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Professional Development

The Arts Work Conferences

The Arts Work is a series of conferences, sponsored by The Department of Education, that focus on practical and effective approaches to incorporate and support the arts in the school curriculum. The Arts Work conferences engage local artists and arts educators in offering professional learning opportunities in the arts and arts integration to Grades K-12 teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador. Included in these conferences are student performances/displays, artist performances and an awards ceremony celebrating the efforts of arts educators who have made significant contributions to the arts education of the youth of our province. The first conference was held in St. John’s in April 2006. The second conference was held in Corner Brook in May 2007 and the third was held in Gander in April 2008.

For the 2009-10 series, the Arts Work Conference was more regional in scope and became known as the Arts Workshops. These enabled each school district to host day-long Arts Workshops, comprising of concurrent strands of professional learning in arts and culture, which connected Arts and Social Studies teachers with local artists and cultural bearers.

The goals of The Arts Work conferences are:

  • to provide arts in education and arts education professional development for teachers
  • to foster links between teachers, artists and arts organizations
  • to explore practical methods to link the arts and culture of Newfoundland and Labrador to the school curriculum
  • to enhance the understanding and appreciation of our arts and culture by teachers
Arts Work V will take place November 6-8, 2011 at the Delta St. John’s and Hotel Conference Centre, and is designed for Grades K-12 teachers. This conference will offer many practical workshops that will explore methods and approaches to develop a teacher’s skill in the arts, increase confidence in teaching and assessing the arts, and highlight effective means to use the arts in a broad range of curricular areas.


Learning Partners

Learning Partners is designed to be a flexible professional development program. It is intended to assist teachers who have identified art or culture as a professional development priority or need. Interested teachers design a learning plan to work with a learning partner, who displays a level of expertise in an arts/heritage related discipline. He or she may be a colleague or a professional artist/culture maker in the community.

Teachers can apply to this program through their respective district personnel, using the Learning Partners Application. PDF


Virtual Professional Development

The grade eight Social Studies is a Newfoundland and Labrador history course, with a locally developed textbook, Voyage to Discovery, which is available in both English and French. This online professional development resource supports Social Studies teachers delivering this course. The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website provides information about the province’s history and culture from the beginning of the 19th century to the present and contains more than 400 articles, divided into five units, each corresponding to the organizational themes outlined in the curriculum guide.
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website, Memorial University
 

Contacts

Department of Education

Mary Dinn

Department of Education

Karen Hewett

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