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.
There is a great deal of concern and hand wringing over saving the arts. Recently, the Westchester County Arts Council sent out a plea for us to write to our congressmen about major cuts to the arts. I did is they asked, knowing that in even the smallest way our voices have to be heard.
I got an answer back not from the congressmen but from his assistant. there was a lot of blame and finger-pointing in this letter, it still talking how great Westchester County is in comparison to other locations. I will copy and post her letter, but before I do: I have something to say. Yes, big surprise.
With all the talk about saving the parts one very important component seems to be forgotten:
WHAT ABOUT THE ARTIST?
I am a performing and teaching ARTIST. I make my primary living from working in the Arts. My discipline is Theater/Drama, Storytelling and Creative Writing. I do not create “lasting” art in Fine Arts, but I DO perform a service in the Performing Arts.
When you cut the funding for the arts, you are not just cutting out a sculpture or a painting, or a dance or theater piece, or a choral work, you are taking money out of reach of PEOPLE who are trying to pay their bills and survive. by making these budget cuts to save organizations, you are also then putting more people on unemployment. This fall, I have been unable to find a job, mainly because in my field there’s much less work. There are also more people out looking for any work, so even jobs that I could fit into are inundated by other people looking for work.
Where would we be without ones like Van Gogh?
Is it just me, or does this just not make any sense? A good friend of mine has put it very simply: at this point in time, if everyone across the board and that means the big boys in the middle management boys played fairly, more people to keep their jobs. It’s part of what I’ve been saying in that we need creative solutions and problem solving in place of the reactionaries.
I do not want to be on unemployment. I want to work. I feel there are ways that more people can work and keep their jobs. Today on the news from NPR I heard that more than 28,000 postal workers will be laid off soon. What jobs will they be able to get to support their families?
It’s very easy to cast blame and point fingers. As a country, we seem to excel at that.
Wouldn’t we be better off if we were creative problem solvers?
As stated above, here is the letter I got today:
Thank you for writing to County Executive Robert P. Astorino regarding funding for the arts.
Please be assured that Mr. Astorino has read your message and he has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.
The county executive understands and appreciates your concern for the arts. While developing the proposed 2012 county budget, Mr. Astorino and his administration have given the arts the same consideration accorded to every program, service, agency and facility supported by county government.
As you know all too well, this is a very challenging economy. There is a critical need to balance a $114 million county budget deficit with a responsibility to provide essential services and property tax relief, protect Westchester’s neediest residents, promote structural financial reform and reduce government spending at all levels. One of the major roadblocks to maintaining the funding level for Arts Westchester and many other worthwhile programs and services, is the failure of the public employee unions to agree to make a reasonable contribution to their healthcare premiums. Westchester County’s union employees are one of the few groups left in the nation that contribute nothing to their healthcare costs. This ever-increasing financial burden necessitates reductions in other portions of the county budget. The county executive, since taking office two years ago, has attempted to get county workers to agree to the same level of healthcare contributions state workers make. While there is a reduction in the allocation to arts programs, the County Executive’s proposed budget includes funding for the arts at $750,000. This action is in no way a reflection on the outstanding quality of exhibits and performances presented by the arts community nor the talents and efforts of all who labor to bring these offerings to fruition. It is instead, a part of many across-the-board measures which must be taken during these difficult times.
Your views and those of all who live and work in Westchester are very important to the county executive. Your input is both welcome and valued.
Again, thank you for writing.
Sincerely,
Janet Lokay Assistant to the County Executive 148 Martine Avenue White Plains, New York 10601 (914) 995-2127
Here was my response to Ms. Lokay:
Hi… it’s not just the exhibits and performances.
You forget a very essential part: the artist has to live, pay bills, and be part of the economic structure. By cutting the arts, it’s not just the end product but the people who live through the process. Two very different things.
I am a Teaching Artist and a performing artist. My entire life is creative and my livelihood depends on schools, libraries, community centers and more have funds to hire me and others like me. I live for the educational process that is part of the learning process…and it does not seem politicians realize this.
