YEAR II: 2005 Program Overview
Preparatory Workshop / May 2005
Program Orientation - Program participants will again gather on the campus of American University for a one-day intensive workshop to lay the groundwork for Year II activities. Participants will be introduced to the art and curriculum design courses they will take during the second Summer Institute as well as the research techniques and pedagogical themes that will be covered throughout the year. Because of the intensive nature of the Summer Institute, participants will be given syllabi, books, and other materials for the summer courses.
Three Week Summer Institute / June 27, 2005 - July 19, 2005
Art Course – Participants will take “Architecture and Washington, D.C.,” a course that explores the concepts of architecture, building on the bases of aesthetics and criticism covered in the first year. The course will focus on architectural principles, construction methods, aesthetic evaluation, and social interpretation. Classes will include lectures and illustrations as well as field trips to Washington’s neighborhoods and national spaces. Following the architecture class, special arrangements will be made for teacher-participants to take part in two workshops sponsored by the National Building Museum and the Washington Architectural Foundation. Participants will receive three graduate level credits upon successful completion of course requirements including a research paper.
Curriculum Design Course - The curriculum design course of the Summer Institute, conducted by the American University School of Education, will focus on the development of strategies for increasing student understanding of the principles and methods learned in the art courses by integrating the content, instructional strategies, and authentic assessment. Using a model of project-based professional development, teacher participants will design lesson and unit plans that will incorporate art principles and methods and pedagogical approaches to teaching art content. During this second year, the unit will focus on architectural principles. Again teachers will field-test their lessons by means of an action research project during the following school year. Teacher participants will receive three graduate level credits upon successful completion of course requirements in the curriculum design course.
Follow-up Seminar I / October 2005, Date TBA
Walking Tour of Washington D.C. - Teacher participants will meet on the campus of American University to prepare for a walking tour of Washington, D.C. Participants will bring with them a mathematics teacher or a social sciences teacher from their home schools. Facilitated by AU faculty, the visual arts teachers will pull out themes from their summer architecture course that connect to mathematics (particularly geometry) and social studies. By partnering with teachers in other disciplines, the visual arts teachers will be exploring ways to increase student achievement in mathematics and social studies by building connections that will help students make the links between the disciplines.
Follow-up Seminar II / October 2005, Dates TBA
Along with their mathematics and social studies partner teachers, participants will meet on the campus of American University to develop lesson plans that integrate concepts across disciplines. The visual arts teachers will act as resources for the sessions, sharing with their partners the pedagogical strategies learned during the Summer Institutes and the experiences they have had with those strategies in their classrooms. AU faculty will act as facilitators.
Follow-up Seminar III / January 2006, Date TBA
Keynote Speaker & Panel Presentations - The third Follow-up Seminar will begin with a keynote speaker who will address the integration of arts into the teaching of other disciplines and move on to panel presentations of the ongoing action research projects by the visual arts, mathematics, and social studies teachers. Teacher participants will bring samples of the work done by their students as well as the results of their action research to be shared and evaluated among the other teachers. The seminar will also allow for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the lesson plans and the improved instructional strategies at raising student outcomes.
