Arts Ed NJ is offering a free eight-week Culturally Responsive Arts Education Workout for school educators, administrators and officials — and registration is open.
The Jan. 17 to March 11 program focuses on developing the capacity of educators and administrators to think about how culturally relevant and responsive approaches can shift curriculum, instructional content and teaching practices to effectively represent and validate all students’ cultures and lived experiences. The structure of the workout affords board members a great opportunity to deepen their own understanding of CRAE.
When you register, you will become part of a community of learners committed to ensuring all students have the opportunity to receive a great arts education. Expect the following:
- Independent learning exercises that take about 90 minutes each week for eight weeks.
- Thought-provoking and reflective moments on your weekly schedule.
- Emails throughout the workout’s duration with prompts and instructions.
The workout will consist of various components, including:
- Links to articles and/or videos exploring issues of race, culture and identity.
- Reflection prompts and exercises to help turn learning into action.
- Sections of the CRAE curriculum survey tool to help assess current arts curricula.
- Connective artmaking prompts that can be worked on over the course of the eight weeks.
- Movie recommendations to watch with family or friends.
Registrants will get the opportunity to participate in guided conversations on Tuesdays via Zoom for reflection. Those who are committed to making a good-faith effort to attend as many guided conversations as possible are encouraged to sign up for the conversations. Registrants can earn up to six hours of continuing education credits for attending the guided conversations and completing exit surveys.
The CRAE Workout was created by arts education consultants Wendy Liscow and Sanaz Hojreh with Latasha Casterlow-Lalla, arts supervisor of Passaic Schools, as an additional curriculum writing adviser.
Arts Ed NJ is the unifying organization and central resource for arts education information, policy and advocacy in New Jersey. Arts Ed NJ is designed as a statewide arts education advocacy model for the 21st century, bringing together stakeholders and applying new technologies and communication strategies with best practices to create a vibrant and valued organization to advance arts education in New Jersey.