What makes the OMA Program work

While this model attempts to be the essential guide to arts integration, no program will be effective without the passion and dedication of the people who do the implementation every day. The first section of the model identifies some of the human qualities that give the program its magic. In this section you will consider motivation and the underlying philosophy for arts integration and for effective teaching. You will get your first glimpse at the protocols that give the program structure in the school, and at the roles that help each team member make their most effective contribution. One description of the OMA Program is a transformation road map, and this section describes transformation of school, team members and the more global culture. You will learn about the teaching strategies that best serve arts integration and get a real-life picture of OMA's effect of individual students and teachers.

Program Content

Science based research is the foundation of the OMA Model. Section two explains the brain-development and behavioral science that drives the curriculum. The program prescribes specific learning modalities for each grade level, K through middle school. For example, in kindergarten the curriculum uses Auditory Acuity . developing the skills of listening and processing language . as a foundation to the fundamentals for learning reading and writing. Professional string or woodwind artists help develop the curriculum and deliver the lessons in the classroom, which are designed to engage students in lessons on such areas as rhythm and patterns, distinguishing variations in sound and identifying meaning in nonverbal sounds. This section offers a grade-by-grade guide for curriculum development, including a weekly sample calendar, role definitions for each member of the team, evaluation objectives and tools and systems to help ensure the effectiveness of the program.

Essential Relationships

Permeating every effective program are the relationships within the team and with the community surrounding the classroom. This section helps you identify the key relationships that need to be initiated and nurtured in order for the OMA Program to work for in your school. You will gain an understanding of the critical relationship of the OMA School Team . the four roles that constitute OMA in your school. And you will see how the team will need to manage key relationships inside the school and with the immediate community of parents and citizens engaged in the education of the next generation. In all, this section identifies the six key constituent groups to consider and defines 15 channels of communication in which key relationships have to be managed. You will use this guide to engage a broad base of support for your OMA Program from within your school community, which will help build sustainability and stability, even in volitile funding and policy times. In our experience, this stability is critical to helping OMA make transformational difference for students during their early education experience.

Operations

Like the framework of a skyscraper, the structure underlying your arts integration program is what makes it strong. This section identifies nine components of structure, three each in individual schools, the school district, and the school community. It also offers an organization chart for the central program management team, and a means for organizing affinity groups among your OMA teams in different classrooms and schools. This section also suggests a financial model for implementing the program in a school. While the specifics will vary from district to district, state to state, the model is a valuable gauge for budgeting your own arts integration program and finding funding sources.

Core Onsite Structure

All efforts in implementing the OMA Program eventually focus on the classroom and the student. And the most important component of the OMA Model is the structure of the team that creates success in the classroom.
Section five provides job descriptions for each role on the school team — classroom teacher, arts integration specialist, teaching artist, administrator. It also describes the role of the school staff, parents and the school community. And it explains the role of research and evaluation in proving the effectiveness of your arts integration program.

Communication

Sharing information, a basic human function, is also a basic operational function for the OMA Program. We call it communication, and we offer some guides for organizing communication systems within your program and for helping your team strengthen the program by communicating deliberately. You will see sample key messages to adapt to your program. And you will have templates for Internal Relations, Community Relations, Program relations with the participating schools, and a protocol for a school visits program to expose the real magic of arts integration to the people you need to understand it and support it (school board members, funders, partnering community and arts groups, and many more). You get a sample brochure and basic language for program description and mission, vision and values.

Training and Development

One factor that differentiates OMA from the many arts integration models is its aggressive training and professional development. OMA considers each team member to be a program leader within their specific role. And while each brings their passion and talents to the program, ongoing training provides the enhancement of their passion and talents that give OMA its potency. This section outlines a five-day arts integration training plan and curricula for targeted modules for shorter sessions. It describes quarterly collaborations and mentorship meetings and offers basic guides for observations and evaluations.

Implementation

The OMA Model depends on teachers and artists to bring their experience and wisdom to the arts integration program every day in the classroom. This section will help your program build on their knowledge of teaching and the creative process to optimize everyone.s contribution. This is the instructional practices section of the model. You get descriptions of modeling and guiding, the multiple intelligences on which the program is based, practices for collaborative teams and partners, and a structure for review. You will find here models for a school program startup process, an OMA mentors strategy, a guide for each school program to create its own community relations program, a school arts profile that defines how OMA will be change the environment in each school, and a school agreement that helps define the commitment of each school to nurturing its arts integration program.

Evaluation

Learning is a lifelong endeavor for individuals, as it is for your arts integration program. To make your OMA a learning program, evaluation is your tool for discovery. In this section you will get a model alignment assessment tool, a school team accountability process and the description of working with an outside research resource to validate your program. This section also looks at building a donor base and creating a foundation to raise money and awareness of your program.