me arts ed

CONGRATULATIONS

Karen Baldacci presented student awards

On Wednesday this week, with meetings sandwiched in between, I went from a celebration of student art work at the Blaine House to an Imagination Intensive Community celebration for Camden-Rockport. I love the days when I am reminded that we have so much to be proud of as arts educators.

The Maine Youth Excellence in Art, a program sponsored by the Maine Arts Commission, held a tea at the Blaine House for the young artists and their teachers and families. The First Lady, Karen Baldacci, was present and joyfully presented the certificates and medals to the 30 artists. Their art work is on display in the State Capitol Complex where many of the families visited after enjoying tea and cookies at the Blaine House.

Camden-Rockport proudly recognized the Imagination Intensive Community (IIC) award at the monthly MSAD 28 school board meeting. Nancy Albertson opened with the history of the program and why they were selected as an IIC for 2010. Also present to receive the banner and certificate were Rick Ash, Kim Murphy, Nancy Rowe from  Camden Hills Regional High School, Monica Kelly from Bay Chambers, and Nancy Albertson and Ingrid Ellison who were leads on the project. Camden-Rockport provides a variety of on-going imaginative, educational opportunities for students.

Rick, Nancy, Argy, Monica, Nancy, Kim, Ingrid

Please join me in CONGRATULATING the student artists and the school and community of Camden-Rockport for their IIC award!

Aren’t we fortunate to love what we do and do what we love?

Anne's photo on the river

When I hear people say “I’m bored” I think, how can that be? The day is never long enough for me, there are always projects undone, phone calls to make, meetings to attend, blogs drafted, and “to do” lists. I’d like to be bored for just a few minutes to know what it feels like. Many arts educators became teachers because they love to make music, dance, create art work, and/or act, our work overlaps our passion or they are one. The connection between making art and teaching young people about our passion connects well. Almost all the arts educators I’ve met in Maine are doing what they love and loving what they do.

My work at the Department is a little different, however I am never bored. At this point in my life one of my goals is to carve out a few minutes each day to be creative, to make something or view a situation differently. If a week goes by and I find that has not happened I stop and assess. I find myself going to my creative space to find the materials that can almost instantly put me into the creative process. I know that most of you understand this.

Eagles

So, last weekend I was fortunate to spend almost the entire weekend “being creative”, making art. As you know it was a beautiful weekend. I joined three friends at a camp on a pond close to home to make art. We each showed up with cars full of a variety of materials. Boxes filled with papers, wires, drawing tools, glues, scissors, fabrics, photographs, and a variety of other “stuff”. At the end of the weekend we left with collages, cards, drawings, jewelry, and more ideas and directions to continue the work and play another day.

Kal making collages

Certainly the highlight of the weekend was being with friends who share my love for art making which is the foundation for our friendship. We met because we are art teachers. The surprise for the weekend was the great weather and the opportunity to go out on my husbands boat. We traveled up the narrow part of the pond into the river to where the water was still, the reflections were brilliant, and wildlife out and ready to greet us. We often see the sign of the beavers but I rarely see them out and about. We saw a somewhat small one and within 3 minutes saw another one, much larger, on the end of a log. On our return we saw 5 eagles including 2 juveniles. Luckily I had my camera but the beavers were much to quick and the eagles (4 showing in the picture) were to small for my camera to pick up. Our memory will hold the image.

Both sitings and the beauty of the day weekend gave me a chance to pause and realize how fortunate I am to live in Maine where I can see wildlife not far from home and spend a beautiful weekend with friends, arts educators, and artists. As Thanksgiving approaches I am appreciative. I am also grateful that I am never bored!

On the river

Edutopia Blog post written by Gaetan Pappalardo

This article starts out by asking the question: “What’s your passion?” How would you answer that question? When I attended the TEDX Dirigo last month in Brunswick that was a question I was asked. I am not sure how I answered since it was a different question then I am used to being asked. What would your answer be if you were asked that in an interview for a teaching position. I do like the question especially when it comes to teachers and teaching. Shouldn’t we each be clear about our passion since (hopefully) our learners are becoming passionate as they grow and learn in the classrooms they learn in?! At least I hope that students are becoming passionate about something as they learn and grow.

Many of you are passionate about music and this blog post is about music in the classroom… Please click here to read the article.

November 14-20

Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility

National Education Association’s American Education Week spotlights the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great.

You can read more about the week and suggestions on what to do during the week to celebrate by clicking here. Most importantly, thank you for the great work you do each day to provide quality arts education for all students.

