Learning opportunity at USM – two day conference
Posts Tagged ‘Maine arts leadership initiative’
Another Arts Teacher’s Story: Holly Leighton
April 27, 2016Teacher Leader series
This is the seventh blog post of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Phase 5 Teacher Leader stories. This series contains a set of questions so you can learn a little bit about the work they are doing as Maine arts educators. CLICK HERE for more information on MALI. CLICK HERE for more information on the 73 of the MALI Teacher Leaders. CLICK HERE for Arts education resources. Search in the “search archives” box on the bottom right side of this post for past stories. There have been 66 posted to date.
Holly Leighton has been an elementary art teacher at the Ella P. Burr School in Lincoln for 17 years seeing 400+ students weekly. This year she moved to the district’s high school, Mattanawcook Academy, where she is the art teacher with 92 art students from grades 9-12. (RSU 67) Holly’s main responsibilities are teaching six 70 minute classes and covering the visual art standards.
What do you like best about being a visual art educator?
I love working with the students and watching their confidence in their art abilities grow. When I have a student that feels they “just aren’t good in art” I make it my mission to help them find their strengths and show them their growth as they go. When they begin to show pride in their art, embrace new media eagerly, and start thinking outside the box, I feel I have done my job well. It is very fulfilling and makes me feel proud to hopefully be making a difference in student’s lives.
What do you believe are three keys to ANY visual and performing arts program?
I believe it requires teachers that are knowledgeable and passionate about teaching the arts and understands and loves working with students of all ages. I believe there has to be support from the administration, school board, and community. I believe we have to build strong art programs and continually advocate for them.
How have you found assessment to be helpful in your classroom?
I like to use formative assessments to track student’s growth and guide my teaching. I like to make sure each student knows where they are and where they need to go next in their learning. I have students do self-reflections on their artwork using the critical analysis process. I feel it makes students really think about their art, gives it importance, and makes them proud of what they have done.
What have been the benefits in becoming involved in the arts assessment initiative?
Confidence! I was very unsure about how effectively I was using assessments in my classroom. After attending the conference in the fall I realized many of the others felt the same and we are on the right track. I learned so much from the others, creative resources for assessing in the arts, confidence in using my voice, and that we all have good ideas and need to share them. I have become a much more confident teacher.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I am proud of whom I have become through my years of teaching and this has happened because of the many dedicated colleagues that have mentored and encouraged me on my way. I consider myself a good teacher that cares about the students and really wants them to succeed in life.
What gets in the way of becoming a better teacher or doing a better job as a teacher?
For me it is time. Teachers are expected to spend so much time on new initiatives, trying new programs to improve the way we do things, meetings, and duties. We need to have time set aside on early release and workshop days to work on curriculum and standards, reflect on our teaching, and the multitude of other things that have to be done to keep our programs running effectively.
What have you accomplished through hard work and determination that might otherwise appear to at first glance to be due to “luck” or circumstances?
I have always tried to find ways to bring the students to the arts and artists to the classroom. We have had authors, illustrators, drama and dances teachers, and musicians come preform and/or teach in the classrooms. We have had multiple field trips to the Portland Museum of Art, Colby Art Museum and University of Maine Museum of Art. With help from my arts colleagues, I arrange these events at little or no cost to the district through grant opportunities and foundations. It is a lot of work and sometimes seems to just happen to others. I do it because I feel it is important for students in our rural area to experience the arts first hand.
Look into your crystal ball: what advice would you give to teachers?
Reach out and network with others. Join state and national organizations and be an active member. There is a wealth of resources out there to help with funding for field trips to the arts, to bring working artist to your schools and professional development opportunities for yourself.
If you were given $500,000 dollars to do whatever you please, what would it be?
I would go on vacation and travel to all the places here and overseas that I have wanted to see. I would pay off our home and fix up our family’s summer camp on the lake. With the rest I would fund a ceramics studio for our art program.
Imagine you are 94 years old. You are looking back. Do you have any regrets?
No. I use to have regrets, but finally realized that choices I have made have led me to be who I am today, my family, friends and work ethic. I believe the choices we make in the past lead us in different directions and where I had ended up at this point in my life, I couldn’t be happier.
R.S.V.P. ME
April 24, 2016April 26
Please join Maine educators on Tuesday, April 26th, 3:30 to 5:00 for the last R.S.V.P. ME meeting of the 2015-2016 school year.
