bachelor's prep
Extra Curricular Art & Education Leadership Intensive Course
15 weeks
One day/week
3pm-6pm
$1200
Starts the week of September 9, 2024
​
Are you interested in a career in Art & Education? If yes, this program is for you.
Course Description:
​
Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of children's art education and administration through a dynamic Bachelor’s in ART & EDUCATION Prep program at PLAYDAY! This hands-on program is designed for high school students that are aspiring art educators, artists, and individuals passionate about fostering creativity in young minds and working in the arts.
Throughout the program, participants will gain practical experience in art instruction, curriculum development, studio management, and event planning while working alongside seasoned art educators and arts administration professionals. After application review, an in-person or virtual interview will be scheduled. Chosen participants will assist in teaching a variety of art classes, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and mixed media, tailored to different age groups ranging from toddlers to pre-teens. They will work alongside the management and education team to develop their own 10 week series of art lessons, build confidence and insight into studio management, gain feedback on their own artwork and portfolio guidance, and plan and host their own event in the studio.
​
Key components include:
-
Classroom Engagement: Actively participate in teaching art classes, providing guidance and encouragement to young artists, and assisting with project setup and cleanup.
​
-
Curriculum Development: Collaborate with lead instructors to design and implement engaging and age-appropriate art projects and lesson plans.
​
-
Art Techniques and Media: Explore diverse art techniques and materials, learning how to effectively teach these to children with varying skill levels and see how it can be implemented in their own arts practice.
​
-
Child Development: Gain insights into child development stages and learn strategies for nurturing creativity and artistic expression in young learners.
​
-
Event Planning: Experience the entire event planning process from brainstorming and booking to activity curation to day of execution.
By the end of the 15 week course, participants will receive a CERTIFICATE of COMPLETION celebrating a comprehensive understanding of the methodologies and practices essential for successful art education in a children's art school setting. They will leave with a PORTFOLIO of their lessons and reflection on their process of learning management tools and planning their event.
This program not only serves as a stepping stone for those seeking to pursue careers in art education, museum education, or community arts programming, but a great addition to the extracurricular activity list on your college application.
​
Join us in inspiring the next generation of artists and making a lasting impact through the power of creativity!
SESSION HIGHLIGHTS
Week 1:
Establishing Community and Expectations. Apprentice will shadow the Manager and observe a typical start of the school year afternoon (pickup, check in, transition to the space). They will meet students and observe/engage with how the manager and instructors build rapport and community with students while also establishing expectations for the day to day afterschool programming.
​
Reflection Piece: Create a flyer or poster (handmade or digital) of studio expectations discussed as a group in the first session to display in the studio.
​
Week 2: Classroom Leadership. Participant will work alongside the manager/teacher to lead the class sessions. They will spend Doodle Hour going through a sample lesson and activity sheet and discuss the scaffolding of our activities. They will be hands-on working and assisting the instructor and reflecting after with the manager on successes and challenges.
​
Reflection Piece: Using an activity sheet, plan a lesson for the next week’s after school sessions (either 1 lesson or the whole afternoon.)
Week 3: Teaching and Leading. Participant will conference with the manager regarding their lesson plans and then prep for the afternoon. They will work alongside the instructor but take lead on the session. They will chat with parents at pickup about their project(s) with the kids and establish rapport with families as well.
Reflection Piece: Reflection email to Manager and Regional Director on their experience leading the space.
​
From week 3 onward, Participant will plan with an activity sheet at least 1 activity a week to complete alongside an instructor. These will be kept in their apprentice portfolio
Week 4: Teaching and Leading Continued
​
Reflection Piece: Activity Sheets
Week 5: Artistic Skills and Scaffolding. Participant will work with Manager and Partnership Director to look at curriculum for Advanced Art as well as Partnerships to see how activities are scaffolded to build and develop skills (ie, foundations of art-learning how to start with one skill and use that learning to build and grow)
​
Reflection: Rough outline (topic and purpose of each class) of their own 10 week series of classes. If the instructor teaches the same class every time they are in the studio from this week on, they will be able to actually have that 10 Week Series completed in their portfolio by the end of the intensive.
​
​
Week 6: Administrative Walkthrough. Participant will get a full breakdown of our website, and the booking process with PLAYDAY. They will observe how the manager checks in students signed up, navigates emails from parents, and learn how we price and book sessions. They will understand how we chat with families about memberships versus us individual classes and how to sell classes through authentic and customer-centered pricing.
Reflection Piece: Participant will email Manager and Regional reflecting on these points.
​
Week 7: Party Planning! Participant will work with the Manager to learn the entire party planning process from Inquiry to preparation, to event. They will learn about clear communication with families and staff, the birthday tracker, the birthday binder, and how organization and planning are essential to a successful event.
Reflection Piece: Write a rundown of the steps for party planning (as practice for steps they will need to collaborate on for their event).
Week 8: Administrative Balance. Participant will learn how to navigate planning parties/events in the space alongside the normal afterschool programming. They will learn about our planning process for parties and how we prepare and order materials for them in the space. This will occur alongside teaching/normal operational tasks to get a true sense of striking that balance that comes in this type of career.
​
Reflection Piece: Learn and observe the manager send the closing email during the afternoon. Complete your own closing email (minus profits) and send to the manager and select team
From this week on, Participant will send these recap reports as part of their portfolio.
​
Week 9: Event Planning-Initial Brainstorm. Participant will speak with the manager and Partnership director about previous special events and ideas brainstormed in the past. They will learn successes and best practices for events. They will start brainstorming ideas for their event. It can be another iteration of something we have done in the past or a completely original event.
​
Reflection Piece: Participant will create an outline of their event they want to begin planning and the steps they will need to take to execute it.
Week 10: Initial Administrative Elements. Participant will review the outline of the event with the Manager and Partnership director. They will offer feedback and create a list of necessary steps to complete this event. They will complete the event proposal form and send it along to the executive team.
​
Reflection Piece: Finding and sending event proposal form if not able to complete in studio.
Week 11: Marketing and Promotion. Participant will meet with PLAYDAY's in-house marketing team to discuss marketing strategies (website, flyering, email etc) for the event. Participant will then learn to create an event on the PLAYDAY website.
Reflection Piece: Mock flyer and social media post for the event submitted to Manager and PLAYDAY executive team.
​
Week 12: Marketing Continued-Grassroots and Personal. Participant will work with the Manager to compose emails to current campers and students inviting them to the event. They will bring flyers to local businesses to post and share the flyer and info with previous partners and schools. They will put the event on the sandwich board.
​
Reflection Piece: Draft email to copy/paste and customize to community members and organizations outside of PLAYDAY families.
Week 13: Staff Communication and Planning. The Participant will work with the Manager to communicate with the staff working the event what is needed and what to expect. They will view the birthday binder form and create a similar document to have in the space for the day of the event.
​
Reflection Piece: Update email to the team on the logistics of the event, signups, etc.
​
Week 14: Event Week! Finalize all details for the event and any elements to prep!
​
Reflection Piece: To do list for Participant as leader of the event.
​
Week 15: Reflect and Celebrate! In this final week, have an exit interview with our Director of HR regarding what was learned, most challenging, most rewarding etc.
​
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION AWARDED!
