Broadband improvement, Principles call for arts return, Let’s pause
Here are three important items in this weeks news that impact the arts, arts education and most importantly arts educators!
Mainers hope COVID-19 pandemic is catalyst for statement broadband improvement
Yesterday Governor Mills announced that “All Maine students will have access to the internet.” Sadly Maine rates third for slowest internet service. Sedomocha School music educator, 2018 Maine Teacher of the Year and MALI Teacher Leader Kaitlin Young spoke to NewsCenter on the topic. Kaitlin said: “Connection is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity”. Missionbroadband.com – complete a survey anonymously to give your opinion and join Kaitlin in using your voice to make a difference. Thank you Kaitlin for advocating for Maine students!
COVID-19 coronavirus: Principals call for the arts to return to the classroom
In his May newsletter, New ZealandPrincipals’ Federation president Perry Rush argues for greater arts education in schools that goes beyond dance groups, school productions or instrumental music lessons. He says it means using the arts to prompt expressive language and creative endeavour in ways that integrate with other subjects and parts of the curriculum.
Rush, the principal of Hastings Intermediate, says in a world where alternative facts and fake news abound, the importance of the skills the arts teach – critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, insight and empathy, among them – is self-evident.
“Any society that strips its education system of what it means to be human and denies its young citizens the opportunity to explore and celebrate human expression, should be concerned about how this affects a healthy functioning democracy. There has never been a time to be more vigilant and protective of the humanities and artistic expression than now.”
National Council of Teachers of English Blog
Mandie B Dunn is assistant professor of English education at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She sites the importance of taking time to pause and think about what we’ve lost and consider what that loss means for our well-being and for our relationships with students. We’re looking ahead to what school may look like in September rather than taking time to take care of ourselves.
Calling all artists, all ages! Spread the word!Be part of a community conversation! Share your ideas! This is a great project for ‘end of year’ assignments.
Create a postcard image in response to one or more of the following prompts.
After six weeks (or more) of this pandemic, what do you appreciate?
What has been an unexpected benefit of quarantine?
What is something you have learned about yourself as a result of the pandemic?
Create an image about a day in the life of a quarantined person.
Imagine what you will be doing in 6 months that is different from what you were doing 6 months ago.
DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
DIRECTIONS
Cut heavy weight paper to postcard size – 4″ x 6″
Use pencil, pen, colored pencil or any non-smudgy medium.
Be sure to indicate which prompt you are depicting.
Please sign your name and city or town where you live.
SHARE WITH OTHERS
And be sure to share the information about this project with friends and relatives. We hope to have a large number of postcards to display!The postcards will be part of a time capsule, reflecting ideas and opinions about our experiences during this unique time.
Send your postcards to: Pandemic Postcard Project – c/o Candis Joyce
This music video was composed, rehearsed, and performed by EL (Expeditionary Learning) Education students during the covid19 crisis while in physical isolation. It was made in two weeks in order to celebrate Better World Day, a day on which EL Education students contribute to their communities. The students accomplished this while also doing distance learning and in some cases helping siblings and working at essential jobs. This could not have been possible without the families who supported their children’s creative contributions while quarantined. This collaborative effort to bring joy, give gratitude, and offer comfort during a time of crisis is an example of the EL Education community doing more than we think possible. Even when apart, we’re going to make the world better.
#BetterWorldDay #ELEducation
Music Production by Sean Brennan
WhatStrangeWeather.com
Featuring 34 Student Musicians from 11 schools in 7 states
Gulf of Maine ECOARTS (GMEA) is an arts/science educational nonprofit focussing on changes in biodiversity in the Gulf of Maine due to human impact. The central focus of GMEA’s initial project – THE BIGELOW PROJECT – is the two year building of a collaborative sculpture installation of an ecosystem that will be hung and displayed in 2021/22 at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay. The sculpture, all made with 90% recycled/purposed materials, will be created by over 130 students – middle grades through college levels, and a team of 7 professional Maine artists. The project is designed as a work of art in itself – evolving from an original idea in one person’s brain into a collaborative working and planning community of about 200 students, teachers, artists, scientists, and advisors.
On Wednesday, April 29th, Gulf of Maine ECOARTS launched a special year-long online program. Each Wednesday we will POSTan interview with some of the teachers, artists and scientists that are part of the Bigelow Project community. The posts can be found on Gulf of Maine ECOARTS Facebook page, Instagram, our Youtube channel (other films there too) and soon – on the website.
The project has come a long way in a year and a half, and although the Coronavirus pandemic interruption of the Outreach branch of the project has shaken things up a bit, we’re making various readjustments and moving forward. The installation at Bigelow Lab is still slated for 2021, marine animals continue to be designed and built by the artists, the students will pick up where they left off in the fall, some of art and science teachers continue work this spring on a special project involving sculpture and science regarding threatened and endangered bird species in the Gulf of Maine.
