“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.” A. A. Milne
“I don’t see any use in having a uniform and arbitrary way of spelling words. We might as well make all clothes alike and cook all dishes alike. Sameness is tiresome; variety is pleasing.”
― Mark Twain
“God, don’t they teach you how to spell these days?”
“No,” I answer. “They teach us to use spell-check.”
― Jodi Picoult
It goes like this: I’m at a school and giving the class a handout. I’m reading it along with them so I can answer (hopefully) any question that arises. The first page is a list of vocabulary words (the day’s “Do Now” is: “Why do you need to increase your vocabulary?”); the following pages (parts A & B) are fill-in-the-blanks based solely on those words. The kids are struggling already. The answers are on the first page given: they just have to read, go back to the list, circle the correct letter or fill in the blank.
Part C is different: it’s a journal entry that asks them to think. All well and good, but then it says (and I’m only slightly paraphrasing here):
“Don’t Worry About Spelling.”
That in itself boggles my mind, but it’s not the first time I have been mentally gobsmacked (hmmm..is that possible, since a gob is a mouth? Don’t care: I’ll follow Mark Twain from his above quote. So yes, I am dumbfounded).
I wrote about a previous experience with third graders before: in assisting a student with a written assignment, in my trying to help them correct all their spelling errors, which were many, I was informed that the school administration did not want that. If the word read like it sounded, then that was good enough. I informed the teacher that I’d rather be fired for trying to help the student spell correctly then to dumb down. Nothing more was ever said to me on that subject.
In the case of the above hand out, this was High School. Six and seven grades higher, and “don’t worry about spelling” is emblazoned on the paper. Scary. Just plain old scary.
On a recent interview, I was told by the interviewer that they had to discard so many resumes and cover letters due to the amount of grammatical and spelling (many homonym) errors that a normal spell check system does not catch. I’ve heard this before, and I’ve kicked myself in the head the few times I did not proof read a cover letter as well as possible, catching that stupid mistake that makes me sound like a dolt.
So…the schools say “don’t worry about spelling.” The job force, which is getting stricter and harder to break through, IS looking at these things.
Scary…just plain old scary; and very, very sad.
Public schools need to raise their standards and return to a more traditional, classical educational learning method.
I am not a novice with Social Media, dipping my fingers in various pots; even so, there are still many, many more pots waiting to be stirred. I’m also not a novice in regards to the arts and arts education.
I received the following from a FB acquaintance (thank you Susan Shatz), and knew I had to pass this on:
There are many people who live, breathe, eat, sleep, etc. The Arts (capital letters on purpose) but don’t have the exposure or professional gravitas which would give them the recognition that they deserve. They may be young in age, or “still new” in their respective turn at this part of their career. In Barry’s words:
Regular followers of this blog know that late every August I publish a list of the Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts. Most people understand that the list isn’t meritocracy based; it isn’t based on specific achievement or accomplishment per se; it doesn’t purport to necessarily identify the “best and brightest”, rather it merely identifies who has power and influence.
There has been some past comment that unfortunately the list excludes a whole cohort of serious thinkers – a group of younger (not necessarily chronologically younger) leaders omitted because their careers have not been long enough for them to develop the requisite power and influence the Most Powerful list embodies, and that there ought to be some mechanism that gives this cohort of leaders a voice and some recognition. They are, after all, our future.
If you are interested/concerned about the state of the arts and nonprofit arts, I strongly suggest that you click HERE for the full blog entry. I know I’ll be giving this some serious thought.
Opening up dialogue with new thinkers, the ones who are doing the work, who resist hearing & living “we’ve always done it this way”…this is one way to acknowledge those who might seem behind the scenes but need to have a more national, if not international voice.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks.
About Barry: Former Director of the California Arts Council; President of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies; Executive Director LINES Ballet. Author (Hardball Lobbying for Nonprofits – MacMillan & Co.; Youth Involvement in the Arts – 2 phase study for the Hewlett Foundation; Local Arts Agency Funding Study for the Aspen Institute; City Arts Toolkit), consultant, public speaker. Barry’s Blog is a service of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of WESTAF.
One of the most disturbing things that I have heard from a student was:
"Why should I try? I'll only be working at McDonald's."
