George Stevens Academy

Holiday performances

GSA Jazz Band

Join George Stevens Academy music groups for their Annual Holiday Concert on Tuesday, December 5 at 6:45pm featuring the GSA Band, Jazz Band, four Jazz Combos, Period 6 Steel Band Class & the Planet Pan Steel Band. Welcome music will be performed by the Holiday Angels at 6:30pm. If you would to like reserve seating, please call 374-2800.

Below is the basketball performance schedule and other December events for the Holiday Angels, Jazz Band, Quinn & the Tuplettes, Lowdown, See Vu Play & The Good StuffCombos:

• 

  GSA Band

  Monday, December 11: BAND plays at Girls vs Central

• Tuesday, December 12: JAZZ BAND plays at Boys vs Deer Isle/Stonington
• Wednesday, December 13: Holiday Angels play at Parker Ridge at 1:45
• Friday, December 15: BAND plays at Boys vs Ellsworth
• Saturday, December 16: Quinn & the Tuplettes: Blue Hill Public Library Holiday Party, 3:00pm
• Monday, December 18: BAND plays at Girls vs Bucksport
• Thursday, December 21: JAZZ BAND plays at Boys vs Sumner

RSVP

GT Art Program

Does your school/district have a gifted and talented art program? Who identifies Gifted and Talented Artists and how? Who teaches these students and when?

Please join R.S.V.P. ME on November 30th from 3:30 to 5:00 PM for a roundtable discussion about our Gifted and Talented Art Programs. 

Maine Art Education Association President-Elect and Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leader Lisa Ingraham will facilitate a discussion about GT Arts programs: “I have been working on the re-animation of gifted and talented programming for MSAD 59. After receiving my GT Certification a few years ago, my district asked me to help coordinate our efforts to identify and serve our advanced learners. Since we had not had this type of programming for quite some time, I was involved in determining what GT would look like in our district from the ground up. Three years later our program is still evolving: I would love to share what I have learned and find out how other programs work around the state.”

Sign up to participate in this Zoom* Online Video Conference and earn 1.5 contact hours as a Maine Art Education Association member by emailing lisa.ingraham@msad59.org. If you have questions, comments or suggestions for future topics, email Lisa.

Zoom Video Conferencing is done completely online.

Giving Tuesday!

Reach out and touch

I love the idea of Giving Tuesday and already this morning I’ve received several emails from organizations and individuals reaching out and asking for support. Some have asked for financial support and others include other ideas for support.

During Thanksgiving break my family had a chance to celebrate an 87 year old aunt who passed away. At the funeral the family displayed pictures and items that represented Aunt Mart and stories were shared about her life from when she was very young and up until recently. She was one of those people who lended a helping hand throughout her life. Just after high school she worked in a sewing factory and later on delivered mail on a rural route. Her sewing skills were put to good use over the years. In fact, Aunt Mart and my mother in law sewed my wedding dress. She never married or had children of her own but she was there for her nephews and nieces and supported their parents in multiple ways. She was a quiet giver, always ready to lend a helping hand.

Most of the family was there to help clean out her home and one thing became very clear. She was an incredible giver! She didn’t just give on Giving Tuesday but all year round. She made financial donations to organizations that supported animals, the environment, and education. She was a knitter and a crocheter and created many afghans that were donated to organizations who needed them. In the last year she made one for everyone in the family. And, she loved watching the birds and fed them daily; another way that Aunt Mart gave to the world.

I was so grateful to be with family to celebrate, not only Thanksgiving, but Aunt Mart’s life. The experience gave me the chance to pause and consider my own giving. And, to think about what Aunt Mart’s giving life means to me. With Giving Tuesday upon us, I just want you to know that I appreciate what you give each day to young people through visual and performing arts education. The gift that you offer has the potential to impact them the rest of their lives. I hope that you have a chance to pause today and think about your giving.

Cool Classroom Posters

Bobbi Tardif shared

While visiting Sedomocha School on the day music educator and Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Teacher Leader Kaitlin Young was named Maine’s 2018 Teacher of the Year I visited Bobbi Tardif’s art classroom. It reminded me of the room that I taught in for many years. Previously the home of an Industrial Arts or Industrial Technology class. Bobbi has transformed her space into an alive and stimulating yet calming and pleasant learning environment.

Bobbi had amazing posters and she was kind enough to send me a follow up email with the information so I can share it with you. Thank you Bobbi!

ART CLASSES TEACH KIDS to… poster

and

ARTIST room rules poster.

Perhaps you have posters in your classroom that are similar in nature. Please do share the information for others to learn from, below in the Comment section or please email me at argy.nestor@maine.gov so I can share. Thanks!

Visual Notetaking

Brodie and other students

Not sure if you’ve tuned into the work of “visual notetakers”. Visual learners, thinkers, and others are taking visual note or sketchnoting to a different level. Taking notes using visual ideas is something that many artists have been aware of for years. How many times have you sat in teachers meetings and found yourself documenting what the presenter is saying in images?

Recently, the use of visual notes is taking off not just for presenters, or documenting notes from in a business meeting, but in education as a teaching tool. This article from Education Week called How Visual Notes Helped a Student With a Learning Disability Thrive.

The article provides information on how learning to sketch note or visual notetaker can help support the learning of students with learning disability. It can provide an avenue and open doors for learning in a way that students can take off with the idea.

There is a book available called The Sketchnote Handbook written by Mike Rohde that teaches “regular people how to create their own sketch notes.” Yup, says that right on the website.

READ the entire article and learn more!

Saving Stuff to Make Art

Recycling

Visual Art teachers have their eyes open to turning something that they ‘see’ or ‘do’ into an idea for a lesson. This story is about a veteran nurse in Toronto who turned refuse into a mural. For 28 years Tilda Shalof collected items from her work – plastic items including caps, connectors, stoppers, and much more. The things that are left over from treating some of the sickest patients.

