me arts ed

Today, in honor of my Dad

George P. Nestor

I planned to think of my own Dad today, a veteran of WWII, who passed away 4 years ago this month at the age of 90. He was a hero who had fought in Africa, Sicily, landed at the beach in Normandy and headed north and west into Germany where he was wounded. He served as a forward observer in the 1st Division of the Army while my Mother, who he had married a week before he left for three years was back home serving as a Grey Lady helping the wounded soldiers in the US. My Dad was decorated for his bravery with many war medals and was like so many of the brave, who fight for our freedom, very humble.

As I thought about what to do today to honor my Dad (and not work) I decided to travel to the beach. Two years ago my family (husband and two sons) visited Normandy and it was an incredible feeling imagining where my Dad had been on June 6, 1944 (my Mother’s birthday). And then to walk through the cemetery and see the rows and rows of white crosses and read the names of the fallen soldiers.I felt so fortunate to have my Dad return home.

Today we went to a spot that has been on my list to visit for some time. We hiked about 2 miles to this beach that was GORGEOUS! For a moment I had to remind myself where we were and what the calendar said. The sun was shining warmly, we sat on the white sand and ate a picnic lunch of chicken soup, French bread with olive spread, hot tea and chocolate chip cookies (thanks to art teacher Sharon McCormack) and raspberry square (thanks to teachers of the year Kevin Grover and Gloria Noyes). Some of the waves were 10 feet tall as they built along the sand bar and rolled longer and longer as they came crashing to the beach. I couldn’t help to remember my Dad and how he and others fought and continue to fight for our freedoms. The opportunity to visit a beach like we did on such a beautiful day is something I never take for granted!

Normandy Beach, France

I hope each of you took a moment today to remember those who have given so we can enjoy our freedom.

Last week at ETS

I am fortunate to meet amazing teachers in my travels in Maine. Last week I had the chance to travel out of state, which is rare for me, to Princeton, NJ to Educational Testing Services, to be an observer in the process of standards setting. The 21 amazing art teachers from all over the US, who were part of the process, in the end, had determined, in an amazing process over two days, the cut off score for the Visual Arts Praxis. I was honored that two Maine art teachers were selected to participate. On the two days I was there, Danette Kerrigan, middle school art teacher from Sacapee Valley was there (and it was her birthday, first day there). Earlier in the week Chris Milliken, art teacher from Wells Middle School participated. Each of them have written a blog post which will be posted in the next couple of days so you can read about the experience from their view.

ETS employs 5,000 people and are responsible for a variety of tests that are used in the US. The staff members that worked with the teachers are amazing and very passionate about their work. I was very impressed at their art education knowledge and their desire to learn from the participants.

One of the other art teachers that was there, Ted Edinger, shared his amazing blog called Art with Mr. E. Ted teaches art at the elementary level in Metro Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee. His blog is filled with work that his students are creating, the lessons he teaches, links to other ideas, and a ton of resources!! It is a GREAT example of utilizing technology to communicate the importance of arts education and what he is doing in his classroom. I am sure you will agree with me… so please take a few minutes and check out Ted’s blog by clicking here http://artwithmre.blogspot.com He also has a post on his experience at ETS from last week.

Ted and Danette listening intently

Using Skype to connect!

This blog post was written by Bonny Eagle High School Music teacher Jake Sturtevant.

I took this on my computer while skyping with music educators Jake Sturtevant, Susan Knight, Paul Schnell, Peg McAdam, Karina Babcock

On October 28th, our District allowed a group of the Visual and Performing Arts Educators in our district touse  a professional day to develop curriculum for K-12 Music and Elementary Visual Arts. Since I have had the privilege of knowing Argy for a number of years, I knew when I asked her to be part of our meeting to help energize us, and guide us in the right direction towards some resources, that she would be thrilled to help. Sure enough she agreed, but could not be with us in person, so we attempted to have the Virtual Argy join us via Skype. She proved to be just as animated, and resourceful as her human counterpart. Although many of us are not thrilled with the proverbial talking head, but when Argy starts talking about the importance of what we are doing with her woodstove in the background, we knew this was a much more comfortable Argy then one who might have been in the car all day driving from one side of the state to the other.

