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International School of Louisiana Westbank
K- 5th Grade | Social Studies  & Drama/Theatre
Zeb Hollins III

KID smART is passionate about offering Arts Integration training and professional development for school leaders and teachers.  At the beginning of the school year teachers and school leaders are invited to a ‘Faculty Intro’ where Arts Integration Specialists (AIS) and Teaching Artists (TAs) identify and demonstrate components of Arts Integration.  

During the Faculty Intro, teachers are encouraged to imagine how a professional teaching artist (drama/theatre, visual art, dance/movement, poetry, etc.) would increase the depth of learning in their classrooms. Participants are engaged in a ‘demo lesson’ focusing on connecting an academic/social emotional learning and arts objective.  Additionally, up to 10 teachers per school are invited to participate in a series of Arts Integration Professional Development Workshops (AXIS) held during the evening once a month throughout the school year.

“The teacher is the ‘expert in the curriculum, and the teaching artist is the expert in the artform’. ”

Teachers and students are encouraged to think of themselves as ‘artists’ while participating in the program. The teacher is the ‘expert in the curriculum, and the teaching artist is the expert in the artform’.  Throughout the semester, students and teachers learn various arts strategies and techniques that can be employed after the residency is over. Arts Integration happens when participants are engaged in accomplishing an academic/social emotional learning objective and arts objective simultaneously.  Education Through Imagination.