Articles, Resources, Ideas, Opportunities

Passed my way recently

Below are resources and information that you might find useful.

• From Education Week an article called A+ Schools Arts and Other ‘Essentials’ written by Erik W. Robelen. In Oklahoma City they are solving math equations during math class. Ten years ago the idea started in a few schools and has grown to 70 today. Read about the A+ Schools network by clicking here.
• Free professional development resources from Crayola. To learn more click here.
• What’s Going on in this Picture? The NY Times Education section provides the chance for learning where they include photos and ask what is going on. The same question that we find in the Visual Thinking Strategy program. You can post what you think and read what others think. You can check out the article by clicking here.
• Opportunity for students to create and for schools to benefit. Check out the vimeo with the information by clicking here.
• This is fascinating and you will wonder “how did they do that?”. Check out Beautiful Bacteria: How to Make Art From E. Coli written by Claire O’Neill, posted October 23, 2012 by clicking here.
• Carnegie Hall commissioned WolfBrown to conduct research to explore the potential of music and musicians in making a difference in the lives of young people in the juvenile justice system. “May the Songs I Have Written Speak for Me” is the essay that was written as a result. You can learn more by clicking here.
• Arts integration has great potential. This blog post located on the Teaching Channel Beyond Engagement: Changing How our Students Express Learning written by Lily Jones, November 6, 2012. Lily was a K/1 teacher and committed to making learning fun for teachers and students. This post is about integration and her awareness comes through in her statement: “I started off thinking of arts integration as an engagement strategy. But I soon realized it was so much more than that. When students learn through the arts, they are able to express their content knowledge in new ways.” Click here for the article.
• Keith Haring’s interactive coloring book.
• Read about how the opera is providing professional development for FL teachers in this article written by Stephanie Parra posted October 2, 2012 by clicking here. Music teacher from Miami Central High School said: “I want them to learn the technique of singing without a microphone and using their voice as a complete instrument; that’s what my students need to do.”

Honoring Teachers!

Thank you for the work you do!

Happy Teachers Appreciation Week (a couple of days late). You are being honored and being thanked for your work each day. I wish it were possible to drive to every school in every district throughout Maine during Teacher Appreciation week and personally thank you for the work you do each day educating students.

I’ve given some thought as to what gift I would give you to honor the work you do with students. I am not able to select only one so here is my list:

1. A GREAT BIG THANK YOU from each student and parent.
2. A day off (with no strings attached) to go and do whatever you please.
3. An attitude change (from the public) that would make teachers heroes.
4. Most importantly, I’d provide the opportunity for you to learn.

Why do I think that giving you the opportunity to learn is so important? I have watched young teachers blossom and establish themselves when they continue their learning while starting out in their first teaching jobs. I have listened to veteran teachers who have gone from being unhappy teaching to filled with renewed energy because of attending a professional development opportunity.

Since I can’t actually give you any of the items on the list I can ask you to give yourself a learning opportunity. The Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) has provided many opportunities this year. The Teacher Leaders presented at the statewide conference in October at USM and continue to offer regional workshops all over the state. Six webinars are archived with meeting plans that you can access. And there is one more webinar scheduled for May 23rd with Maine’s Commissioner of Education, Steve Bowen, as the guest. You can learn more about the MAAI by going to the wiki. I invite you to get involved with the MAAI so you can have ongoing learning opportunities that might just make your teaching a little bit better and your life more fun!

I hope that your week is filled with appreciative moments and lots of fun!

A blog post from Education Week called Building Support for Professional Learning provided by Learning Forward you might want to read.

The”Teachers are Heroes” Infographic is posted on the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education blog. The statistics are grabbing and the teacher hero stories are really inspiring!