This virtual meeting will be a roundtable discussion about how teachers are creating paths to Proficiency-Based Education. Across the state teachers are developing programs to help students adjust to the new demands of Proficiency-Based Education as independent and self-directed learners. This zoom meeting is to provide you with strategies to adjust to the teaching and learning environment. Sign up to share them on Tuesday, April 26th!
To participate in this Zoom Online Video Conference – and earn 1.5 contact hours as a Maine Art Education Association member – email lisa.ingraham@msad59.org. You can also contact me anytime with questions and comments.
*The April R.S.V.P. ME meeting has been moved from April 12th to April 26th.
Calling Teaching Artist Leaders
April 16, 2016Leadership role
Maine Arts Leadership Initiative, Phase VI
Visual and Performing Arts Teaching Artist Leader Application
OVERALL INFORMATION
Join us for a GREAT opportunity! The Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) invites YOU to be part of Phase VI. For the past five years, MALI has worked with visual and performing arts educators from Maine schools to become leaders in developing arts education in their districts. As the initiative enters Phase VI, MALI has grown to include 73 teacher leaders. For the last two years, teaching artists have been included in our summer institute.
Teaching Artist John Morris leads the MALI teacher leaders in some stretching
This year, we are looking for teaching artists who are interested in being leaders and helping to develop teaching and learning in the arts. This is an opportunity for you to participate in professional development and networking, as well as to have a voice in the direction of arts education in the state of Maine.
If you are selected, you will be required to attend our summer institute, August 10, 11, and 12, 2016. We will provide professional development workshops and support for you to develop your own workshop related to your area of arts expertise. We will then ask that you take what you’ve learned and share it with other teaching artists, educators and community members in your region and beyond.
If interested, please send a completed application by the Friday, May 6, 2016 deadline to Argy Nestor at argy.nestor@maine.gov ASAP. Details are below.
Selected Teacher Artist Leader responsibilities for the 2016-17 school year include:
- Communicate by wiki
- Attend the three-day Summer Institute, August 10-12, 2016, USM, Portland
- Present your draft workshop and receive feedback, at an all-day event, date and location to be determined
- Present the finished workshop in your region
- Present a workshop at a mega-regional workshop site that will be coordinated by the MALI leadership team
- Attend a retreat to reflect on the work of Phase VI with teacher leaders and the leadership team to be held winter/spring 2017
To access the teaching artist leader application please CLICK HERE. If you have any questions please contact Argy Nestor, Director of Arts Education, Maine Arts Commission.
Calling All Teacher Leaders
April 14, 2016Regional VPA Teacher Leader Search
Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) – Phase VI
MALI winter retreat, March 2016, Bowdoin College
Join us for a GREAT opportunity! The Maine Arts Leadership Initiative invites YOU to be part of Phase VI. We are looking for teachers interested in leading and in taking a close look at assessment in the arts. If you are selected, you will be required to attend the summer institute, August 10, 11, and 12, 2016. We will provide professional development and ask that you take what you’ve learned and share it with other educators in your region and beyond.
If interested, please send a completed application by the Friday, May 6, 2016, 11:59PM deadline to Argy Nestor at argy.nestor@maine.gov ASAP. Details are below. TEACHER LEADER APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/MAAI#
Selected teacher leader responsibilities for the 2016-17 school year include:
- Communicate by wiki
- Attend the three-day Summer Institute, August 10-12, 2016, USM, Portland
- Present workshop to critical friends, all-day, date and location to be determined
- Present a workshop in your region, planned by you
- Present a workshop at the mega-regional workshop site that will be coordinated by the MALI leadership team
- Attend a retreat to reflect on the work of phase VI with teacher leaders and the leadership team to be held winter/spring 2017
Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Background Information
OVERALL DESCRIPTION
Committed to the development of Teacher Leaders to ensure deep understanding and meaningful implementation of high quality teaching, learning and assessment in the Arts for all students.
Since 2011 the initiative has been building capacity by training arts educators on the “what” and “how” of arts assessment so they can provide the leadership in Maine through professional development opportunities. The details of the initiative are at http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/MAAI#.
MALI’s OVERALL OBJECTIVES
Create and implement a statewide plan for teacher leadership in arts education. This includes professional development opportunities, regionally and statewide, which will expand on the knowledge and skills of teachers to better prepare them to teach in a proficiency-based learning environment.
