Newark Arts Education Roundtable Monthly Update
The goal of the NAER monthly updates is to provide information about arts education policy, new developments in Newark schools, professional development opportunities as well as share valuable resources that we can utilize as we work collectively to ensure the provision of quality arts education services for Newark youth.
For starters we’d like to take the opportunity to remind you to mark your calendar and make a strong effort to attend the remaining Newark Arts Education Roundtable meeting for 2012:
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
(10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)
@ The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO)
BRING NJSO MUSICIANS TO YOU!
Did you know that NJSO musicians perform in a variety of community settings, not just in concert halls? Through the REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) program, NJSO chamber music ensembles bring musical magic to venues such as schools, libraries, nursing homes, corporate events and places of worship throughout the state. NJSO chamber music programs offer wonderful opportunities for audiences of all ages to get up close and personal with NJSO musicians and make music-filled memories that last a lifetime.
To bring NJSO musicians to you, call 973.735.1734 or email REACH@njsymphony.org to book an ensemble today! To learn more about REACH, visit www.njsymphony.org/reach
Mallory King from Arts to Grow (ATG)
Access to sequential, high-quality arts education in all four arts disciplines are the educational right of every child in our state in accordance with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS). That being said, there is a strong focus on student success with respect to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which refer only to language arts literacy and mathematics. The following resources are great to have in your advocacy toolkit with respect to how the arts create the pathway to academic success as well as civic engagement and leadership!
How the Arts Can Lead in Implementing the Common Core
POSTED BY SARAH ZUCKERMAN ON SEPTEMBER - 10 - 2012
“To succeed today and in the future, America’s children will need to be inventive, resourceful, and imaginative. The best way to foster that creativity is through arts education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in Re-Investing Through Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools.
The nation has deemed that learning in and through the arts is critical for the success of all students. This positions arts educators to take a leadership role in implementing what the Common Core means for learning. The arts are different than other subjects; this is what fosters innovative, creative, and critical thinkers. The Common Core opens a door for leadership, an opportunity for the best arts educators to model what teaching and learning should look like across the curriculum…are we ready for the challenge?
What do the arts do, exactly? How does this align with the Common Core?
How the arts progress student learning is too complex for one blog entry. However, I would like to draw attention to a few ways that arts-based learning models the English Language Arts/Literacy instructional shifts of the new standards.
1. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction
In arts classrooms that employ reading across the curriculum, this happens quite naturally. Whether we are reading a critique of an artist’s work or reading about the cultural context of a genre of work, art history, aesthetics, and critique all are grounded in content-rich nonfiction. Content-rich nonfiction media in the arts abound for every age from preschool to adult.
2. Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational
The way a careful observer draws on evidence to interpret an image or production parallels the processes employed when a strong reader makes meaning from a text. Arts teachers require students to find evidence for their interpretations by asking, “What in the work made you say that?” part of the visual thinking strategy used by many teachers. This focus on evidence is the basis of learning how to view art or performance, as it is learning how to read a text.
3. Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
In an art museum there is no “Third Grade Gallery” or “High School Wing,” nor do we only show children theatre performances limited by reading level. To quote Steve Seidel, head of the Arts in Education Program at Harvard Graduate School of Education, “The very notion of theatre, of rehearsal, is the close examination of a text.” In the arts, students routinely confront images, lines in a script, etc., that need much more than a glance (or quick read) to understand. The arts train students to make meaning of complex works, the same ability that higher levels of text complexity demand. With the right scaffolding and time allotment, such work becomes accessible to all learners.
Learning in the arts is transferable
In the arts, to appreciate any masterpiece, to construct understanding from the complex, one must engage in deep analysis and a systematic search for meaning. This is a transferable skill; these studio habits of mind can and should be applied across disciplines. To appreciate, understand, and successfully apply mathematics, language arts, history, and the sciences, a learner must engage in the same type of analysis, study of technique, and consideration of context that is modeled so clearly in arts learning. This attentive study results in deep understanding, and occurs best when done through interdisciplinary projects.
An Opportunity to Lead
Simply stated, what the arts do so well is now what is being asked of all teachers.
The arts, in professional practice, are arguably the most disciplined of all disciplines, where devoted practice, development of ideas based on research and experimentation, criticism and revision, and a meticulous focus on detail and quality reign.
The Common Core provides a tremendous opportunity for the arts to play a central role in teaching and learning. Let us rise to the call.
