4,021

Maine Arts Conference – Arts Teachers Lead the Way… Back to the Future: Arts Assessment For Learning

Yup, since the Maine Arts Assessment Conference website went live on September 2nd it has had 4,002 visitors. WOW! I am very surprised and every time I go to the site I am more surprised. I am guessing that many people visited several times. And, as of yesterday afternoon we had 191 registered for the conference coming up this Friday. The only things left to do are several little details.

The Teacher Leaders are ready and excited to facilitate their workshops. I know since they are teaching full-time and planning for their workshop plus all the other parts of their lives, that this week might be a bit stressful. They’ve been thinking about and planning for this day since August 4th so I am sure it is down to the wire. I had to laugh when I received an email from one of the teacher leaders yesterday saying that she was in “freak-out stage”. I am so proud of the work they’ve done since being selected to represent Maine arts educators as Teachers Leaders! I look forward to seeing all of them at the end of this week.

Maine Arts Assessment Institute - August 2011

I have been following, on a wiki, the planning happening for the keynote being given by USM professor Jeff Beaudry, and arts educators Shalimar Poulin and Rob Westerberg. We are in for a treat when they take to the stage during the Opening Session with their collaborative keynote entitled: Context and Connection in the Arts.

I am really looking forward to listening to the Windham High School Chamber Singers under the direction of Mr. Rick Nickerson, also during the Opening Session. It has been a couple of years since I’ve heard them perform so this will be very special!

The conference is fortunate to have Steve Garton joining us for a session called Rock ‘n Roll Assessment. Steve is the Coordinator of Educational Technology at the Maine Department of Education. If you’ve ever seen Steve in action you know are aware of his musical abilities. The stage will be rocking!

soccer sketch

My friend and colleague Karen Montanaro returns to our statewide conference to bring you Yahoooo time and Back to the Future. No, you won’t be sitting and watching this Performing Artist and Movement Specialist, you’ll be up on your feet. You might remember Karen from the 2007 statewide conference when she performed her soccer sketch with my son. Karen has created an interactive piece just for the closing session. You can preview Karen on this vimeo.

Thank you to Jillaine McGough who has been furiously working to gather some pretty incredible door prizes! You can see some of them listed on the conference donors page at http://maineartsconference.wordpress.com/conference-information/donations/! I promise that the day will end on a fun note!

For those of you who can not attend we will have follow-up blog posts and video available online of some sessions.