me arts ed

Shanna Wheelock’s paints the words, feelings, and situation

Shannon Wheelock

Some of you might be following what has been happening with Lubec High School. With very low enrollment the school voted to put the question to the taxpayers. Keep the school open or close it down? And let students choose where they’d like to attend next year. The vote took place last Wednesday and the town voted 260 to 230 to close Lubec High School.

You can read about some of the emotions Shanna and others were feeling by going to her blog called The Easternmost Potter in the United States. It is lovely to read the description and imagine what it looked and felt like. You’ll find the parallel with the weather and Bear and Owl…. Please join me in wishing Shanna the best of luck as her path takes a different direction.

My Opportunity to Teach a Drama Class

English teacher and soon to be Theater teacher, Jason Bannister

I teach English/Language Arts, grades 7 and 8 at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast (RSU 20). I am the drama club advisor as well. As a former actor with a B.A. in theater (and a Masters in Education) I have always looked for ways to teach through the arts. After taking a class last summer on The Performance Cycle (at USM with John Holdridge), I found many opportunities to incorporate drama into my English classes. We created tableaus out of scenes from books, memorized and performed Shakespearean speeches, and recited poetry. I was teaching them through the lens of drama, my first love; but something was still missing.

There were many students who didn’t like the drama focus in English class. They didn’t see the connection which made it difficult for me to be enthusiastic. I was trying to not take their dislike for what we were
doing personally. I felt that there was something missing. I was forcing the drama element onto my English classes every day. What would be great, I told my principal two years ago, would be to teach a drama class; to teach to the arts, not just through it.

I had done my homework and found that there are performing arts standards in the Maine GLE’s, coupled with the visual arts standards. I also gathered the staggeringly large amounts of research to support arts education. With this data in hand I developed a plan to teach a drama class at THMS, in addition to my ELA classes.

My principal and I worked out the schedule so I could teach one drama class each trimester, and students could choose to take it instead of music or art (which they would take another time). I now had my boss’s
support. But it would come down to whether or not enough students wanted to take the class. When we polled the students and had them sign up, we were surprised to find that nearly 70 students (out of roughly 275) were interested! That would be enough to have one class of 20-25 each trimester. SUCCESS!

So now I am spending the summer not only preparing for my English classes for next year, but also creating units of study for my new drama class. I am interested in chatting with other teachers who are teaching drama at the middle school as a class. I hope to blog about the first year of teaching this class. It will be
quite a journey.

Thank you to Jason Bannister for submitting this blog post. Best of luck in your journey Jason! I look forward to reading Jason’s blog and will post the link for everyone as soon as I have it!

South School Rockland students enjoy outreach art

Article in Village Soup, Herald Gazette about artist Catinka Knoth who has been working with students in grades 2 and 3 at the South School in Rockland during a series of classes. The classes took place at the Lincoln Street Center for Arts Education which used to be Rockland’s middle and high school. Read the article and see more drawings by clicking here.

Recent SAD#6 graduate

Zack Betty is 18 years old and just graduated from Bonny Eagle High School in Buxton! He will attend Marymount Manhatten College in New York in the fall. Lately his dancing has gotten him an opportunity to audition for “So You Think You Can Dance.” Zach’s dance instructors note his enormous energy, technical skills and stage presence! You can read more about Zach by clicking here and reading the article in the Portland Press Herald.

compare him to a Jack Russell terrior because he has so much energy!

is a from SAD recent SAD#6 graduate

http://www.pressherald.com/life/dancer-steps-toward-nationwide-spotlight_2010-06-08.html?pageType=mobile&id=5&start=11

An opportunity for arts educators in Machias

Nine Washington County arts teachers (8 visual and 1 music) gathered at Washington Academy in East Machias on Friday for a workshop sponsored by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education and the Maine Department of Education and funded by the Washington County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

The workshop, “Exhibit and Critize: Visual Arts and Web 2.0,” was presented by Sarah Sutter, art teacher & technology integrator at Wiscasset High School, was held on what was surely one of the hottest days in Washington County history. In spite of the temperature, the participants had a great time exploring wikis and blogs and managed to stay cool in the darkened classroom.

We all enjoyed a chance to chat over the lovely lunch provided by Washington Academy: salad made with lettuce from the school’s garden, a gorgeous fresh fruit salad, sandwiches, and blueberry pie. I felt fortunate to have the chance to spend the afternoon with these dedicated arts educators–and then to start home, a gorgeous drive along the coast and through the blueberry fields.

Washington County Arts Educators participating in the professinal development opportunity

Participating in the workshop were art teachers Michelle Amato, Felicia Avery, Laura Herzog, Lisa Marin, Beth Seilonen, Nancy Smith,  Jude Valentine, Shanna Wheelock and music teacher Robert Sanchez. Thank you to Sarah Sutter for sharing her knowledge and great teaching skills!

Thank you to Judd McBrine, Headmaster, and Carolyn Harrington, Technology Coordinator from Washington Academy for your assistance and generosity. And thank you to Carol Trimble, Executive Director of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, for providing this post.

‘Winding Road’ winds way onto laptops

Please click here for an article in the Village Soup newspaper, June 21, 2010 about the MLTI screen saver images that were selected to be on the 70,000 laptops during the 2010-11 school year.

Time well spent on a Saturday morning

Yesterday I traveled to Maple Hill Inn in Hallowell for the gathering of teachers who are presently working on one of two Open Educational Resource (OER) projects in Maine. This Spring, the Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) was awarded funding to facilitate the project that is identifying OER resources to be used in Maine arts classrooms.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the term Open Educational Resource here is the definition that is being used for this work from Wikipedia: Open educational resources are educational materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and under some licenses to re-mix, improve and redistribute. Open educational resources include:

• Learning content: full courses, course materials, content modules, learning objects, collections, and journals.
• Tools: Software to support the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content including searching and organization of content, content and learning management systems, content development tools, and on-line learning communities.
• Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design-principles, and localization of content.

