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Digital Teaching Resources

While live interaction is often an integral part of an arts-based curriculum, we’ve compiled a list of digital resources for online teaching, or to be used in tandem with in-person teaching. Online tools, content, and protocols can offer new approaches to instruction, technique, performance, and collaboration.

Browse by category below or click here to download a PDF list of resources. Please share these resources and contribute to this growing list by emailing sahara@tallahasseearts.org.  

Click here to visit our Pinterest page for a huge, COCA curated list of creative, educational, and entertaining arts activities in all disciplines. 

Inclusion in these lists does not signify an endorsement from COCA nor imply stature. While we have made every effort to ensure that these lists are current, we cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information. 

Resources for all grade levels:

PBS Learning Media
FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers. Browse standards-aligned ELA resources for students in all grades.

Teacher Vision
Create a free account and start a 7-day trial that give you access to thousands of worksheets, lesson plans and projects.

Creative Writing Worksheets
Free printable writing resources aligned with educational standards, including printable worksheets. 

Grades K-12 Printables Guide
Gather free downloadable and printable worksheets to strengthen your students’ reading and writing skills.  

→ Elementary:

Story Starters
Scholastic’s Story Starters kids’ writing activity generates creative writing prompts, from general fiction to adventure, fantasy, and science fiction. The teacher guides inspire students to write by serving up hundreds of writing prompts in creative combinations. 

Story Online
A children’s literacy website that streams videos featuring award-winning actors reading children’s books with illustrations. Each book includes a supplemental curriculum developed by an elementary school educator.

International Children’s Digital Library 
Provides free access to high-quality digital books from around the world. Offers books for kids ages 3-5, 6-9, and 10-13.  

→ Middle and High:

Independent Reading Activity 
Worksheet with questions related to setting, characters, plot, language, point of view and more. 

Shmoop Learning Guides  
Shmoop’s learning guides break down some of the texts most frequently taught in high school classrooms. Everything from Mark Twain to Ayn Rand to Shakespeare.

Resources for all grade levels: 

NDEO On-Demand Webinar Recordings: Teaching Dance Online
The National Dance Education Organization provides archived webinars so dance educators can learn from leading experts in areas related to teaching dance online. Panelists offer best practices, tips, and strategies related to the webinar topic. Webinars are an hour long and FREE, available to members and non-members.

PBS Learning Media
FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers. Encourage and explore the participation, analysis, appreciation, and history of dance. 

Kennedy Center Media & Interactives
Offers free featured content and media for students of all ages sortable by grade level and arts subject.

Dance Studies Association Resources
Resources for moving dance-based pedagogy online. 

Dance Lesson Plans & Activities
Find dance lesson and unit plans, webinars, PowerPoints, and resources.

Theater Seat Store Glossary of Dance Terms

Learn dance vocabulary to implement in the classroom and on the stage

Resources for all grade levels: 

NAFME Virtual Learning Resources
The National Association for Music Education offers a list of resources that NAfME members, societies and councils have provided from their own original teaching experiences. Includes an archive of past webinars.

PBS Learning Media
FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers. Encourage students to perform, analyze, and appreciate music with resources that explore music from various time periods and cultures. 

Kennedy Center Media & Interactives
Offers free featured content and media for students of all ages sortable by grade level and arts subject.

Popular Music Research Form
This project encourages students to survey family members, neighbors, or friends about vocal music groups they have enjoyed over the years.

TeachRock
This standards-aligned, arts integration curriculum uses the history of popular music and culture to help teachers engage students. TeachRock has crafted engaging and meaningful material for every classroom. All for free. 

→ Elementary:

Rhythm Trainer Exercise
This free, Flash-based program helps with learning and practicing rhythm. At the end of your session, you can email your results to anyone (for example, your teacher) and they can then see how you are doing.

Chrome Music Lab
This website makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. Check out the Song Maker experiment, which lets you make and share your own songs.

Carnegie Hall’s Orchestra Instrument Safari
Takes your students on an online safari to find all of the instruments in the orchestra in the wild. It is up to you, Violet, and her Uncle Ollie to find them, collect them, and guide them to the orchestra stage.

A Child’s Introduction to Jazz 
In 1961, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, the jazz saxophonist best known for his work on Miles Davis’ epic album Kind of Blue, narrated a children’s introduction to jazz music. Features music by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk and Cannonball himself.  

Classics for Kids 
Introduces elementary and middle school children to classical music in a fun and entertaining way. The site gives you access to famous pieces of classical music online and also related lessons plans and activity sheets.  

Resources for all grade levels: 

PBS Learning Media
FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers. Discover the world of theater with lesson plans, videos, interactive activities, and more.

Resources for Theatre Educators Teaching Online
A compilation of the latest resources for theatre educators to utilize during this unprecedented time.

Kennedy Center Media & Interactives
Offers free featured content and media for students of all ages sortable by grade level and arts subject.

Elementary:

Role play lesson using narrative texts
Role play and drama can offer an authentic context for students to engage in new discourses. These contexts can provide situations where students can be comfortable to speak, respond, initiate ideas, argue, be tentative and reflect. 

→ Middle and High:

How to Write a Radio Play Activity
The BBC World Service asked two award-winning radio dramatists to share their secrets and to explain what makes an effective radio play.

