Michigan Public Radio
Earlier this year Michigan Public Radio broadcast a show that was about the unique link between young children taking part in arts and crafts activities and patents received or businesses launched as an adult.
The study took a close look at Michigan State University Honors STEM students between 1990 and 1995. Ninety-four per cent of the STEM graduates had musical training as compared to 34% of all adults.
You can listen to the entire interview by clicking here.
Been waiting to be posted
You know every so often I take several articles that are sent to me and I put the links into one blog post. Well, this is that post. Filled with all kinds of interesting information and resources. Some of it you may want to share with your students, colleagues and/or parents.
Thanks to David Cadigan for sending me this information.
Thanks to Sebasticook Valley Middle School Music Teacher and Maine Arts Assessment Teacher Leader Jen Nash for sending this information.
Thanks to Performing Arts Teacher at Carrabec High School and Maine Arts Assessment Teacher Leader Beth Lambert for sending this information.
Thanks to Ellsworth High School art teacher and Maine Arts Assessment Initiative Teacher Leader Leah Olson for sharing this information.
Thanks to Ed Brazee for sending this information.
Course Opportunities for Art and Music Educators
As arts educators, we know how important a quality arts education is for every student. That is why we are constantly seeking to improve teaching and learning in our classrooms. And the arts have never been more relevant and essential than they are right now – in the 21st century. But where do we find quality, professional development in arts education?
The New England Institute for Teacher Education is proud to announce that it will be offering three courses in Visual Art and Music Assessment practices this fall to any Art or Music educators, K-12. The courses are all taught by leaders in art and music education who have played an integral role in the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative in the past three years.
Don’t miss this special opportunity to work with Rob Westerberg, who will be bringing the Music course to Hanover, New Hampshire (Vermont and New Hampshire music educators, take note!), Jake Sturtevant who is teaching Music Assessment in Standish, Maine, or Catherine Ring who is teaching Visual Art Assessment in Bangor, Maine. All of these courses meet on teacher-friendly schedules (two weekend sessions with 10-12 weeks in between) and are tailored to meet each individual’s needs.
If you want to be in on the most current thinking, research and best practices used in arts classrooms, this is a great way to get started and connect to a network of other professionals and a wealth of shared resources. Over 85 arts educators have taken advantage of arts assessment courses through the New England Institute and many have taken on leadership roles in their schools and districts as a result of their work. Three graduate credits will be awarded upon successful completion through the New England Institute’s academic partnership with Endicott College.
So please join us. We’re excited to share what we have with you and to learn from you!
Questions? Call the New England Institute at 207-367-5807 or email newenglandinstitute@gmail.com.
—Catherine, Rob and Jake
Video on the brain and music
Thanks to Madison Art Teacher Lisa Ingraham for sending me the link to this TEDed video called How Playing an Instrument Creates Fireworks in Your Brain. In her words: “It’s pretty great!” Researchers have looked closely at the brain to see what is happening when people are “listening” to music AND when “making music” is taking place. The music making strengthens the brains capacity. Check it out for yourself.
Created for you!
The crazy adventure/uncharted territory known as the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) is now 4 years old. During that time, over 1,000 Arts educators have participated in MAAI activities, including workshops, state Conferences, Webinars, courses, and on and on. One of the unforeseen benefits of all this professional development has been the excavation of vast amounts of materials and documents to further our understanding and our work. From rubric construction and advice on implementing standards, to blogs, publications, and web resources, it seems that there’s little out there that hasn’t been unearthed in the process of working as colleagues in this state. Along those lines, it has been a bit of a pipe dream to create a web site that actually stores all of these resources in a user friendly format; “one stop shopping” for all things Arts Assessment. Being unveiled here is the manifestation of that goal, maineartsassessment.com.
The website is split into easily searchable topics: Assessment Documents, Helpful Videos, “tons” of Web Links and Advocacy. We also decided to make this site the home page for MAAI, so there is a link there giving the mission, history and present day activities for educators to plug themselves into. Also featured is a “Proficiency Toolkit”, providing a step-by-step process by which Arts educators can move forward in their work to meet local and state requirements, adopting standards work in their own programs/schools/classrooms in ways that make sense to them.