The first step in the project was to select from the many applicants a group of teachers who represent dance, music, theater and visual art. Teachers were needed from all levels; elementary, middle, high school, and higher education. Adobe Connect was used to bring the group together to discuss the work and yesterday (yes, a Saturday) provided them the opportunity to meet face to face and share their early findings. The group is experienced, enthusiastic and open to learning and sharing!

Susan Picinich representing Theater and Jim Horwich representing Music share ideas

Most of their time together was spent sharing the OER’s they have discovered or have used in their classrooms. This information will be put together so that all arts educators will have easy access to them. I was so impressed with what they shared and thought about how I would use them if I were in the classroom. I wanted to select a couple of resources they shared to pass on to you in this post. It was not easy to pick since they were all outstanding.

I did narrow it down and here are two:

1. Jennifer Holmes shared this website Arts Alive that is a performing arts educational website produced by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It has tons of free resources for teachers and parents to use with students of any age. If you go to the site I suggest you have lots of time to explore.
2. Kristen Anderson shared a You Tube she uses with her middle school students. The Responsive Eye is video with a Mike Wallace report. He interviews visitors to the Optical Illusion exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.  Watching the video from 1965 has much to offer for historical learning as well. There are three You Tubes in the series.

The teachers who are participating in this work are:

• Kristen Anderson, Visual Art: 5-8, Camden-Rockport Middle School, MSAD#28
• Beth Nowers, Visual Art: 9-12, York High School
• Bethany Hansen, Visual Art: 7-12, Reeds Brook Middle School and Hampden Academy, SAD#22
• Jennifer Holmes, Music: K-8, Woodland School and New Sweden Consolidated School, Union#122
• Jim Horwich, Music: 9-12, Falmouth High School
• Emmy Paquette, Visual Art: K-8, Cherryfield, Millbridge, Harrington, Addison, MSAD#37
• Jim Perkins, Music, Mt. Blue Middle School, Farmington
• Susan Picinich, Theater, University of Southern Maine
• Kate Smith, Music: PK-3, Central Elementary School, South Berwick, MSAD#35
• Sarah Sutter, Visual Art, Wiscasset High School
• Jennifer Trowbridge, Dance, George Stevens Academy, Blue Hill

Thank you to Carol Trimble, Executive Direct of MAAE for her work on the project. Coodinating the project for MAAE is Sara Hougan and also assisting in the work is Jan Kolenda.

A week of interesting sitings and happenings and a time to smell the roses

Anne Kofler

Tuesday: This week my good friend and colleague, Anne Kofler, retired from teaching elementary art after many years. As she packed and cleaned her classrooms and carts in three schools she relived many moments and events from the past. It reminded me of four years ago when I left the classroom after 30 years, to take my present position. Anne stopped by after school on Tuesday to show me some of the items she had found that brought back happy memories. We had collaborated for many years, she teaching K-6 and me 7/8. The connections were fun, I am not sure who enjoyed it more, us or the students. The pictures will help us keep those memories alive. Thanks Anne for the many collaborations and for sharing your wisdom!

Helena Bosse

Wednesday: I had the chance to join the Art in the Heart teachers for their end of the year meeting in Orono. They met at Esther Taylor’s home where Helena Bosse was recognized for her many years of dedication to teaching art. Thank you Esther and congratulations Helena!

Thursday: I was about 4 miles from home on Thursday evening when I came around a bend and saw something furry scampering across the road. I slowed down and looked more closely. Not an animal I recognized. The adult had gotten across the road but two very young ones stopped in their tracks. Their faces reminded me of new born beagle pups, which we had plenty of while I was growing up. I stopped the car and the adult came back to the two on the other side of the road and picked one up at the back of the neck with her mouth and turned to run across the road. The second one followed swiftly behind. At that point they scampered into the tall grasses and I could see three young ones. I learned later on from my husband, that they were mink, a rare siting. I only wished my camera was not in the trunk but sitting next to me on the seat so I could have gotten a picture of the beautiful animals.

Driving and walking this week it seemed like the Rugosa Rose was intensely in full bloom. Hedgerows of them, whites and pinks galore, just beautiful!

Music and the Algebra connection

We’ve heard the term “music makes you smarter”. Those of us in arts education or who value arts education know and understand the benefits of music, dance, theater and visual arts for all kids. We can’t imagine our lives without them and we are always puzzled when someone suggests we eliminate any of these programs from students education.

Periodically researchers study the impact of arts education on the development of children. In an article written by Tom Jacobs and dated June 14, 2010 found on a website called Miller-McCune the author reviews a study that shows the correlation between playing a musical instrument and success in Algebra.

The study, done by researcher Barbara Helmrich from Baltimore’s College of Notre Dame, looked at 6,026 ninth graders in six of Maryland’s school district. Her findings included that students who were given instruction on a musical instrument in grades 6, 7 and 8 outperformed their peers.

You can read an Abstract of Dr. Helmrich’s study or download the entire dissertation by clicking here.

Dancer, teacher and now spokesperson

I have included other blog posts on Karen Montanaro. We are so fortunate to have her expertise, energy and positive spirit in Maine! The number of students and teachers that have been impacted by her gifts are fortunate.

This Spring Karen attended her third teacher training course in New York with the National Dance Institute. They interviewed her and have made it into a YouTube. I love the way she talks about music in this video. If you’ve had the opportunity to work with Karen or see her in action I’m sure you join me in not being surprised that they have selected Karen.