The Teaching Artist Field
Teaching artists in CCAP
programs report that
they feel supported as
professionals in developing
skills in all areas of their
practice, and appreciate the
opportunities to reflect and
share with colleagues.
CCAP works to improve the capacity and
practice of teaching artists to provide deeper,
more valuable learning opportunities for
their students; it views teaching artistry as a
professional activity that bolsters and builds
on artistic practice. Over the last few years,
Columbia College Chicago and CCAP have
earned a national reputation as an incubator
and innovator in the field. CCAP is building
pathways to and through teaching artistry for
artists of all levels of experience, from college
students exploring teaching artist work for
the first time to veteran teaching artists
reflecting on their practice with peers.
CCAP’s strategies in this area include:
Teaching Artist Development (TAD) Studio
The Teaching Artist Development Studio
(TAD Studio) was launched by CCAP in
2011 as the first city-wide stand-alone
professional development program for new
and mid-career teaching artists working
in Chicago Public Schools. Each year, TAD
Studio provides a cohort of working teaching
artists with over 40 hours of hands-on
training and practicum experience, using a
curriculum based on artist studio practice,
so they can strengthen and reflect on
effective teaching in and through the arts.
Teaching Artist Minor
CCAP promotes the teaching artist field at
Columbia by providing opportunities for its
students interested in arts-based learning. In
2007, we began offering a CCAP-led Teaching
Artist in the Classroom course. The sustained
high interest in the course led to the creation
of a new Teaching Artist minor in the
Department of Education’s Early Childhood
program, which continues to offer this course
along with a hands-on practicum or internship
with placement often facilitated by CCAP.
Professional Development for
CCAP Teaching Artists
CCAP provides extensive professional
development for all teaching artists working
in CCAP programs, consisting of workshops,
observation, and coaching.
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Impact on Teaching Artists
2013–2014
Increased Confidence
87.5%
TAD Studio participants have said:
“
TAD Studio provided me
with a lot of practical
teaching tools that I either
can use as they are or
modify to make my own…
Overall I just feel more
prepared…
”
+32.5%
55%
BEFORE
AFTER
TAD Studio participants’ level of confidence
in using arts integration strategies increased
from 55% before the program to 87.5% after,
an increase of 32.5%.
Increased Knowledge
ideas have shifted to
“ My
think of my work in the
classroom as an extension
of my arts practice and
not something I do on the
side. This shift in ideas
has made me a better
teaching artist.
”
90%
55%
+35%
BEFORE
AFTER
TAD Studio participants’ level of understanding
of arts integration jumped from 55% before the
program to 90% after, an increase of 35%.
Increased Understanding
95+5+L
93+7+L
21523_CCAP_ImpactPieceBro_r2.indd 10
95%
Understanding how my core
values as an artist are reflected
and impact my teaching practice
93%
Understanding of how arts
integration curriculum can
connect rather than fragment
ideas across subject areas.
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Teaching Artist
Kristina Gosh
Digital media teaching artist and Columbia
College Chicago alumna, Kristina Gosh, first
started working at CCAP in the TEAM program
in 2011. In the reciprocal way that happens at
CCAP, she’s learned as much as she’s taught.
Kristina’s collaboration with a teacher at Gray Elementary School, Dina
Alikakos, has fostered groundbreaking work in the classroom that she
has found “most engaging.” Over the years, they have built on a shared
approach to teaching that values inquiry, discussion, and analysis,
not just feeding information to kids. Through CCAP’s professional
development, Kristina learned that theorists like Henry Jenkins had
names for concepts and tactics they’d already been carrying out, like
“third-space learning” and “affinity spaces.”
This “incredible partnership” has changed Kristina. She is more open
to asking young people to engage in self-reflection, to think and speak
critically about what they’re making and why. She and Dina also now
dive deeper into complex, social justice issues and stories in the news
like human trafficking and violence. “Now I realize these kids can take
it.” These changes have also enhanced Kristina’s teaching in her role as
adjunct faculty in the Television Department at Columbia College.
Kristina values CCAP’s professional development and the “strong sense
of community amongst the cadre” of CCAP teaching artists, which have
helped expand her professional network and allowed her to learn from
peers. Through CCAP, Kristina also had the opportunity to adjudicate
an early childhood arts competition in Shanghai, China. Just as young
people are finding new ways and media to express themselves, Kristina
declares that she too is developing a stronger voice through her
experience at CCAP: “It’s like empowerment through osmosis.”
