Kick off a new school year with confidence and creativity!

[October 2, 2024] Research in disability studies can help art educators reframe ways of engaging with disability issues. Learn about the use of disability arts to engage learners in critical visual literacy and imagery production focused on topics of disability. Discover critical approaches to language and decentering normalcy to create inclusive learning spaces for all.

[April 17, 2024] This webinar will focus on various ways choice can be implemented in the classroom through the structure of curriculum, digital spaces, physical environments, and classroom routines. We will share examples of skill builders, boot camps, and thematic-based challenges, and strategies to structure student-facing learning management systems and physical stations for different materials to engage students in their own learning journeys. You will also learn simple yet effective classroom routines to promote student autonomy and success.

[February 7, 2024] Conduct an accessibility audit in your classroom! Unpack contemporary understandings of disabilities and how to apply these practices in all areas of your teaching while taking a critical look at your syllabus, curriculum, lesson plans, materials, tools, techniques, and classroom space and design. The visual arts classroom can be a unique space for valuing disabilities and differences, and this webinar will focus on creating an inclusive educational environment by learning to apply the principles of universal design, interdependence, and allyship. Leave with a fresh perspective along with the tools you need to ensure your instruction is equitable and accessible to all learners.

[January 16, 2024] In this Open Studio Conversation, NAEA welcomes featured presenter Jeffrey Conger, professor of graphic design at Montana State University and cofounder of the university’s Dyslexia & Innovation Symposium. Jeffrey will explore the skills and portfolio strategies that help students pursue higher education opportunities in graphic design and media arts, career options for students considering these pathways, and the value of exploring higher education opportunities in unexpected locations. He’ll also talk about the value of welcoming nontraditional and neurodiverse students into art and digital media programs in both secondary and higher education. Joining Jeffrey is Michele Dick, business development manager for education at Wacom and an education veteran with 21+ years of classroom and administrative experience with Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Washington. Wacom device giveaways will be announced at the end of the conversation!

[March 1, 2023] Join us as we unpack the meaning and characteristics of an inclusive learning environment through art while uncovering a variety of pedagogical approaches and instructional strategies to build inclusive communities in your learning spaces. Learn firsthand how inclusive community building has helped students develop a stronger sense of belonging and how studying a community’s local history and its demographic landscape helps to expand understanding of inclusive learning. Come away with strategies to align art teaching resources with cultural competence in order to address issues related to diversity, social justice, and inclusion.

[January 11, 2023 ] There are many therapeutic possibilities of artmaking with youth, and your art room can be a healthy space for this to happen. Explore pedagogical practices and classroom structures through the lens of the mental health needs of all students, including developing a sketchbook practice for nonverbal communication and building a safe and trusting environment in the art studio. Discover new ways to address and support student behaviors that prevent engagement and joy in artmaking, such as perfectionism or lack of confidence. Sample project and activity ideas offering a range of therapeutic benefits to student artists in Grades K–8 will be shared.

[December 7, 2022] Join us as we explore nurturing gifted and talented students in Title I schools. Come away with curriculum examples, lessons addressing community-specific needs, and fresh theories and philosophies of teaching that can help lead your students to take creative risks to help them grow and develop in the arts. Presenters will share dual approaches to expanding student progress, equipping you with enhanced support to help students find their voices as artists.

[February 2, 2022] In second language acquisition, the integration of visual arts provides differentiated learning, bolsters confidence, and encourages students to appreciate their own cultures and heritages through experiential learning in a brave space. Discover how storytelling through individual journeys can help to empower English Language Learner (ELL) students and help them connect to personal identity.

[August 4, 2021] It has been a year since we shifted our professional practice from the physical art room to hybrid and virtual learning. The dust has settled, but the challenges of engaging students with and without dis/abilities still remain. Join special education art educator Christopher Hall as he shares practical strategies developed during the pandemic to engage students with dis/abilities in the hybrid and online art room—all of which can be implemented NOW! Gain innovative and practical strategies for creating the optimal learning environment for students with and without dis/abilities in inclusive as well as self-contained classrooms. You’ll also come away with creative solutions for engaging students in artmaking with minimal art supplies via in-person, hybrid, and remote learning models.