Khan Academy & Pixar, The Art of Storytelling
You’ll hear from Pixar directors and story artists about how they got their start and what stories inspire them, and you’ll begin to think about what kinds of stories you might want to tell.

Shakespeare Learning Zone from the Royal Shakespeare Company  
This site gives you loads of information about Shakespeare’s plays. You’ll find key facts, key scenes, pictures from past productions, videos of actors and directors working on and performing the plays AND find out about all the main characters and how they relate to each other.

Production Process Webquest
You are the Executive Director of a theatre production company and need to collaborate with your production team to make artistic decisions in order to produce a meaningful production of Romeo and Juliet. 

Monologue Rehearsal Log
Downloadable log to help students develop skills in projection, blocking, character work, and memorization.

Resources for all grade levels: 

NAEA Remote Learning Toolkit 
Members of the National Art Education Association and representatives from every division have collected, curated, and shared strategies, approaches, lessons, units, and tools.

PBS Learning Media
FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers. Explore the many forms of visual art, from basket weaving to painting, and glasswork to furniture, with resources that encourage analysis, research, and practice. 

MoMA Learning
Browse by themes or artists to see MOMA created educational resources including slideshows, worksheets, and videos. Find questions, hands-on activities, and other opportunities for enrichment. 

FAEA Distance Learning Resources
Compilation of videos, activity ideas, social media groups, online tools, and virtual collections put together by the Florida Art Education Association. 

Getty Resources for Students
Enhance students’ understanding of artists, art history, materials, and techniques with interactive web pages, online games, activities, and videos. Enliven your classroom teaching with select activities or encourage students to explore these resources independently.

Nasco Arts & Crafts Lesson Plans and Activities
All lesson plans and activities are free to download and feature a variety of methods, materials, and themes. 

Remote Learning using Artsonia
This page provides a number of tips how you can use Artsonia to engage in remote-learning with your students. You can also use these ideas as supplemental activities or extra credit for at-home work.

Art Video Links
Compilation of video links in categories such as historical, instructional, inspirational, contemporary artists, and just for fun.

1.8 Million Free Works of Art from World-Class Museums 
This is a meta list of great art available online. Find links to online collections of several hundred art books to read online or download.  

ArtThink  
Created by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, this site offers theme-based activities in visual arts, language arts, history and social studies. The site lets students investigate artists’ work, lives, and their historical context.  

Google Art Project  
This new tool gives access to more than 1,000 works of art appearing in 17 great museums across the world. Using Google’s Street View technology, you can now tour collections at 184 museums worldwide.  

→ Elementary:

Aminah’s World
Combining traditional art materials with found objects and everyday materials, artist Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson created magical two- and three-dimensional works of art. Welcome to Aminah’s World where you can take a peek into the mind, work, and processes of this artist and make your own digital artwork inspired by her. 

→ High:

The Art Assignment
This video series introduces you to innovative artists, presents you with assignments, and explores art history through the lens of the present.

Stay in the know & spread the word

COCA’s free monthly Arts in Education Newsletter is sent the first Tuesday of every month and contains funding and job opportunities, student arts contests, news and research, products and resources, kudos, and other items of particular interest to educators and arts education advocates.

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Advertise

COCA is committed to arts education advocacy. As part of those efforts, we provide weekly content about local arts education programming to the Tallahassee Democrat’s TLH School & Family section. We cover interesting arts lessons, projects, events, guest speakers, performances, and exhibitions. We feature local arts educators and students and we’d be happy to consider you for a feature article.

Click here to read past articles.

COCA encourages you to post all your school plays, concerts, recitals, art exhibits, and more to this free and easy-to-use online calendar. If you want to attract the general public to your events, this is the place. It’s easy to register as a user and COCA will spread the word about your events to the whole community.

Please submit your events as soon as you know when they will be. Often magazines and other media outlets use this calendar to plan stories, and their deadlines may be months in advance.

Visit the calendar

Ensure that you get your school arts news into the hands of those who can help you share it with the masses! This comprehensive local directory of radio, television, newspapers, and magazines makes spreading the word about your programming a breeze.

View Media Guide.

Support for teachers

COCA invites teachers of all subject areas to explore this resource that provides an in-depth look at the arts in education programs that Tallahassee, Leon County, and the surrounding areas have to offer. We hope you will use this information to enhance your regular classroom programming through supplemental arts and​ cultural partnerships in the region.

Click here to visit the COCA for the Classroom guide.

This grant supports creative instructional approaches by funding arts related projects not supported by school budgets. This program is not intended to supplant other funding sources. Its purpose is to support arts teachers who have innovative ideas for enhancing their arts curriculum or allowing students access to supplemental learning experiences in and through the arts.

Learn more by clicking here.

This guide identifies local, state and national organizations that offer grants or collect donations that will help you achieve your teaching goals.

Click here to check it out.

COCA has compiled links to local, state and national websites that may be of use to educators. Suggestions for new links are always welcome, and should be sent to sahara@tallahasseearts.org.

View the listing of Teaching Resources for Educators.

Show your Stuff

Each year, all art instructors from Leon County public, private, charter, and home schools are invited to select two pieces of their students’ artwork to submit to COCA’s annual Winter Festival Youth Art Exhibition, which is a part of the City of Tallahassee’s Winter Festival. The exhibit is on display from November-January in the City Hall Art Gallery and is open to K-12th grade students.

Click here for more information.