Journey

Learning, learning, learning

Baltimore – I was fortunate to travel to Baltimore last week where I participated in the State Arts Agency annual professional development institute (PDI). It was an outstanding learning opportunity in both the formal sessions and informal conversations to connect with my colleagues who do similar work across the country. They all care deeply about arts education. The purpose of this year’s PDI was to continue to explore issues related to diversity, equity, access and inclusion in arts education by focusing on the intersection of different types of structural inequity and individual and community trauma, and the ways in which arts learning can promote individual and community resilience and improve equitable educational outcomes.

Our guiding question: How can state arts agency (SAA) arts education managers address trauma and individual and community resilience through arts learning? 

It guided us well and we’ve returned to our individual states with knowledge that will impact our roles at each state art agency across the US.

Helsinki, Finland –  I’m in Helsinki this week attending the hundrED Innovation Summit. Lindsay Pinchbeck, founder and director of Sweet Tree Arts, and I were invited to attend the HundrED summit in Finland after recently being selected as Ambassadors for the program. We are excited about the learning opportunity.

You can attend virtually – the event is being streamed online. If you can participate please REGISTER!

It is Education Week in Finland so I have the opportunity to spend time in schools. I’m looking forward to learning more about their education program and specifically arts education. Fact: I learned recently that Finland has more heavy metal bands per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Finland is celebrating their hundred year birthday and the summit brings together educators from around the world to learn from each other. I’m looking forward to meeting the innovators; among them Pasi Sahlberg.

What is HundrED?

HundrED.org is a not-for-profit organization that discovers inspiring innovations in K12 education. HundrED’s goal is to help improve education and inspire a grassroots movement through encouraging pedagogically sound, ambitious innovations to spread across the world.

The purpose of education is to help every child flourish, no matter what happens in life. In a fast-changing world, education must adapt to keep up. The world is full of inspiring innovations, but they can struggle to spread beyond their immediate environments. That’s why HundrED discovers, researches and shares impactful and scalable K12 innovations with the world, for free.

I hope you will have a chance to look at the HundrED website and check out their resources. Of course, I will be sharing my learning on the blog.

Education Week

Helsinki Education Week is an annual, week-long festival with a dual purpose: to make visible all of the exemplary work done in the capital’s schools, while also learning lessons from the rest of the world by collaborating with international education specialists visiting the city. The Helsinki Education Week’s lead organizer is the City of Helsinki and its Education Department and its official partners are HundrED and Helsingin Sanomat.

Embracing Education in All Schools