I was an Artist-in-Residence for a year for a large school district in Westchester County, NY. Still early in my profession, that statement was both a shock and a revelation of a point of view I had never considered before: low expectations given, and projected; leading this student to live that that is all they can do.
While I have been slumbering, figuring out what to say/do with this blog, someone "liked it' this morning: rereading it, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose. I am job hunting, and that has taken over most of my concentration. Today I have two interviews, both for Director/Manager of Education position in arts administration. This post already has helped clear some of the cobwebs I've laid in my own way. Thanks for the like, Isurrett2.
I’ve heard that since I was a child, and a statement that was reinforced not only by my parents, but grandparents, teachers and mass media (although, in the early 60′s, mass media was nothing like it is today). Elders used to be those we looked to to run the family, supply support and leadership, hear the history of the family, and to pass along traditions, both familial and often religious ones.
Now, we need to fight for respect for any elder, more times than not.
Vitality, purpose, health (both physical and mental), self worth, connections with others. These are only a smattering of things that can be accomplished when our older citizens are not talked down to or dismissed.
In Part Two, I wrote about the other group that presented during the Open Opera Conference: Creative Resurgence. Today, I’d like to present the work that I was honored to be part of:
Zach Redler (composer/pianist) and I (creative drama/creative writing) were brought onto a grant funded project by Laura Day Giarolo, Director of Learning and Community Engagement for OPERA America. Working in conjunction with Project Find in NYC, Zach and I were brought together on creating an ensemble musical experience, stemming from the life stories of our participants.
We discussed our program: at a senior center in the upper west side of NYC, for sixteen (16) weeks, we were allotted an hour and a half, once a week, to meet with our group. In May, we had a culminating “work-in-progress” performance of songs and short personal story bites as performed by the elder group we had worked with.
What was lovely were the connections the group made with each other. In sharing their stories, both in small groups and large, they found commonalities: this was not a homogenous group in regards to nationalities, only in age group. New friendships grew out of the process. Many, if not all, were asking when we would be coming back, doing this again, continuing the work we started. That, to me, is the success. They were energetic, bright eyed and happy…and in the end, that should account for a lot.
The beginning sessions were split in half between music and storytelling/writing.
Zach introduced musical concepts and structure that served our performers well: he gave them not only rehearsal material, but strove to deepen the understanding of what was being created, how it all fit together, and how it can evolve. As the process continued, many of the participants continued to contribute, offering key or tempo changes that only strengthened the songs. Zach was gracious throughout, adding what worked and then building on it. During the rehearsals, Zach modified his conducting style for the comfort of the group, finding new ways to bring them all together when they were getting nervous as the performance date got closer.
Starting off with a story game the first week, we dove into writing personal stories the following week. From there, I introduced a Japanese poetry form, a Tanka, that I felt would help them self edit their stories to the story beats. A Tanka is where Haiku’s came from: a longer piece, it has five lines instead of three. In American English syllables, a Tanka form is 5-7-5-7-7. This was a challenge for some of the elders, but the majority worked well with it. By this point, we had them working in small groups; Zach would then take these works and, with the whole group, start creating the songs for our performance.
Zach’s musical safe environment to work was continued in what I did. Seeing that some judgements were being made of others in our first session, I introduced the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process, which I’ve used with just about every age group I’ve worked with. If you click on the link above, you’ll find the full details: you start off with positive affirmations (“I liked…”; “I appreciated…”), and the only thing the presenter/performer can say is “Thank you.” Other sharing critique is asked for or garnered, creating a very different form of peer level support and notes. Critique is to help each other grow, not to tear someone down, and for the most part the members of the group were diligent in following these rules.
Time was our enemy in that we didn’t always get the full allotted time scheduled (due to other programs going on in the center) and in the way Zach and I planned out the program. We needed more rehearsal time then we thought we would, and I know I should have better time management in getting the stories to poetry. Hopefully we will get the chance to do this again and learn from it.
**************************************
In Part Four of Creative Aging and the Arts, I’ll be discussing the responses/reactions of the attendees from the full day seminar, reactions from these posts that I have received, and ideas of where to go from here.
**************************************
ATTENTION:
I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development
“There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents,
the creativity you bring to your life and the lives
of the people you love. When you will learn to tap
this source, you will have truly defeated age.”
The creative arts should be, to me, flexible and adaptable. Embracing new concepts, moving along with the social/economic/political spectrum, can allow new discoveries as well as keep things afloat. What good is it if you master your art, stick to that one idea, but the times have left you behind?
