ATA Blog

The Awful Truth

2011-03-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I am taking a break from blogging.

I'm not sure what happens next.

You are invited to follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/teachingartist.

Dennis Baker

2011-02-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, I used my cellphone to interview Dennis Baker; a teaching artist, entrepreneur and social media expert. We had a wide-ranging conversation and here are the results. Dennis has kindly typed and edited the interview. It's good stuff.

Q: Hi Dennis! I am so glad you've agreed to answer a few easy questions. It's February 2nd, and I am in San Francisco. You are based in Los Angeles. We are doing this by phone, and since my cellphone bill is ludicrously high and I am underpaid, I'll get right to it.

(Here we pause because an incredibly loud protest demonstration of California State Workers passes by banging drums and screaming something about draconian budget cuts. It will be over soon.)

Q: Dennis, what are the critical issues facing Teaching Artists?

Dennis Baker: Money is always a critical issue. This is going to get some people upset, but I am going to say it, teaching artists are the migrant workers of the arts education field. Administration justifies paying $25/hour for a teaching artist with a masters degree in education, with no benefits, because they think that teaching artists choose to be freelance workers. Teaching artists are freelance workers, because there is no other choice. If there was a full time resident teaching artist position created, with the benefits and pay of an administrator, the teaching artist application pool would be huge. In the U.S., we live in a society where the goal is to get everything as cheap as possible, without truly asking what that means to the people that we pay the lowest price. This mindset does not account for the whole picture. I am not implying that every arts education organization chooses not to pay their teaching artists a living wage, but the standards are not at a sustainable level.

I think the issues that actors have with the amount of work, in relation to pay, is the same problem for teaching artists. In the acting field, there has been questions of why is there so many MFA programs, graduating actors year after year, for a field that can not sustain the numbers. Some of the statistics are:

· 14.4% of Equity members (actors and stage managers) work in any given week in ’08-‘09

· 49.3% of Equity members are unemployed for the whole year of ’08-‘09

· Median AEA member made $7,688 in ‘08-‘09

My guess is that these numbers are pretty close to the teaching artist field. We are seeing more and more schools creating theater education programs, for a field in which a teaching artist cannot make a living wage. Why? One reason, higher education institutions are businesses. If there are enough students willing to pay for it, they will create a degree, with no consideration of whether there is a field to sustain their graduates. Manifest destiny is at the bedrock of all we do. Grow and expand, without thinking of the consequences. Does any theater program advertise the above statistics? No, because their might be less student enrollment. So until we are willing to have a national conversation regarding the relation of higher education to the number of jobs in the field, there will be an ever-increasing supply and demand problem. Is the answer a union? That is a good start to increase standardized pay, but that will not address the amount of work in the field.

Regarding pedagogical issues, how can we find ways to integrate the education of becoming a teaching artist with that of the classroom teacher? Do teaching artists need to take some classes in a credential program? As I begin to teach theater education and teaching artistry, I find that I am lacking in truly understanding the mindset of the classroom teacher. While I know the basics through working with teachers in the past, and looking at state standards, in general teaching artists do not know the language of classroom teachers and principals.

Q: What is the future field for professional Teaching Artistry? Where are we and where are we going?

Dennis Baker: There is no doubt that the field has come into its own in the last decade. The field and conversation has grown. It is a time to truly reflect and find ways to move forward in a sustainable manner. Sustainability needs to be the future of the field. We are not there yet. We are pockets of people without a unified voice. We live in a time where business and entertainment is looked in higher regard than education. For sustainability to occur, this national mindset will need to shift. Without this national shift, we are a field that is fighting for scraps at the table. Honestly, I am talking of a change that is beyond any of our life times, if it is to happen at all. In the mean time, one needs to be a creative, entrepreneurial teaching artist.

Q: Dennis, I see you working all over the place. You're on Twitter. You're an actor, teaching artist, fight director, audition coach, web designer, and social media expert. Aren't you exhausted? I mean, how are you pulling all of this off?

A: Individuals in business are learning what it is like to live and work with less, something artists have always done. At the same time the entrepreneur discussion that is going on in the business sector is something artists need to be listening to and figuring ways to adapt it to the teaching artist field. Artists can learn just as much from people like Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki as they could from leaders in the education field. While living in New York, and planning to move back to Los Angeles, I was talking to a fellow teaching artist expressing my concern that Los Angeles did not have the same infrastructure for work in the theater arts education. He said, well then you will have to create your own. What keeps me positive is that we as humans are adaptable. How are we as teaching artists creating our own work? How are we forging relationships with teachers, principals, school districts and organizations to create opportunities for work? We need more of these conversations in the field. Coming out of graduate school, I was hired into a one of the biggest theater education organizations in New York. There I formed my teaching artistry, but due to the size, all the business aspects was taken care of for me. I just had to show up for the various curriculum trainings, give them my availability, and they would email me with jobs. That is not the norm. So how do we become entrepreneurial teaching artists?