Schools may not hire a full time Theater Teacher anymore (I have my NYS Certification in Theater), but they SHOULD hire me as a consultant, which is what a TA (teaching artist) really is. I integrate my work into the school core curricula, and it enhances, not wastes, the teachers’ lessons.
I would love to have a conversation about this. Yes, many of us produce art that is seen; there are many more of us who produce art that is part of the educational process, for ALL ages, and we’re hurting, trying to make a living.
My thing: instead of telling me why something isn’t working, why are we not doing problem solving around the negatives out there. I’d rather know what has been attempted, or will be, instead of what is not working. I work a lot with my students, when I get them, on problem solving.
I’m serious about talking with Mr. Astorino.
She gave me her phone number. If I don’t hear from them, and if you know me at all, they will hear from me. I will let you know what happens next. I’m tired of the excuses. Let’s get off of unemployment
I met Molly Faulkner many years ago in Lincoln, Nebraska. We were at the International Thespian Festival to run workshops for High School students from across the country who really, really cared about theater in all its aspects. From there grew a long standing friendship and respect for each others craft: Molly in Dance, mine in theater.
This is a real pleasure to have her here.
The Creativity Series: Guest Post
Imagine, Work, Trust, Create: Molly Faulkner
In trying to answer Stuart’s questions about creativity I found myself trying to define it so I could better investigate how it manifested itself in my own life. Here’s what I came up with.
There is a world of action and a sense of journey implied in the word creativity.
To be creative is to imagine something and then follow it through to a conclusion. It may not turn out as planned but it leads somewhere. The idea of creativity has engendered many scholars to try and define it, map it, visually represent it, and try and pin it down in language, but the concept is too broad, the process too variable, the experience too personal.
There is a liminality that creativity entrusts to its initiates, standing on the threshold between envisioning and conceiving. The lens of creativity both broadens the focus to encompass connections from outside world and narrows it to recognize how these connections serve the idea. Every step of the path leads to the end of the journey, and there is an inherent trust that it is the “right” path, the ONLY path which will lead to other paths.
Creativity by its very nature is a successive finite endeavor, there has to be a conclusion a product that can be deemed creative. Creativity demands an audience, demands recognition, and demands perspective to be truly appreciated.
Back to Stuart’s questions of the what, how, where, why, and who of creativity, I’m a professor of dance at a community college. I try to be creative in my teaching, in my choreography, and in my administrative work. But more than that I try and let creativity permeate my life and when I let it, it gives me great peace.
I am awed at the connections between living life and the creative process and constantly try to minimize the compartmentalization between “my art” and my life. I learn this lesson over and over again.
When I trust the process and embrace the liminalty there is an excitement rather than an expectation for what’s next, and isn’t that what creativity is all about?
Molly Faulkner is an Associate Professor of Dance at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA. She was a professional ballet dancer, a dancer for Tokyo Disneyland, and the muppet Grover on Sesame St. Live before she discovered a passion for teaching and choreography. She has degrees in dance from the University of Arizona (B.F.A.), University of Iowa (M.F.A.), and Texas Woman’s University (Ph.D.).
Molly Faulkner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Dance
Palomar College 760 744-1150 ext. 2318
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. John Steinbeck
Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact. William S. Burroughs
Artists are traditionally resistant to labels. Patti Smith
Artists have really never had any representation on Capitol Hill, because it’s not the nature of the artist to join together and make a unified presence. Those days kind of died in the ’60s. Sheryl Crow
All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso
All children are artists, yet we often try to take it away from them in the pursuit of testing…I’m sorry, education. Until they are told, in one way or the other, they can’t dance well, or sing well, or draw well, or tell a story/act well…well, they will just DO IT. They don’t start off with the negative filters that destroy them along the way.