Argy was able to answer many of our questions about the direction of Maine with Arts assessment and curriculum. She was able to share many wonderful resources immediately via email, which we were able to use throughout our day as we developed and revamped our curriculum. I know my colleagues and I enjoyed Argy’s virtual company and expertise. We were able to accomplish a lot throughout our day, and to have such as great start to the day was an added bonus.

Though I believe we need not replace our relationships with the virtual world of the internet, we can embrace the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas through this medium, especially when we live in such as large state. With the click of a mouse we have a virtual community of educators all striving towards similar goals, all with their own experience, and wonderful stories and resources. Why wait for one State conference a year?  Or one state-wide Arts conference every 2 years? I hope many more of you will take the opportunity to engage with Argy, and take advantage of the wonderful advocate and resource we have in her, and know that the virtual Argy is just as fun, and enthusiastic as the one in-person. Furthermore, I hope we will find more creative ways as Arts educators to connect with each other in this digital age.

Just a word from me, Argy… Please contact me if you are interested in meeting via Skype or ichat, I would be glad to arrange this. What ideas do you using virtual opportunities for you or your students? Please share your ideas and thoughts on this topic below.

2011-2012 MLTI Screen Saver – Call For Photographs! Deadline: December 15th

"Golden Umbrella", Mark Lightbody, gr. 7, Middle School of the Kennebunks

Overview
During the last two years, the MLTI laptop screen saver image featured forty outstanding student works of art (twenty each year). Over 600 artworks were submitted and this opportunity once again is available for the 2011-2012 Screen Saver Image.

The students whose artwork is selected will be recognized at the MLTI Student Conference to be held in May 2011 at the University of Maine, Orono. The 20 artists will be receiving free Student Conference registration and will be invited to present an art related workshop session at the conference.

Works of art submitted will be on display in a Studywiz Gallery where students and teachers may vote for and critique the artworks. The two photographs receiving the most votes (stars) will automatically be entered into the group of 20 finalists. A group of independent judges will score the remaining photographs. The 18 artworks receiving top scores from the judges, will be submitted to the finalists group as well.

If you do not have a Studywiz account you will be issued an account to post the work. Please contact Juanita Dickson juanita.dickson@maine.gov to get an account.

This contest is open to Maine students in grades K-12. MLTI asks that students submit only ONE piece of artwork to be considered for the 2011-2012 screensaver.

Submitted artworks may be:

• Photography
• Photographs of 2 or 3 dimensional artwork
• Scanned works
• Digital art

Submissions must be:

• Landscape orientation
• Digital format 1152×870 pixels
• Without images of people (which would require a model release)

When submitting:

• Label the photos properly. Title of Artwork_Student Initials_School_Teacher Initials
• Ensure photos are the proper orientations/size, as photographs that are not properly sized will not be judged (see .pdf on sizing)

To view the photographs and have your students view the photographs you need to have a Studywiz account. If you do not have an account please contact Juanita Dickson Juanita Dickson juanita.dickson@maine.gov to get account information or if you have any questions.

Click here to download a .pdf file on how to submit and/or view artworks in Studywiz

Click here to download a .pdf file on how to resize your image

Performing on “Good Day Maine”

Schools in the FOX23 station’s viewing area were invited to perform and record a song and dance number in the style of the television show “Glee”. Five schools were selected by the panel to perform on FOX23 live. The schools are Camden Hills Regional High School, Yarmouth High School, Buckfield Junior-Senior High School in Maine and Kennett High School and Moultonborough Academy in New Hampshire. Schools are performing, Nov. 5-Nov. 11, one each morning. The online voting will begin Nov. 12th. The overall winner will be determined by the online voting at MyFOXMaine.com and/or by texting.

The winning school will receive $5,000 for its choral music department. Camden Hill’s video “Under Pressure” was produced by students working with choral director Kim Murphy and visual and media technology teacher Chris Walker-Spencer and can be viewed below.

