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Support the Arts!

Deborah Jeter

The ARTSEDGE Web Site offered through the Kennedy Center is truly a "site" to behold! Like any grand library, it could take days to experience. This site offers loads of invaluable information. From the front page through out, this web site aims to please, by offering a text only version or the "full works." The text version defines the purposes of each area of the ARTSEDGE Web Site.

The ARTSEDGE is funded in part by the Kennedy Center, the NEA (National Endowment of the Arts), and the U.S. Department of Education.

ARTSEDGE is a resource for all teachers, not just Fine Arts teachers. One goal of this site is to provide resources, teaching ideas and tools which encourage teachers to integrate the arts into every curricular area.

The index for the site is located on the front page and lists these areas:

1. Web Site Guide
   
2. The News Break
   
3. Web Spotlight
   
4. The Curriculum Studio
   
5. For Students
   
6. Community Center
   
7. Search
   

This article will present what I found to be of exceptional help to music teachers in each category, but due to lack of space allowed in this article format, it will in no way be as comprehensive as the site. Hopefully, it will whet your appetite to do some online browsing for your specific educational needs.

The Web Site Guide is to help users find what is on the site. The Web Site Guide organizes ARTSEDGE's resources, thereby helping the users to navigate through the site more efficiently. In the Web Site Guide, there is some interesting information about the spotlighted production, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. While you are visiting this area, don't forget to check out the Teacher's Lounge where you'll find the Cue Sheet for the production. This is a great way to prepare the students for the production and it could be used as a lesson for those of you that would like to present the story in class. Cue Sheets from productions spotlighted in the past are archived for your perusal, as well. The files are PDF. So if you don't have Adobe Acrobat, which is a great PDF reader, get it. It's free.

News Break "highlights newsworthy information and developments in the area of arts education and in related areas of interest to the arts education community". One of the sections of NewsBreak is to offer a "bird's eye view" of all the new things added in each of the index categories.