April 2021
SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS NEWSLETTER
Dear Educators,

Congratulations on making it to Spring Break! You most certainly deserve to take this time to relax, relate, and release. We at DC Collaborative appreciate your flexibility, honest feedback, and dedicated participation to our services which are all for the good of your students. With that said, we want to give a special thank you to School Librarians this month. To learn more about the American Association for School Librarians and how you can celebrate at your school, visit their website here.

In this April 2021 edition of the School Partnerships Newsletter, you will notice a lot of opportunities pertaining to teacher professional development. Don't forget to check out the Student Arts Showcase for the Cherry Blossom Festival too.

Table of Contents:
  • DC Collaborative Announcements
  • NEW! AHFES Program News
  • Featured Opportunities
  • National Cherry Blossom Festival Student Art Gallery
  • Project Creates Family Art Day on April 10th
  • Freer & Sackler Gallery: Virtual Teacher Workshop on April 10th
  • Just for Educators: PD and Workshops
  • All Teacher Survey Results from State Board of Education
  • The Phillips Collection offers Virtual Teacher Workshops
  • Ford's Theatre FREE Virtual, Summer Teacher Institutes
  • National Oratory Fellows presented by Ford's Theatre
  • Student Opportunities
  • Gabriela Mistral DC Youth Poetry Contest
  • The White House Historical Association- National Student Art Competition
  • Girls Rock! DC’s Summer Camp Registration
  • National Geographic Society offers Earth Day virtual field trip
  • National Gallery of Art offers Pandemic Resources & Virtual School Tours
  • The Kennedy Center introduces two new radio plays
  • Ways to Give

Follow us @DCCollaborative on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up to date on featured programs and professional development! Got questions? Contact Ashlee@DCCollaborative.org
DC COLLABORATIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thank you to all of the participants in our 1st series of Teacher Focus Groups! We are so honored that you gave your time to provide us with valuable feedback on our programming and communications. We will be implementing many changes over the course of the Spring season, and going into the Fall 2021 season. DC Collaborative cannot do this work with you! Interested in being part of a future focus group? Sign up on this form.
GET MORE INVOLVED WITH DC COLLABORATIVE!
There are so many ways to connect with us an integral part of the Collaborative process. Some suggestions are:

1) Submit Photos, Testimonies, and Blogs: We want to feature you and your students in our Story Bank blog and on our website. If you have pictures, video reactions, or if you are interested in submitting a blog post about your experience using the AHFES programming, please complete the Submission Form.

2) Become a Representative: The DC Collaborative has been the organizational hub of the Any Given Child (AGC) initiative, which is a nationwide network of like-minded communities striving to create full access to and equity in arts education programs. Represent DCPS and DCPCS educators on the Equity and Justice Committee, Steering Committee, or Assessment and Evaluation Committee. If interested, please email Ashlee McKinnon at Ashlee@dcccollaborative.org. 

3) Stay Informed: Sign up to receive our monthly Collective Impact Newsletter to stay informed on the community based on a framework that utilizes the voices of the entire arts and humanities education community and is at the center of our operations.
 
As educators, your voice is ESSENTIAL in shaping and implementing this framework into your classroom, curriculum, and professional development.
AHFES Program News
SAVE THE DATE!! Cycle 2 Registration for Spring Arts and Humanities For Every Student Program will run from Monday, April 19th- May 2nd (To use programs in May).

Reflection forms are embedded on the program page and are provided below in English and Spanish for your convenience. They are shortened and designed to take less than 5 minutes. As mentioned and signed in the AHFES Program Access Form and School Partnership Expectations, completing teacher and student reflections are required following participation in your selected program.

Designed with emoji-based and child-friendly language 
If you’d like to count (tally) your students’ responses, please make a copy of this doc and respond directly to this email with the counts. 

Guidelines for Completing Assessments
  • You are asked to complete 1 submission per program (ex. if you requested three programs, you and your students will submit three times).
  • We recommend that you complete the reflection together (especially for Pre K - 2nd students) or assign them as homework!
  • NEW! Google calendar invites DC Collaborative with the assessment due date will be sent as a friendly reminder. Please respond YES to receive notifications.
  • NEW! You may request DC Collaborative staff to come into your virtual classroom and guide your students to complete their student reflections. This should take about 15 minutes of your class time. Request here.