All of us in MAAI are extraordinarily proud of the work that’s going on across the state. But it’s all for naught unless the work continues. Here is a way to access all the amazing resources out there in the world that will help us do so. Take a peek at the website when you get a few minutes, and hop onto the areas that resonate the most with your own professional needs. We welcome feedback and suggestions as this site continues to spring to life, and hope you will utilize it as a favorite “go to” site in the months and years to come.
A GREAT big thank you to Rob Westerberg for his numerous hours of work bringing together all of the information and creating the new website!
This is a BIG WEEK for Arts Education in Maine!!
We have more than 90 educators attending the Summit on Arts Education at USM, Portland campus on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and almost half of those will also be attending on Friday for the Teacher Leader day. Included on the attendee list are dance, music, theatre, and visual arts PK-12 teachers, teaching artists, other educators, and representatives from arts organizations and the university. There are 13 teams participating. The Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) Leadership team and Teacher Leaders have been crazy busy with the agenda planning that will be full of rich learning opportunities.
Included on the agenda:
Teachers who are attending the Summit will receive contact hours, CEUs or graduate credit.
If you have not registered for the Summit you may still do so no later than TODAY by clicking here https://webapp.usm.maine.edu/DCPEOnline/addRegCONFPage1.do?offeringId=100075146. For more information please click here https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/NESummit
Maine Focus Groups and Community Conversations – don’t miss this opportunity!
Are you interested in joining others interested in arts education to talk about the future of arts education in Maine? If so, please plan on attending the event on
Tuesday, July 29, 7:00-8:00pm at the Maine College of Art, 522 Congress St, Portland, ME.
We have a wonderful opportunity to help influence the future of our community and the future of our state. Please join me to participate in a discussion about the kinds of creative opportunities and activities you would like to see available for our residents, our children, and our families. Often times, plans are created for us, instead of with us – they miss the mark and we miss the opportunity to see what we value included in the mix.
If you have questions about either of these opportunities taking place this week please don’t hesitate to email me at argy.nestor@maine.gov.
Music and Team Players
The Beatles version of “Twist and Shout” was used in a study with 48 toddlers showing “adults who move together to a shared musical beat synchronously as opposed to asynchronously are subsequently more likely to display prosocial behaviors toward each other.” The study was published recently online in Developmental Science. The scientists are Laura K. Cirelli, Kathleen M. Einarson, and Laurel J. Trainor.
Read the article by clicking here.
Read the research by clicking here.
Thanks to Bangor High School art teacher Susan Bryand for sending this information.
Earlybird special for registering by May 30
I am excited about the planning that is underway for the New England Summit on Arts Education scheduled for July 29, 30, 31 at USM, Portland. Below are the details…. please email me if you have any questions at argy.nestor@maine.gov.
July 29, 30, 31, August 1, 2014
University of Southern Maine, Portland
Cost: $299 which includes access to arts education learning, continental breakfast, snacks and lunch
Earlybird special: register by May 30 for a $25 discount
Additional savings: register as part of a team (at least 2 people) for a $25 discount
With both of these discounts the total cost per person is $248
IMPORTANT DETAILS
REGISTRATION IS NOW AVAILABLE BY CLICKING HERE.
OVERVIEW
The New England Summit on Arts Education will provide an outstanding collaborative opportunity for educators to dig deep into teaching, learning, and assessment in arts education including student-centered classrooms and proficiency. Please join educators from Maine and beyond for this fabulous three-day professional development opportunity.
The Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) was established in 2011 and has been responding to the needs of arts education ever since. The overall focus of the MAAI has been to create an environment in Maine where quality assessment in arts education is an integral part of the work all arts educators do to improve teaching and learning, and student achievement in the arts.
Maine has a commitment to offer a quality professional development opportunity that is customized to meet your educational needs and goals. Consequently, participants will choose a strand to be working in during the Summit.
MAAI has provided professional development during the last three summers to Maine arts educators who wish to take on a leadership role and create a workshop to present to arts teachers across the state. The initiative has been building capacity by training arts educators on the “what” and “how” of arts assessment and finding the balance of formative and summative assessment, so they can provide the leadership in Maine through professional development opportunities.