I integrated all different art forms in the theatre classes. I looked to have the students explore, for themselves, how to find their artistic voice. Too many times, a student would tear up a piece of artwork. “Why?” would come out of my mouth. “Because it’s no good” or variations of that. Looking at the unfinished work, judgments in this child’s mind were already formed. Where it came from was beyond my scope most times. Seeing these 500+ students only once a week, for 45 minutes at a clip, did not afford me the full in-depth deciphering of their psyches.
Sometimes I would notice that the child would look at what someone else was doing and immediately stop. Rip, crumple, toss, and then maybe a hissy fit. Did this student have his work compared to another piece of art, directly or indirectly? Jealousy? Fear of failure? Ridicule lessons in the classroom or at home, or both? Honestly, most times I could not tell you. I’d let the classroom teacher know when she/he would pick the class up, but more often than not they dismissed it with the “oh, you know how ______ is.”
When does the toddler who throws him/herself into their art become their own worst critic?
As to adults, why do many of us turn away from embracing an art form that we love? I often tell any class I lead, no matter what age level this very simple thing: When we create in art, there is no wrong answer, and there should be no judgment of what or how we do it. We CAN all sing, paint, dance, act, tell a story, play a musical instrument (yes, you can do percussion). If we compare it (See rule #1 above) to someone who either has practiced their artistic craft for years upon years (or are just artistic savants), well…we just do ourselves a disservice.
So what if you’re off key, can’t draw a straight line, are a klutz. If you love it, DO IT. Just do it. Do it for the love and happiness you feel when you let yourself be free. I can sing, but my voice is not trained like it used to be and I go off key a lot. My art is mainly doodles. My music is percussive or on a kazoo. My artistic language comes out in the written and spoken word, but I do sing, I do dance, I do play music, and I do art.
YOU DO ART…All children are artists. We’re still those same children, but the art has been beaten out of you. Take it back.
Give it back. Give the arts back to the schools.
The reason actors, artists, writers have agents is because we’ll do it for nothing.
“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…music, dance, painting, and theater are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.”
– –William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education
As much as we want there to be dedicated instructors of all the arts disciplines in schools, we have to face the current financial reality and the mindset of the policy makers: it’s going to take a lot to get new programs in the arts going in schools. This has happened before, and it will happen again. The arts are among the first things to get cut when things get tough, and when education is attacked.
Test scores become the only means of assessment that mean anything to the policy makers. Scores are fairly tangible. They can be put into statistics. They are understood by business minds. They present pretty graphs and charts and can be easily defined. The policy makers don’t have to work hard to understand anything other than numbers and line charts. They don’t see the value in other means of assessment.
They do need their eyes opened to other ways so the children in our schools today are not harmed further.
Until we get back to the practice of supporting the individualistic arts in our public schools (and bless the school leaders who have retained the treasures they do have in place and have kept them), Arts Integration should be on the minds of all parents and educators.
Most teachers already do art integration without acknowledging it or realizing it’s part of their plans. How many dioramas, Readers Theater, play readings, recorder lessons, science fairs, etc. has your student gone through. Presentations are often accompanied with fine art, music accompaniment, dramatizations and more. It’s more prevalent in Elementary school. Role playing in discussions happens in the later grades as well, as does art. Dance is subjective, but a good physical education program incorporates body movements (synchronized anything). Dance incorporates Math and easily explores literacy as another means of interpretation.
The core subjects are enhanced and reach more students when introduced in interesting ways. When I was leading the American Voices project for the NYC Department of Education (integrating Theater Arts into 8th & 11th Grade SS curriculum), I personally heard students say that this was the first time they actually enjoyed learning Social Studies. I saw students in many schools interact and show great interest in a subject that they normally were not engaged in. That last from the teachers who participated in the program.
They were introduced to the time period they were studying, the socio/economic/political structure of those eras, through great American plays of the time or that spoke for that time. They had art, music, dance, theater, history, literacy, math and science tied into the units.
The best part: they learned and were interested.