Contact BoBeen Chung at bobeen@dccollaborative.org for assessment questions.
FEATURED OPPORTUNITIES
National Cherry Blossom Festival Student Art Gallery 2021

The National Cherry Blossom Festival and DC Collaborative jointly invited grades Pre-K-12 students from DC public and public charter schools to participate in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Student Art Showcase, presented by Chase, by submitting an artwork entry that depicts this year’s theme “Home is Where the Blossoms Are”, with a special focus on Friendship. More than 250 students received complimentary art kits, courtesy of Chase, to get them started on their artistic endeavors. Enjoy the Student Art Showcase’s Virtual Gallery, and make sure to vote for your favorite piece of artwork on the site by clicking the thumbs up. Your vote will help identify the 2021 People’s Choice Distinction.
PROJECT CREATE PRESENTS:
FAMILY ART DAY- Saturday, April 10th from 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Join us as we celebrate the conclusion of Winter and the “reopening” of the city since the pandemic shut-down. During this Family Art Day, families will use colorful pages of old magazines and the black and white print from old newspapers to create beautiful Springtime paper collage flowers!

All ages are invited to attend this virtual session for this collaborative art project, and only basic supplies are needed. Materials needed from home are
Printing Paper, Construction Paper or Card Stock Paper, Magazines and Newspapers, Pencil for drawing outlines, Glue sticks, and Scissors.

As always, our programs are free and open to the public. Click on the button below to sign-up today! Space is limited.
Virtual Teacher Workshop: Slow Looking and Hokusai on April 10th (free)

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art presented this FREE Virtual Teacher Workshop on April 10th. The Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) is widely recognized for a single image, The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa, that has become an icon of global art. Learn more about Hokusai and his works included in the Freer Gallery of Art collections. Then, practice a slow looking exercise with a work of art by Hokusai as you engage in an interactive lesson plan demonstration led by a Freer and Sackler teacher in virtual residence. Leave the session with new resources and skills you can develop with your students. Register by clicking on the button below.
JUST FOR EDUCATORS:
NEWS, PD, & WORKSHOPS
STATE BOARD RELEASES RESULTS OF ALL-TEACHER SURVEY

At the end of January 2020, the State Board surveyed 1,060 public-school teachers from 185 different schools representing every DC Public School (DCPS) and the majority of public charter schools. The survey’s aim was to learn about public-school teacher’s thoughts on returning to in-person teaching, teacher and student experience during COVID-19, teacher retention, and well-rounded education.

Key findings include:
- Uncomfortable with returning to in-person learning
- Increased likelihood of teacher departure
- Worsening social and emotional well-being
- Inequitable rates of student engagement
- Ongoing concerns and barriers with technology and internet access
- Less content coverage

The All-Teacher Survey and its findings will be used by the State Board—specifically its Teacher Practice Committee and Taskforce on School Reopening Amid COVID-19—in identifying strategies and policies to ensure that teachers are supported and retained, as well as stakeholder-engaged solutions are implemented to tackle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Phillips Collection: Virtual Teacher Workshops: Using Arts Integration to Foster a Culturally Responsive Classroom

Through this workshop series, educators investigate how to approach an arts integration lesson through a culturally responsive lens. Each child comes to the classroom with their own distinct background, experiences, and ways of knowing. These workshops will use culturally responsive teaching to cater to students’ strengths and experiences and arts integration as a multimodal instructional strategy. Each session will focus on a different content area and artwork from The Phillips Collection. Educators will participate in artmaking using common household items and learn practical skills for teaching an arts-integrated lesson, all through a culturally responsive approach.
Session 3: Art & Empathy - Wednesday, April 28, 3:30-6:30 pm 
Educators of all grade levels and subject areas are encouraged to participate. This session is 3 hours and is eligible for DCPS teachers to receive 3 PLU per session. Teachers beyond DCPS are welcome to attend but may not be eligible for credit.
Ford's Theatre FREE Virtual, Summer Teacher Institutes 

Our memorial landscape is changing. Connect with peers and gain tools to teach Civil War Memory and help students grapple with these legacies. 

Session I: June 20 – June 25, 2021
Session II: July 11 – July 16, 2021
Investigate the Civil War in all its complexity with us in Civil War Washington.

Don't delay! Applications are due April 30, 2021. Graduate Credit is available
National Oratory Fellows presented by Ford's Theatre

A multi-year professional development opportunity for teachers grades 5 to 8. As part of a national professional learning community, fellows work closely with Ford's teaching artists and staff to learn the Ford's Approach to Teaching Oratory, including skills to teach text analysis, public speaking, performance and speech writing. At the same time fellows develop their own powerful voices as teacher leaders.

A cohort of five fellows begins the August prior to each school year, becoming part of a national network of supportive and like-minded educators. Video conferencing is used to connect fellows and Ford’s staff, and to create an online meeting space for active and collaborative conversations.

Fellows meet in-person in Washington, D.C. twice a year to plan and share work. At times throughout the program, they bring student delegates with them to learn and perform on the stage of Ford’s Theatre. Classroom Internet access and a webcam are needed to participate in this fellowship.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
DEADLINE EXTENDED:
Gabriela Mistral DC Youth Poetry Contest Submissions now accepted until April 24th, 2021.

The In Series is proud to announce our Twelfth Annual Gabriela Mistral Youth Poetry Competition* which honors the memory of Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945.

