The Maine Department of Education invites you to be part of a new professional development opportunity, “Fostering Artful Early Childhood Classrooms.” Early Childhood Specialist Sue Reed and Visual and Performing Arts Specialist Beth Lambert are looking for teachers who want to energize their teaching and learning through focusing on art in the public preschool classroom. Applicants must apply in teams of two: one public preschool teacher and one visual art teacher from the same district. The visual arts teacher must currently teach at the elementary level.
Under the expertise of Early Childhood Expert Terri Petnov and Early Childhood Arts Specialist Judy Fricke, teams will work on building a collaborative partnership to ensure that preschool students receive an artful learning experience. Public preschool teachers will learn the research as to why art is important in a preschool classroom and how it encompasses multiple early learning standards. They will also learn how to include art into their daily routines. Visual art teachers will learn developmentally appropriate pedagogical approaches to teaching art to our youngest learners. Teams will be expected to practice new pedagogy in between sessions and document their experience. As a culmination of their work, participants will work together to create a workshop to be presented at the Maine Arts Education conference in the fall of 2017.
If you are interested in participating you can fill out an application here. Only one application is necessary per team. If you have any questions contact Visual and Performing Arts Specialist Beth Lambert at beth.lambert@maine.gov or Early Childhood Specialist Sue Reed at susan.d.reed@maine.gov.