TIC - A New Beginning

This may ramble a little - just need to get some thoughts out...

For a leadership class I am currently enrolled in, I am to assess the environment I hope to change. Right now, I am in the middle of doing some reading and developing a survey. This is not easy. I feel like I have one chance to do this initial assessment well. Survey Monkey is the avenue I think I will take in terms of the platform for the assessment. I'm hoping that is the most user friendly for my colleagues. The questions are in arts integration and I plan to survey ALL teachers: classroom, arts, special ed and specialists.

My ultimate goal has been and continues to be focused on the teachers - what they need to develop their craft and feel comfortable in the arts as they teach. The long term goal is to reach out to teachers and to implement some sort of teacher-friendly program/professional development opportunities to do this. Something that is accessible, meaningful and, most importantly practical to the teachers.

I know that so many teachers see the value in arts education and integration, but the pressures being put on us is immense and it is hard to stray away from the basics. However, I believe that there is a way. There are places in our country who have seen such success in arts integration. It is my hope to shed light on this and to help empower teachers who want to integrate TO integrate.

I've been taking small, what I thought were unrelated steps, but the momentum has kicked in in the past few months. With the beginning of The Inspired Classroom's online social network http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com , many teachers have found a place to chat on various arts infused topics in education as well as find a community of like-minded educators.

We also started TEACHER FIELD TRIPS where teacher get together to do various cultural and arts infused activities. (The first one, going dancing, was such FUN!)

I continue to present at conferences and teach workshops in arts and music integration. This is a topic that teachers are into and once they hear the possibilities, they are convinced that there is a place for it in their classrooms!

There are many other possibilities with this too: Professional Learning Communities centered around arts integration, additional publications, community involvement and outreach, the use of artists in residence.

This is truly beginning to take shape and become something more than I anticipated 10 years ago when I started to write down the first sentences of what became my book on my once new computer.

My final note before I finish - "WE" I need a we in this now. I cannot do this alone. I am quickly realizing that the potential to this work is much greater than I am and in order to continue I need the ideas, support and community that other educators and interested persons can bring to the table.

And so, this fall has brought on a new beginning to Yeogirl Press and The Inspired Classroom. It is exciting, stimulating, overwhelming and nerve racking all at once. I guess that's a good sign of what is to come!

The Inspired Classroom

The Inspired Classroom

Posted using ShareThis

Teacher Field Trips

This month, the The Inspired Classroom will be officially starting two new ways to get in touch with teachers - newsletters and field trips!

The first newsletter is set to be sent out on Thursday 11/5. It will be a short intro to TIC (The Inspired Classroom) and hopefully will spark interest and help the network (http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com) gain more membership. Anyone who is interested in submitting articles, both short and long, are encouraged to email submissions to newsletter@theinspiredclassroom.com.

Our first ever Teacher Field Trip will be held on 11/13. We will be going out dancing in Boston and we already have some interested teachers! The way I figure, in order for us teachers to be inspired, we need to get inspired and part of that is to feed our own creativity.

This is only the beginning, though! In the future TIC hopes to organize field trips to the symphone, to local poetry slams, museums, ropes courses - you name it! If we don't take care of our own creative sides, how can we do that for our students??

Needless to say I am excited! This is the beginning of a new page for TIC. So, help spread the word, get online, share your ideas, get inspired and be inspiring! That's what it is all about!!

21st Century Skills

I've been hearing a lot about 21st century skills! They are all over education, being talked about in the biz world and there was an panel at the AEP (Arts Education Partnership) Forum this past month in Cambridge that talked about these skills and how THE ARTS can play a part in their development in children.

This is a big topic and a way for the arts to be promoted in the schools. Although the skills themselves are not directly associated with the arts, the are embedded in the arts and arts education.

In future blogs I would like to talk more about this and also put this topic in the forum, but for now, here is some basic info on 21st century skills:
Learning and Innovation Skills

* Creativity and Innovation
* Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
* Communication and Collaboration

Information, Media and Technology Skills

* Information Literacy
* Media Literacy
* ICT Literacy

Life and Career Skills
for much more informative and elaborate information, visit http://21stcenturyskills.org

As I mentioned above, these skills can certainly be taught through the arts. This idea of workforce preparedness and people's ability to think critically plays a huge part in this as well.

There is so much to this...more is sure to come.

response to "Learning to Take Risks, by Taking Risks on Art"

Thank you for sharing this story. It is a true testament to arts education and the values of all arts-infused learning. As a teacher, I hope I inspire my students to develop these skills that are intrinsic to the arts. Not just in arts education, but in arts integration is this possible.

These are the stories and experiences people need to hear in order to trust the arts as being at the core of education. Please continue to share!
See blog:
http://blog.artsusa.org/2009/09/22/fitting-the-mold-essential-skills-from-an-arts-education/comment-page-1/#comment-3001

Being a Creative Teacher is OK! - a lesson in Main Idea

Scripted Teaching - yuck! But is it part of our everyday teaching routine. Our reading and math series are so planned out, that it is rare that I make an actual lesson plan. The editors have given objectives, procedures, warm up activities, enrichment ideas, projects, games, material lists, materials and extra practice, to name a few. Sure I tweak the lessons to fit the needs of my students, but do I dare stray from the book?

Well, YES sometimes I do. In fact, it happened this week and I am so glad I did!

The topic was main idea in the reading series we use and I decided to call on an old favorite of mine - bringing in a guest teacher, "MI". This character (that I become) talks funny, acts funny and gets the point across. MI talks about what he wants to talk about and then asks the kids to come up with reasons why he said what he said. For example, if MI says "Dogs are cute!" One student may give a reason (a supporting detail SD): They tilt their head when they look at you. Then that student comes up and holds up (supports) MI's arm. This goes on a couple more times until the other arm and a leg is being supported by the details for the main idea. There is more to this lesson, but in short:

The kids love it and always ask for more, "When is MI coming back??"

The arts - in this case, drama - bring ideas alive, give life to lessons and help students to gain a deeper understanding of a concept. I can guarantee that these kids will remember MI for years!

Better than a worksheet, huh??

So many assessments!

I just attended a workshop about assessments and in particular, we looked at the results of our state's high stakes testing (MCAS). We scanned, compared, looked at the challenges and weaknesses of our students in terms of what is tested and then our principal asked us to create a list of other ways we can show growth in our students aside from the MCAS.

So we broke up into groups and created a list - a list of ALL the other assessments we have and do with our students each year to help us show the growth in our students from year to year. All the while I sat with a burning question: what about the non-paper and pencil, non-timed, non-quantified assessments.???

Finally, one woman spoke up. She asked if we could put authentic assessments up on our list. (YES!) And then we spoke for the last 5 minutes about the true growth we see each day in our students: when they speak in front of the class for the first time, get excited about learning, dance joyfully, write a great story, participate in class. When are THESE things going to "count" as a true means of assessment?

I guess it could start with us - the teachers. We can't hold these stories in, but must share them and in doing so express the importance they carry. It's not about the score, it's about the whole child!