Community Arts Partner

Teaching Approach

Teaching Philosophy + Approach

Our projects have an interdisciplinary and integrated curriculum. We review curricula with classroom teachers and school district specialists to ensure alignment with state standards. Our projects engage students in creative and long-term experiences, during which they develop 21st century skills through the creation of a new audio artwork. Our teaching artist team works with classroom teachers from initial planning through completion of the project and final assessment. We begin by asking what the primary goals are for the residency, what grade level, what subject, preferred project length, and whether there are special needs considerations (e.g. youth with disabilities or ELL students). Co-teaching by classroom teachers and teaching artists is emphasized. We provide new teachers with pre-project training including a condensed version of the project so they can better understand the scope and design of our residencies. We encourage teachers to propose a content area as the basis for their projects which directly integrates into their curriculum. As examples, we designed programs for third grade teachers who wanted a project involving Northwest Native American storytelling and for 8th grade Washington state history and geography teachers who wanted their students to learn about the immigration stories of the school’s international teachers.

Curriculum Integration Possibilities

Language Arts History/Social Studies Geography Government Science Health Music Technology World Language Core Art Classes Library Program

Special Skills and Areas of Expertise

ELL students Special education students Students with disabilities Professional development

Testimonials from Schools

Laurel Saito, Seattle World School, After-school coordinator/teacher Jeff Treistman, Denny International Middle School, Librarian/Media specialist Linda Martinez, Concord International Elementary School, 4th grade bilingual teacher Shana Brown, Broadview Thomson, 6th grade teacher Laurel Anne White, Katharine Blaine K-8 multiarts teacher Michael Dickneitte, Seattle Public Schools Special Education/Vision Services, Lowell Elementary School