How Do I Begin a Program?How Do I Plan a Year? 1. How Do I Begin a Program? A. Think of a Philosophy   Think about a philosophy for your partnership, i.e. what you want to achieve with your partnership and where you want it to go. To help you, here is our philosophy:       "Museums offer a variety of exciting learning opportunities for students, not only with art but many other subjects as well. By exploring together, students and teachers are able to discover an innovative world outside of the classroom."   B. Conduct an Assessment   Assess the students, school and museum of interest. More specifically, evaluate what your school already has in terms of art education, its resources and what it desires.   Create a Rubric so that you have an authentic assessment tool. This will allow you to focus on where you stand, where you want to go, and periodically evaluate any improvements. For a template of a rubric to make your own, go to the following link:         http://edweb.sdsu.edu/triton/july/rubrics/ Rubric_Template.html     To see an example of the rubric that we use for our partnership, which you may adapt for your own use, go here:         http://www.espartsed.org/media/ self-evaluation_tool.pdf   C. Define Your Scope of Work     This is an important step in beginning the partnership, as it must be done for grant applications.   Start with one grade, or even one class. One grade would be preferable because then you will begin to see how complex it is to coordinate multiple teachers on one project that involves changes to the curriculum, visitors to the school and class trips. Keep your sights small during the first year, only plan to work on one museum exhibition as well. Identify a project or exhibit to be the focus of an arts and education project. During the first year, you could develop a longer plan, perhaps a five- or ten-year one.   D. Locate an Appropriate Cultural Institution   No matter where you live, there are likely to be several museums or cultural institutions accessible to your school. It is important to look at many aspects of the museum, such as proximity and size of the institution. For example, a smaller and more manageable museum may be more ideal for your school. PS 144Q and the Queens Museum of Art are located within ten minutes of one another, allowing students to make more frequent visits thus expanding their knowledge of the Museum and the many exhibitions that it offers.   Simply making a call to an institution's Education Department will provide you with the opportunity to ask questions regarding their programming and perhaps set up an appointment. Inquire about informative educational materials or brochures regarding the education program.   Research the quality of the institution's educational programs and staff. You can do this by spending time at the museum and observing their educators. Also ask the Education Department other schools and teachers with whom they have worked with.   Ask about professional development at the institution. It is important that participating teachers are able to visit the exhibitions and learn about the artists with the museum educators. This will allow the school and museum educators to work together planning museum visits that reinforce the school's curriculum.   E. Find an Artist-In-Residence   First ask your selected institution if they provide artists-in-residence. If not, then you can seek them out through the suggestions below.   Contact cultural organizations, arts-in-education organizations, schools, and any other arts-based organization in your area   Speak with arts supervisors in your school, region or district.   See if a local university offers Bachelors or Masters degrees in Fine Arts, Museum Studies, and Arts Education. Phone the department and ask them where to find artists-in-residence. It is likely that many alumni will be working for organizations that provide them.   F. Explore Funding Options   Since funding opportunities vary from region to region, it is important to do as much investigating as possible and not be afraid to network. Ask other related or similar programs who their funders are.   Look into your State and County Arts Councils.   Research organizations available in your region that support arts education. The Center for Arts Education in New York City has provided us with tremendous support and funding for our partnership.   Call your Department or Board of Education to find out if there is a fixed amount of money allocated for students each year that is available for your school.   It is always helpful to keep an eye out in art and education publications for possible opportunities. 2. How Do I Plan A Year?   These are the components that we keep in mind as we plan; however, we encourage you to make modifications where needed. A. Select Exhibitions for Year   Hunt and gather resources using pertinent literature (More Resources) and Web as a guide.   Call museum Education Department and ask if pre- and post- materials are available for the exhibitions chosen. If not, inquire about taking this opportunity to help in the creation of these important educational tools.   B. Planning for Each Exhibition   1. Professional Development Meetings     Depending on size of the museum and exhibitions chosen, set up a meeting with museum educators, artist-in-residence, school-based arts specialists, and all or selected participating teachers to view the exhibition, learn about the artist/artists', and brainstorm essential ideas.     Always be sure to clarify the connection between the exhibition, curriculum, and learning standards. Clearly define the project goals.     Think about what you want the students to know as a result of the museum experience. For example, a question of ours was, "What did we want the students to learn as an outcome of learning about Louis Comfort Tiffany?"     Plan art activities reflecting your essential ideas while building sequential art making and critical thinking skills. These activities are the building blocks to other areas of the curriculum.     Build a lesson web involving several subject areas to establish many connections to various disciplines. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the blank version of the lesson web.       2. Pre-Visit     This is the time to really get the students excited about their trips to the museum. In order to do this, it's important to show them slides about the artist and their work, an exhibition catalogue, museum generated pre- and post- materials, or any other pertinent information that may get them geared up.     Invite students to discuss questions they may have regarding their museum visit.       3. Museum Visit     Continually make connections between the exhibition and curricula, reinforcing what students have already learned and building on this knowledge.     Encourage students to continue asking questions to help them understand the materials and information they are learning.       4. Post-Visit     Provide opportunities for students to understand the connection between the art experiences to many other disciplines - i.e. how a work of art may be used in literacy arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. For examples of how we made these connections, see a Lesson Web under any of the exhibitions in What We Have Done.     Take time to reflect on the experience, bringing the experience back into the classroom with art, writing, role-playing, etc.       5. Assessment     Begin with looking at rubrics, K-W-L charts, student writing, artwork, photo documentation, etc. It is important to remember to document all that you do, especially when it comes to future funding. In order to do this, keep record of all pertinent documentation and evaluations from students, school and the museum.       6. Culminating Activity     Plan activities in order to share the project with the school, museum, and community, i.e. performances, exhibitions, family days, and special events. There needs to be input and active participation by representatives of the school community, teachers, administrators, and parents. It takes both school and museum participation to create an effective partnership. Be sure to document all the work that you put into the investigation, as it will all be relevant when it comes time to beginning this exciting opportunity.