CELEBRATING A SUCCESSFUL PLC SEASON

Designed with the success of our 3-Day Summer Arts Integration Workshop and feedback from previous school year PLCs in mind, the 2026 Winter Arts Integration PLC provided accessible and relevant school year PD to educators while working to center care for educators during a busy time of year. The PLC invited pairs of educators from schools to attend two in-person collaborative planning sessions to create, implement, and share an arts integrated lesson. In this pilot year, partners from 7 schools participated, totaling 14 educators. By focusing on teacher pairs, typically an arts teacher paired with a non-arts teacher (e.g., a math teacher with the visual arts teacher), we aimed to nurture relationships that would support sustainable collaboration and arts integration within the school community.

Over two in-person Saturday sessions held at AED’s office, participants received support from arts integration coaches and fellow educator experts from the Baltimore Arts Integration Project to plan a high quality arts integrated lesson tailored to their students’ and classroom needs. Support included: hands-on arts experiences with professional teaching artist, Mitch Harris; sample lessons and standards-based curricular connections; planning templates and resources; as well as sharing and feedback opportunities with educator peers.

Participant feedback surveys show an overwhelmingly positive response to this format. One educator wrote “This program pours into teachers who then can pour into our students. It allows teachers to continue to be students in a sustainable way by providing stipends, meals, mentorship, and planning time.” Further, 100% of participants described the level of student engagement during the arts integrated lessons implemented as higher than typical. We look forward to using lessons learned from this program to continue refining offerings to best honor and meet educator needs.