Professional Resources: The Arts

Website with resources related to using comics in schools, with recommendations and links for: books and websites about comics; comics from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the ancient Maya; manga; comics in medicine; and comics during World War II. Search posts to the Comics Workshop blog for articles such as 'Why Comics?', 'How to Create Comics', and 'Comics in World History and Culture'. Presented by Marek Bennett, instructor for Discovery-based comics education programs.

Links to websites covering all aspects of art history, along with handbooks, lesson plans, activities, and other resources for K-12 teachers. Presented by EdTechTeacher.com.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard to allow learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. Subjects covered include math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Parents and teachers can use the coach dashboard to get a summary of class performance as a whole as well as detailed student profiles.

Search NGA's online resources for educators by artist, or by resource type (DVDs, CDs, Teacher Packets with Image CDs, all Online Materials, PDFs, or Podcasts.)

Pixar In A Box is a new online curriculum that analyzes how the studio fuses art, tech, science, engineering, and math to develop top-shelf animated cinema. Created with middle and high school students in mind but available to everyone, Pixar In A Box has interactive exercises, in-depth video lessons, and hands-on activities. The curriculum spans the pipeline of the production process: animation, character modeling, patterns, rigging, environment modeling, crowds, sets and staging, and rendering.

Creatubbles is a site designed to share young peoples’ are in a safe atmosphere supervised by teachers and parents. A Student creates 2D or 3D art or even audio or video. Then he or she, or (if under 13) his teacher or parent, takes a photo and uploads the creation. All art is identified by the artist’s age, but privacy is protected since full names are never used. Then, other people can view the art and, if registered, comment and add “like” bubbles. A great way to use the site is for the teacher to create a collection around a theme and challenge students to create art for that theme. Anyone can view the site, but art contributions are intended for children and teens up to 15 years old.

Google Arts & Culture (a project of Google Cultural Institute) encompasses three impressive sites that bring the world to students. 'Art' allows students to take virtual art field trips around the world, to create and share galleries, attend live 360 degree performances from prestigious locations such as Carnegie Hall, and discover cultural treasures. 'History' contains online exhibits of primary sources and artifacts from topics such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Tolstoy. 'Wonders' features downloadable teaching guides to videos and still images from around the world. It uses Google Street View to allow students to explore world heritage sites from areas as diverse as Machu Pichu and the Great Barrier Reef.

Looking for a place to download safe images for use in the classroom and other educational projects? Need accurate image citations? Then Photos for Class is the website you’ve been looking for! Thanks to Photos for Class filters and its use of Flikr Safe Search, all images are appropriate for school settings, and licensed by Creative Commons for public use. Plus, downloaded images automatically cite the author and the image license terms. Not only is this a powerful resource for images, but it can serve as a great tool for teaching students how to cite online products. Appropriate for all grade levels.

A free online tool for photo editing, basic graphic design, collage making, PicMonkey offers plenty of features through its free version. Help students create beautiful products for portfolios, flyers, websites, as well as other school projects. Appropriate for grades 5-12.