Miller School Exhibit

Tidemark Gallery in Waldoboro collaborating with Miller School – Brooke Holland, art teacher

AP Studio Art Network

Gamble Center, Rockland, ME

Susan Johnson, Oceanside High School, Ann Roy, Waterville, and Carolyn Brown, Camden Hills

Twelve art teachers met on Saturday, January 26 to share stories of working with AP Art students and to share information and ideas………. and everyone found inspiration to continue the great work they are doing.

Everyone reported in, sharing information about current program issues and frustrations; course loads, time issues, impact on students, choice, continuity, curriculum, process, budgets, class sizes, student issues, pre-AP, scheduling issues……..  As usual, everyone had interesting bits to share. We felt a bit like AA for AP Art teachers – the telling is always somewhat cathartic. The on-going challenges continue to exist, and we continue to work through them. It helps to compare program structure and curriculum, giving the group new ways to approach current problems.

Some shared some lesson ideas. One teacher shared a folded book project and gave everyone instructions. The group looked at student work, giving feedback and asking questions

After lunch Kal introduced some brainstorming activities – 6 word biographies, mind maps, cut paper squares, and an appropriation activity. Using photocopies of famous art work, photocopies of patterns, and assorted art supplies, participants created their own appropriation. The group thought about different approaches and different ways the project could be adapted to student use.

Plans for next meeting – Someone suggested meeting in August, before school starts, with a focus on some printmaking strategies. Coincidentally, there is a printing press right in the Gamble Center classroom. This was a great opportunity for building community with teachers across Maine.

Thank you to Kal Elmore for contributing the content of this blog and to Suzanne Goulet for contributing the photograph!

MAAI Arts Ed Workshops – USM, Presque Isle, Ellsworth

MAAI and MLTI partner for professional development opportunities

Three more professional development opportunities are scheduled for arts educators in the near future.

• March 1: USM, Portland campus
• March 22: Presque Isle High School
• March 29: Ellsworth High School

The workshops are presented by the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) teacher leaders (phase 1 and 2) and the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) technology integrators. At least one workshop included at each location will have an integrated co-facilitated session that connects at least one arts discipline and technology.

Registration is required to attend the Mega-regional workshops and is located at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html#megaregional. There is NO cost for these workshops and contact hours are being provided. The FREE workshops are open to elementary, middle, high school, and higher ed educators.

Workshops include creativity, standards, assessment, literacy and much more! Details for each site are posted at this link. You will need to bring a computer that has the most recent MLTI image. If you do not have one please indicate it when registering and one will be provided for your use.

These workshops are in response to the feedback from arts educators requesting more professional development opportunities. Also happening all over the state are Regional workshops being presented by the arts education teacher leaders from the second phase of MAAI. Workshop descriptions are located here. Please click here to learn more and to REGISTER for one or more of the workshop sessions.

MAAI Phase 1 and 2 teacher leaders, summer institute

Interview with Director of Arts Education, NEA

Ayanna Hudson interview

I had the chance to meet Ayanna Hudson in October while in Washington DC. She is fairly new to the National Endowment of the Arts and is a wonderful “voice” for arts education.

You can hear Ayanna’s voice and other arts educators on a talk show from January 18th. Please take a few minutes and grab a cup of hot chocolate or tea and listen to this interview. I promise it will be well worth your time.

On January 18, 2013 Ayanna Hudson, director of arts education for the National Endowment for the Arts, Kate Baker, Seattle elementary school visual arts teacher, Keith Bisaillon, Colorado Springs high school music teacher, band director and assistant wrestling coach, and Beth Eppler, Oklahoma City elementary through high school dance teacher, discuss the arts in education. They talk with Jane Williams on Bloomberg Radio’s “Bloomberg EDU.”

In Today’s News

Posted on January 25 in The Bowdoin Orient

Amanda Minoff wrote an article on artist and Lincoln Elementary School (Augusta) art teacher Robin Brooks called Intersecting planes: the collages of Robin Brooks. Robin is presently collaborating with 12 other artists along with creating individual work. I know that many of the Maine arts educators are not only teaching but creating, performing, and exhibiting. Please be sure and send me what you’re involved with so others can learn about you. You can read the entire article by clicking here.

MLTI Art Workshops

The Art Studio in your MLTI MacBook

Opportunities from the Maine Learning Technology Initiative that are being provided over the next three months throughout Maine at no cost.

Join MLTI to discover the art studio in your MLTI MacBook. Learn new ways to create art, explore tools to design digital portfolios, gain understanding in managing your digital art classroom and grow your research process knowledge. This day will be filled with valuable information for the art teacher. This is a repeat of the Fall 2012 session but we encourage you to join us and expand your abilities.

Please visit http://www.maine.gov/mlti/events for a link to online registration and a listing of all current PD sessions.

Dates/Locations:
January 28, 2013: Maranacook PD Center
January 30, 2013: Washington Academy
February 5, 2013: RSU #40 Central Office (Union)
February 12, 2013: Apple Training Facility, Pineland Campus (New Gloucester)
February 14, 2013: Eric L Knowlton School
February 26, 2013: Reeds Brook Middle School
February 28, 2013: Spruce Mountain Middle School
March 6, 2013: Katahdin High School
March 12, 2013: Portland Arts & Technology HS
March 13, 2013: Presque Isle High School
March 20: Woodland Jr Sr High School

In Today’s News

From January 22, Portland Press Herald

Written by Bob Keyes the title is Dance education in Maine grows by leaps and bounds provides an overview of what is happening in dance programs in Maine. Most of the programs he sites are at the higher ed level including Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, and Southern Maine Community College. Portland Ballet has had the CORPS program since 1994 which provides opportunities for high school students. Click here to read the entire article and to view a video.

