The Joan Oates Institute for Partners in the Arts

Where content & creativity connect • University of Richmond • Summer 2019

The Joan Oates Institute (JOI) for Partners in the Arts prepares PreK-12 teachers of all subject areas to use differentiation, creative and experiential pedagogies, and collaboration to develop interdisciplinary lessons and unit plans. The driving question, “how do we learn?” guides the curriculum and informs the Partners in the Arts (PIA) model of using creative practices to engage and empower all students.

This summer, we’re offering both a 4-day focused course on telling stories and assessing STEAM + Humanities curricula and our traditional week-long institute focused on arts integration.

Joan Oates Focused Course: Integrating STEAM after Bird Box

June 24-27, 2019, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

This course will provide educators with the knowledge and skills to use the principles of arts integration to expand their instructional practice. Creative practices in observing and communicating through visual, sound, and literary arts will provide participants with opportunities for researching, exploring, and telling learning stories (assessing) their STEAM+Humanities curricula. Bird Box author Josh Malerman will guide the experiential writing framework throughout the course.

Joan Oates Institute: Foundations of Arts Integration

August 12-16, 2019, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

This week-long institute is designed for teams of teachers of all subjects and grade levels, individuals may apply and will be placed on a team. The focus is on how we teach, not what we teach, so bring a mixed-content area group to develop an interdisciplinary unit that will improve your students’ retention of content, build a dynamic learning community and transform learning in your classroom.

Participants will experience what it feels like to be engaged in multiple ways of learning, and discover how to communicate their learning outcomes in authentic and innovative ways.