- Develop and implement standards-based high quality teaching and learning statewide for Visual and Performing Arts
- Continue to build an expanding team of arts educators and teaching artists representing all regions of Maine
- Provide workshops and other professional development opportunities for educators
HISTORY – Phase I, II, III, IV, V – Summer 2011 to present
Seventy – three teacher leaders attended summer institutes on assessment,
leadership, technology, creativity, proficiency-based standards-based and student-centered teaching and learning- Teacher leaders presented workshops at two statewide arts education conference, USM, Portland, UMaine, Orono, and Point Lookout Conference Center with over 600 educators attending
- Teacher leaders facilitated regional workshops across Maine
- Teacher leaders facilitated workshops at 12 mega-regional sites across Maine
- Another Arts Teacher’s Story series (72) on the Maine Arts Ed blog
- Arts assessment graduate courses offered by New England Institute for
Teacher Education - Nine arts education assessment webinars for Maine educators facilitated by Rob Westerberg and Catherine Ring – archived
- Video stories of seven teacher leaders that demonstrate a standards-based arts education classroom
- Teacher Leader Resource Team ongoing development of items for resource bank
- Maine Arts Assessment Resources website that contains a plethora of information
Phase VI components
August 3,4,5, 2015: Summer Institute, Portland- Regional and mega-regional workshops throughout Maine
- Continuation of Another Teachers Stories on the Maine Arts Ed blog
- Continuation of the Resource Bank
- Professional development for teaching artists
For More Information
- MALI information – Maine Arts Commission website https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/MAAI
- Maine Arts Assessment website http://www.maineartsassessment.com/
- MALI Resource Bank http://www.maineartsedresources.org/
The Initiative is a partnership with MAC, MDOE, USM, MAEA, MMEA, MLTI, University of Maine Performing Arts, and New England Institute for Teacher Education
Another Arts Teacher’s Story: Iva Damon
April 13, 2016Teacher Leader series
This is the sixth blog post of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Phase 5 Teacher Leader stories. This series contains a set of questions so you can learn a little bit about the work they are doing as Maine arts educators. CLICK HERE for more information on MALI. CLICK HERE for more information on the 73 of the MALI Teacher Leaders. CLICK HERE for Arts education resources. Search in the “search archives” box on the bottom right side of this post for past stories. There have been 65 posted to date.
Iva Damon is the 9-12 high school level in visual arts at Leavitt Area High School. She teaches art 1, art 2, natural arts, painting, and two dual enrollment classes through UMFK. This is her fifth year teaching at Leavitt and seventh year teaching in general. In my six classes, Iva has just under 100 students total. She is also the co-advisor to the Class of 2019.
What do you like best about being an arts educator?
It’s a unique experience to see students challenge themselves to be creative and try new things. The best part is having the opportunity to see how students grow throughout their high school experience.
What do you believe are three keys to ANY successful visual and performing arts education?
A sense of humor, patience, and continuing to be an active artist in one’s own discipline. We all are working with kids and a sense of humor and patience go a long way in making connections with students in a meaningful human way. Far too often there are so many items as teachers we are juggling to keep up with. We are all busy, but I personally need to take the time and just create art. It keeps my passion for what I am teaching alive when I can share what I do and why I find it important with my own students.
How have you found assessment to be helpful to you in your classroom?
Assessments in my classroom are essential to understanding how well my students are learning. Formative assessments are the best way to check for understanding and influence how long and and in-depth lessons need to be within a unit. Personally, formative assessments should guide instruction to fit the needs of the students.
What have been the benefits in becoming involved in the arts assessment initiative?
The Arts Assessment Initiative validates that there are other art teachers throughout the state who have a similar passion to become connected, advocate for our profession, and want to become better educators. It has given me the opportunity to work with individuals outside my district to share with and learn from.
What are you most proud of in your career?
The relationships I have been able to develop both professionally with peers and students. It’s an amazing thing to have shiny new faces in introductory classes, and continue to have those students come back for one to three more years because in some way I was able to capture and inspire their interest in the arts. Having students become passionate about a subject that I love so much is such a powerful experience.
What gets in the way of being a better teacher or doing a better job as a teacher?
All of the other things that occur that take us away from teaching or working with kids. There are so many tasks, duties, and assignments that are given to teachers, and I feel like the quantity increases every year. There is a need to reflect on one’s practice within the classroom and how well students are receptive to information, updating and changing curriculum, but there are so many other items that have found their way into my normal day.
What have you accomplished through hard work and determination that might otherwise appear at first glance to be due to “luck” or circumstances?
