Welcome!

ArtsLinks provides high-quality, sustained, and intensive professional development activities for teachers. (Please note that this site is currently ungoing re-construction).

BRIDGES is an outgrowth of ArtsLinks and is dedicated to providing a unique and exciting educational experience for pre-service teachers.

Professor Arlene Mollo of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Ms. Sherye Weisz of the SMARTS Collaborative, Inc. are the Principal Investigators.


Funding for this project comes from the Massachusetts Board of Education and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program.

The ArtsLinks web site is integral to our goal of sharing and forming connections through information. Discover more about our Projects. Read personal stories of the experiences of ArtsLinks participants. Use our lesson plans and Teacher's Links as a rich educational resource. Contact ArtsLinks and learn how to become a part of our exciting network of educators and students. We would love to hear your opinions, ideas, and lessons plans relating to interdisciplinary education.

The creators of Artslinks share a vision that the arts revitalize education. We believe the arts promote dynamic interdisciplinary opportunites to add depth and breadth to the learning experience. The arts are powerful tools for developing emotional and cognitive intelligences. Combined with interdisciplinary learning, the arts enable students to search for and find meaningful connections among varied aspects of the human experience.

"This teaching experience had an impact on my students yet even more so on me. It was something that invigorated and rejuvenated my teaching. This program was well worth the effort and one that I hope will continue for the duration of my teaching days" - Bob L'Homme, Social Studies Teacher at Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, MA


Lesson Plans

Every ArtsLinks project has produced innovative lesson plans designed by pre-service teachers and in-service teachers. The lessons are provided on this site for public educational use.

There are two ways to view the lessons. You can select lessons from individual projects. You may also view a master page of lessons from all ArtsLinks projects which are posted in chronological order. Comments and feedback on your experiences with the lesson plans will be welcome. Send contributions to artslinks@umassd.edu.

Teacher's Web Resource Links

The ArtsLinks connection provides a list of links to wonderful arts and interdisciplinary education sites worldwide. We welcome your contributions and suggestions for links to this dynamic and growing chain.

HISTORY

The ArtsLinks Project

ArtsLinks itself is a link, connecting the educational initiatives of the innovative projects described below. The primary goal of the ArtsLinks project is to use the arts as a unifying agent across curriculum areas and to support teacher involvement in curriculum development. ArtsLinks is based at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and headed by Associate Professor of Art Education Dr. Arlene Mollo and Ms. Sherye Weisz, Executive Director of the Southeastern Massachusetts Arts Collaborative, (better known as SMARTS). The College of Visual and Performing Arts and it's Art Education Department continues to provide significant indirect support to the Project. The Partnership between UMass Dartmouth and SMARTS has flourished for over five years.



The Pathways Project -The Early Years 1989-1994

Pathways to Communication: Professional Development Through the Arts was an early incarnation of ArtsLinks. Pathways was a collaborative project between SMARTS and Bridgewater State College that included activities such as: Planning/Networking/Sharing and Mentoring Meetings; Mini-Courses for teachers; PATHWAYS Summer Institute; and an Annual Statewide Integrated Arts Convention.

SMARTS

Since 1986, SMARTS has focused it's efforts on setting a pace and direction for education by striving to make the arts an integral part of the educational experience. SMARTS promotes the vitality of the arts in education and believes that the arts strengthen and invigorate interdisciplinary education. SMARTS is active in its member school districts; Attleboro, Berkley, Dighton, Easton, Mansfield, North Attleboro, Norton, Rehoboth, Taunton, and other districts. SMARTS initiates student and community education programs/events, professional development opportunities and networking for teachers, as well as partnerships, advocacy, and financial support from local, regional, and states arts organizations. ArtsLinks at UMass Dartmouth emerged as a partnership with SMARTS in 1995.

The BRIDGES Project -1997,1998, 1999

Like ArtsLinks the BRIDGES project is based at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. BRIDGES I,II,and III evolved out of prior ArtsLinks programs and goals. BRIDGES emphasizes training pre-service teachers to use the arts in developing exciting interdisciplinary curricular designs and implementing classroom units in effective ways. The College of Visual and Performing Arts at UMD provides a rich setting for this experience. BRIDGES features team-learning and teaching among pre-service and in-service teachers. In-service teachers act as mentors. College professors act as advisors in content areas. Teacher mentors and college professors bring to the Project a variety of discipline backgrounds, including English, Science, History, Foreign Languages,and Math. After engaging in a series of interactive workshops, BRIDGES enables pre-service teachers to test their interdisciplinary curricular concepts in actual classrooms. BRIDGES promotes system-wide change by educating creative future teachers. At the conclusion of BRIDGES I,II,and III, pre-service teachers demonstrate; interdisciplinary arts-infused curriculum design experience, an in-depth understanding of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, and ability to align frameworks with interdisciplinary curricula, knowledge of MCAS testing and ability to use the results to improve student learning, and experience in developing and field testing assessment rubrics.