First, what do you do exactly? You might say I am a teaching artist. Too broad. What is your niche, your specialty? What are the two to three things that you are good at teaching? Shakespeare? Physical Theater? Elementary age children? In the area where you live and work, you need to be considered the expert in areas of your specialty. This is where living outside a metropolis might help you. It takes more work for me to be considered an expert in a theater or acting field in Los Angeles then it would for a teaching artist working in a field that is less populated with theater artists.

Second, do people know you are an expert in that field? This is where connection is key. Are you in conversation through social media, attendance at school district functions, PTA meetings, etc. You need to be at the places where you can make connections with people that would want to hire you. Principals, teachers, parents need to know you exist. Are you reading the mommy blogs, and commenting on posts in regards to education? Are you at the school district meetings? Are you using social media, not as a tool to talk, but as a tool to listen? So many people say I don’t get twitter, what am I supposed to say. Don’t say anything, just listen. Listen to the conversation that is being held on the local level, as well as the national level.

Third, create a need that then you can fill. Businesses are great at this. They sell us a product that we don’t even know we need, and once we do, they are there to provide us with it. Everyone agrees that education is important and needed, but what does that mean? How can you go about influencing hearts and minds in your local community that the work of a teaching artist is needed? There is numerous articles that show how arts education is needed, but minds are not changed with statistics, they are changed through experience. How can you provide administrators, teachers, parents and students with an experience in where they have an “a ha” moment and realize that teaching artist work is needed in their school, community organization and community?

Lastly, in this current time you will not make a living wage as a teaching artist. While you need to find your niche within the teaching artist field, you need to diversify your job skill set. You need to find other part-time freelance jobs that will compliment your teaching artist work.

......................................

Here, all conversation ended because those last few sentences from Dennis nearly killed me. I encourage you to read it again to yourself, slowly, carefully and aloud.

Thank you Dennis Baker for your thoughtful comments on the state of the field. Fellow teaching artists, if you would like to join this ongoing conversation, push the comment button below or email us here.

From the Executive Director

2011-01-28T15:02:00.000-08:00

FROM ATA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DALE DAVIS

Members:

ATA will be convening the first national Teaching Artists' Congress in New York City on April 16. Save the date! Eric Booth, Richard Kessler, and Nick Rabkin will be joining us. More will be forthcoming soon. For information: ddavis@teachingartists.com.

Thank you to those of you who so generously contributed to ATA's year end campaign. Your donations make a difference!

If you blog about your work as a Teaching Artist, please let me know so we can include your blog on http://www.teachingartists.com/. Thank you to Teaching Artists organized http://www.teachingartistsorganized.org/ for mentioning ATA's Teaching Artists' blogs in your last newsletter.

If there is a Youtube video of you working as a Teaching Artist, please let me know so we can include it on ATA's website.

ATA will be presenting "Creating a Positive Work Environment and Community with Teaching Artists" at The New York City Arts In Education Roundtable's Face To Face on February 24. We hope to see many of you at Face to Face.

Happy 2011!

Dale

On the Money

2011-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Often, I have noticed, teaching artists are called Freelancers.

Sometimes, we are designated as Independent Contractors.

Once in a while, I hear us referred to as Consultants.

Less frequently, we're Employees.

What's the difference between these designations, and, more importantly, how does it affect the teaching artist's pocketbook?

Frankly, I have no clue, so I am providing some handy links to information about this topic. Maybe you and your customer, client, or boss can sit down and figure it out together?

Three articles are below:

Answers About Freelancers @ The New York Times

Ban the Label "Freelancer" @ Findlaw

What is the Difference Between an Independent Contractor and an Employee @ About.com

Also: You Never Give Me Your Money - The Four

Blowing On the Wind

2011-01-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm sharing today.

I am working on a Lesson Plan for Pre-K. If you have a moment, please read it and send me your thoughtful feedback.

Lesson Plan #1

PRE-K

Goals/Objectives:

1. To introduce the idea of creative movement.

2. To practice self-expression.

3. To practice following instructions.

4. To build ensemble and community.

5. To assess student’s ability to listen, play, move and interact safely in the space.

Outcomes:

After participating in this session, students will:

· Be more able to use their imaginations, voices and bodies to express emotion, meaning, action and narrative. Students will demonstrate understanding by responding to verbal and physical cues from the TA. Further, they will respond to narration, acting out parts of a story as they are suggested by the TA.