Every year Leavitt holds their Art’s Gala celebration in March. It is the annual art show that occurs Thursday night after a week of having 5-8 visiting artists come into the building to work with all the arts teachers as well as other content area teachers. The entire first floor of Leavitt becomes transformed with displays and installations that students are responsible for creating. It may appear that everything runs smoothly but a great deal of hard work and determination goes into the event. Though not alone in this endeavor, teaching students how to mat, create artist statements, tags, and create their own installation is exhausting but the final product of walking through the halls on the night of Arts Gala continues to be an amazing and proud experience.
Look into your crystal ball: what advice would you give to teachers?
Have fun in what you do. Students are so receptive to whether their teachers are passionate about what they teach. It is important that the passion we have for the arts comes through on a normal basis. When they see how passionate and excited we as teachers are for the arts, that enthusiasm will spill over to them too.
If you were given a $500,000.00 to do with whatever you please, what would it be?
If I were to be given $5000,000 I would probably spend half of it to pay off all of my existing debt and take time to travel with my family. The remaining amount of money, I would really like to see set in a trust to be given out to students so they can have opportunities for art experiences outside a school classroom like camps, college classes, or intense studies.
Imagine you are 94 years old. You’re looking back. Do you have any regrets?
By 94, I hope that I have few regrets. Like many things, time is my issue. I hope to travel more but I know that I need to take the time to do so. I want to see more masters work in person and be able to see more of the world, and to do so I need to travel. It is something I love to do, and I need to make the time for it to happen.
Dance Grant Awarded
April 11, 2016Aroostook county schools awarded dance grant
MSAD#33 Student Riley Theriault; Teaching Artist John Morris; MSAD 33# Art Educator Theresa Cerceo; Maine Arts Commission Director of Arts Education Argy Nestor; Thornton Academy Dance Teacher Emma Campbell; and Thornton Academy student dancer Vojtech Machytka. Photo courtesy of the Maine Arts Commission.
AUGUSTA, ME, April 8, 2016—The Maine Arts Commission has awarded a special new grant, “Hopes for the Future,” to provide dance education to K-12 students in Frenchville and St. Agatha in the northern most part of Aroostook County. The $2,650 award to Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 33 will give the district’s 240 students and teachers a unique opportunity to participate in the dance making process.
“We are extremely pleased that MSAD #33 will benefit from this inaugural grant. It couldn’t go to a more worthy district in a very deserving part of our State,” stated Julie Richard, Maine Arts Commission Executive Director.
The district’s Art Educator, Theresa Cerceo, and Teaching Artist John Morris collaborated in pursuing the grant. Mr. Morris is a member of the Maine Arts Commission Teaching Artist online roster located at https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Teaching-Artist-Roster.
He will guide the students through a dance-making process over the course of a five day residency that will culminate in a final show. Mr. Morris has also created an open online resource for dance located in the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Resource Bank at http://www.maineartsedresources.org/. He will employ these resources as part of teacher workshops during the residency so the work can continue after his departure. “In adding dance education to the community’s experience with the arts, we will broaden their knowledge base of the arts as an academic subject,” stated Ms. Cerceo.
Funding for this grant was provided via a collaborative performance held in November 2016 at Thornton Academy in Saco. Seven schools and dance studios worked together to create the performance and raise the funds to make possible this unique opportunity for dance education. The residency will be documented on the Maine Arts Education blog at meartsed@wordpress.com so that members of the public can learn more about the residency’s process and impact.
The Maine Arts Commission is encouraging other organizations and/or arts venues to consider such collaborations to provide funding to schools to help establish either dance or theater education programs. Students have limited access to both of these disciplines across the state.
To learn more about the Commission’s PK-12 arts education programs, including the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) and the teaching artist roster, or how to develop a grant like this one, contact Argy Nestor at argy.nestor@maine.gov or 207-287-2713.
The Maine Arts Commission shall encourage and stimulate public interest and participation in the cultural heritage and cultural programs of our state; shall expand the state’s cultural resources; and shall encourage and assist freedom of artistic expression for the well-being of the arts, to meet the needs and aspirations of persons in all parts of the state. Additional information is available at mainearts.com.
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Stop Motion Movies
April 8, 2016Allie Rimkunas – funny art teacher
Great Falls Elementary School is fortunate to have Allie Rimkunas as their art teacher. Allie is a Teacher Leader with the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI). I’ve never had the opportunity to see Allie in action in her classroom but I’ve seen her in a workshop setting as facilitator and participant. If you ever have the chance to hang out with Allie, my advice is to, do it! She is so funny and fun to be around!
