Our summer programs have ended, the school year is about to begin, and our teaching artists are ready to return to classrooms with more experience partnering with teachers and engaging students in joyful, creative, and academically strong lessons.

Each year, Arts for Learning Maryland works with over 100 of the best teaching artists in the state. Masters of their craft, they represent a diversity of art forms, from rap and parody songwriting to Chinese calligraphy and screen painting to ballet and tap dance. But the artists on our roster are also well-prepared for integrating the arts into the curriculum, connecting with students, and maximizing partnerships with teachers–and this is what makes them teaching artists of the highest caliber.

At the beginning of the year, Arts for Learning welcomed 22 artists into the Teaching Artist Academy, our paid professional development program for those interested in pursuing a career as a teaching artist. Over several months of asynchronous, virtual, and in-person sessions, participants learned how to integrate the arts with academic lessons like math and literacy; teach through an anti-racist lens; and meet students where they are to help them feel seen, heard, and a sense of belonging.

Workshops included:

• Intro to Arts Integration & Co-Teaching
• Restorative Practices
• SSE: Empowering LGBTQIA+ Youth
• Community Building
• Core Concepts of Childhood Traumatic Stress in a Classroom Setting
• Race Equity

Artists also had the opportunity to put their learning into practice by partnering with teachers from Baltimore City and Prince George’s County. The pairs worked together to co-plan an arts-integrated lesson, subsequently co-teaching in the teacher’s classroom, teaching the content the teacher was currently focusing on through the artist’s creative practice. By the end of the Teaching Artist Academy, artists had each received over 70 hours of training!

Participants self-reported growth in every measured area: building community, abolitionist teaching/anti-racist practices, restorative practices, trauma-informed teaching, safe and supportive school environments for LGBTQIA+ students, arts integration, collaborative planning, co-teaching, and student-centered learning.

Those in the program remarked on how they not only expanded their classroom-oriented skills, but also grew individually and as a community. One participant shared, “The program just touches every possible base. Not only do we gain the content training, the personal development piece is unmatched. It’s just been a beautiful experience from start to finish.”

Here’s to more joyful, art-rich classrooms that further the curriculum while building students’ sense of self. Bring on the school year!

Invite an Arts for Learning teaching artist into your school or classroom this fall! Meet all of our artists—and explore their programs—at artsforlearningmd.org/artists.