Arts administrations need to do the same, as the economic landscape has changed so drastically in the last five+ years. A new, or renewed, interest in Life Long Learners can be key in keeping organizations going well past the base of the school ages that many focus on.
What was inspiring to me was participating, through OPERA America, a section of the Open Opera Conference: Creative Resurgence. Opera companies are looking at involving the older adult population in more ways than just filling seats. A number of opera companies from across the US and Canada attended this day long workshop/program on Creative Aging, with many of them already utilizing interactive, participatory programs.
Storytelling is one of the primary arts disciplines that seems to be in wide use: delving into true life testimonials, musical works have been formed, from revues to full mini-operas. Being part of the creative process, the participatory input ranged from storytelling and writing to either performing the work or having professional singers enact their life stories. The librettos ranged from true life to fictionalized non-fiction.
In Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 1), I spoke about our morning session with Ms. Susan Perlstein, an advocate for the creative aging movement, and is the Founder Emeritus for the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA). In the afternoon two groups shared with the assemblage two recent projects that had just been completed: the pilot project I did with my musical collaborator Zach Redler for OPERA America, and Opera North’s latest operatic collaboration with an elder population.
Presentation: Transitions: Sung Stories
Opera North, Inc. worked with NewCourtland (a service for older adults) to produce Transitions: Sung Stories. Gathering oral history from Philadelphia, PA elders, Jules Tasca (Librettist) and Leslie Savoy Burrs (Composer and Executive Director of Opera North, Inc.) created a moving story that stemmed from the real life interviews.
Relating the details of the process to the group, both Mr. Burrs and Mr. Tasca laid out a professional program that produces positive results. In a video that showcases Mr. Burrs, we got to obverse how he interacted with a group of physically challenged elders. Working with a variety of percussive instruments, the participants helped lead Mr. Burrs, wielding a flute, to compose one of the pieces that became part of their opera.
What was apparent, watching the video, was how involved and engaged everyone was. No one just sat on the side, a spectator. This was a vibrant community coming together for a project that celebrates their lives, and also celebrates the worth they still have in the greater society.
***********************
In Part Three of Creative Aging and the Arts, I’ll be discussing the work that I had the pleasure to experience with our group as well as responses/reactions of the attendees from the full day seminar.
**************************************
ATTENTION:
I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development
as well as Project Management/Facilitation
I am willing to travel or work over Skype with your organization
What is your first thought when someone mentions a Senior/Elder Center or Nursing Home?
Did you envision the elderly sitting around, doing little, just passing time until…? Did you see them as audience members at a performance, or just sitting around large round tables eating? Were they napping, or just gazing off into the distance, seemingly not connected to their surroundings?
Hopefully those days will be behind us as a new awareness is sinking in. Actively engaging the growing elder community is key to the growing number of organizations that work with this population. Inter-generational programming (from the 50′s and up, as the baby boomers join the elder sector) is being spoken of across the United States in all areas of the arts.
I was invited to be a Guest Speaker for OPERA America‘s Creative Resurgence conference, speaking to those opera companies (from Canada and the US) whose education departments reach out now to the centers, nursing homes, group homes and special organizations that cater to the older adult. A number of them make partnerships with libraries as well, helping build connections in their communities.
I was asked to attend this conference due to my recently completed pilot project with a senior center in NYC. We had worked on creating a musical experience crafted from the personal stories of our participants. I will talk more about this in the next part of this series.
Ms. Susan Perlstein, an advocate for the creative aging movement, led the day with the credo “Embrace This Moment!” Ms. Perlstein is the Founder Emeritus for the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA). By the year 2030, it is anticipated that there will be over 70 million people over the age of 65, and that the number of those over 85 will double. There is also the chance that many will have to work, if possible, past what we normally determine as retirement age due to the economic realities we face.
There is evidence based research, as first conducted by The Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC) that has shown that interactive, participatory arts programs with the older person promotes a vitality in the aging process, helps to build vibrant communities, and has positive results in both the physical and emotional states of the participants. Dr. Gene D. Cohen, the primary investigator of the research, stated that “Art is like chocolate to the brain.”
