me arts ed

Looking for examples of blogs created by young people or thinking about creating a blog this summer for your classroom?

Two of the blogs that I follow are created by young people. Both are people in their early 20’s, both previous students of mine, one my son.

Hazel Groce is finished college, has recently joined the Peace Corps and is spending 27 months in Nicaragua. I am following her trials and tribulations by reading her stories and looking at her photographs. I feel her pain and her joys. You can follow Hazel’s adventures as well by clicking here. I am sure Hazel would appreciate comments from the states.

It is not only great to see young people blogging and sharing their stories but also to see their photographs and know they are turning into writers because they are writing about their passions.

Noah starting his trip on the Allagash

Noah Nestor Kleiner just completed his junior year at College of the Atlantic. In the fall of this school year he built a 16 foot strip canoe using red cedar. During the last trimester he paddled in several locations in Maine testing and pushing the limits of the boat and himself. You can read about his adventures on his No Right Angle Blog by clicking here.

If you have a blog you’d like to share please let me know. If you are thinking about starting a blog yourself and you have questions, please email me or post it in the comment section at the bottom!

Taking place this week

Maine is one of 13 states that are part of the The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. You can learn more about the partnership by clicking here.

This week is the Cyber Summit where you can join in on the discussion and listen live or to recorded sessions. They will be available after this week so you can listen to the sessions that have taken place. Commissioner Susan Gendron presented a session entitled: “Fulfilling the Promise of a Learner-Centered Education in Maine”.

To register for this conference that is being hosted on a site called We Are Teachers please click here. There are tons of resources on the site.

The influence of an art teacher

At the end of April Anthony Mullen from Connecticut was selected as the National Teacher of the Year. In a recent interview Mr. Mullen was asked several questions, one of them was “In your NTOY application you wrote about a “newly minted” teacher who was struggling and how you mentored her. In your early days of teaching, who mentored you?”

Here is his answer where he spoke about the art teacher Diane Rhoda, who impacted Mr. Mullen. “I had the great opportunity to visit the classroom of Diane Rhoda, an art teacher at Blue Mountain Middle School, a couple of times in my first year of teaching. I was doing inclusion and noticed that when I went to different classes with the same group of kids, some were complete chaos and others were productive. The one class that they excleed in was hers. She had this kind of magic chemistry with the kids.

Diane Rhoda not only gave me the organizational skills to be a good teacher, but she always talked to me about what it’s like for the students. I took her lessons with me when I went to the high school knowing that no matter how angry a teenager may seem there’s a story there. She taught me how to be a caring and effective teacher. I’ll never forget her.”

You can read the entire interview with special education teacher, Anthony Mullen, by clicking here. I recommend spending the 10 minutes it might take as you close in on your school year.