Teacher of the Year banquet held at Unum

Bill and Joan at the TOY banquet

If you’ve been reading the posts during the last 10 months you know that Bill Buzza, music educator from Leavitt Area High School, was a finalist for Maine State Teacher of the Year (TOY). Bill is a wonderful teacher and represented the arts education community through the tedious, time consuming process for 2011 TOY. Bill was a finalist for TOY. Williams Elementary School in Oakland grades 4/5 teacher Shelly Moody was selected to represent teachers in Maine for 2011.

Last week the annual TOY banquet was held and Bill was introduced by one of his previous students who is now a student at UMF. The students mom, Bill’s parents from Presque Isle and his previous principal were there. Also attending was retired music educator Joan  Hamann. It was great to see her and learn about her new business called Searchlight People Locators. She and her husband help adoptees, birth families, retired military, lost friends and classmates find each other.

Once again congratulations to Bill and a GREAT big THANK YOU for representing Maine educators through the process!

Once Upon a Mattress

Last week I attended Once Upon a Mattress at Camden Hills Regional High School. I know one of the actors in the play so wanted to be sure to attend, not to mention I enjoy attending high school musicals! Even with only knowing one performer, I felt so proud of all the students knowing the time, commitment and passion from each of them and how much they enjoy it!

One part beyond the students that really struck was in the program, specifically the Director’s Notes. Many of you who are music educators know Camden Hills Regional music teacher Kim Murphy. She is an outstanding teacher who received her National Board Certification last year. Kim used her voice and the platform of the program to let those who attended the performance know about the importance of what you do each day in the arts classroom. I just had to share it and hopefully if you don’t, you will think about what you can include in future communications to let attendees know about the importance of arts education and what is “right” for every student.

Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale: The Princess and the Pea is an interesting story and makes one ponder.  How could she have felt that pea underneath all of the mattresses?  Surely it wasn’t the pea – must have been bed bugs!  After all – royalty probably wasn’t used to bed bugs, and having twenty mattresses increases the likelihood of bed bugs by ….well, by a lot!  Due to the fact that bed bugs are a current trend, I just read a news article that stated one mattress can contain 500 bed bugs.  Do the math….20 mattresses can give you the probability of the existence of 10,000 bed bugs.  Certainly that’s what got the princess after all?

Well, what the heck do bedbugs have to do with Director notes – other than to make you start squirming in your seat?  My point is…sometimes you have to look deeper and unearth layers of meaning.  And that’s what I hope you do when you look at each one of these talented students on stage and crew tonight.  Behind each of the amazing talented facades lay intricate layers of intelligence, community service, and a wealth of activities.  The students involved in tonight’s musical are also involved in Windplanners, National Honor Society, a myriad of Sports teams, Empty Bowl Supper, The Rig, Windsong, Amnesty International, Peers, Student Council, Latin Club, International Club, Chess Club, Art Club, The Civil Rights Team, iTeam, Film Festival, Concert Band, Pep Band, Jazz Band, Chamber Singers, Women’s Choir, Chorale, the Winter One Act Festival, and Spring play and more.   It seems that in addition to bed bugs, the latest news feature that has people itching is the theme: “What’s wrong with education?”  I think the media should dig deeper and find the positive stories.  Therefore, I thank everyone for coming to our show tonight and I hope you’ll be back soon – for concerts, plays, games, etc.  I guarantee you’ll see “what’s right with education” as you celebrate the many-layered talents of our dedicated students.

The play by the way, was FABULOUS! For all of you participating in plays this month: “Break a Leg”. Please send pictures and a description so I can include your information in a blog post.

Photographs taken by Marti Stone Photography, http://www.martistonephotography.com

A special 3 year old conducts Beethoven’s 5th Symphony

Sometimes I wonder where I’d be without technology. I appreciate most of what we have access to due to the Internet. This is a YouTube video of a pretty amazing 3 year old conducting the 4th movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Thanks to Barbara Greenstone from MLTI, for sharing this link with me.

A discussion on blocks from using certain technology tools

I am on a several email lists that send me articles and/or links to blogs. Every so often there is an article that I pass on to you because of its connection to arts education. Periodically I get one that is something I know many educators deal with. This is one of those…

This came through from “Teacher Magazine”, November 10th, written by John Norton. Mr. Norton refers to the issue that some of you face on blocking access to certain websites or tools. I know there are some educators on the arts ed list-serv who can not get to the blog from their schools. Some of you are reading this from home because that is the only place you can access it.