You can follow this work on the projects FACEBOOK,, Instagram, and please help spread the word through social media platforms and tell your friends and colleagues.
Bolero Juilliard: “What can we do together even while we are alone?”
With 100+ Juilliard students and alumni, at home together. (April 2020)
Directed and choreographed by Larry Keigwin with associate Nicole Wolcott, featuring a reimagining of Ravel’s score, conducted by David Robertson, and produced by Kurt Crowley. Featuring Juilliard dancers, musicians, and actors, with alumni Emanuel Ax (music), Christine Baranski (drama), Jon Batiste (jazz studies), Renée Fleming (voice), Isabel Leonard (voice), Laura Linney (drama), Patti LuPone (drama), Yo-Yo Ma (music), Andrea Miller (dance), Bebe Neuwirth (dance), Itzhak Perlman (music), Susanna Phillips (voice), Bobbi Jene Smith (dance), Davóne Tines (voice), and Bradley Whitford (drama).
The following four teachers are going above and beyond teaching and reaching their learners in the RSU#35 school district. I am grateful for the work that David, Kate, Bryan and Kris are doing in music education, ‘schooling away from school’. All very humble, missing their students, below are some of their stories including ideas and resources. Thank you all for sharing!
David Graichen
DAVID GRAICHEN teaches Instrumental Music at Marshwood High School in South Berwick
Before school went digital my band students were working on pieces in small ensembles. We were doing this as a “Music in Our Schools Month” project and we were close to completion. I decided that despite articles warning of the difficulty we would try to make separate recordings and edit them together. I want to give my students a sense of working in an ensemble even when we cannot be together. There are many youtube videos showing you how to use programs by adobe, apple, a cappella, and others to complete this task. Each student got a metronome track for their piece and recorded their part and submitted it through google classroom. Thanks to the support of our RSU#35 Superintendent Mr. Caverly and Brian Carroll (our driver) we loaded the district trailer and delivered everything from a piccolo to a 4.3 octave marimba to students at their homes so they could play again. With the help of a parent, student, and my student teacher Christopher Ciaglo we are working to edit the recordings together and hope to able to post them at the beginning of May. Normalcy and recognizing the connection music has for my students is very important.
David created THIS VIDEOso students would be reminded of school and to communicate how much he misses them.
David and Brian moving the marimba in to the student’s home.
Kate Smith
KATE SMITH teaches at Central School in South Berwick
I teach 389 PreK through third-grade students and I miss every single one. If there is anything I’ve learned from this pandemic, it is that there is no one, easy way to stay connected with students. I needed offline, synchronous and asynchronous opportunities in order to reach as many kids as possible. In addition to sending home Bingo cards with musical activities, I also record and upload videos on my website and send singing telegrams/musical messages to the teachers to forward to their students. Sometimes these musical messages are sung, other times I dance (like when I taped glowsticks to myself and danced in the dark to “I’ve Got to Move It”), or lip sync with puppets. During vacation, the Physical Education teacher and I hosted a virtual dance party that had 75 families and 12 staff. Starting this week, we will co-teach 30-minute zoom classes with themes like Minute to Win It, Playground Games and Handclaps, and Beat in My Feet.
Kate created THIS SINGING TELEGRAMfor her five first grade classes and this very fun lip sync singing telegram below.
BRYAN KILLOUGH (aka Mr. K) teaches Pre-K through 3 at Eliot Elementary School
Bryan has a YouTube channel where he posts amazing teaching videos that he has created for his students. Videos called PATIENCE which teaches the importance of patience, The Beat Song which teaches the concept of Tempo, JS Bach since Eliot Elementary School’s musician of the month of May is JS Bach, and one of my favorites is May is the Month of Maying which is about, you guessed it May – embedded below.
KRIS BISSON teaches music at Marshwood Middle School
This has been a very unique experience for all, but learning prevails. My hope is that my students know how much I care about their learning and their well-being and that we are all in this together. Classroom walls or other walls, we are still connected and creating.
Kris Bisson
Below are some of the learning platforms that she has found successful.
FLIPGRID : With Chorus and Guitar/Ukulele Class being performance-based work, I have been using this with great success!
Students create videos of themselves (I’ve been doing both “public” and “private” for every assignment) and I can grade and comment (Typed is my preference, or you can video respond). Students can see each other and respond to videos – always positive, and a large part of our Chorus Family Support.
PADLET : a chance for students to share personal reflections/responses and for others to share conversation with them. Precise, helps keep thoughts focused.
ZOOM and MEET : of course, such a great resource!!!!!!!!!
HANGOUTS : for students to ask a question quickly and briefly. So handy. Sometimes starts the need to ZOOM / MEET.
GOOGLE CLASSROOM : My organizational tool for sharing all classroom needs, responsibilities, videos, pdfs, you name it!