The Gabriela Mistral Youth Poetry Competition celebrates the poetry of young people.
All young people between the ages 11 to 19 in the DMV area are invited to submit original poems on any topic in Spanish, English, Portuguese, any indigenous language of the Americas, or any combination of these languages. Contact Anna Deeny Morales at ad1414@georgetown.edu is you have questions regarding the competition
 
Submissions accepted until April 24th 2021!  
Review submission guidelines at this website
The White House Historical Association is hosting a national student art competition

To celebrate its 60th Anniversary and the legacy of its founder, First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy, with the theme “The White House: An American Story,” WHHA seeks submissions from students across the country that depict and reflect the White House, its collection, and its diverse history – that of presidents and first families, enslaved workers, dedicated staff, and the American public.

The competition is open for submissions through May 21, 2021 and will have three grade-level categories: grades K through 3, grades 4 through 8, and grades 9 through 12. Winners in each category will be chosen via a panel of three judges and will be announced in July as part of the Association’s annual celebration of Mrs. Kennedy’s birthday. First place entries in each category will win $1,000.
Registration is now open for Girls Rock! DC’s Summer Camp!

Girls Rock! is offering a week-long online music education program for young folks ages 8 to 18 in the DC area.

We’re holding TWO sessions of Summer Camp this year: July 12-17 and August 9-14. Each session is unique, and campers can attend one or both sessions. Summer Camp tuition is $0-280 per session, available on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale. Learn all about Summer Camp by clicking on the button below.

Applications are also open for teaching artists and other adult volunteers who lead programming for campers. A variety of roles -- including instrument instructors, counselors, workshop facilitators, band coaches, and performers -- are available, and all volunteers are offered a monetary gift for their contribution. Prospective volunteers can apply here below.
To gear up for Earth Day, join the National Geographic Society on a virtual field trip!

The ocean is our planet’s life support system. It covers over 70 percent of Earth’s surface, supplies over half its oxygen, and shelters an incredible diversity of life. Register below to tune in on April 21 at 1 p.m. ET.

In this virtual field trip, dive into learning about what whale history and culture can teach us, how remotely operated vehicles give us an unprecedented view of seamounts in the Galápagos Islands, and how eco-journalism inspires change. The event is free and includes video segments, Q&A, and supplementary materials.

You’ll meet National Geographic Explorers who illuminate, celebrate, and protect the beating blue heart of our planet, including:

Brian Skerry | Brian is a photojournalist who specializes in marine wildlife and underwater environments. He has spent more than 10,000 hours underwater exploring the world’s oceans. His most recent project has taken him diving all over the world to document the cultures of various whale species.

Salomé Buglass | Salomé is a marine ecologist with a deep passion for exploration and ocean conservation. Working with the Charles Darwin Foundation in the Galápagos Marine Reserve, Salomé uses remotely operated vehicles to survey and sample seamounts—large geologic landforms that rise from the ocean floor.

Sruthi Gurudev | Young Explorer Sruthi Gurudev is an eco-journalist with two clear missions: providing ocean solutions and building a network of empowered youth through writing and editing her online magazine, An Hour in the Deep.
Based on teacher feedback, we've created five sets of classroom resources that can be implemented virtually or in-person and that speak to students' needs now. They include art activities to support emotional wellness, artworks to spark conversation on social justice issues, and artmaking and writing exercises. We've also curated "Uncovering America," a collection of eleven modules that explore works of art that reflect the richness and diversity of the people, places, and cultures of the United States.
 
Virtual School Tours
Virtual school tours are available for students in grades pre-K through 12, now through June 4. We work with the teacher(s) directly to understand their students' needs and to build a 30-, 45, or 60-minute tour that works best for them.  
Introducing two new radio plays!
For any student in your school community to enjoy!
We commissioned some of the most exciting, dynamic playwrights out there to create new stories for young people—and we’re thrilled to share them with you! 
The stories these playwrights created are about new imagined lands, saving the world, and the heroes we desperately need; or those we already have in our communities. Our heroes are brave and inventive, like us and different from us, and inspiring to all. Enjoy! Your code allows any student in your school community to watch this performance. Your code cannot be used publicly outside of your school community.

Please click the "Listen Now" button below for access. Password: broadcast.
If you have any questions please email us at KCED@kennedy-center.org.
Ways to Give
Donate to the DC Collaborative online or remit payment by check to:

DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative

The DC Collaborative is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

  • Are you a government employee? Give through the CFC Catalogue of Caring. We're CFC#66894
  • Does your company have a matching gift program? Would you like to make a gift of stock or a planned gift? Let us know
The DC Collaborative is a recipient of an FY21 General Operating Support Service Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
The DC Collaborative is proud to receive a grant for its Collective Impact work supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The DC Collaborative is the backbone support organization that leads members of the Any Given Child DC program, part of The John F. Kennedy  Center for the Performing Arts.