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Community Impact
As a result of their
involvement in CCAP
programs, K–12
students and community
members have improved
their artistic/creative
skills, increased their
understanding and
appreciation of the arts,
and enhanced their
social/emotional wellbeing. Students are
more engaged in school
and motivated to learn,
demonstrate higher
academic performance,
and improve their higherorder thinking skills.
CCAP’s focus in the community is to
extend the learning environment for K–12
students and other community members
through the arts and media. CCAP creates
deep, long-term, mutually beneficial
partnerships with schools and communitybased organizations to do this work.
Examples of CCAP programs include:
Urban Missions
CCAP’s founding program nurtures a
network of Chicago community-based
organizations and Columbia academic
departments and centers. Each semester,
College faculty members collaborate with
community-based organizations to create
experiential learning courses as well as
arts projects in the community.
Convergence Academies
An initiative supported by an Investing
in Innovation (i3) grant from the U.S.
Department of Education, Convergence
Academies is a whole school model that
integrates digital media into all aspects
of curricula and instruction. Convergence
Academies is both a place-based, designed,
learning environment and a relationshipbased coaching model that empowers
teachers as designers of new pedagogical
approaches using digital media tools.
Community Schools Partnerships
This program provides comprehensive outof-school programs to support students’
academic achievement and social/
emotional development through high-quality
arts learning, tutoring, mentoring, health
& fitness, college readiness, and parent
engagement strategies.
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Impact on Children & Youth
2013–2014
Improved Critical Thinking Skills
Arts Integration Mentorship Project
(Project AIM)
This program pairs teaching artists
with teachers to create curricula that
integrates the arts with academic content
such as science, math, language arts,
and social studies. A related program,
Transforming Education through the Arts
and Media (TEAM), recently wrapped up its
programming focused on arts integration in
digital media in technology magnet cluster
schools in Chicago.
Louis Armstrong Legacy Program
and Celebration (LALPC)
Originally launched by the Chicago Jazz
Ensemble, LALPC brings professional jazz
musicians into Chicago Public Schools to
work with student jazz ensembles of all
skill levels.
90%
86%
+12%
+10%
78%
76%
BEFORE
AFTER
Students’ ability to recognize prejudice
or bias in media increased 78% to 90%.
Students’ attention to how people of
their age, ethnicity, and gender are
represented in movies, TV shows, and
magazines increased 76% to 86%.
Enhanced Social/Emotional Learning
89% OF STUDENTS
85% OF TEACHERS
“
[Convergence Academies
is] putting students in the
position to take control of
their learning, to be lifelong learners, because now
they know how to access
information [from a] variety
of sources.
”
­—Convergence Teacher
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98% OF PARENTS
0%
100%
Reported that Community Schools students
developed a positive identity through
participation in the program.
76+10+L240
90+
90+10+L
Increased Achievement & Engagement
76%
Convergence students who
increased test scores from
previous year
92%
TEAM students who said
the program helped them
be more actively involved in
their class
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Community Partner
Na-Tae’ Thompson
& True Star
A decade ago, Na-Tae’ Thompson and a
colleague founded True Star, a youth-driven
media outlet that provides after-school and
summer apprenticeships for teens.
With a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Columbia College Chicago,
Na-Tae’ knew there would be great potential in partnering with the
college. She sought out CCAP, which she had become familiar with
through her Arts and Youth Community Development (AYCD) master’s
degree program at Columbia.
CCAP had supported the AYCD program by creating internship
practicum sites for students. When Na-Tae’ approached CCAP as a
potential partner for True Star, a similar vision of internship placements
was born. Through CCAP, Columbia students from departments such
as Journalism now work with True Star to help produce the content and
design for the organization’s magazine, radio show, and website.
Na-Tae’ is proud that her organization provides “real experiences
versus theory” for teens and Columbia College students alike, and
helps build their portfolios by crediting them by name in the magazine.
Additionally, Na-Tae’ believes True Star is a “gateway to Columbia”
because it allows young people to interact directly with college students
and build relationships and a deeper understanding of college. As a
result, many have chosen to attend the College.
True Star’s membership as a CCAP Urban Missions partner has yielded
many tangible benefits for the organization. Na-Tae’ values CCAP for
bringing together ethnically diverse organizations across the city to
connect and share resources. “We’re in silos and segregated” across
most communities and industries in Chicago, she says, but CCAP
helps combat that: “[CCAP is] kind of like the middleman for a lot of
connectivity in the city.”
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colum.edu/ccap
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