing individual creative voices. Encourage participants to provide feedback on lessons learned and share best practices with other participants while stressing the importance of developing a safe space to learn and leverage community within the arts.

Tim- Curriculum Connection - using the curriculum as a launching pad for the type of programming you want to do. Using this as a framing will help you to distill your lesson down to a key concept and ensure you can explain that in multiple ways so you are confident you can support diverse learners. ‘What-Ifs’ activity:  after lesson planning is complete, pull out the ‘what-ifs’ activity.  Identify a type of situation that may come up and consider how you would address this (classroom management, equipment failure, lack of engagement, etc). 

Theatre

  • Student-centered: What are the learning goals identified by your participants? Having a rough plan to allow for flexibility to adapt to the needs of the learners.

  • Administrators/Coordinators create a Rolodex of different activities and games that artist educators can choose from when they are building lesson plans.

  • Finding ways to engage learners of all types. Perhaps you have a learner who is better suited to be the script editor or the stage manager? Create opportunities for those learners to use their skills to explore non-performance roles.

  • When working with younger learners, challenge their “boredom” by asking them to become more curious about the work!

  • Using a puppet as an extra character or facilitator in workshops with children. The puppet can be used to lighten the mood with jokes and songs, as a disciplinarian, or as a surprise to look forward to (ie, “today we will be visited by an actual dragon”)

Dance

  • Managing expectations (taking time to intentionally discuss safety, room to move, water breaks, etc)

  • What to hold on to and what to let go of? Especially with online workshops, delay in audio means musicality and dancing to the beat can be hard to judge. Clarifying the concepts that are essential and focusing on them.

  • Using group chat, private chat, reaction emojis, audio-only, video for specific check-ins, to engage with learners when their video is off.

  • For online workshops prioritizing two/co-facilitators, one to handle tech, while the other leads the dance class. 

  • Being intentional when considering what to pre-record and what to teach live. Seeking out new partnerships to work with other organizations to find new ways of working.

Multidisciplinary (Visual Arts, Writing) 

  • Create a welcoming environment that allows the opportunity for participants to feel comfortable in the space (music, acknowledge arrivals, etc.)

  • Challenge participants with activities that stir creativity and challenge the status quo

  • Leading discussions with prompts to help navigate the creative exploration

  • Discussed engagement strategies - for online workshops, encouraging participants to engage through the chat, resource sharing and breakout room activities 

  • Creating a safer space for learners. Developing a classroom “code of conduct” addressing values, and accountability rules.

  • Recap of what we learned; what we will learn next

  • How to ensure students feel safe/welcome from diverse backgrounds 

*Insights from one of our attendees Jean Assamoa on cultural sensitivity in lesson planning:

  • In your planning: Develop descriptive program information and outlines that are easy to follow and implement. Indicate your materials and spaces needed. Clearly stated goals and objectives are essential for both students and teachers. 

  • Cultural sensitivity and special needs awareness are imperative. Be observant so that what you offer is accessible to all and be prepared to modify your teaching plans if necessary.

Next Session 

We just scratched the surface in our conversation about participant feedback. We will pick that conversation up again in our next session. Look out for Approaches to Lesson Planning Part 3: Participant Feedback in July!

If you are not yet a member of PAONE, visit our website to join our network! Questions? Email paonearts@gmail.com!