Teachers Reflect on LAA+ Training

At the end of each day during the recent LAA+ Summer Institute, attendees were invited to complete reflection forms to share their thoughts on the arts integration professional development.  Their testimonials below reaffirm their passion for their students and careers:

• "I wish I had known about arts integration when I first started teaching. I am now in my 20^th year as a teacher and arts integration is the best solution I have found to meeting the needs of every student in my classroom."

• "The Louisiana A+ Fellows were the highlight of my conference.  They were so knowledgeable and patient with our questions.  Best professional development I have ever experienced!"

• "I take home with me a renewed passion about education."

• "The highlight of my conference was learning practical ideas that apply to many different content areas.  The arts can and should be used to teach every subject."

• "I think this training has helped me to evolve as a teacher and made me realize that I want to always be creative to keep children motivated and eager to learn." 

• "The highlight of my conference was EVERYTHING!  This week has been the most important professional development of my teaching career.  I am ready for the school year to begin so I can engage every learner in my classroom!"

• "I take home with me an understanding of curriculum mapping for the first time since I started teaching.  I now realize that mapping our curriculum as an entire school is key to student success."

• "I realized how fun it is to be engaged with hands-on activities during lessons.  My students are going to be so excited when the school year begins!" 

• "I think this program is going to change the way I teach.  The mood in my classroom is going to nothing but positive!" 

• "The highlight of my Summer Institute was the amazing people from the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts.  Our team of Louisiana A+ Schools provided us with key knowledge while being enthusiastic and happy.  Our school will become a better place because of them." 

• "Wow!  What incredible facilitators.  It was clear that all professional development was customized to meet the needs of our school."

• "This is exactly what our students need." 

• "Hands down, the best training experience I have ever been given as a teacher."

• "I take home with me an excitement to start the new year and inspiration to do my best.  Our entire faculty is optimistic about the upcoming year!"

It was wonderful to see the over 400 educators from our 9 LAA+ Schools come together to plan the new academic year.  We are so grateful for their enthusiasm and look forward to celebrating their successes!