The Monhegan Artist’s Residency is offering two residencies during the summer of 2020. One is a 2-week summer residency from June 27th through July 10th designated for Maine art teachers (K-12) and a 5-week fall residency from September 5th through October 10th. The fall residency extends over Monhegan’s annual Trap Day event on the 1st of October that kicks off the lobstering season and provides an opportunity to experience this unique island-wide event.
The Monhegan Artists’ Residency provides comfortable living quarters, studio space, a stipend of $150 per week, and time for visual artists to reflect on, experiment, or develop their art and ideas while living in an artistically historic and beautiful location. Both residencies will be located at Elva’s Old PO, in the center of the village with a panoramic view of the meadow. The building offers both studio and living space. There is a stipend of $150 per week to support living expenses while you are on the island.
Deadline for applications is March 15. Applicants will be notified by April 13, 2020.
The Maine State Teachers of the Year Association will be kicking off our 2020 Webinar Series with a one-hour online interactive professional development opportunity surrounding Social and Emotional Learning in the Classroom! Join us on Sunday, January 26th from 7:15-8:15 pm via the online Zoom platform.
Karen MacDonald, MTOY 2014, and Talya Edlund, MTOY 16, will present a session where participants will explore an overview of the critical elements of a systematic Social and Emotional program in your school or district. At least two of the elements of a systematic approach will be examined more closely, including student voice. The intended audience for this webinar includes teachers and education technicians serving students grades K-8.
Please complete the Google Form below to participate. The meeting will be held via the Zoom platform and the live link will be shared with participants emails collected in the form. Participants will earn one contact hour for the webinar.
Informative blog post put out by The Art of Education. Seven Reasons You Need a Photo Booth in the Art Room. A Lightbox is one and a studio photo setup is another. The ARTICLE expands on these two topics providing you with useful information.
The Art of Ed University provides resources in a variety of ways. Check out the WEBSITE to learn more.
2020 National Conference – Young Audiences Arts for Learning. March 25-27, Nopsi Hotel, New Orleans – Arts from the Start: An Exploration of Early Childhood Learning. This year’s conference will explore timely issues around the theme of early childhood learning.
Call for Workshop Proposals
Deadline: January 15, 2020
NOPSI Hotel
317 Baronne St., New Orleans, LA 70112
Proposals are now being accepted for workshop sessions that address the conference theme, or relate to other priority topics as detailed in the 2020 Conference Workshop Session RFP Guidelines and Application document.
To Submit a Proposal, please download, review, and fill out the 2020 RFP Guidelines and Application document. Email the completed application form to Lauren Altschuler (lauren@ya.org) by 5:00 pm ET on January 15, 2020. Incomplete applications will not be considered. You will receive email confirmation upon receipt of your proposal.
Evaluation and Selection of workshop proposals will be completed by a Conference Advisory Committee. Lead Workshop Session Presenters will be notified via email of the final selection by February 3, 2020.
Questions? Please contact Lauren Altschuler at lauren@ya.org or 212.860.1563 ext. 107.
Stay tuned for the Official 2020 Conference Site, conference.youngaudiences.org, for the latest information, including how to book accommodations through YA’s room block at NOPSI Hotel, where workshop sessions will be held.
Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leaders at the music education conference in September 2019 with Denise Gagne. Front, LtoR Catherine Newell, Dorie Tripp, Back LtoR Kate Smith, Linda McVety, Pamela Kinsey, Denise, Will Stecher
Often educators get so caught up in the day to day challenges of teaching that they forget to take time to reflect on what is actually happening. Taking time for professional development, getting off your island, and seeking colleagues for collaborations is critical to feed your soul and positively impact the art of teaching!
TEACHERS NEED TEACHERS! Reaching out and connecting with someone can make all the difference for you personally and professionally. I believe if you don’t take care of yourself (personally AND professionally) it becomes more difficult to take care of your students.
Now that we’re about 6 weeks into the school year, take a minute and ponder these questions:
How often have you searched for professional development opportunities that really challenged your thinking about teaching? There are opportunities if you search – some in state, some regional and national and there are opportunities on the international level.
When was the last time you asked a colleague to give you feedback on a lesson or unit? It doesn’t matter if you’re new to teaching or if you’re a veteran, asking someone you trust to step into your classroom and give you feedback can provide a totally different perspective to your teaching. I know this is may be difficult for a variety of reasons but if you want to be successful and look back on many years of teaching with a smile please don’t hesitate to reach out to someone that you trust and respect. If you have no other teachers of the same discipline in your school or district, reach out to someone in a nearby district, the professional organization leadership or perhaps a college/university. (By the way, I’d be glad to help out).
