MoNA Link Teacher Application
The MoNA Link program is a partnership between the Museum of Northwest Art and school districts in the Skagit Valley. It is a one-year professional development program in art education for teachers and includes art lessons taught in the classroom by a museum educator and museum visits for the students.
Program Goals:
Help students achieve state standards in visual art with an emphasis on art integration.
Provide teachers with opportunities to make, experience, and better understand art to support their work integrating art into their classrooms.
Encourage teachers to use MoNA as a community resource and for instructional support, including training in Visual Thinking Strategies as a critical thinking and dialogue technique which can be used across the curriculum.
MoNA Link 2024-25 School Year At-A-Glance
August 13, 14 and 15, 2024
Three-Day Summer Institute: an inspiring study of Northwest art history, visual art concepts, hands-on art making with teaching artists in a wide variety of media, art standards and training in Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)!
September & October 2024
Pre-tour Classroom Visits: an introduction for students to the program, Education Staff and to frame the upcoming Museum Visit.
Fall 2024 Winter & Spring 2025
Three Full-Day Exhibition Training Days for Teachers: each of these will have a focus on an integration in a different curricular area, such as math, literacy or science. and they will take place during different exhibitions throughout the school year, substitutes provided by districts unless paid for by the MoNA scholarship fund. Click here to view our exhibition schedule!
Up to two Museum Visits for Each Class: including discussion of art, writing or hands-on activities. School districts pay 50% of field trip costs. Students are invited to visit MoNA two times a year to see new exhibitions, learn art techniques, and develop the skills to speak and write about art with confidence. One of these needs to be an in-person field trip to MoNA and the other can be a “Mobile Museum visit” in which MoNA staff visits the classroom and leads a discussion and hands-on project based on the current exhibition.
Clock Hours:
Teachers can earn up to 42 clock hours over the one-year program. Each Summer Institute offers 21 hours and the three full-day trainings are seven hours each, for a total of 21 possible additional hours by the end of one school year. Teachers are responsible for paying for their own clock hours unless they receive a scholarship.
Scholarships:
Scholarships are now available for teachers at high-need schools which are paid for in part by the Karl Holzmuller Art Access Fund. This scholarship intends to make the MoNA Link program even more accessible to schools and reach more underserved students and teachers and will cover the following expenses:
bus transportation for up to two visits to the Museum each year
three full-day substitutes to cover participation in training days
NWESD fees for clock hours earned
Some MoNA exhibitions may contain mature content and we understand that this may be a sensitive issue for families. Therefore, we work closely with teachers and school administrators, and we recommend teachers become familiar with exhibition content before visiting with their students.
Please contact MoNA education staff at education@museumofnwart.org or at (360) 466-4446 with any questions.
MoNA Link Teacher Application
Application Deadline: June 1, 2024 (APPLICATIONS FOR 2024-25 ARE CLOSED)
After submission applicants will participate in a short phone interview and will be
notified regarding their acceptance in the MoNA Link program by June 15, 2024.