Challenge 3- Careers #ArtsEdMonthAK
Alaska Arts Education Month is here! We’re celebrating throughout March with a different Creativity Challenge each week. Get inspired by the week’s theme to explore music, dance, theater, cultural arts, media arts, and visual arts. Share creations by you and your students with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by tagging #ArtsEdMonthAK + @akartsed to join the party!
Our third Creativity Challenge for March 13 – 17 is ………….. #Careers!
There’s a difference between art lessons that teach about careers and careers in art. Both are equally valuable in the classroom. Finding resources that teach both can be challenging. Challenge 3 helps identify resources that teachers can utilize for both.
Today we’re going to share a few ways to investigate careers through the arts. Some may work in your current educational setting and some may need to be saved for a different learning landscape. All can be adapted for different ages and abilities.
LEARN ALONGSIDE AN ARTIST
Try one of our AAEC Art Bytes: Want to infuse your teaching with hip hop and rhyming? Check out the Art Byte Rhyming Games, Language, and Literacy. This 50-minute training will give you the tools to bring hip hop into classrooms of all grade levels. This session features hip hop artist TJ “Manner” Cramer, who is a professional hip hop artist, songwriter, producer, teacher, He taught 2nd grade for 6 years in Juneau and during that time he also taught in the JAM program, sharing his love for and knowledge of the songwriting process which he is now able to do full time as an independent contracted artist in the schools. TJ’s first songwriting student was Arias or “Air Jazz” Hoyle, a promising upcoming hip hop artist whose brilliance is unwavering and extremely inspiring. Arias, since a young age, has had the utmost respect and love for his Tlingit culture, and it is prevalent throughout his music.Though Arias is in Seattle, WA going to school for music production and TJ is in Columbia, Missouri, they still get together to teach songwriting to kids as well as adults. Get inspired by these two professionals!
FIND A VISUAL ARTS LESSON PLAN
Teaching Artistic Careers Interested in teaching elementary students about art related careers? This is an amazing lesson plan idea about how students can use stations, inquiry, and teacher materials to explore what a graphic designer, architect, digital artist, and illustrator do. Grades K-6.
Marketing Through Social Media There are many artists who have paved the way for marketing their own art. A generation of digital natives typically come with a base knowledge of all the tools they would need to market their own art. Sophie Mahir of “From Hobby to Business” shares how to best market an artists work that sets them apart from the crowd. In this video, Sophie speaks about the differences between a hobby and a business and how to grow your hobby into a business. Grades 9-12.
Building a Career in Photography: Whether you’re a traditional photographer, or simply want to take better pictures for marketing through social media, having a solid photography base is useful. This resource provides 6 lesson plans and utilizes any device available to students. Grades 4-12.
How to Become an Illustrator: Students can better understand how to use their skills of drawing to help illustrate a story. PBS Learning Media presents Tim Read, author and illustrator of My Very Silly Monster children’s book series. This clip shows the tools he uses for illustrating his books and talks about the highlights of being an author. He also teaches the basics of drawing your own very silly monster! This resource includes lesson plan, handouts, video, and information about beyond the lesson. Grades K-5.
JUMP INTO A NEW DRAMA GAME
Job Interview: In this improv game, a student interviews for a mystery job, answering a partner’s questions while putting together clues to ultimately determine the position. This collaborative game can be played in a one large group or in partners when students have had some practice. It’s a great game to build active listening and quick thinking skills, and can be modified to focus on careers in certain fields for a review of science and social studies units. Grades 6-12.
We hope these ideas spark your creative thinking for this first week of Alaska Arts Education Month. Whether you create something from this list or from your own inspiration, remember to showcase your work on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with #ArtsEdMonthAK + @akartsed. Visit again for a new Creativity Challenge and more ideas next week!