“We need people who think with the creative side of their brains—people who have played in a band, who have painted…it enhances symbiotic thinking capabilities, not always thinking in the same paradigm, learning how to kick-start a new idea, or how to get a job done better, less expensively.”
–Annette Byrd, GlaxoSmithKline
There are a number of sites that have lesson plans for educators already set up. The best, in my opinion, is ArtsEdge from the Kennedy Center. When I was just starting out and planning my curriculum map for the year, ArtsEdge proved to be among the best. It gave me units to work with, lesson plans that were easily modified for my individual classes, source material, printable diagrams, and more ideas for other projects. I used a number of them, and a number jump started me into creating my own curriculum ideas.
What’s great is it has lesson plans for ALL grade levels, extending into Middle and High School ages. The range is extensive and can help any teacher who feels they want to try something new.
I strongly support trying new things, for yourself and for your students. It’s a new school year. Find a new way to engage and still work towards the goals of the test. I think you’ll be happily surprised.
Do you have other Arts Integration sites you love? Share them here. I’ll be happy to post a follow up.
Questions I had/have/will continue to have, and answers I’ve been getting. One of the key things that I feel needs to be done here is to provide a forum for voices, on either side, and that dialogue will happen.
The other thing is: I hope it causes even ONE person to get off their complaining duff and DO SOMETHING. That was t
The whole point of yesterday’s Che quote: if you can even spark something in one person, who knows where that lead.
I do kinda sorta expect something to come out of all this. I’m in the process of making connections to do just that: DO SOMETHING. I want to find a way to take this blog to “the streets” and help facilitate some change.
Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. Bertolt Brecht
Thanks to this blog, I have had the GREAT fortune to become acquainted with Ms. Sharon Holzscherer Principal, Mississippi School for the Arts in Canada. I have really treasured our correspondence and phone discussions, and I plan to go to Canada sometime in the Fall to see her school in action. In regards to sharing her personal info here, Sharon said: “I am across the border and safe from witch burnings!”
(Sorry, but I had to do that! Well, I’m not really sorry, but…well, you know…if it floats like a duck…)
1. Why do you care about the educational system of today?
Education is the foundation of society. If we neglect the children then we can only imagine what kind of adults they will become. Education is the medium whereby we pass on history, culture, social mores, and skills. Without education each generation starts from the beginning as raw animals. Education, by the way, does not happen exclusively or even mainly in schools.
2. What is your background (short bio)?
I have been a teacher for over 20 years, in the private sector. I have, just recently, completed my Masters of Education. I am principal of a small private arts high school in Canada. I am also the very proud parent of 4 adult children, all products of my own educational views, and doing great!
3. What do you feel is an overriding problem(s) educators are facing today?
Educators are being asked to take over more and more of the responsibility for the raising of children as parents either abdicate their responsibilities or are too busy to fulfill them properly. Parenting is a full time job. Along with all this responsibility, teachers are being given less and less freedom and power. They are also attributed all the blame when society goes off the tracks.
4. How do you feel this problem (these problems) can be solved?
Teachers need to be respected for the professionals that they are. They need to be given the power and freedom to teach. However, they also need to have better training in pedagogical practices, apprenticeship programs for beginning teachers (at least two years), an independent self-governing body (like doctors and lawyers), and lose the union. They cannot have all the perks and safeties if they really want the freedom to do their jobs. No one can have it both ways. We turn our children over to teachers who have often had barely two years of training for lesson plans, etc. and minimal practical experience. Doctors and lawyers go to school and article or intern for several years. Are their professions harder than ours?
5. What changes/paradigm shifts do you feel are necessary?
Sir Ken Robinson!!! School is not a factory or production line. It is a garden where children grow, exposed to the best in all fields that our society can offer them. We need to rediscover the individual while instilling a respect for others. Nurture the single plant to support the whole garden.
6. What is your view on Process vs. Product?
Economics is not the basis for life. (Heresy! they scream. Burn her at the stake!) Truly, people, when everything is based on its monetary value then we are reduced to products. Production is a by-product of people being healthy, happy, and inspired. Bored, obese, resigned employees produce the minimum necessary to get by. Focus on the process and the product will take care of itself.
