Course Description: When classroom teachers integrate the arts they can expect improvements in academic and social-emotional outcomes such as creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills. During this two-day workshop participants will explore and develop personal creative habits followed by arts-discipline specific instruction, led by master teachers, taught in studio environments to awaken the artist in each participant while providing a deep investigation of the latest artistic techniques.

Facilitator: Tavish Forsyth

Bio: Tavish Forsyth is a Baltimore-based improviser with New England roots. He is the founder of Bird City Improv and an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University where he teaches applied improvisation through the Center for Leadership Education. He is also a senior teaching artist at the Baltimore Improv Group and a performer with the Charm City Comedy Project. Tavish is a trained actor with a degree in Film & Theatre. He has studied at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Powerhouse Theater, and iO Theatre. He is versed in Long Form Improv, Short Form Theatre Games, Movement, Stanislavsky Technique, Elizabethan Theatre, Dramatic Writing, and Sketch Comedy. Through creating an atmosphere of play, Tavish empowers individuals to listen, adapt, and respond, to cultivate awareness and connectivity, creating theatre that is gritty, patient, and honest with a hint of the absurd. www.birdcityimprov.com

Key Teaching and Learning Strategies explored in this course: 

• Perception - METACOGNITION: Deepen the awareness of the personal creative and teaching & learning practice. For oneself and others.

• The Creative Process Map - BIG IDEAS: Guide participants through a creative response to a relevant and exciting concept.

• Facilitator Role - TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION: Align technology tools to learning goals.

• Artist Communities - COLLABORATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURES: Adopt collaborative learning structures to deepen learning goals.

To download the full MSDE Fine Arts Office Professional Learning Framework, please click here.