Entering into fairly new territory in the arts is exciting in the different challenges it gives to professional teaching artists and arts organizations. The methodology we’ve used for youth programs has to be modified, and in many cases whole new approaches have to be discovered for successful programs for those participating. Understanding the various cognitive and physical changes that go on, and embracing the life history and stories that the elders bring with them are only the tip of what needs to be explored.
In Part 2, I will discuss more of my work in the field, and some observations from the conference attendees.
**************************************
ATTENTION:
I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development
as well as Project Management/Facilitation
I am willing to travel or work over Skype with your organization
I’m completely blown away. Schools are probably the last place we should be cutting budgets, since the future of our world depends on the children. We propagate the species to continue, and I would hope we’d like to leave a better world, and give our kids the chance to advance.
Doesn’t seem like it.
These types of cuts will not happen in private schools. These schools have the means to make sure all the educational hurdles we are facing does not happen to their academics. They’ll continue to have Kindergarten, Art programs, Sports programs, and have a more well rounded student in the long run. They’ll take working models and stick with them, instead of futzing around like the public sector does.
As part of the public, we should allow all children the best education possible, no matter the social/economic happenstance of the family/community.
I was just on an interview for a job I would love to have. One of the questions I was asked was about the working hours: would I mind working the longer hours this new school would schedule. What struck me is that it needed to be asked at all: there are many, many reasons why extended school time is needed today.
Before I continue, these are MY opinions from what I’ve observed in the field (I have taught as a Teacher, Teaching Artist and as a Substitute Teacher); I’ve left you five links above for others on the subject. Object if you must, but do so with justifications and always keep it civil.
I have heard from too many educators that there is just not enough time in the school day to accomplish all that must be done. I’ve experienced it myself: you just get things going, and they have to rush to another class instead of investing the time needed t o really explore. I’m not talking about busy work, which I have seen in an abundance. Actual student engaging moments get cut short many times.
We have a shrinking teacher base, due to budget cuts in places there should not be budget cuts. Classrooms are overcrowded. Tests and evaluations and rote “learning” practices shove aside a real chance for connections and actual learning.
Yes, we should have more teachers, more classrooms, and less students per class.
With the changing economic realities, parents are not always home until later in the day. The idea of Mom always being home after school is antiquated in many parts of the US; that has changed, but the schools have not changed with the times. There are after school clubs and such already in place; but again, the idea for a longer day is not just social activities (which they do need to foster as well, since much of home life gets truncated that way).
Double blocks of teaching (80 to 90 mins) during the day gives the teacher and the class to work on projects. The time constraints we have now means that there are only three classes per day that way. A longer day would allow more constructive work.
Advisory meetings, portfolio work, special projects that have a true impact and are not busy work (again, seen too much of that), planning sessions; individualized work (NOT study halls: I saw, in one location, 12 students on computers playing Halo in study hall; not making that up, and it was not my place to stop them)…there is so much that can be accomplished with proper time use.
The long summer breaks were originally set up by agricultural needs: farmer kids needed to work on the farm. School came second.
Education should not come second in anything we do.
As of May 5th, 2012, over $419,000,000 (that is 419 MILLION US dollars) has been contributed to all candidates to run for the position of the President of the USA. Combined, not just one party, so I am not playing favorites here.
$419,000,000
Instead of bombarding us with ads and campaigning, wouldn’t it be lovely if that amount of money went somewhere else…oh, like say create or keep 8,038 teaching jobs (at $50,000 for the school year) for one year, or over 11,000 jobs paying as low as $35,000 a year?
Yeah, drop in the bucket, one may say…but to those 8,000 to 11,000? No, it would be a big deal.
Hard to judge who should get it, where it should go, etc etc etc…yes, it is, especially with so many out of work: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons (12.5 million) and the unemployment rate (8.1 percent) changed little in April
Splitting all that money amongst all unemployed would only garner a check for $35.52. Not much of a help for anyone (well, for someone starving…).
I would rather see that money at least go to something good, something that would be helping others.
I would rather the President’s $191,000.000 fund education, or the Arts (yes, my personal bias: those in the arts need to live too), medical/health care, anti-violence/hate crime programs, the elderly, or something that would help other people. Better that then take up advertising time, spin negative ads against Romney, and such.
THAT would be the person I want running this country. Raise money from those who are fighting being taxed fairly and use that money for the common good.
No religious, political or personal agenda: just helping others.
