Welcome Back!

2015-16 School year

MALI Summer Institute, August 3-5, 2015, USM, Portland

It’s back to school time and the air is changing. Whether you are in full swing with teaching or in your classroom preparing for students or perhaps waiting at home for the first day with “kids”, I know that the school year is upon you in some form.

I can sense that it is going to be a great year for visual and performing arts education in Maine! The Maine Arts Commission has been busy all summer supporting the work of Maine Visual and Performing Arts Education. Read below just a few of the ways in which MAC is doing just that:

• It’s official, on August 3, the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative became the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative during the opening at the summer institute. Read about the shift at https://meartsed.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/maai-goes-to-mali/.
• In addition to the name change MALI sent a representative team to the Teach to Lead Summit in Washington, D.C., July 22-24 sponsored by the US DOE and the National Board. The experience launched us into phase 5 in an amazing way. We found ourselves at the same table with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Read about it at https://meartsed.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/teach-to-lead/.
• On August 3-5 the MALI summer institute took place at USM, Portland campus. It was a fabulous learning opportunity where 12 new Teacher Leaders created an action plan that is turning into a workshop to be presented during the 2015-16 school year across Maine. This brings the total of Teacher Leaders to 73! You can read about the Teacher Leader work at https://meartsed.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/teacher-leaders/.
• The veteran Teacher Leaders used a Logic Model to guide their work. Starting with a “problem” they created a plan that they will take action on during the next several months. Pretty amazing work!
• The biennial fall arts ed conference is happening on Friday, October 9, Point Lookout Conference Center, Arts Education: The Measure of Success. Early bird registration and detailed information is at http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Biennial-Statewide.
• Fourteen Teaching Artists participated in one day of the MALI summer institute – what a treat to have so many in one location. Read about their participation at https://meartsed.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/teaching-artists/.
• The Teaching Artist roster expanded this summer to a total of 40. You can read about the program and check out the roster at https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Teaching-Artist-Roster. Please consider contracting with one (or more) of these artists for your students during this school year. Another call for the roster will go out in the near future. Watch this blog and arts ed list-serv for the invitation.
• The statewide visual and performing arts education census will be launched this fall and plans are underway to collect data from all 100% of Maine schools. Watch for more information because we will need everyone’s help to make this happen!
• MALI had an incredible Critical Friend day with 45 educators attending including PK-higher ed teachers and administrators. Read about it at https://meartsed.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/mali-critical-friend-day/.

As you begin a new school year know that the MAC and MALI are here to assist you on your educational journey. More information on all of the MAC education programs can be found at https://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/Arts-in-Education.