Allie designed a unit for her grade 5 students working with her intern – creating stop motion movies using ipads with the free app iStopMotion (creator is Cateater) to go along with their One School, One Book project. During January every student in grades 3-5 read the chapter book and younger children used the picture book by the same title, One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.
The schools music teacher’s son wrote and performed the song and Allie broke it up into 5 – 9 seconds that the students illustrated. There were 24 teams of 4 students each and they were assigned 4-9 seconds of the song to animate. They researched the 5 basic types of stop-motion styles, created storyboards, set, and characters and went to work taping. The whole process took about 6 weeks.
Allie had been wanting to try stop-motion for some time but didn’t dare. When she learned that her student intern was a video specialist she decided to be bold and take a risk. Something that we often expect from our students. A student who was a whiz at figuring out the intricacies of the app was a huge help. One of the 5th videos is below.
Turned out that her intern came down sick so Allie ended up learning to edit with a little help from her son. She surprised herself and is proud of the work her students engaged in.
The first graders did shorter movies with a slightly simpler theme. They had to animate a poem and record themselves reciting it. One of the first grade videos is below.
Arts Ed in Lake Region
April 6, 2016What’s been happening in the Lake Region Schools
MSAD 61 or Lake Region School District as they are commonly referred to is made up of students from Naples, Bridgton, Casco, and Sebago. They had a fabulous Youth Art Month and Music-in-Our-Schools Month! Gallery 302 in Bridgton displayed high school art for the month, including 3-dimensional, photography, paintings, prints, and a diverse array of work.
The district held three big concerts. The slogan for Music In Our Schools Month was, “Music Inspires.” Fine Arts Director Jenni Null said: “I truly was inspired on many different levels”. March 10 was the Combined Middle/High School Instrumental Concert. Zack Gray, a senior trumpet player and rated number one in the State this year, was featured in one of the piece. Jenni started with Zack in grade 4, and she had tears listening to him at this recent event. The last few pieces also involved the Bridgton Community Band playing along side our kids. “It was so heartwarming to see this Band ranging from ages 11 – 80 playing as one unit”, Jenni said.
On March 14, they held the Combined Middle/High School Choral Concert. There was every style of music represented: early renaissance, jazz, gospel, pop, and contemporary. A great educational experience for their students.
Dan Neault, Emily St. John, Carmel Collins, and Cody Bean
Three high school students traveled to Augusta with dance/visual arts teacher and Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leader Carmel Collins to speak with their representatives as part of the Arts Education Advocacy day at the State House on March 24.
The final concert was the Combined Elementary Chorus/Band on March 29. Over 100 students from our three elementary schools combined to perform an array of music. Highlights were the Second year instrumentalists performing the Raider’s March (Indiana Jones Theme) and the chorus rendition of the Theme from Spiderman. It was an uplifting evening of music.
Two Lake Region Middle School students have had their artwork selected (among 20 state wide) for the 2016/17 MLTI screensaver challenge.
One Lake Region High School senior will have her artwork on display in a Gallery on Commercial Street in Portland as a part of the Casco Bay Artisans First Annual Regional High School (LRHS) Student Art Show. The event will take place on First Friday, May 6, 2016 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. This show will run through Wednesday, May 11.
A Junior Dance major auditioned and was offered a place in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! She has been accepted into the American Academy of Ballet summer intensive program. Another Junior and serious dance student, has been offered places in the Joffrey summer dance intensive (NYC and Miami) as well as the North Carolina School of the Arts summer intensive. She also received a $300 scholarship to Dean Summer dance intensive.
LRHS Musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum runs April 7-10.
Karen Montanaro will do 3 week long residencies in our elementary schools, working with fifth graders. The first will be after April vacation. Everyone is looking forward to having her residencies.
Thanks to Jenni Null, Lake Region Fine Arts Director and Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leader, for sharing the recent MSAD#61 Arts education happenings.
Another Arts Teacher’s Story: Dianne Fenlason
April 5, 2016MALI Teacher Leader series
This is the fifth blog post of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Phase 5 Teacher Leader stories. This series contains a set of questions so you can learn a little bit about the work they are doing as Maine arts educators. CLICK HERE for more information on MALI. CLICK HERE for more information on the 73 of the MALI Teacher Leaders. CLICK HERE for Arts education resources. Search in the “search archives” box on the bottom right side of this post for past stories. There have been 64 posted to date.
