Teacher Resources

Resources for the 2020-2021 School Year

Below are articles, activities, webinars, and podcasts that may provide assistance in lesson planning for the 2020-2021 school year.

COVID-19

In the event that you will be teaching students in-person, Starting Arts will be providing you with safety gear such as masks, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and anything else needed to keep you and the school community safe. In the event that you will be providing video lessons, Starting Arts will provide a clean, safe, professional space for you to record as well as technical equipment to help make your videos the highest quality they can be.

Starting Arts Guidelines for In-Person Rehearsals/Classes

CDC- General Coronavirus Information

CDC- Coronavirus Symptoms

Santa Clara County- Coronavirus Testing 

Resources for Virtual Teaching

“We will have glitches, we will have technical difficulties, we will be dropped, we will go with the flow, and we will do the best we can!”

Find the resources below and more on the Musical Theatre Educators  (please note, these resources are not just specific to musical theatre) and the Arts Education Partnership websites.

Teaching Music Online- A Practical Guide

Sample Distance Learning Lesson Guide

A Cappella Collaboration- a step by step guide

Fixing Zoom Audio for Music Lessons (focused on instrumental, but could be useful for vocal as well)

Technology Resources for Musical Theatre Teaching

Teaching Online Voice Lessons

Strategies for Distance Learning (All Disciplines)

Ultimate Guide To Virtual Museum Resources

Webinar Series: Performing Artists’ Mental Health

This webinar is the inaugural mental health session for professionals who work with performing artists and, in particular, professional and pre-professional dancers. Drs. Nancy Kadel, Bonnie Robson, and Paula Thomson join the president of IADMS, Mr. Peter Lewton-Brain, and Dr. Lynda Mainwaring for a half hour webinar examining how the current COVID-19 pandemic is affecting performing artists, and how we can help ourselves and each other.

Exploring the Scope of Dance During COVID 19

This live stream panel discussion occurred on Saturday, May 16, 2020, in the IADMS Science for Dance Educators Facebook group. Moderated by Ellie Kusner, MSc, IADMS Dance Educators’ Committee chair, with guest panelists Betsy Coker, EdD, MA, Laura Grant, MSEd, and And Megerdichian. This panel will help you consider your new teaching practice through the lens of science. We will discuss education of the dancing body and brain with ideas from neuroscience, improvisation, somatics, and more.

Classroom Ally

Since 2000, Starting Arts has established itself as a leader in the local arts community. As part of our mission, we have been dedicated to making arts education accessible to all students throughout the Bay Area, regardless of ethnicity, ability or disability, national origin, race, skill level, background, religion, gender, sexual orientation or financial means. We have instituted a number of programs to foster diversity and understanding, as well as outreach to the under-served among our youth. On September 1, 2020, Starting Arts began delivering FREE arts education programs to Bay Area Title I schools whose children would otherwise not receive arts programming. In addition, we have increased the number of scholarships we offer to deserving students attending our Studio and Onsite School Arts Programs by 20%.

Starting Arts believes that Black Lives Matter, as well as the lives of Indigenous Peoples, and People of Color. We believe in the value of bringing together people from different backgrounds and experiences, as we are all strengthened by the diversity of culture and broadening of perspectives. Engaging individuals from diverse backgrounds in the workplace and school settings improves productivity, creativity, and critical thinking. We also acknowledge our past misdeeds and mourn the opportunities we missed to better educate ourselves and the students we encounter daily. We strive to learn and grow and educate ourselves and those in our community to be better artists, administrators, decision makers, and educators.

Starting Arts also serves to foster this understanding among its artist teachers with principles of inclusiveness and cultural diversity through our online Resource Page. We have also established the Starting Arts Coalition for Inclusivity and Unbiased Education with the goal of bettering society and culture through youth education in the arts. As we continually learn together, we thank those of you for sharing your thoughts with us. Join us in our mission to provide the highest quality arts education to students and actively shape the future of visual and performing arts education.

Thank you,
Ann L. Watts
Executive Director

Starting Arts believes firmly in the importance of Arts Education for all children, but especially those who are underrepresented in the normal school day. We are working on ways to add representation for BIPOC students and have found the articles, webinars, and activities from Teaching Tolerance to be a good starting point for our instructors on how to generally (not specific to an arts discipline or lesson) be an ally and advocate in the classroom. More specific lesson/curriculum ideas to come.

Some articles and tests to better understand bias and where it comes from:

“Characteristics of White Supremacist Culture”

Unconscious Bias Training

Implicit Bias Tests (to take and reflect on)

How To Be an Ally in the Classroom

Confronting Implicit Bias

Equity Matters

Student Mental Health Matters

Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education

Being Culturally Responsive