Are you looking for innovative contemporary art curricula?
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Explore these teaching materials developed by members of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Teacher Institute to use as inspiration and application back in your classroom.
The Teacher Institute is the museum’s most immersive professional development program where exceptional K–12 teachers come together for one year to explore what it means to critically engage students with the art and ideas of our time.
Using the MCA, living artists, and the works of art in the MCA’s galleries as creative springboards, teachers developed new, contemporary art–based projects. Each teacher then produced a shareable lesson plan and narrative reflection about the process. This website is a record of their individual voices.
When the MCA’s 2019-20 Teacher Institute began with a week-long residency in August, the enrolled teachers planned to experiment ambitiously. They met artists, built community, and discussed contemporary art. For the forthcoming year, we challenged them to rethink their teaching practice as an art-making practice, reimagining their students as collaborators.
The 2019-20 school year was marked by tremendous challenges for teachers and students. In the fall, the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union Local 73 went on an historic 14-day strike. Their bravery and resolve won important changes to Chicago Public School contracts. Halfway through the spring semester, schools closed for the remainder of the year to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Throughout this period, we were humbled to discover that the resilience of teachers prevailed. They walked out for what they believed in, transformed their living rooms into remote classrooms, and, all the while, continued to center the agency of young people in their curriculum. Read their letters to future educators and glimpse their learnings, imagination, and heart.
Explore lesson plans by big idea,
Question 1
Question 5
Question 8
Question 10
Question 11
Question 15
Question 17
Question 18
Question 22
Question 25
Question 26
Question 27
Question 28
Question 30
Question 33
Question 34
Question 35
Question 38
Question 39
Question 41
Learn who’s who in the Teacher Institute.
Every year, the MCA welcomes a cohort of passionate, creative teachers who wish to shake up their practice and make an impact in the lives of their students and school community. Teachers develop contemporary-art based projects during the Summer Residency which they implement in their classrooms during the Fall semester, and reflect upon through writing and the production of shareable resources in the Winter and Spring.
Lead Artist
Rachel Harper, Ph.D.
Curriculum Specialist
Lead Artist
Nick Hostert
Lead Facilitator
Editor