7. Do you believe Arts-In-Education are important? Yes or No, can you please explain why you feel that way?
Arts-in-Education are crucial. They not only pass on and develop the culture of a nation, without which a nation dies, but also stimulate creativity. Innovation is the tool of the future. It is always what has made America great – from its innovative approach to governing to its vision of reaching the moon. Imagination has much more power than complacency. Look at your history. When nations stopped doing new things and just strove for more and more of the old, they declined.
8. If you believe we should replace the Standardized Testing process, what form of assessment do you feel the students would benefit more from and the policy makers would be “happiest” with? If you agree with Standardized Testing, could you please explain why?
Standardized testing is a tool. It can be used for an appropriate reason, such as seeing if students need additional help or are too advanced for the proposed curriculum. It has got out of control whereby policy makers no longer care what is being tested as long as Americans score in the top two or three. This need to assess is based on a mistaken belief that teachers are wasting taxpayers’ money in classrooms. The money is being wasted at the bureaucratic level and they should be held accountable. When a doctor gives one a test, the doctor is not then assessed himself and the patient is not assessed against other patients. Let teachers, with their professional training, assess the children and discuss it with the parents. No one else should be concerned. As for the spending of taxpayer money, follow a dollar and truly show how little of it makes it to the teacher’s hand.
9. What role do you feel parents/guardians should have with the schools?
Parents are and always should be responsible for their children. Their job is to partner with the teachers and schools so that their children can be given the skills and knowledge that they cannot give. Schools should deal with academics and cultural experiences. Parents should deal with behaviour, mores, prejudice, respect, and responsibility. Parents should do their job and let the teachers do theirs.
10. You can create the ideal school: what THREE things must be in place that are non-negotiable?
1. Absolute control of the curriculum. 2. Absolute control of hiring and training the staff. 3. Clear understanding of the expectations of teachers and parents and students.
11. If you have one, what is your favorite quote dealing with education?
So many of them are negative that I have yet to find a really positive one that I like. I would welcome suggestions since I collect sayings )
12. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Until teachers leave the safety and comfort of their secure union jobs and truly demand the power and respect they need to do their jobs, there will be no reform. Teachers are the only ones with the knowledge and training to achieve relevant reform. “Life shrinks or expands in direct proportion to one’s courage.”
Thank you Sharon. Comments are Most Welcome!!! More of the Q&A to come!!
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date . . . .”
Well, for me, Summer could trip away and make no stay…especially not the heat we’ve had this past week (and are still experiencing). The heat has definitely affected everyone’s mood and output this week, even with all the progress the kids have made.
“Since 1978, Materials for the Arts has provided thousands of New York City’s arts and cultural organizations, public schools and community arts programs with the supplies they need to run and expand their programs. Materials are gathered from companies and individuals that no longer need them and redistributed to the artists and educators that do. In the process, hundreds of tons are removed from the waste stream every year and kept out of landfills, helping to sustain our environment and promote reuse and waste reduction. MFTA helps artists realize their visions, provides students with a richer educational experience and furnishes businesses and individuals with a simple and efficient way to enhance the cultural life of their city. The success of MFTA and its programming would not be possible without the participation of material donors throughout the metropolitan area. If you are interested in donating your unwanted reusable items to MFTA please visit our Donor page or call 718-729-3001 and press 1 for “Materials Donation”.
At this moment, my costuming costs are as close to zero as possible. There will be some fill ins, I’m sure, and I am not taking into account the salary of the costumer and her assistant.
I picked up some wonderfully vibrant fabric, colorful and light, to go along with the previous fabrics I had “shopped” on a previous visit. Set in Mali, I am excited about the patterns and use of Earth colors that the costumer now has to work with. My cast will be barefoot, which fits both the traditional feel plus the ease of the dances. I have a lot of running, twirling, swirling, foot stomping things planned.
