Posted Monday July 18 2016 at 10:06 pm
VSA MA COOL Schools Program
VSA Massachusetts promotes the involvement of people of all abilities in the cultural life our communities by developing arts-integrated programs in our schools, sponsoring exhibitions and performances by artists of all abilities, and helping families and communities understand and celebrate the transformative power of the arts. The Creative Outlook on Learning (COOL Schools) program is our flagship education program that embodies this mission.
This collaborative model leverages the wealth of arts resources of teaching artists (TAs) with the curriculum expertise of classroom teachers in order to create an arts-integrated learning experience that supports students of all abilities as they experience content, skills, or concepts from the unique perspective found through the arts. Students may include those with learning, emotional/behavioral, physical, or developmental disabilities and/or those with English language barriers. While each program is designed specifically to meet the needs of the students involved, all COOL programs focus on the following four main goals, which are articulated during the planning meeting:
Students will increase artistic skills in a particular art form
Students will deepen understanding of a given academic subject area
Students will increase social or non-cognitive skills
Teachers will heighten their proficiency with arts integration
COOL Teaching Artist Job Description
COOL Teaching Artists are passionate artists and educators with deep expertise in their art form and in integrating their art form with academic curriculum. VSA MA COOL Schools seeks various teaching artists to create arts-integrated programs with teachers for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year in K-12 classrooms across Boston Public Schools. Visual artists and musicians are strongly encouraged to apply.
COOL Schools residencies vary in length from 10-36 weeks, with TAs providing instruction once per week. Classes take place during the school day alongside classroom teachers and last from 45-60 minutes. Depending on the number of COOL classrooms at a school, the TA may work with two to four classrooms in a day. Teaching Artists are term employees and receive competitive rates, including paid training and planning.
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Posted Monday June 27 2016 at 10:51 pm
Kathleen has been a teaching artist with the COOL Schools Program for the past three years. She has provided quality, inclusive visual-arts programs to elementary school students with autism, in general education classrooms, and to high school students with intellectual disabilities. Students have learned so much more than visual arts from Kathleen! She has taught them how to collaborate, find and celebrate talents in each other, and trust in their own abilities. Kathleen has also given her partner teachers a wealth of resources and ideas on how to integrate the arts to make their academic curriculum more accessible and engaging to their diverse students. This past month, she worked hard to curate and contribute student artwork to the "COOL Ways to Play" artshow at the Boston Children's Museum. Kathleen is an outstanding teaching artist who enriches the lives of the students she inspires.
Posted Tuesday June 14 2016 at 10:43 am
Thanks to a generous contribution from NBCUniversal, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is proud to offer the NBCUniversal Tony Coelho Media Scholarship.
In 2016 the NBCUniversal Tony Coelho Media Scholarship will offer eight (8) scholarships to 2nd year associate students; undergraduate sophomores, juniors, and seniors; and graduate students with disabilities who are interested in pursuing a career in the communications, media, or entertainment industry. Each recipient will receive $5,625 to help cover the cost of education at their current college or university. The scholarship will be available for the 2016 fall semester. The 2016 application is due July 1, 2016 by 5pm ET.
This scholarship has been named in honor of Tony Coelho, a former United States Representative from California and the primary author and sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Coelho was elected to Congress in 1978 and served for six terms until 1989. During his terms, Coelho authored the original ADA, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. By 1994, the U.S. Census Bureau reported 800,000 more people with severe disabilities were employed than when the ADA was first enacted, in large part thanks to the work of Coelho, his successors, and predecessors.
Learn more and apply at the AAPD website.
