Join in live or listen to archived webinars
Regional Workshops: The Arts Assessment Iniative continues to offer opportunities around the state. The list of Regional Workshops being provided by the initiatives 18 Teachers Leaders are listed at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html.
Maine Assessment Webinars: The Leadership and the Arts webinar, facilitated by Rob Westerberg and Catherine Ring, was held on February 1, 2012 and explored:
- The Role of Teachers
- The Role of Administrators
- The Role of the greater Community
If you were not one of the 35 participants, or if you wish to hear it again, you can go to the archive at http://stateofmaine.adobeconnect.com/p3yj73w4iaf/. Along with the archive there is a meeting plan located at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html. I suggest that you use the meeting plan on a school workshop day with your colleagues. Please take the time to read the plan to help you decide how to use this valuable document. And by all means invite your administrators to participate.
There was a glitch in taping the January elementary assessment webinar that took place so it has been re-scheduled for March 14th, 3:30-4:30. You can access the link to join in at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html.
The Arts, Common Core, and 21st Century Connections: On January 17, 2012 Joyce Huser, Kansas Department of Education, Fine Arts Consultant facilitated a webinar for my colleagues from throughout the country. Joyce created documents that I am certain you will find helpful in your work at the local level. You can access the recording at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/eor.html. Joyce includes the direct correlation between dance, music, theatre, and visual art to the Common Core State Standards, and the 21st Century Arts Skills Map. At the above page you will find the presentation Power Point, the P21 Arts Skills Map, and an ELA Strand Organizer (Joyce and her ELA partners created). Most interesting to me is a graph in the Power Point that exhibits the skill demands for arts related careers for 2008 – 2018 which shows the skills taught in arts education classes. There is a link on the webpage is the sources for the work force data in the graph.
President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities Report: Last week while I attended the Maine Art Education Association board meeting Rob Westerberg attended a webinar that provided information on the recently released report by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Rob was kind enough send his “take-aways” from the webinar “Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools.” The report is posted at http://www.pcah.gov/. The culmination of 18 months of research, meetings with stakeholders, and site visits all over the country, this report represents an in-depth review of the current condition of arts education, including an update of the current research base about arts education outcomes, and an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the field that have emerged over the past decade. It also includes a set of recommendations to federal, state and local policymakers.
In Rob’s words: A good webinar today… it hit on key components of an effective integrative strategy at the elementary and middle school levels.
- A few quotes: “Arts Education is a flower AND a wrench” (a tool for development of creativity in the curriculum… I LOVE the analogy!)
- “Having a good music program isn’t enough”.
- “Wow, schools are the ones where Arts teachers were given liscence to craft the vision for their school; were the chief creative officers for their schools.”
Rob was able to ask this question of the moderator: “How do the findings of this report tie into standards based assessment in the arts? Do they?”
Rachel Goslins response: “The report does not get into either standards or assessment… too big and messy.”
She then went on to mention the development of the national standards as the primary focal point of that discussion. In other words, it was not within the scope and sequence of this report to dive into the realm of standards or assessment.
For her final thoughts, she mentioned that “for the arts moving forward, (and I’m paraphrasing here), they must be integrated in a meaningful way, led by valued and empowered arts specialists.”
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Rob for sharing your notes with the blog. If you’d like to listen to the webinar please go to the archived at http://advocacy.nafme.org/page/webinars-2.
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