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ArtStart
ArtStart is a unique program designed in partnership with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to support literacy in the primary grades. This program teams teaching artists with classroom and arts teachers, connecting the arts to other core curriculum goals and creating a learning experience that taps into a student’s natural curiosity and learning style. By using the arts to approach core concepts such as identifying the main idea in a story or adding significant details to a personal narrative, even disengaged and struggling students can find success!
The program focuses on literacy in the third and fourth grades. Participating schools choose reading and/or writing goals and select a teaching artist who best supports their specific learning goals and classroom needs. We then facilitate planning sessions and assist with lesson plans and logistics throughout the residency.
Program Components 
• Ongoing Professional Development
All participating teachers must attend the Summer Workshop, during which they participate in interactive, experiential arts-integrated sessions. Ongoing PD is offered throughout the year to foster the use of arts integration strategies and ensure best practices in the classroom.
• Arts-Integrated Curriculum Support
Arts-Integrated Lessons written by CMS teachers are posted online, along with support materials and links to resources and professional development opportunities.
• Artist Residency
Each eligible class will have the opportunity to spend up to 10 hours working with our professional Teaching Artist, connecting the creative processes of the arts to literacy, while participating in an exceptional artistic experience.
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| ArtStart Program Update - February 2010: We want to thank everyone who has made the ArtStart program such a success over the past 6 years. For the past four years ArtStart has been primarily funded by an Arts in Education Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and 2009-10 marks the final year of that grant award. The end of this funding stream requires ASC to restructure key elements of the ArtStart program to align with available financial resources beginning in 2010-11. Professional development in arts integration strategies for teachers, training for teaching artists and opportunities for schools/teachers to experience classroom residences continue to be high priorities for ASC. We are exploring more effective and cost efficient models for high quality arts integration programs that meet the needs of the education community. Currently ASC is planning to offer a professional development opportunity through the CMS Summer Teacher Conference on June 21-24 instead of a stand-alone workshop. We hope to announce details on these plans soon, so please continue to check our website for updates. |
About Arts Integration
Arts integration is a teaching approach that uses the arts as a way for students to construct meaning and demonstrate understanding in both the art form and another subject area, meeting specific evolving objectives in both. Learning can take place through any artistic medium that utilizes the creative process as a means of ongoing self expression, and can be linked through authentic connections with the processes, knowledge and skills of another subject area. Authentic connections involve creating purposeful links between the creative process and/or art form with elements of the subject area that lead to a deeper understanding of both the art form and the subject area. This deeper understanding should meet specific, significant learning goals that can be measured through multiple forms of assessment and be part of an ongoing learning process that continues to expand the students' understanding of the art form and subject area.
About Teaching Artists
A teaching artist is a highly skilled professional artist who also possesses the knowledge and skills necessary to instruct others in, through and about the arts. The teaching artist by definition is both an accomplished professional actively engaged in the creative process and refinement of their artistic skill, and an educator who is actively engaged in learning and developing the skills needed to be an effective educational collaborator.
As resident artist in the classroom, the ArtStart teaching artist’s task is two-fold. First is to provide high-quality arts instruction that goes above and beyond what the student is exposed to through the standard CMS/NC curriculum. Second is to provide authentic connections between the specific artistic processes the student is exploring and the corresponding processes for literacy acquisition.
As a co-teacher in a collaborative residency, the ArtStart teaching artist’s task is to provide the artistic and methodological training that the classroom teacher needs to deliver quality arts instruction in an authentic arts-integrated curriculum. The ultimate goal of the residency should be to hand off the instruction to the classroom teacher so he/she is able to recreate the experience with subsequent classes and apply the knowledge gained in making new curriculum connections.
2009-10 ArtStart Teaching Artists
Wright Clarkson
Gregg Gelb
Sigrid Hice
Candace Jennings
Sheila Kerrigan
Christopher Lawing
Barbara Locklear
Gail McKay
Royce Robinson
Kami Shalom
StageWorks Theatre
Alicia Williams
Participating teachers, click here to download documents and forms.
Click here to access sample lesson plans from 2009-10 ArtStart residencies.
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227 W. Trade Street
Suite 250
Charlotte, NC 28202
704-333-2ASC (2272) (phone)
704-333-2720 (fax)
Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 888-830-4989. This license is not an endorsement by the State.
Contributions to the ASC are tax deductible in conformance with IRS Standards.