To the right is a picture I found online when I did my Google Images search. When I came across this, I immediately had my Oberon costume, in style if not in actuality. A little more “magical,” this outfit is already close to perfection to me for Oberon. I love the pattern and the flow of the garment. I would only add a bit of green to it, to cement it to the Magic forest, and I need it to capture the idea of Air.
That is how I am seeing this, as I am sure so many others have before: the Royal Court (Humans) are grounded/Earth; Fairy Court are Air; Mechanicals are of the Earth, but deeper and more firmly planted, even in their clowning/Everyman status.
Face Painting & Masks
For the Fairy Court, mainly, I am looking at traditional and tribal face painting to accent the “difference” of the two realms. Yes, again, nothing new, but I’m letting you into my process of total environment.
I’ve been enjoying the research, the “hunting and gathering” of what the production staff will need to help the overall artistic vision come alive. Colors play an important part of all this.
I’ll be using some masks: planned are three and I feel that is all I will do, even though I originally wanted to have more. Less is more, in all things. It should not take away or hide (mask) the work the kids are doing. Their performance should shine through first and foremost. So, Oberon will have a Dragon Mask (I’ve had for years) that stirred my actress (yes, actress) in her physicalization; the Donkey do for Bottom; and a half mask for Thisbe (Flute). All three masks are planned for removal during the show.
More info to come, and that will make up (get it? pun intended) part two of my Tech Titterings.
THREE WEEKS GONE!!! THREE TO GO!!
I’ve said it before, re: me: What fool this mortal be!
How did you trick out your show? What would you like to do?
Normally I talk about Theater Arts, as it is the discipline I am most involved in. Theater is one of the first things to go in schools when budget cuts happen. Then the other arts slowly follow suit. Art is probably the last to go usually. Why? Because it can be displayed every day. It lines the hallways and shows off the student’s work, alongside their poems and essays and graphs and charts. It looks good, it is visually accessible. Theater, Music, Dance…not so much.
Sure, photos and montages of work can be exhibited. Static imagery of arts that are performed. It’s not the same as experiencing the students live, seeing and hearing their work, their efforts, their process put into a final product.
What about Sports? Well, it also is shown off in the school, but behind glass cases usually, with trophy’s, medals, the actual ball (signed), photos, more photos, and yet more photos. Maybe a retired player’s shirt. It’s static, but it’s given it’s place of honor. Theater, Music, Dance…not so much. Yes, they might win an award or two, but the arts overall are not (or shouldn’t be, in my opinion) competitive.
Why are the Arts Given So Little Respect?
In schools, one of the basic things I’ve heard is this: many parents, educators and policy makers do not feel that the arts can be assessed (which normally means Testing, in our test driving society. No, sorry…I will not get off that soapbox!). The idea that the arts lend nothing to education runs through most of the sectors that are involved in schools, and if you don’t think many school administration, fellow teachers and Those Higher Up feel the same way, you are sadly mistaken. It’s easily dismissed, and that’s a crime.
In recent conversations with others through social media, I have heard stories that echo what I heard from others and what I experienced. I am leaving all their names anonymous as I do not wish to cause them any repercussions. While some of you many feel that this is chickening out, here is the truth: if you open your mouth, right or wrong, (especially right), you’re job is in danger in the school. If you have tenure, believe me, it won’t be pretty when you have a vengeful admin. Don’t rock the boat. Keep everything inside the walls of the school. Administrative and peer bullying is alive through many schools. That, in itself, is another blog.
From a Visual Arts Teacher:
“As an art teacher it amazes me how the Visual Arts are not taken seriously. If the students were tested about the knowledge they learned only then, it seems, the art would have merit. As a Visual Arts teacher for the past 16 years and counting I can say with confidence that my students grow leaps and bounds in my class in the understanding of how art reflects our emotional, social, psychological, philosophical, physical, political, and intellectual experiences and encompasses all the core subjects.”
