me arts ed

Where does my job take me?

Most of my time in the last month as been taken up with preparing for the fall state wide arts educators conference on October 8th and 9th, continuing with the syllabus and rubric development work, connecting with my arts colleagues in other states, preparing for and attending summer conferences and institutes, and going over the raw data of the Maine arts census information. In between I continue with the many small tasks of my work. Answering your phone calls and emails, writing blog posts, changing information on the websites I manage, attending meetings, scanning through research, and a list of other tasks.

Some days go by so fast (in summer and during the school year) I wonder where they went. In between my work days I spend time with my family and friends as often as possible, work in my flower bed, make art, get out on the water, walk, read, and sit on the deck wondering if the weather will interfere with outside activities tomorrow.

I try not to let my mind wander too often to the difficult parts of life; the economy, an aging mother, the cost of college education, will the Maine farmers be able to make it through this difficult weather, and how will arts education fair in the near future.

But smiling and laughing are so often the key to a fruitful day for me. People often ask me if I like my job. And my answer is this: I love the challenge and miss the direct connection with students and collaboration with educators. Yesterday I was fortunate to visit with four art educators to talk about high school curriculum. I listened and learned and I know they did as well.

I cherish the opportunities for deep conversations about where we are as teachers and what we’re doing around student learning. Both teaching and learning need to evolve over time. In this 21st century with so many changes in the world, country, and state we need to continuously improve what we do, the art of teaching is changing.

I encourage you to do the following:

• Be sure you have updated your curriculum with the Maine Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction
• Ask yourself how you are assessing student learning and is it driving your teaching
• Look at the census data (as soon as it is released) and see what you can use from it to drive improvement in your teaching and students learning
• Think about your professional goals and challenge yourself to include ones that really push on what you teach and how you deliver instruction
• Find a workshop or conference to give you a chance to learn
• Find time to work collaboratively with your colleagues within your school and larger arts education communities
• Read educational journals, blogs, and research on arts education
• Be clear on what you value about arts education and communicate that in a variety of ways to your students, school community and beyond
• Be a part of positive change in your school

I know your summers are different than what your life is like during the school year. I hope you are enjoying each day to the fullest! Please email or call if I can be of assistance and feel free to respond with a comment to this post.