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Assignment 2 Looking Forward

Rebecca Platner
National University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

TED 690Capstone Course
Professor Johnson

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Abstract
This paper discusses the ongoing five-year professional development
plan for my teaching practice. The plan highlights five areas of
interest, with different organizations and opportunities, which will
foster professional development in Art education. The paper justifies
this plan, provides an explanation of how the plan will be implemented,
and explains how the plan will be presented to colleagues.

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Looking Forward
The professional development plan I have created for myself
consists of opportunities for advancement in the fields of art and arts
education. Over the next five years, I will be exploring multiple outlets
that will offer me invaluable new skills that will improve my teaching
ability. The five year plan is as follows:

Year

Professional Development

Secure a position teaching visual art at a Middle or High School in

Burbank (ultimate goal) and BTSA courses

The Art of Education courses and Professional Development through The

Getty

Continue my own artistic practice

Involvement in Burbank Arts for All (BAFA)

Annual Convention for Americans for the Arts

The first goal of my Professional Development Plan is to secure a

full-time position at a middle or high school teaching visual arts. Once
that is in place, the other development plans will be possible. My goal
is to remain in the district where I am currently teaching, but that may
be tough to do, since there are no openings for art positions at this
time. Assuming something comes up by the end of the school year,
this will be my professional development plan. If I am in another

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district, I will likely substitute year fours plan for a similar organization
that benefits my school site more directly.
Year two will consist of taking courses from an organization called
The Art of Education, which offers PD courses specifically for art
educators. On their website, they state that they provide Ridiculously
Relevant Professional Development to Art Educators around the
world. What started as a blog, quickly morphed into a catalog of 15+
online classes for Art Teachers, and an online magazine with daily
articles, tips, tricks, videos, and the first ever online conference just for
art teachers (The Art of Education, 2012). I chose this site because
this is professional development made specifically for art teachers by
art teachers. Often, professional development for other subject areas
does not translate effectively to the arts. This website/school aims to
change that. The other Professional Development I am looking at for
the future is any program offered at art museums such as The Getty,
LACMA, and MoMA. The Getty has a workshop where K12 teachers
are immersed in one aspect of the Getty Museum's permanent
collection and special exhibitions, while learning specific ways to
incorporate works of art into their classroom teaching. Workshops
include hands-on art-making activities and lectures, tours, or smallgroup discussions with Getty Museum staff (Getty, 2015). This is
another opportunity for relevant professional development in arts

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education, because it situates me in the art world with other arts

educators.
Year three (and hopefully before that) will focus on my own
artistic practice as a means of professional development. I believe this
is super important in developing my own knowledge base to pass along
to my students. The article Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in the
Visual Arts (2005) presents a compelling argument that the creative
and cultural inquiry undertaken by artists is a form of research. The
author, Graeme Sullivan (2005) explores themes, practices, and
contexts of artistic inquiry and positions them within the discourse of
research as shown by the graphic below:

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This graph illustrates the benefits of being a practicing artist within the
context of the wider art community. It highlights the skills that can be
gained as an artist, which I can then pass on to my students.
Year four will focus on becoming a larger part of Burbank Arts for
All, the community non-profit that funds and supports arts
programming within Burbank schools and the larger City of Burbank.
On their website, it states that Burbank Arts for All is A unique
coalition of major studios, local businesses, media companies, parents,
educators, the City of Burbank and the Burbank Unified School District.
Burbank Arts for All Foundation has helped lead a Burbank-wide effort
to give EVERY STUDENT the opportunity to experience the finest arts
education possible in Burbanks public schools (BAFA, 2015). This
organization consistently supports the arts within schools by
subsidizing budgets for art equipment and materials, and offering
grants for new and innovative art experiences at schools where there is
no programming. I have worked for this organization as a visiting artist
at an elementary school where there was no art. Through BAFAs
grant, I was able to teach each grade level 8 class periods of drawing
and painting skills. In the future, I would like to continue to develop my
skills as an arts educator by working with them to create new
programs, learn more about the non-profit arts world, and explore
opportunities for developing funding for arts education.

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Year five will be attendance at the annual convention of the

Americans for the Arts, which is a nationwide conference for artists,
arts educators, art activists, and people who want to make a difference
in how art is taught and funded. Unfortunately, the concerns of
funding and advocacy are necessary for an arts educator because of
the constant budget fluctuations and allocations. Americans for the
Arts is an organization that constantly pushes the arts to the forefront
of educational policy. Each year, in a different city across the country,
the Americans for the Arts meets at the Annual Convention. Their
website mentions the following: For nearly 60 years, Americans for
the Arts has convened an annual convention for arts and community
leaders to network and discuss strategies for building stronger towns,
counties, and cities through the arts. As our professional field has
grown, so has our gathering (AFTA, 2015). This convention would be
extremely beneficial in my professional development not only for what
I would learn, but also for the networking opportunity.
The five year Professional Development Plan would be
implemented with the help of my school site and professional peers.
After learning all of these valuable new skills and tools, I would hope to
implement them within my classroom, and also within the entire
school. For example, I could share my knowledge and new skills with
teachers in other subject areas who may want to incorporate art into
their lessons or upcoming projects. In this way, my professional

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development would not only help me and my art classes, but also any
other classes that would like to utilize the visual arts.

References
The Art of Education, retrieved from: http://www.theartofed.com/about/
The J. Paul Getty Museum, retrieved from:
http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/professional_dev/

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Americans for the Arts, retrieved from:

http://www.americansforthearts.org
http://convention.artsusa.org/about
Burbank Arts For All, retrieved from:
http://www.burbankartsforall.org/about-us/
Sullivan, Graeme (2005), Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in the Visual
Arts https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/art-practice-asresearch/book226654