From a Theater Arts Teacher:
I teach drama, to seven rotations of classes at my (now former) elementary school. I practically had to pay the other teachers and my principal to allow me the privilege of taking 45 minutes each Friday to deprive the kids of their “instructional minutes.” I’m hoping and expecting that there is less ignorance with regards to the importance of the fine arts in schools out there in New York. How bittersweet it was to send in my letter of resignation from public school employment after a short but successful nine year career.
I realize that New York has just suffered a great blow in arts funding- I was taken aback when I read about this. I had assumed that the strong theater presence certainly must drive the performing arts into the hearts of New York citizens… does it not? I do also realize that legislators tend to not be true representatives of the public voice when they personally don’t agree with that voice. I’m so sorry for … the NY schools at this time. Perhaps, just as the massive cuts to the NEA were reversed a couple of months back, NY will follow this course. Although, NEA cuts and threats seem to be behaving much like a ping pong ball standing in for a tennis ball at Wimbledon… such is the vitality of the fine arts- the disgracefully unrecognized catalyst of cultural enrichment and innovative entrepreneurs- in times of financial instability.
Unfortunately, it’ll be an uphill battle for arts education for the foreseeable future. This country has become chaotically, illogically and ignorantly managed, (and) woefully divided.
A last voice, speaking on Music Arts Education:
What budget pundits and public policymakers want to ignore is the simple and compelling human need for the arts and the human endeavor of making art and that art adds immeasurably to individual and communal life on this planet. As with any human endeavor, we need to have hands on, first-person experiences as well as the best of our best to demonstrate what is possible and to inspire us to new heights.
Yes, we need to find common ground and a great chorus of many voices for promoting the arts as relevant to public life and therefore public education.
After our annual, free Arts in Education concerts, I received a letter from a 5th/6th grade split classroom teacher in a school where 73% of students qualify for the free / reduced lunch program. The school district like many is slowly hacking away at the roots of its once stellar K-12 music program. I think the closing statement of her letter will resonate and give us courage as we collectively reorient ourselves to new realities, new economies.
“If the cuts in the music program were to happen, I would continue to expose my students to music. Perhaps with your performances, students will be more likely to enjoy music, to want to make music, and will pester their parents to stand up for music in our schools. I want you to know that the Symphony’s school concert is wanted, loved, and needed by my students.”
It is really time for all of us to stand together and hold to our principles. I know we will not get anywhere if we remain reactive instead of proactive. We get hot under the collars when a Wisconsin debacle happens, but we soon go back to the shrug of the shoulders, our own daily lives, and then…something else happens.
Activism, which is what I feel is called for, is 24/7, every single day of the year. Right now, with so many teachers on vacations, what else is brewing behind the closed doors while school doors are closed (well, not summer school, but…)?
Today is the first Guest Blog offerings for the summer months. I have reached out to a number of people I respect to share some of their thoughts on what BornStoryteller has been about: Education, The Arts, Arts-in-Education, Home Schooling, Alternative School/Charter Schools, Storytelling, Writing, and the other assorted things that make up this platform.
If you wish to contribute, please contact me via email (link on side of the postings).
Debra El-Ramey is a fairly new online acquaintance, but she has already proven herself to not only be intelligent and passionate about writing, but equally forceful in her views on the state of education in the United States. Her website Pure and Simple is a pleasure to follow.
National Standards: Are They Necessary?
I suppose it’s because nearly all children go to school nowadays, and have things arranged for them, that they seem so forlornly unable to produce their own ideas.
~ Agatha Christie
Many companies recruit workers with a variety of 21st century skills that are not reflected in most traditional American schools. There are wide gaps between the skills that businesses value and the skills that most youth actually have. As much as youth need to learn academic content, they also need to know how to keep learning and how to make effective and innovative use of what they know throughout their lives.
The biggest drawback to students’ acquisition of 21st century skills stems from a politically motivated obsession with National Standards. Bill Courtney gets straight to the point. “The big question schools and parents need to consider is, what is the point of education in the 21st century? He writes that, “While literacy and numeracy are important skills they are not all that matters… Education today is much more about ways of thinking which involve creative and critical approaches to problem solving and decision making.”
