Dance teaching artists are hired as part time staff through The University of Montana based on their expertise, background, education, and experience as professional dance educators. This is a community-based project in conjunction with the Montana Model Dance Education Project (MoDE) in UM’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.  The project is funded with grants from the Montana Arts Council and payments from participating schools. Employees function with autonomy in the capacity of dance educators and must demonstrate decision-making and problem-solving skills. 

The job requires that dance educators: 
1) Partner with classroom teachers in the public schools throughout the year. (Elem, MS & HS)
2) Engage in professional development training and/or mentoring. (Elem, MS & HS)
3) Meet with school administrators and UM faculty to develop shared goals for the MoDE Project. (Elem, MS & HS)
4) Meet with individual teachers to learn about curricular topics.  (Elem)
5) Research the school curriculum benchmarks and education standards. (Elem)
6) Develop and teach original lesson plans using dance to integrate into core topics. (Elem)
7) Assess the effectiveness of their teaching. ((Elem, MS & HS)
8) Assess the effectiveness of the MoDE Project.  (Elem, MS & HS)
9) Make suggestions for the future of the MoDE Project.  (Elem, MS & HS)

To become a Dance Teaching Artist
Contact Karen Kaufmann, 406-243-2870 Karen.kaufmann@umontana.edu