For more on these ideas, as well as a great list of resources, please read my white paper on this topic.
LIZ DWYER August 21, 2012
Want Kids to Be More Altruistic? Give Them Arts Education
Liz is GOOD's education editor. She taught in Guangzhou, China and Compton, California, and worked for Teach for America. She's written for Good Housekeeping, Parenting and numerous online publications.
Earlier this year Secretary of Education Arne Duncan voiced his support for dance, music, theater, and visual arts programs, calling them "essential to preparing our nation's young people for a global economy fueled by innovation and creativity." A new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago points to an equally important reason we need to make sure every school has a robust arts program: People who engage in the arts or watch others do so are more likely to be civically engaged, socially tolerant, and altruistic.
Kelly LeRoux, an assistant professor of public administration at UIC who is the principal investigator on the study, says their data analysis found a high correlation between the arts and altruistic actions—like donating blood, donating money, giving directions, or doing favors for a neighbor—that place the interests of others over the interests of self, and civic activities like volunteering and being involved in organizations and politics. The respondents with greater arts exposure and participation were also more welcoming to people from different racial backgrounds and were willing to having someone gay "speak in their community or teach in public schools. "At a time when arts budgets are being decimated, it's concerning that we're depriving students of such critical benefits. Indeed, "If policymakers are concerned about a decline in community life," says LeRoux, "the arts shouldn't be disregarded as a means to promote an active citizenry."
We look forward to greeting each of you personally on October 24th @ The Newark Museum!
Thank you for your support as we look ahead to an exciting new future for the Newark Arts Council! Through these monthly updates, we are on the path toward establishing a strong arts education web presence. Stay tuned for evolving new developments!
Our goal is to provide information about arts education policy, new developments in Newark schools, professional development opportunities and valuable resources that we can utilize as we work collectively to ensure the provision of quality arts education services for Newark youth.
The remaining NAER meeting for 2012 is as follows:
Wednesday, October 24th (10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.) - The Newark Museum
Individual and collective participation is crucial to the success of our mission. We hope to welcome all of our arts partners to each of the scheduled meetings of the Newark Arts Education Roundtable!
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NATIONAL ARTS IN EDUCATION WEEK: SEPTEMBER 9–15 Take the opportunity to draw attention to arts education in your school and build momentum for a great school year. Americans for the Arts will celebrate by hosting their biannual blog salon about arts education topics on ARTSblog. This blog salon will feature about 20 posts by arts and education leaders throughout the week, all discussing the intersection between the arts and the new Common Core State Standards. Follow the salon by using this link to the arts education section of ARTSblog. |
Americans for the Arts invites you to submit a session proposal for the 2013 Annual Convention!
Submission deadline is Wednesday, September 19, 2012 and submissions are only accepted online at http://convention.artsusa.org/proposals.
Join Americans for the Arts June 14-16, 2013 in Pittsburgh, PA to continue the national conversation on the “new normal”. The 2013 Americans for the Arts Convention brings focus to how the arts are meeting the needs of communities as demographic shifts take hold. The Annual Convention program will explore strategies for communities to adapt, transform, and revitalize in a changing landscape to build the 21st-Century American Community. The Annual Convention welcomes sessions from members and non-members, so please feel free to forward this message.
We are seeking proposals for two types of presentations:
1. Convention Sessions, which are 90 minutes and should be complete learning experiences with specific outcomes and learning objectives. Sessions can include multiple speakers, but are limited to no more than four speakers per session.
2. Roundtable Discussions for Career, Organization, and Community 360. Roundtable Discussions are a great networking and issue-based discussion opportunity. Roundtables offer a variety of topics related to promoting sustainable careers in the arts and tackling difficult capacity-building issues in arts organizations and your greater community. Roundtables should only include one discussion leader per table.
Proposals should focus on innovative strategies, tested tools, and best practices that relate to the frames of the Annual Convention, including diversity, equity, and access; place making; education; social impact; technology; demographic shifts; and building business partnerships and new business models. Beyond these frames, we welcome sessions addressing fundamental concepts in fundraising, advocacy, marketing, and board development and engagement.
Americans for the Arts is also accepting sessions for the Emerging Leaders Preconference and the Public Art Network Preconference. Both preconferences are June 13-14 and end by the start of the Annual Convention. The opportunity to designate your session proposal for one of these two preconferences can be found on the Convention Session proposal form.
The submission deadline is Wednesday, September 19, 2012 and submissions are only accepted online at http://convention.artsusa.org/proposals.
