By Sam Green, Arts Integration Manager
In early August, AED facilitated our second 3-Day Arts Integration Summer Workshop, a paid professional development opportunity engaging 25 City Schools educators from across grade bands, content areas, and experience levels. Modeled after the success of last year’s workshop, this program again aimed to provide participating educators with focused, paid supported time to:
- Expand their understanding of and comfort with arts integration
- Plan one high quality arts integrated lesson to implement in Fall 2026
- Build community with other educators passionate about arts integration
This summer’s cohort included educators from 19 different Baltimore City Public Schools and subject areas including: 4 arts disciplines (dance, drama, theater, and visual arts), multiple core content areas (ELA, science, social studies, and math), and several special areas (english language development and special education). The workshop kicked off with an arts integrated poetry workshop led by artist and educator Unique Robinson that allowed educators to experience first hand the power of arts integration. Then, participants had time to learn from and with the expertise of fellow educators as they planned an arts integrated lesson tailored specifically to their classroom and school needs. The workshop schedule included mini sessions to help educators grow their comfort level with a variety of art forms, walk-throughs of sample lessons, and multiple opportunities for sharing and feedback. In addition to receiving support in planning their lessons from a knowledgeable cohort of coaches, many with experience in our Baltimore Arts Integration Project, participants were also able to order up to $150 worth of supplies to support the implementation of their planned lesson.
In the end, educators left with an inspiring array of lessons planned, including connections like: using theater to support multi language learners, using visual arts to help young learners visualize math concepts, and integrating poetry into english language arts. Educator exit surveys from the workshop showed that:
- 100% of participants reported strongly agreed that they gained useful strategies for integrating the arts into their teaching
- 100% of participants would recommend future AED workshops to colleagues
We are truly grateful to have gotten to spend an inspiring 3 days with such a great cohort of educators!