Have you ever seen yourself teach? Set up a video camera in your classroom so you can view it later on? Perhaps having someone visit is to much of a stretch at the moment. No problem, borrow a video camera, if you don’t have one, set it up on a tripod and take some footage of yourself that you can view later on in the comfort of your own home.
What research or book on education have you read lately?Who are you following on social media? There are so many outstanding books and writers on education topics. If you need a recommendation on where to get started check out the blog post from June 2019 called Summer Reading. for suggestions. Or go to a professional organizations website and read what they’re suggesting. There are also amazing resources on the web including blogs, podcasts, and audio recordings of information that you can visit over and over. Follow someone on Twitter, Instagram or one of the other social media tools available.
Do you have a curriculum that you’re actively using? Many educators are required to write a curriculum and it gets put on a shelf and not revisited until it’s time to write a new one. Is that you? I’m not suggesting for a moment that you use your curriculum for every lesson/unit but what I do suggest is asking yourself this – can you map your daily lessons to a curriculum? Is it aligned with standards? Do you have assessments in place that support what you’re teaching or your students learning? Can you answer these two questions – What am I teaching? and Why am I teaching it? If you can’t answer, I suggest that you take time and ask yourself: what do I want my students to know at the end of the school year or perhaps in 5 years or when they are adults? Good teaching and learning should drive your work!
What are you doing to take care of yourself? Are you mindful of your mind, body, and spirit? This is probably the most important one and it is the one that has taken me years to integrate into my daily living practices. We are fortunate to teach the arts because many of us went into teaching for two reasons – one is we want to teach and the other is we want to be an artist. So, what is your discipline and what are you doing to focus on that personally? I have made a practice of painting every day I can for a few minutes. If there is time that few minutes turns into an hour. I get lost in my art making. When I have more time I am making mosaics. Talk about getting lost in art making. I have no idea how the day disappears. If you’re a parent I realize taking time to make art on top of being a teacher and a parent there is no time left for art making or you. Please know it took me many years of parenting and teaching to get to this point. My suggestion? Start small – 5 minutes of meditation, yoga, writing and/or reading poetry, playing an instrument, moving in a mindful way or whatever way works for you. PLEASE take care of yourself!
it’s all about being a life-long learning! What are you doing to expand and build on your thinking? And, what you doing to take care of yourself? Please share your ideas at the bottom of this blog post.
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.
Annually Portland Stage offer a Teachers’ Night Out. The evening begins with a reception in our Theater for Kids space where you will have the opportunity to learn more about our education programming, followed by a complimentary performance for you & a guest to one of our Mainstage productions.
This year the event will take place on Saturday, November 2nd. The reception will begin at 7pm for an 8pm performance. If you would like to attend, email with your name, the name of your guest (if applicable), your school, and the grade(s) and subject(s) you teach. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!
Professional Development
Portland Stage Professional Development offerings include:
1. Theater and Literacy: using theatrical tools to enhance connections to the written word, encourage character/story recall, inspire active storytelling, and engage further with text.
2. Collaboration and Team-Building
If you have other ideas of ways that our team could connect with you through Professional Development, email us and we would love to brainstorm with you!
In-School Programs
At Portland Stage, we have developed a series of Education Programs for Elementary, Middle, and High School levels that connect to and reinforce State & National Standards. Our In-School programming focuses on building and enhancing literacy, cultural awareness, collaborative play, and creative thinking through a multidimensional approach to learning. All programs are accompanied by a comprehensive resource guide to enhance and support student/teacher engagement. To learn about our programs, click here.
The Maine Thespian Festival, formerly known as the Maine Educational Theatre Conference, will be held on Friday, October 25 at UMaine Orono campus. The festival is hosted by the University of Maine, Department of Theatre, Orono. It is designed for teachers and students and there are plenty of opportunities taking place throughout the day.
The featured speaker will be Dawn McAndrews, Artistic Director from the Theater at Monmouth, speaking on Making Connections. The featured performance will be selections from “Die Geborgenheit” by Emily Eberhart, class of 2017, a student-written selection from the Maine Young Playwrights’ Festival.
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.
The Monhegan Artist’s Residency is offering two residencies during the summer of 2020. One is a 2-week summer residency from June 27th through July 10th designated for Maine art teachers (K-12) and a 5-week fall residency from September 5th through October 10th. The fall residency extends over Monhegan’s annual Trap Day event on the 1st of October that kicks off the lobstering season and provides an opportunity to experience this unique island-wide event.
me arts ed 