PHASE IV
During the next phase of the MAAI the goals will expand in response to teacher feedback and is offering a three or four-day summit. The summit is designed to meet the needs of teachers and the workshops will be on such important topics as proficiency, standards-based, student-centered, leadership, advocacy, creativity, 21st century skills and much more.
There will be multiple opportunities for networking as we broaden our knowledge in arts education. The Summit is a perfect opportunity for those who want to learn the core principles or advance further into the Arts Assessment field.
Participants will be able to choose one of three strands based on experience.
“The relationships I have developed have positively changed my life and the ripple will go on for years to come! I loved the activity about a collaborative community and glancing upon that poster throughout the time period; I will use that for my own classroom.”
“Thanks for all the hard work that was put into the planning and developing of this year’s institute. I love what we do. I am so pleased to be a part of this.”
“Thank you for setting up this opportunity for me to really think about how I teach, and how I can expand my practice so my students can have a deeper understanding and appreciation for what they learn in the art program.”
“There are not enough words to describe how appreciative I am of this initiative. It has made me a better teacher, and has made a difference to my students’ art education. “
April’s MAAI Webinar
This post was provided by music educator Rob Westerberg.
The second of a series of four webinars for phase 3 of the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative was held on Tuesday, April 8, entitled “Common Core and The Arts”. Catherine Ring and I facilitated what ended up being a pretty full hour with guests Marcia McCaffrey, Arts Consultant at the New Hampshire Department Of Education, and Jenni Null, Fine Arts Coordinator in S.A.D. #61. The dialogue focused around three broad topics:
A focal point of the webinar was a resources page on which we provided live links (those links are still live in the archived webinar, which you can access at the end of this blog post) to abundant information on the Common Core, practical connections to the Arts and yet even more links that can assist Arts teachers, informing their work at integrating Common Core. As those links were shown, we had a rich conversation that included articulating the difference between “enrichment” and authentic integration. We also spent time addressing specific concerns from the field, stating that some have been coerced into sacrificing their own work to accommodate ELA prompts and increase math achievement scores. Others have had their face time with students slashed so those students can receive remedial help in other subjects. Rather than skirt these issues, confronting them head on brought about many insights and ideas for moving forward.
It became apparent that the issues we confront here in Maine have less to do with the Common Core than practical implementation of them in local controlled school districts. In short, it is evident that the Common Core standards hold many promises for all of us in Maine, including the potential for exciting collaborative work in the Arts. But implementation of this requires much prep work and a commitment to ideals that squarely place the focus on students, not programs. Successful implementation will require “intentionality” and school leadership where a broad understanding of how the arts appropriately contribute to the Common Core is present. There is not only a place for the Arts at the table, but the scenario exists in which we potentially play a larger role than ever before in the development of our students in the 21st Century.
As Marcia McCaffrey pointed out, the College Board has come out with a Review of Connections Between the Common Core and National Core Arts Standards Conceptual Framework and specific ways to approach alignment. Marcia provided an overview of this research which will be posted at http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/MAAI-Webinars in the near future.
On Wednesday, May 7, we will be holding our third webinar in which we will be discussing how the Arts are impacted by the Maine law mandating Proficiency in all subject areas – including the Arts – and what that will look like for us as we move forward. No doubt it will tie into additional Common Core topics as well as the revision of the National Core Arts Standards that will be released in early June. Please plan on joining us from 3:30 to 4:30 on that first Wednesday of May. In the meantime, you can access the archive of the April 8 webinar at http://stateofmaine.adobeconnect.com/p7qnkdt5lp2/. In the near future along with Marcia’s presentation there will be a Meeting Plan which you can use individually or with your colleagues, along with additional information on the Maine Arts Commission website at http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/MAAI-Webinars.
Research
Researchers are finding that not only should arts education be included in elementary education but that is that students who are exposed to cultural institutions, like museums and performing arts centers, not only have higher levels of engagement with the arts but display greater tolerance, historical empathy, as well as better educational memory and critical thinking skills. You can read the entire article at http://www.fastcocreate.com/3023094/science-says-art-will-make-your-kids-better-thinkers-and-nicer-people
You are currently browsing the archives for the Research category.
me arts ed 