me arts ed

Enough to make a snow angel

I suggest you go outside and create a sculpture or an angel while we have all this great snow!

The Element

The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and force for social progress. Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. 

Ken Robinson talks about his book The Element at the RSA and you can see his video below. It is almost 40 minutes long but worthwhile. Robinson is well known for his TED talk called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” The Element is about people who have found passion in their lives. People who are doing what they want because they are exactly where they need to be, they have found a purpose in their work and are happy in their lives. It is about people who really know who they are. This book has implications for education and specifically arts education.

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc Opinion in The Portland Press Herald

In an article entitled “Maine Voices: Arts are both practical and essential parts of life” written by the Telling Room’s Director Gibson Fay-LeBlanc he provides the reader with supporting information on why we should be INCREASING funding for the arts instead of the opposite. He articulates the value of arts education and the need for them to be an integral part of education. He sites national level research and how the arts support students achievement in other areas of the school curriculum and in supporting the at-risk youth. He mentions also the need for strong arts programs in “teaching kids to think creatively, how to innovate and how to connect school to the working world”.

I am so glad someone else believes that: “Rather than thinking about how we cut our schools’ arts budgets, we should be thinking about how to better integrate the arts into everything that happens in our schools.”

You can read Gibson’s article by clicking here. Gibson is a poet, writer and director of The Telling Room, a community writing center in Portland.

David Griffin, the photography connections

I really love this TED talk. How many people would never think of themselves as artists nor photography a form of artistry yet they take outstanding pictures? Are they photographers? photo journalists? artists? creating art?  David Griffin is the photo director for National Geographic. In this TED talk he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.

I am sure you’ll enjoy this 15 min. and 57 seconds.

TED – Dale Dougherty: We are makers

I read an article this week that kind of bothered me. It is called Encouraging the Hand-Mind Connection in the Classroom written by Margaret Honey & Eric Siegel. The article talks about this new movement of “makers”.  Today someone sent me a link to a TED talk called “We are Makers”. Both the article and the TED talk about “making” and the connection of the minds with making. At first I thought… how interesting that this “making” conversation is a movement?! Then I thought, am I missing something here? They discuss “makers” as if they are a new breed of people. Haven’t makers been artists for years? Is there a difference between artists and makers?

The authors of the article talk about a strong correlation of this movement and the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) initiative in this country. Dale Dougherty in the TED says: “the makers are people who look at things a little differently and who just might spark the next generation of scientists, engineers, and makers.” The artists are only mentioned once in this article yet for the most part the article does not refer to “makers” as artists.

You’ll have to read the article for yourself and watch the YouTube. But please, come back and post a comment so others can hear what you have to say.

New and Terrific Resource

In the last day I have received half a dozen emails with the link for a just released google project. It is very well done and I highly recommend you take a closer look. It is a great example of the power of the internet and the resources that have enabled us to step closer and provide that opportunity for our students.

The site provides you with the opportunity to explore museums around the world. You can zoom in and see details giving you a pretty close feeling of being there. The Visitor Guide helps you get started and has a section with questions and answers. There are 17 museums included and I have the feeling that number will be growing.

Click here for http://www.googleartproject.com/ And you can see a YouTube on the project as well by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleArtProject

Thank you to everyone who sent me the information. And here is one more YouTube that gives you an overview that is VERY informative of the Art Project.

Point Lookout

The OffBeats

The Winter Retreat organized by Syntiro was a wonderful opportunity for teachers to gather and expand their knowledge about the arts and technology and integration and OERs. Thank you to Therese Bernier-Burns for her work in planning the retreat!

The Open Educational Resource team members shared the work they’ve been doing during the past several months. The OER team who have been responsible for identifying resources have their work posted on the Maine Alliance for Arts Education site at http://www.maineartsed.org/openedresources.html. The work is posted by grade level, arts discipline and Performance Indicator. This is still a work in progress so check back often to learn more.

Mary O'Brien, classroom teacher and Katharine Ayer, art teacher, integrated team from Manchester Elementary School-puppets and mural students created while reading Listen to the Wind, Greg Mortensens childrens version of Three Cups of Tea

The second arts OER team have integrated partner teams. One arts teacher paired with a teacher of another content. They shared their work that is at varying stages of implementation so is not posted anywhere at this time. Each team is involved in meaningful units with students at the elementary, middle, and high school level.

The retreat started on Friday evening with performances by George Stevens Academy Jazz Band, Camden Hills Regional High School OffBeats and representatives from two of the 2010 Imagination Intensive Communities sharing information about their work. Representing North Haven were music and drama teacher Courtney Naliboff, art teacher Alice Bissell, and North Haven Arts & Enrichment program director Rachael Garbowski. Representing Camden Rockport were project director and Horizons program director Nancy Albertson, from Youth Arts Ingrid Ellison and middle school art teacher Kristen Anderson. It was great to hear the highlights of their programs.

Catherine Ring and Therese Bernier-Burns w/mural created in session BRAINS ON FIRE:Rekindling the Imagination in the Classroom

On Saturday along with the OER workshop presentations Catherine Ring did an outstanding workshop called BRAINS ON FIRE: Rekindling Imagination in the Classroom with numerous ideas on how to integrate the arts. Participants were up on their feet moving, using their voices for chorale readings, and collaborating on a wonderful sea mural. We know the arts motivate and inspire students and so were the conference participants!

Wiscasset High School art teacher did a session called Exploring Google as a Learning Tool where participants ‘learned while doing’. Sarah shared numerous links at this site: https://sites.google.com/site/gappsoverview/. I am sure you will find them useful! Sarah is quite the photographer herself and took several pictures throughout the weekend. You can access them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sutterview/sets/72157625938770510/ and get a visual image of the learning that took place throughout.

Catherine and I started the morning with a general session called The Power of the Arts in Education with numerous research and arts education resources that you can access at this wiki: http://youthdevelopmentinstitute.pbworks.com/w/page/25741810/FrontPage. The session started with a consensogram with this question: Does the No Child Left Behind law currently include the arts as a core subject? The majority of the 100 participants answered the consensogram NO. When in fact, YES the arts are part of the NCLB law. On the wiki you can find the Kennedy Center definition for arts integrations, the Dana Foundation research, links to arts integration resources, book lists, and many other resources.

Art teachers Charlie Johnson- Mount Desert Island High School, Leah Olson-Bucksport Middle School, Manon Lewis-Boothbay High School enjoying Sarah Sutter's Google session