When teachers bring this to my attention I suggest a conversation with the technology administrator reminding them that being able to access the meartsed blog is a professional development opportunity that is being blocked and is unfair. If this doesn’t help I suggest a conversation with the school administrator reminding them of the same as well and letting them know that as educational leader they need to consider the policy and who is making the decision.

Below is the beginning of this article, click here for the link, so you can read the entire article. And by all means please comment below if you have an opinion or are one of those teachers who is reading from home since access at school is blocked. And, of course, I realize that some teachers are not reading this at all because of the block.

The issue of school systems controlling access to the Internet—and teachers complaining about it—is not new. Firewalls and content filters have irritated tech-savvy educators since the early days of blogs, wikis and streaming video. And those same virtual barriers have been defended by safety-sensitive IT directors and ever-cautious school attorneys since the first MySpace page pranked a teacher or revealed far too much about a student.

This post was written by Wells Middle School Art Teacher, Chris Milliken

Chris Milliken (at Haystack, 2009)

On November 2nd and 3rd I had the opportunity to travel to Princeton, New Jersey to work with Educational Testing Service (ETS) on the Praxis II exam for Art teachers that the state of Maine requires for certification. The highlights of the experience included meeting art educators from 21 states, deeply examining each question of the exam and identifying and reflecting deeply on the nature of testing as it relates to individual people.

The work that our group was assigned for the two days consisted of taking the Praxis II, creating a profile of a person who would be minimally prepared for the exam and who would just barely pass it. Then we would rate each of the exam questions and predict how the hypothetical test taker would respond. When we finished our assignment, we would have the cut off score for the exam. The process was very well facilitated and I enjoyed the work and the dialogue that developed among the members of the cohort. There was a love and passion in the room for Art education, the communities of students and schools that participate in art education and the young aspiring professionals who wish to become art teachers. Never had I seen such synergy created around art education and of all things, a test.

The richest part of the process was when we looked at each individual multiple choice question, (of which there were 120) to determine, on a 10 point scale, how difficult the question would be for our “just qualified candidate”. What ensued was rich dialogue about what the candidate may or may not have experienced with regard to art making and art history. There was too, the discussion of the complexity of the question and what would the candidate be best at answering. Though I still see the Praxis II as just one small indicator of teacher preparedness, I do see the test, as it stands today, as a fair and clear indicator of general art knowledge.

The question I am left with is: would an adaptive test akin to the NWEA be more suitable for such a broad range of knowledge such as art making and art history? NWEA style tests scan 6,000,000 possible questions and constantly check the answers that the test taker records and raises and lowers the challenge of the questions that give a general picture of strengths and weaknesses.

Thank you Chris for representing Maine arts educators in the process at ETS!

This post was written by Sacopee Valley Middle School Art Teacher, Danette Kerrigan

On November 4^th, I received the most amazing birthday present. Argy Nestor, our revered DOE representative presented me with a chance to take the Praxis II in both Art Making and Art History, (120 questions) along with three essay questions on a bleary eyed Thursday morning without preparation!

All kidding aside, the experience at Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey was both enlightening and interesting. A beautiful facility, The Chauncey Conference Center offered the perfect environment in which hard work and deep thought were in abundance. Twenty-one Art teachers, from all over the country, examined the proposed future Praxis II content test in Art to determine the “cut score” or lowest possible score a new teacher could receive and still pass the test.

The process involved first understanding the test at hand, (yes that would be by taking it!) and then defining what a “Just Qualified Candidate”(the candidate who would receive that cut score) actually was. Lively discussion followed as each teacher brought his or her own perspective to the task at hand. Through a series of small steps, the greater picture emerged. Astonishingly the picture of our Just Qualified Candidate  (JQC) emerged.

Each teacher then analyzed the expectation of the JQC’s knowledge about each question. After we responded, somewhere wheels turned and within minutes a PowerPoint emerged with a tracking of how we as a group decided the candidate would do. Again, more lively, intelligent, humorous and dedicated discussion. The final designation was made and a recommendation sent.

I was delighted to meet with other art teachers and appalled at conditions elsewhere. I met teachers travelling to different schools with 1000 students a week and 30 + students in a class. I am more grateful than ever for the opportunity I have in my district. I was also amazed that a group of teachers so diverse were so well attuned that they were truly consistent when thinking about the expectations of new art teachers.

Throughout all of this academic discourse, a stunning array of meals and snacks were continuously provided. Service was impeccable. The rooms were lovely. The experience of being treated as an educational professional has rarely been outmatched. If anyone has a chance to participate in work at ETS, don’t pass it up.

Thank you Danette for representing Maine arts educators in the process at ETS! Tomorrow: Chris Milliken’s story on his travels to ETS.