Bill quotes Albert Einstein as saying, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” And he also notes that Einstein’s parents were told by his school that he was borderline retarded. Wonder how many geniuses are failing in the system today… How long can principals ignore the dire warnings about the consequences of National Standards? http://leading-learning.blogspot.com/
A Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability recently presented its findings, which determined that: Students are not graduating high school prepared for life in the 21st century… and too much time is spent on testing without effective prescriptive feedback from students.
Some schools require demonstration of mastery by students via oral presentations, exhibits, or argument based research papers – rather than memorizing and regurgitating facts for testing. They “teach to learn.”
William Purcell, founder of the grassroots movement: TAKE A TIME OUT FROM EXCESSIVE & HIGH STAKES TESTING says this:
“It is time to rethink testing in the nation. It is time to end EOGs and EOCs and move forward to a new vision of what is really important in creating and honoring the learning communities in our schools. Too many parents, teachers, and community members see stressed-out children who turn away from learning because the tests label them failures. At best they turn into robotic bubble-sheet experts churning out ‘correct’ answers to a handful of questions and writing generic 5-paragraph babble.
“Students who survive the tests move on to college where professors increasingly find students lack critical thinking skills, and formerly ‘strong testers’ struggle without the security of a 5-paragraph answer or a multiple-choice question from which to choose the “right” answer. Millions of dollars are squandered on testing, test prep, test training, test evaluation… funds that could be better used to support student learning.
“Teachers too, are now turning from the tests and beginning to voice opposition to the rigid, robotic learning environments that are encouraged by emphasizing tests as the sole measure of students, teachers, and schools. These tests put the blame on students and label those students as failing or as level-1 or level-2… all of which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for students.
“Curriculum becomes “teacher-proofed” as companies and consultants offer curriculum training, supplies, and materials to increase your school’s scores – almost a like drug company’s pandering pills on TV. We all need to stand up and speak out and say, “STOP TESTING NOW.” It is time to end EOGs and EOCs.” There is a better way. The end of the school year should be a time of celebration and joy for the year’s worth of learning, not a time for testing, re-testing, and testing again…”
William suggests that instead of testing children, they could demonstrate mastery of learning in far more productive and exciting ways: plays, pageants, concerts, art, exhibitions, poetry recitals, and project demonstrations.
How do you view National Standards?
Should tests be emphasized as sole measures of students, teachers, and schools?
Should students be labeled as a result of failing a test? Could these labels be self-fulfilling prophecies?
Your personal experience, thoughts, and feedback are welcome.
The Arts can no longer be treated as a frill. Arts education is essential to stimulating the creativity and innovation that will prove critical for young Americans competing in a global economy.”
~ Arne Duncan, US Sect. of Education, April 9, 2010
“If your plan is for one year, plant rice; If your plan is for ten years, plant Trees; If your plan is for a hundred years, educate children.” ~ Confucious
I came across a group of bureaucrats. They were shuffling their feet, either not making eye contact or challenging you to enter their space with Paradigm Shifts, Logical Thought, Examples of Existing Working Systems, and other Methods of Upsetting the Status Quo. These bureaucrats had their force fields up, and invoked their holy mantras to ward me off and keep others away: “We’ve Always Done It This Way! Accept & Conform! Don’t Make Waves!”
So, being fictitious or not, I’m still going to reach out to you and say: Yes, we can make a difference. Yes, we should not give up hope. Yes, it will not be easy. Yes, it will be worth it.
As in a previous post, I’m going to let some sites I found speak for me, and hopefully TO you. After those, you will find links to previous posts of mine. Please don’t think that, with summer vacations coming up, that we should relax in vigilance for saving Education and the Arts (and, hand in hand, Arts-In-Education). This is a continuous and ongoing fight. Yes, it is a fight.
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