Over 100 educators attended the annual VAPA teacher pre-service day, entitled “VAPA Insiders’ Event”, on Tuesday, August 20 at CPMA Middle School. The Insiders’ Event is designed to enable VAPA teachers throughout the district to continue their incredible arts educational efforts in pursuit of VAPA’s vision, which is “Transforming Lives Through the Arts.” The Insiders’ Event, which is optional and for which teachers are paid, is provided by SDUSD’s Visual and Performing Arts Department to kickoff the school year with a day of creativity, reflection, and connection.The day opened with a general session featuring Superintendent Cindy Marten, Office of School Innovation Executive Director Cheryl Hibbeln, and VAPA Director Russ Sperling. Tony Weaver Jr., founder and CEO of comic company Weird Enough Productions did the keynote, sharing his personal story about the power of the arts in students’ lives.
For the rest of the morning, attendees enjoyed a variety of sessions in a conference-style format. Each session featured an expert whose presentation covered ways to transform the lives of teachers and students. Workshops on Adobe Spark (a program now available districtwide), Pranayama breathing, Laban Movement Analysis, Visual Thinking Strategies, social media campaigns, grant writing, and connecting community to student artistic practices all connected VAPA’s mission and the superintendent’s focus on arts education and employee wellness.
After lunch (in which teachers had access to an optional food truck and free Kona Ice), teachers met in discipline groups for networking and professional development. The day closed with a raffle and a reading from “The Element” by Sir Ken Robinson, in promotion of the “One Book, One VAPA” book club available for teachers this year. Over the course of the day, teachers had the chance to stop by a station for participation in an interactive art project, which will hang in the VAPA Department office as a reminder of the passionate and creative work of VAPA teachers and students districtwide.