How does visual thinking impact your world?

I have written some blog posts that touch on visual thinking but earlier this fall Winthrop Middle School art teacher, Lisa Gilman, shared this article with me from WIRED magazine, September 27th. The article is called Clive Thompson on the Power of Visual Thinking and is written by Clive Thompson.

The author shares how he uses visual images to help him process and make decisions and goes on to say how visualization experts are promoting visual thinking as a way to solve problems and communicate to explain ideas.

Dan Roam is one of the experts and he helped with an idea that President Obama had tried numerous times to explain in words. Roam used a series of napkin pictures to illustrate a health care debate that the President could not explain well enough in words for everyone to understand. Within a short time, 300,000 people had viewed the images on the internet and many of them emailed him to thank him.

The internet has pushed forward images and therefore, making pictures has moved away from being childish. Perhaps the future will have this form of communication on equal terms with verbal communication.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Please read the article and then add your comments below.

Two recent articles you might find useful and/or interesting

How the Arts Lay a Foundation for Learning written by Philadelphia art teacher Kathran Siegel. Please click here for the article. From Education Week, November 5th.

Survey to Look at Shape of School Arts Across State by Kelly Smith, Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, November 2nd. Please click here for the article.

Dr. Pepper Cherry Youtube Dance Studio Contest

Thanks to Chris Milliken, York Middle School art teacher for sending this link.

One week of theatre

The week of October 4 was an amazing week for the students of Machias Valley Christian School in Machias, Maine. Thanks to a generous Fast Track grant from the Perloff Family Foundation, they were able to have two members of the Children’s Stage Adventures tour team, Chandra Diesel and Ben Regan, with them for the entire week. Under their expert direction, the children put on a sparkling performance of Oliver Twist, an original musical adaptation by Lorrie and Rob Gray, founders of the Children’s Stage Adventures.

Casting took place on Monday morning and by that afternoon, rehearsals were already underway. Groups of children rehearsed each morning and afternoon that week. By Thursday afternoon they were working on the stage with the scenery. Friday morning they rehearsed with their props and that afternoon were thrilled to practice the play in the colorful costumes provided by CSA.  Friday night, just before the performance began, the children went to make-up.  The excitement that had been building all week culminated in a memorable performance before a packed house of family and friends. The faculty and staff were very proud of the students. It is certain that lasting memories were made that night!

Not only did the students perform well Friday night, but they worked hard the whole week long to make the show the best that it could be. We were pleased to see how they encouraged and helped one another, putting into practice the character traits we had been working on all last year. The only sad part was saying good-by to Chandra and Ben after the show on Friday night. Even though the students had no previous theatre experience, they were caught up in the infectious enthusiasm brought to the production by Chandra and Ben. They were interested in all aspects of the production from casting right through to the final performance. The parents of our students were as delighted with the event as the staff. Plans are underway to have CSA back next year.

In addition to casting the play, directing all the rehearsals, unpacking and setting up the scenery, outfitting the entire cast with just the right costumes, and doing the children’s make-up, Chandra and Ben ran theatre workshops for smaller groups of children in their “spare time” each day that week. These two hard-working professionals won over our students with their positive attitudes and encouraging remarks. They never seemed to have a doubt that the children would learn their parts and put on a magnificent performance, and the children more than rose to the challenge.

We highly recommend this organization, and hope that many of Maine’s schools will have the wonderful opportunity that we enjoyed that week.
Children’s Stage Adventures is a unique theatre company founded by Rob and Lorrie Gray in 1999. They have more than 20 years of experience performing and working with children. They have directed, taught, and acted with more than 40,000 children while touring the US, Canada, and Australia.  If you would like more information about Children’s Stage Adventures contact Rob Gray toll free at 866.272.2255, PO Box 211, Sullivan, NH 03445 or email him at kidsstage@hotmail.com.  CSA can be found by clicking here.

This blog post was submitted by Machias Valley Christian School teacher Harry Lingley

Portland Superintendent Jim Morse trained art teacher

Jim Morse participating in art auction by painting a chair. Portland Press Herald, November 4.