SNAP Institutes
All institutes strive to achieve various kinds of balance: demographic balance with participation by the rural, suburban, and urban teacher; teaching level balance with participation by pre-kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, and post-secondary educators; ethnic balance with special attention to recruiting teachers who are themselves members of minority groups and/or who are teachers of underrepresented groups or special populations of students; and arts discipline balance with teachers engaged in or interested in teaching various arts disciplines.
The Invitational Institute is a three-week, residential program offered primarily to selected teachers who have demonstrated excellence in teaching one or more of the arts disciplines. The program structure includes participant demonstrations and leadership sessions. Follow-up activities are conducted during the subsequent academic year.
Teachers at the Institute present model lessons in one of the four arts disciplines incorporating these four components: aesthetic valuing, creative expression, artistic perception, and historical and cultural context. In this process, which crosses many discipline boundaries, teachers individually expand their knowledge and abilities through an intensive process of reflection and collegial coaching. Utilizing the inquiry process teachers begin to answer critical questions related to their own methodology.
In this institute setting, teachers are given the time to search beyond the surface of their own styles and practices to find a variety of meanings that help them redefine, refine and replenish their professional methodologies.
Through a number of strategies, including reflection, problem solving, open forums, and panel discussions, participants engage in activities geared to strengthening their own pedagogical background in teaching the arts.
Extensions of the Invitational Institute include follow-up events where participants continue to work collegially and to pursue specific areas of common interest and need.