10th Annual Conversation on Education and the Arts at the Montclair Art Museum
Annual Conversation on Education and the Arts - Wednesday, September 19th at 7:00 p.m.
Each fall the Montclair Art Museum and the Montclair Community Pre-K co-sponsor a lecture that invites prominent minds and talents in the field of education to our community to discuss the arts in our schools, as well as early childhood education and the role of creativity in learning. This lecture is always a popular event and allows regional educators to spend an informative and lively evening with their peers. Professional Development Hours available.
10th Annual Conversation on Education and the Arts:
Thinking and Teaching About Beauty in the 21st Century
Howard Gardner
Wednesday, September 19, 7 p.m.
$20 Members, Montclair Community Pre-K families, Students with ID
$25 Nonmembers
Buy advance tickets online, call 973-259-5137, or in person at The Store at MAM.
Join MAM and the Montclair Community Pre-K in welcoming back leading developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, senior director of Harvard Project Zero, and author of over 20 books translated into 30 languages. Dr. Gardner is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, which values the unique blend of intelligences that human beings possess.
For more information, please contact:
Martha Kelshaw, Manager of Public Programs, 973-259-5153, mkelshaw@montclairartmuseum.org
Gary Schneider, Director of Education, 973-259-5121, gschneider@montclairartmuseum.org
Recommended by Misha Simmonds, Director of University Heights Charter School and member of the Newark Arts Education Leadership Council (NAELC)
Teach Like A Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students On The Path To College (Jossey-Bass; 978-0-470-55047-2; April 2010; $27.95) by Doug Lemov offers effective teaching techniques to help any teacher become a champion in the classroom. Click the link to read The New York Times article, “Building a Better Teacher”.
As a result of Lemov’s Techniques, West Denver Prep students (93% who are qualified as low income) demonstrated the highest academic growth at any middle school in Denver for the third consecutive year in 2009, with median growth percentiles of 90% in Math, 85% in Writing, and 66% in Reading.
Teach like a Champion also includes a DVD of 25 video clips of teachers demonstrating the techniques in the classroom. You can also the view video clips of some of the techniques on NYTimes.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Doug Lemov is a Managing Director of Uncommon Schools and runs its True North Public Schools network in upstate New York. Mr. Lemov is formerly the President of School Performance, a non-profit providing performance data to schools, and former Vice President for Accountability, at the State University of New York Charter Schools Institute--the leading authorizer of charters in New York. Mr. Lemov has served as a consultant and trainer to such nationally known organizations as KIPP, New Leaders for New Schools, Teach for America and Building Excellent Schools--and is a Trustee of the New York Charter Schools Association. He holds a BA from Hamilton College, an MA from Indiana University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Visit Doug Lemov at www.douglemov.com and http://teachlikeachampion.wiley.com.
Thanks to our partner, the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership (NJAEP) for sharing the following.
Without the Arts, It's Not Education
Liz Dwyer July 12, 2012
Liz is GOOD's education editor. She’s written for Good Housekeeping, Parenting and numerous online publications.
Earlier this spring Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote that "dance, music, theater, and visual arts" are essential to preparing our nation's young people for a global economy fueled by innovation and creativity." That may be the case, but thanks to education funding cuts, the arts are being systematically stripped from our schools. According to creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, what's left can hardly be called an education.
"We may be providing something else, but it's not what we want to think of as education," Robinson told attendees at the recent Action Children's Art Conference in the U.K. Instead, says Robinson, our children are growing up in a fast-paced world "that's becoming more standardized," which means kids "live within education cultures that are more prone to testing, to conformity, and to compliance than ever before."
Indeed, what Robinson advocates for "are opportunities for self exploration" and the ability for "young people to explore the range of their own imaginations." Because the arts are intimately connected to our emotions, students also need a chance "to explore the depths of their own feelings and their connections to other people."
Without the connection to our emotions that music, dance, visual art, and drama provide, students' ability to cultivate their right-brain "soft skills" ends up being stunted. In a global society that needs people with the emotional intelligence to have both personal and working relationships with people from diverse cultures—and the ability to think creatively and entrepreneurially—that means denying kids access to the arts has less-than-desirable consequences.
It's not too late to get on the right track though, says Robinson, if we support a robust, child centered arts program in our schools, and if arts organizations in our community—the local ballet or symphony, for example—also develop programs specifically for students.
We look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday, October 24th at The Newark Museum!
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