LOOM : I can video and share my picture and voice while sharing my screen to teach the lesson. SO user-friendly, and students are accustomed to the teacher teaching the lesson before completing it for themselves. LOVE this!
Maine Teaching Artist Helps Poets Boost Their Skills Online
Brian Evans-Jones is a Maine-based poet and Maine Artist Leadership Initiative (MALI) Teaching Artist Leader. After moving to South Berwick from Britain in 2014, he has taught poetry and writing in schools across Maine, from Kittery to Calais to Van Buren. Now he’s expanding his reach by teaching poetry online to adults.
His new project, Poetry Parlor, is an online membership club for anyone who wants to learn about writing poetry. Each month, members read and discuss a high-quality poem by a contemporary poet, and then write a poem of their own based on what they’ve learned. Members then get feedback on their poems from other members, in a video from Brian, or via a monthly Zoom call with Brian (depending on membership level). There’s also a private Facebook group for members to interact and support each other. So far 18 poets have tried out the Parlor, with some very positive feedback about what they’ve learned.
The idea for Poetry Parlor began when Brian thought about how he could reach more poets. He said, “I’ve taught poetry to adults since 2008, but I hadn’t found the same opportunities to teach it in Maine that I used to have in England. I really love teaching adults, and I was missing it, so I thought about online teaching. I particularly wanted to help writers who were passionate about learning poetry, but who didn’t have time or money for a college course—and of course online is more flexible for them. Plus, I’ve always loved helping writers create community for support and learning. So I came up with the Poetry Parlor, and it has been just so exciting to see members joining in, creating poems and already learning a lot, even after just two months.”
Poetry Parlor started in March, and May is its third month. New members are welcome at any time; if you join late in the month, your membership will be applied to the next month’s activities. Brian says, “We have a committed, friendly, and very supportive community of poets in the Parlor, ranging from someone who has a book coming out, to someone who wrote his first ever poem this month! I’m look forward to welcoming more folks who’d like to try us out.”
For more information and to join, please go to CLICK HERE.
HELP US CELEBRATE THE 4,100th blog post – For the next two weeks Brian is offering 50% off the first month of Standard membership of the Poetry Parlor. Use the code: MAINEARTSED50 when signing up for a membership. In addition, if you check out Brian’s site and return to this blog post and ‘leave a comment’ below about Brian’s Poetry Parlor you will receive a FREE handmade face mask! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at meartsed@gmail.com.
The Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) is sponsoring Open Art Teachers Studio: Quarantine Edition. Five sessions are being offered on Wednesday’s May 6 – June 3, Zoom, 3:30 – 4:30. An opportunity to create, talk & share for K-12 visual arts educators. Contact hours available. You may attend one or more and receive contact hours for the sessions in which you participate.
Open Art Teachers Studio is a time (1 hour) and place (Zoom) where K-12 Visual Arts Educators can come together and create! Each session begins with a unique & creative teacher-led hands-on experience followed by discussion.
We believe that having a time to create and share as adult artists is vital to our continued success as Visual Arts Educators.
First half of the hour is creating & the second half is for sharing current activities, successes, trading resources, troubleshooting, networking, and to support one another.
Join us for the 5 session series:
Wednesdays, 5/6 – 6/3, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Come to one or Come to All!
First session: Portraits! Come prepared with materials you feel most comfortable with
to create a portrait in any style! Questions – reach out via email:
Martha Piscuskas, Director or Arts Education, Maine Arts Commission Martha.Piscuskas@maine.gov
Melanie Crowe, Hampden Academy Art Teacher, MALI Teacher Leader – mcrowe@rsu22.us
Iva Damon, Leavitt Area High School Art Teacher, MALI Teacher Leader – iva.damon@msad52.org
Bronwyn Sale, Bates College Instructor – bsale@bates.edu
Contact hours available: Sponsored by Maine Arts Leadership Initiative
Argy Nestor
Arts Educator, Blogger, Artist, Connector meartsed@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/anestor/
Argy’s Blog
The purpose of this blog is to share stories about people and places; and to celebrate the amazing work (and play) that students, educators, and organizations are doing in and for arts education. In addition, the blog has a plethora of resources and innovative ideas. This forum gives blog readers the opportunity to learn from each other. It is essential that we listen, learn, and collaborate in order to build on teaching practices for the benefit of every learner in Maine and beyond.
Yesterday Governor Mills announced that “All Maine students will have access to the internet.” Sadly Maine rates third for slowest internet service. Sedomocha School music educator, 2018 Maine Teacher of the Year and MALI Teacher Leader Kaitlin Young spoke to NewsCenter on the topic. Kaitlin said: “Connection is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity”. Missionbroadband.com – complete a survey anonymously to give your opinion and join Kaitlin in using your voice to make a difference. Thank you Kaitlin for advocating for Maine students!
me arts ed 