She was going to leave her hospital job in the ICU and met with a friend, an artist, to create a mural that used over 100,000 of the colorful items. The art work is installed in the Toronto General Hospital and measures 4 feet high by 9 feet long. When Tilda looks at the items she is reminded of the patients and how all of the items represent the work and care that a hospital staff provides to patients.

You can read the article from the Toronto Star and watch the video at THIS LINK.

Sharing this article and/or video could be an inspiration for your students.

Music Scholarship

The Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarship

Hermann Kotzschmar

The Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarship was established in 1911 to provide financial aid “in the musical education of such pupil or pupils, of marked musical ability.” According to the terms of the trust, preference is to be given to promising students of the organ. If no such promising student is found, the trust states that the award “….may be used in aid of students of marked music ability in piano, violin, other musical instruments or voice culture.”

Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ (FOKO) is the administrator of this fund, arranges the auditions and disperses the awards.

Auditions are open to students age 10-18 (grades 4-12), and age 19-25, studying organ, piano, voice, and all orchestral instruments.

Application Deadline: December 15, 2017

Auditions:

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Cathedral of St. Luke, Portland, ME

For more information and APPLICATION RULES AND MATERIALS.

Happy Thanksgiving

Grateful

Thank you for your contributions to visual and performing arts education. I am so grateful! Warm wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Farnsworth Art Museum

Part-time position

 Position:  Education Assistant

Reports to: Director of Education; with daily supervision by Arts in Education (AEP) Manager

Status: Part-time, non-exempt.  20 hours/wk. Subject to six-month review, annual review

Position Description:  The Education Assistant will support the Arts in Education Program Manager, in the operations of, but not limited to, the Stories project, Multi-Visit Units project, the Arts in Education Online (AE-Online) project, the Educator Cohort Professional Development opportunities for local teachers, and the annual student art exhibition.  Please visit: www.farnsworthartsineducation.org or www.farnsworthmuseum.org for more information.

The qualified candidate should enjoy working with people and should have strong organizational skills, including attention to details and multi-tasking skills. The art of anticipating the needs of the program is essential.  She/he should be interested in arts education and helping teachers, students and teaching artists feel welcome and valued partners of the museum, while tackling the diversity of administrative duties required for successful partnerships.

Job Qualifications/Specifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Excellent organization skills
• Administrative experience including scheduling, communications, and documentation
• Computer experience; MS Office including Excel, PowerPoint and basic graphics
• Previous work experience that is art related is a plus
• Experience in use of technology: camera, social media, etc.
• Previous work experience that is art related is a plus
• Strong people skills, patience, active listening, professional demeanor in representing the museum on phone, in emails, and in person
• Ability to lift up to 30 lbs. of supplies, walk stairs etc.

General Environment:

• Office /studio environment
• Working in multiple locations: the Arts in Education office (Julia’s Gallery), the Education office in the museum, museum galleries, museum studios in the Gamble Center, and occasional fieldwork

Responsibilities:

• Assist the AEP Manager and teaching artists with installation and de-installation of the annual student exhibition. Activities include painting, hanging, label-making, printing, editing, cataloguing, and coordinating the return of artwork to schools
• Collect and catalogue participant permissions, rosters, evaluations, registrations, transportation requests, and other forms from teachers, teaching artists, and other partners, following-up when required
• Coordinate facilities reservations and needs, including internal museum scheduling and processes
• On select Wednesday evenings assist the AEP Manager and teaching artists in FAM Educator Cohort Workshops by prepping materials, pre-/post- communications with artists and participants, set up, take down and clean up
• Computer work, including excel charts, reports, and data entry into a non-profit database, to keep track of programs and catalogue participant information and AEP engagements
• Other duties as assigned by the Director of Education

Please send cover letter, and resume to: Rebecca Flanagan HR Manager, Farnsworth Art Museum at rflanagan@farnsworthmuseum.org

MAMLE Conference

Middle Level Education

Recently I attended the Maine Association Middle Level Education conference at Point Lookout. I was thrilled by the number of arts education sessions that were offered and how many times I heard participants mention the importance of the arts. I heard: “the arts engage students”, “hands-on opportunities in the arts are so needs for young adolescents”, and much more.

Tammy Ranger providing the keynote

Keynote speaker, 2017 Maine Teacher of the Year, Tammy Ranger, set the tone for the 2-day conference with stories that paralleled The Wizard of Oz. Her presentation was very inspiring. (I hope to provide the entire keynote in a future blog).

Connie Carter and Rob Shetterly provided a workshop with information about the Samantha Smith Challenge. The challenge asks middle school students: “How/why can creative arts and writing inspire action on serious issues?” What a great opportunity for arts teachers to bring this important question to students. Learn more from the post I provided last week on the Samantha Smith Challenge. I hope you will consider participating with your students.

Kristen Andersen, Katie Rybakova, Allysa Anderson

Camden Rockport Middle School music teacher Allysa Anderson and art teacher Kristen Andersen were recognized for an Exemplary Practice Award along with two colleagues for a very successful integrated unit. Afterwards they shared the unit in a session. Congratulations Allysa and Kristen!

A team from the Middle School of the Kennebunks, art teacher Mary McCarthy and STEM teacher Evan Chase were recognized with an Exemplary Practice Award as well. Congratulations to both!

Both awards were presented by new executive director of the Maine Middle Level Association Executive Director Katie Rybakova who teaches at Thomas College.

Evan Chase, Katie Rybakova, and Mary McCarthy

Save the date for the 2018 MAMLE conference – October 18-19 – Point Lookout, Northport. Providing a keynote is musician, teaching artist Monte Selby.