Beautiful Arizona
The first three days in Arizona were very warm but the weather was dry so it didn’t feel like 92 degrees was terribly hot. The hotel was about 5 blocks from Arizona State University so I had a chance to walk before moving to the air conditioned room where the meetings on the National Core Standards were held. We ate lunch outside and met in small group work outside as well so it made the work even more pleasant.
Thirty one of my colleagues from othe states part of the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE) organization attended the three day meeting in Phoenix the first week in November. We met with our partners from the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards who are:
- Lynne Kingsley, Executive Director, American Alliance for Theatre and Education
- Amy Jensen, Advocacy Director, American Alliance for Theatre and Education
- Sandra Ruppert, Director, Arts Education Partnership
- Michael Sikes, Senior Associate for Research and Policy, Arts Education Partnership
- Nancy Rubino, Director, Office of Academic Initiatives, College Board
- James Palmarini, Director of Educational Policy, Educational Theatre Association
- Michael Peitz, Executive Director, Educational Theatre Association
- Michael Blakeslee, Senior Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, The National Association for Music Education
- Scott Shuler, President, The National Association for Music Education
- Deborah Reeve, Executive Director, National Art Education Association
- Robert Sabol, President, National Art Education Association
- Barry Shauck, Past President, National Art Education Association
- Jane Bonbright, Executive Director, National Dance Education Organization
- Susan McGreevy-Nichols, President, National Dance Education Organization
- Deb Hansen, President, SEADAE, Delaware Department of Education
- Linda Lovins, National Expectations for Learning in Arts Education Tri-Chair, SEADAE, Florida Department of Education
- Marcia McCaffrey, National Expectations for Learning in Arts Education Tri-Chair, SEADAE, New Hampshire Department of Education
- Lynn Tuttle, National Expectations for Learning in Arts Education Tri-Chair, SEADAE, Arizona Department of Education
- Cory Wilkerson, National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, Communications Co-Chair, SEADAE
One of our tasks was to help determine who the writing teams would be for dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. Ten teachers for each team will be selected. I was proud that 9 Maine arts teachers applied. Thank you to those who took the time and made a commitment to help with this important work. The chairs of these groups are listed at https://nccas.wikispaces.com/Writing+Team+Chairs
We had an extensive discussion around “media arts” as a 5th discipline in the national core arts standards document. Thank you to those who contributed their opinion on two meartsed blog posts. You can read what your Maine colleagues think about the idea on the two posts. And you can learn more from what the “media arts” investigation committee learned at https://nccas.wikispaces.com/Media+Arts+Investigation+Committee
Much of the discussion in Phoenix was streamed live for those who were available and for those who weren’t the videotapes can be accessed at https://nccas.wikispaces.com/NCCAS+Phoenix+Meeting+11-1-2011
College Board is a full partner on the leadership team and they have done some interesting research for our national core arts standards work. You can read their findings that is already helping to inform the work at https://nccas.wikispaces.com/International+Standards
As the work progresses you can continue to check the latest development by going to the wiki that has been created to house all of the links above and other information and resources at https://nccas.wikispaces.com/.
Botanical Gardens
At the conclusion of my three day meeting I had a chance to vacation for a few days in Arizona. For a state that only has on average 7 inchCaes of rainfall each year I was surprised that it rained twice while we were there. Phoenix has a population of 1,445,632 as compared to our entire state of Maine with 1,318,301 people. For a city with such a large population it didn’t feel crowded like other large cities. The city is laid out on a grid with nearly every street straight. Numbered streets go north & south, named streets go east-west. There are “washes” where there are low spots and when it rains (not much even) the water rises in the wash and you guessed it floods the roadways. We ran into one of them and also freezing rain, sleet, and snow. In spite of the weather we hiked in some beautiful places where the saguaro cactus grow perhaps as tall as 50 feet and may live to be older than 200 years.
Joani and Mark
We spent time with old friends and met interesting people. I met Joani, who teaches art at Arcadia High School in 2000, while we were on the Fulbright program in Japan. Joanie’s husband Mark is a Director of Technology in the Kyrene Elementary School District. We traveled north from Phoenix and saw about 8 inches of snow in the Flagstaff where people ski the area mountains, the tallest about 12,000 feet. We traveled northeast from there to Canyon de Chelly National Monument arriving in time to drive the rim as the moon rose. The rich orange rock was beautiful at dusk and the next morning with sunshine, brilliant blue sky and 18 degrees. We traveled by jeep down into the canyon to view and explore the history, culture, artifacts, that are sustained today by a community of Navajo people. It was one of those moments in time when I realize how tiny I am in this great big universe.
Canyon de Chelly
We stopped while traveling back to Phoenix at the Painted Desert, another amazing site at dusk. The next day we hiked in Sedona and were treated to another beautiful blue sky and sunshine day. If you haven’t visited Arizona I recommend it. The landscape is so interesting and provides plenty of inspiration for artists.
Young Navajo artist whose grandparents live in the canyon during the summer
Sedona
me arts ed 