Rice Bowl Challenge

Maine is participating – a note from MLTI

This is just a quick note to let you that the 2013 RiceBowl Challenge is underway! Already we have some schools that are playing – is yours? If not, why not? All Maine schools should be pre-registered, so all you need to do is visit http://thericebowl.org/sign-up/ for directions on how your students (or teachers can do this for kids if they are younger) can set up an account at FreeRice.com. At the bottom of that page, you’ll find PDFs you can download that have step-by-step directions that you can share with kids to help them.

You will also find the list of Maine school team prefixes. These are 6 character unique prefixes that your students need to use when establishing their login accounts. This will allow us to associate their rice donations with your school so we can track your school’s overall total. The prefix is simply your MEDMS school code preceded by ME….so it would look something like ME1234. That means kids’ accounts should be something like ME1234john. They don’t have to use their name at all in the account…just something they will remember. So, ME1234PatsFan would work too.

Every student needs an individual account because FreeRice is adaptive, so it needs to individually track your answers so it knows what question to ask next based on your last response.

Also, teachers — please sign up and register for Digital Learning Day at http://www.digitallearningday.org/registration/  It’s quick and painless, but it will put you on a mailing list to receive curriculum ideas and links to resources about how you can use technology in the classroom. The State with the most teachers registered (as a percentage) will be called out on the national Town Hall Meeting on Digital Learning Day which will be streamed live over the internet. Go Maine Go!

NH Music Teacher Finalist

Congratulations to Heidi Welch finalist for National Teacher of the Year

This information is taken from the National Teacher of the Year site. Heidi is one of 4 finalists for NTOY. The one selected will be announced in April. The last time there was an arts teacher who was selected was music teacher Andrea Peterson in 2007 from  NTOY Washington state. Andrea gave the keynote at our 2009 statewide arts education conference held at Point Lookout. More information on the NTOY program is available at http://www.ccsso.org/ntoy/News.html

Heidi Welch – 2013 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year

Heidi Welch is a 9-12 grade music teacher at Hillsboro-Deeing High School in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. With 16 years of teaching experience, Heidi Welch is a music teacher at Hillsboro-Deeing High School. She has been in her present position for 14 years. Heidi received a Bachelor of Music Vocal and French Horn focus from Keene College and a Master in Education Instruction and Curriculum from New England College. She is a member of various professional associations and activities, including chairperson and band manager of the Monadnock Valley Music Festival. In 2011, Heidi participated as Choral Guest Conductor for the Tri-town Music Festival in Milford, NH. That same year, Clear Channel Radio named her “Music Teacher of the Year” to conduct the Boston Pops. At a young age faced with personal challenges of her own, Heidi shares that many of her teachers offered compassion and direction – a path that ultimately led to a love for music. She said, “I knew that if music education allowed me to find myself as a student, instilled in me a passion for the arts and for learning, and gave me a chance to push myself in ways that I never thought possible, that it would surely do the same for the other young people trying to find there they fit.” Heidi now shares that passion with her chorus and band programs, which have grown steadily in her tenure  at Hillsboro- Deering. All of her groups perform and participate in workshops at Disney World and has taken home first place trophies from several competitions throughout the country. However, Heidi says her greatest accomplishments are seen in the students’ every day successes.

The National Teacher of the Year Program is run by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Every year states each select a teacher of the year to participate in the National Teacher of the Year Program. A panel representing 15 national education organizations, convened by CCSSO, chose the four finalists from the 2013 state teachers of the year. The selection committee then personally interviews each finalist and selects the National Teacher of the Year. In April the National Teacher will be announced by CCSSO. The President of the United States recognizes the National Teacher each year in a White House ceremony.

Inauguration and the Arts

A look back

In today’s news we are hearing the questioning of whether Beyonce lip-synced the National Anthem or not at the Inauguration ceremony on Monday in Washington DC. Those of you who are singers understand what it takes for such a performance in the chilly temperatures better than the rest of us.

Here are some “did you knows” from the National Endowment of the Arts blog “Art Works” posted on January 18 and written by Rebecca Gross.

• Did you know for the 1977 inauguration of Jimmy Carter, the Democratic National Committee commissioned Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jamie Wyeth, Jacob Lawrence, and Robert Rauschenberg to create works commemorating the event? In recent years, the limited edition prints from the Inaugural Impressions have sold for thousands of dollars at auction.
• Did you know that at President Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration, Robert Frost was unable to recite the poem he had written specifically for the event? Snow covered the ground that day, and the glare prevented Frost from being able to see the manuscript of his new piece, “Dedication.” Instead, he recited his poem “The Gift Outright” from memory.
• Did you know that musicians who have received the National Medal of Arts have been popular picks as inaugural performers? In fact, President Obama featured four at his first inauguration: Aretha Franklin, John Williams, Izthak Perlman, and Yo-Yo Ma.

As you probably know James Taylor performed on Monday singing ‘America the Beautiful’ and was a National Medal of Arts recipient in 2010. You might want to go to the post and read the rest of the “did you knows”.