Dianne Fenlason currently teaches middle school bands, grades 6-8, at Spruce Mountain Middle School. In addition, she teaches the following at Spruce Mountain High School: piano, guitar classes, contemporary vocal ensemble, a rock history perspective and performance class called Rock of Ages. She has taught a variety of other music electives over her 28 year career. Dianne has been at Spruce Mountain, formerly Jay Public Schools, since 1995.
What do you like best about being a music educator?
The best part of my job is working with my students and seeing them progress through the years that I work with them. I used to work with grades 4-12 students and to see the transformation of these students is awesome.
What do you believe are three keys to ANY successful visual and performing arts education?
For me the keys to a successful arts education include providing an opportunity to any student, creating a challenge for all students and establishing a rapport with each student. I also believe working with students beyond the classroom can greatly impact the success of your program within your school. Seeing students in another setting outside my class and them seeing me as well has benefits to building respect for one another and in a word, is fun.
How have you found assessment to be helpful to you in your classroom?
I have always felt assessment has been crucial for student progress and I had been doing instrumental performance assessment since I began in 1988. At first I used assessment simply to have an opportunity to hear high school students individually and try to provide them with feedback. Today I use assessment similarly but also incorporate a specific scaffolding of expected skill outcomes as well as a tool for students to self assess and track their own progress.
What have been the benefits in becoming involved in the arts assessment initiative?
My involvement with the arts assessment initiative has provided validation that what I had been doing was on point and it has made me focus my instruction on the specific outcomes I feel are important for all students.
What are you most proud of in your career?
The proudest moments in my career all revolve around student success. I once had a senior trumpet player perform the National Anthem standing on the pitcher’s mound at a state baseball playoff game. Whether taking students to adjudicated festivals, or instituting new and different ensembles or performing music that students may perceive as unattainable and having them realize group and individual success, is something that keeps me teaching year after year. Also seeing students pursue or participate in music beyond high school provides an undeniable sense of pride knowing that what you do and have done has made a lasting impact on their lives.
What gets in the way of being a better teacher or doing a better job as a teacher?
All professions have hurdles but I have never felt I couldn’t improve or do a better job. There is always someone who does it better and if I can learn from them and it helps my instruction with students than I am willing to do that. The educational field has undoubtedly become more difficult since I began and it has meant doing things differently and working harder to maintain the same expectations I have always had. Social and economic changes as well have greatly impacted students lives but I will always stand by the adage that students will meet whatever bar you set, so why not keep the bar high.
What have you accomplished through hard work and determination that might otherwise appear at first glance to be due to “luck” or circumstances?
I would have to say that my “luck” is that I continue to enjoy what I do. There is a quote that describes what we do that says something like “art is hard work masked by fun.” As visual and performing arts educators we not only teach students but also administrators and communities that the arts are not a frill but a necessity. This agenda never happens by luck but only from hard work, commitment and a belief that arts truly enrich our lives. I have told myself that when what I do is no longer fun, then I am done.
Look into your crystal ball: what advice would you give to teachers?
If I were to give advice to any teacher I would say make sure you love what you do and be willing to sacrifice for others while maintaining a balance for yourself at the same time. Teaching can often times commandeer much of our energy but it is important that we find a sense of accomplishment in what we do and find ways that refill our tank when we feel we have given everything we have.
If you were given a $500,000.00 to do with whatever you please, what would it be?
If I were given $500, 000 I would build a performance venue and become the house manager. There are not nearly enough large theaters or concert halls in the state of Maine. Augusta, our state capital, does not have a performance hall to draw people to the area. I would try to use the hall to provide performances for local schools and community groups to attend shows as well as perform in the local facility. If we can encourage performance attendance early in young people than I believe they will be patrons of the arts later in their lives.
Imagine you are 94 years old. You’re looking back. Do you have any regrets?
At age 10 I knew I was going to be a music teacher. I never wavered in that decision, so if I live to be 94, I will look back with no regrets. I don’t believe in “if only.” I was once asked why I continued to teach at my school and I replied by saying, “it is where I am supposed to be for now.” I am blessed to have worked with many wonderful students and excellent educators and colleagues over my career. In the end, I will have given all that I was capable of and if I made a positive impact on one student or colleague than my time was not wasted. I feel confident that I have made an impact on some and to me that is most rewarding.
me arts ed 