Presque Isle High School art teacher Ellyn Whitten-Smith’s Sculpture I students completed 24 ornaments that will be sent to Washington DC for the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony that will take place. The ornaments represent Maine and specifically Aroostook County. Pretty exciting! Congrats students of course Ellyn!
The kids made ornaments representing their ideas of Maine, which included: people and places: Stephen King, lighthouses, Mt. Katahdin; wildlife – puffins, junebugs, chickadees, moose, brooktrout, wildcats, pinecones, bees, snow; past-times: camping, and ice fishing; agriculture: farms, fiddleheads, blueberries, broccoli, and potatoes, as well as old trucks and trees, Balloon Fests, the iconic LLBean boot, Moxie, and whoopie pies. Ellyn is pretty darn proud!
One of the questions that comes up over and over is what does student centered learning look like and how do I manage it? Last week flying into my email was a video created by Edutopia. For those of you blog readers who may not know about Edutopia it is the George Lucas Foundation whose mission is dedicated to transforming K-12 education so that all students can acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to thrive in their studies, careers, and adult lives. George Lucas the 1991 founder of Edutopia is an innovative and award-winning filmmaker. Edutopia is all about taking a strategic approach to improving K-12 education through two distinct areas of focus: Edutopia and Lucas Education Research.
The video included in the email is called How to Create Student-Centered Lessons and Put Students in Charge of Their Learning. Some of you may be thinking that the task is easier in the non-arts classrooms but I think this video provides enough information that you can gain insight and develop ideas.
In addition to the Edutopia video a handful of years ago the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI – then MAAI – Maine Arts Assessment Initiative) started creating videos to answer: What does this student-centered thing look like in a visual or performing arts education classroom? All of these videos are available on the Maine ARTSEducation youtube channel and I’ve embedded them below to make it easier for you to access them.
Co-founder MAAI, Music educator at York High School, Rob Westerberg, with a very different haircut.
Jane Snider, Hancock School visual art educator, MALI Teacher Leader.
OK Go Sandbox is an online resource for educators that uses the Grammy Award-winning band OK Go’s music videos as starting points for students to explore various STEAM concepts. OK Go Sandbox will be presenting at the National Art Education conference in Minneapolis, March 26-28, 2020. Registration is available.
Recently I read a story that I found interesting and the photos fascinating. It’s an idea that is a creative example to share it with your students – photography or otherwise. Take a look, and if nothing else, I’m sure you’ll find the photos interesting.
It’s also a wonderful example of collaboration of two people on opposite sides of the world.
An International Juried Bird Art Exhibition for youth, ages 4 to 18 is about appreciating birds and much more. Taking Flight is accepting artwork June 1st and 15th. For more information and to submit artwork CLICK HERE!
In one week Lindsay Pinchbeck, founder, director and teacher at the Sweetland School in Hope and I will be landing in Helsinki, Finland for the HundrED Innovation Summit. We are thrilled to be invited and looking forward to meeting educators from around the world and visiting with those we met last year who are returning. I’ve blogged about HundrED before but for those of you who are unfamiliar hopefully this post will inspire you to take a look at the HundrED website and tap into their amazing resources.
I plan on blogging from Helsinki next week so keep your fingers crossed that my connectivity works from Finland!
WHAT IS HUNDRED?
HundrED.orgis a not-for-profit organization that discovers inspiring innovations in K12 education. HundrED’s goal is to help improve education and inspire a grassroots movement through encouraging pedagogically sound, ambitious innovations to spread across the world.
The purpose of education is to help every child flourish, no matter what happens in life. In a fast-changing world, education must adapt to keep up. The world is full of inspiring innovations, but they can struggle to spread beyond their immediate environments. That’s why HundrED discovers, researches and shares impactful and scalable K12 innovations with the world, for free.
This (under 2 minute) video says it well.
CHECK OUT THE RESOURCES
You can become a HundrED Innovator as well and learn more about the many many innovations included in the site. There are amazing educators doing amazing work around the world and many have been recognized by HundrEd and have profiles on the website. You can learn how to become a HundrED innovator and see the many profiles of Innovators by CLICKING HERE.
OUR WORK (and play!)
The invitation to attend HundrED during November 2018 was based on the work that Lindsay and I have been participating in since 2016 with the Go Malawi program. We offered arts integration workshops when we traveled to Malawi for almost three weeks that summer. We were recognized by HundrED as Ambassadors – you can read about our work on the Go Malawi site at THIS LINK. Check out Lindsay’s profile on the HundrED site or Argy’s profile.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Join Sharon and Kate Beever for a morning of hands-on lessons you can bring back to your classroom as tools for educational, cognitive, and social learning. Book and song pairings with associated activities will incorporate speech and literacy, critical thinking and analysis, and social skills. Gain comfort using music with your students and learn about its benefits for literacy and learning. No musical experience necessary.
Saturday, 23 November 2019
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Portland Friends Meeting 1837 Forest Avenue, Portland, ME 04103
Sharon K. Beever is a Master’s level librarian with over thirty years experience in school settings. She has presented at conferences and classes on the use of technology in literacy, organized Unified Arts programs in multiple districts, and facilitated community partnerships within the school library. Sharon is a member of the MLA (Maine Library Association) and the MASL (Maine Association of School Librarians) and is President of the Saco River Festival Association, which runs an annual summer concert series.
Kate Beever is a board-certified music therapist and owner of Maine Music & Health, LLC. She has a master’s degree in Music Psychotherapy and a certificate in Neurologic Music Therapy, and is a Remo HealthRhythms facilitator. Kate provides music therapy to clients with developmental disabilities, brain injury, cancer, dementia, and general stress. She keeps an active schedule of speaking and performing as a pianist and percussionist.
Tickets available for School-Time Performance of Magic Tree House: Showtime with Shakespeare! November 18, 2019 at 10am at Merrill Auditorium, Portland.
Let us whisk you back to Elizabethan England for an adventurous meeting with the Bard himself—all to a Hamilton-style hip-hop beat. This new, high energy musical is based on the Magic Tree House adventure Stage Fright on a Summer Night. Discover, with the beloved brother-sister duo Jack and Annie, how history is shaped by those who learn to overcome their fears. As you time travel through the tree house, expect an hour packed with clever hip-hop rhymes, energetic choreography, and a storyline entertaining for all ages.
As a part of our Cultivating Curiosity series, all students that attend receive a free copy of the book to take home with them.
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.
Presque Isle High School art teacher Ellyn Whitten-Smith’s Sculpture I students completed 24 ornaments that will be sent to Washington DC for the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony that will take place. The ornaments represent Maine and specifically Aroostook County. Pretty exciting! Congrats students of course Ellyn!
agriculture: farms, fiddleheads, blueberries, broccoli, and potatoes, as well as old trucks and trees, Balloon Fests, the iconic LLBean boot, Moxie, and whoopie pies. Ellyn is pretty darn proud!
me arts ed 