· Understand more about how character and movement are related. They will demonstrate this understanding by pretending to be a seed blowing on the wind.

· Understand more about story and narrative. Students will demonstrate understanding by being able to retell and/or recall details about the story they have acted out together during the session.

Materials:

· A big sheet of chart paper or brown butcher-block paper.

· “Seeds” – Oval shapes cut out of colored paper. Enough for each student to have.

· Glue sticks. These are to stick the Seeds on to the chart paper.

· Handy wipes or some rags. These are to clean the floor and our hands.

· Instruments: Clavé, or a drum.

Music: Three to Get Ready by Dave Brubeck. From the album Time Out, or something similarly bouncy.

OPENING (10-15 Minutes)

Hello Room!

· Warm-up.

· TA asks students “Can you please take off your shoes and come sit in a circle?”

· TA asks “Have you ever been in this room before?”

· TA asks “What is this room called? What is it used for? What do you think or expect that we will be doing together in this room?”

· TA explains the ideal of a movement space “’This will be the place that we do something called creative movement work together. We’ll use move in this space to show how we feel and we’ll tell stories using our bodies in this space.”

· TA takes questions and then states “OK, let’s clean this floor together. This is our creative movement space, so let’s keep it clean.”

· Each child gets a handy wipe or a rag.

· TA and children “clean” the floor together. TA offers various verbs and qualifiers while modeling movements. “Push the cloth. Pull the cloth. Rub. Scrub. Sweep. Make big movements. Make small movements. Big circles. Small circles. Can you go fast? Go slow. Can you go back and forth? Use your arms. Use your feet. Can you use your elbows?”

· When the floor is declared clean, the TA states “Now that our movement space is clean, let’s scoot across the floor. Let’s roll around the floor. Let’s all come together in the center of the space. Let’s all move far apart. Let’s all freeze and stay very still. When I say freeze you will not move a muscle, but be very still. ” Note: Model, label and give a concrete example for each verb and instruction. Make the connection.

Hello Children!

· Choreography.

· Seated circle. Name Game A: Cued by drumbeat; each child is invited to stand up and say their name out loud.

Hello Friends!

· Self-Expression/Interpretation

· Name Game B: Each child gets to hold the instrument. “Hit it and say your name on the syllables. MI-CHAEL!”

· Name Game C: Each child gets to cross the circle on the drumbeat. “I’ll hit the drum, point to you and you can move across the circle in any way you like. Fast. Slow. Moving your arms. However you like. OK? Who wants to try first?”

STARTER ACTIVITY (5 MIN)

Character of the day

· TA introduces the character of the day. THE SEED.

· Students view a photo or a real example of THE SEED.

· Led by the TA, students discuss THE SEED. “What do you see? What do you think? What do you feel? What do you wonder? Why do you say that?

· Music.

· Choreography: “This is rehearsal. Follow me!”

· THE SEED starts small and opens up. “Do as I do!”

· THE SEED starts big and gets small. “Copy me!”

· THE SEED moves as if the wind is blowing it across the room. “Move to your left! This way! Move to your right! This way!”

MAIN ACTIVITY (10 MIN)

In the Garden

· TA working in-role as the gardener narrates a story: “One day in the garden, I was planting seeds. I dug a hole for each seed./Cave un augjero por cada semilla.”

· The Gardener plants all the seeds one by one. Tapping each child on the shoulder. “Hello seed!”

· “I was just about to put the dirt on top of them, to cover them up, when a great wind arose from the East and blew them all away. I rushed to catch them in my hand, but alas I could not”

· TA out of role asks the students “What would happen if the wind blows all the seeds? What would that look like?”

· Students offer suggestions about what a seed floating on the wind might look like. TA encourages them to “Show us! Use your whole body to show us what a seed floating on the wind might look like!”

· TA asks students “Shall we pretend to be seeds floating on the wind? Shall we continue our story? Let’s try and see what it feels like and what it looks like to be blown around like a seed on the wind. I will pretend to be THE GREAT WIND. You all pretend to be seeds and follow my voice and the motion of my hand. Move in the direction I am pointing. OK. Shall we try?!”

· Music.

· TA in-role as THE GREAT uses voice and gesture to encourage students to move across the room as if they were seeds blown on the wind. “I am THE GREAT WIND! Wherever I blow, the seeds will follow. First I sweep into the garden and I blow all the seeds to the East! Then I blow all the seeds to the West!”

· After a few runs at this game, the TA comes out of role and asks the children to freeze.

· TA might sit half the group down to watch the other half pretending to be seeds. Then we can talk about Audience/Performer.

· To close this section, TA in-role as THE GARDENER narrates, “The Great Wind blew all the seeds this way. The wind blew all the seeds that way! Finally, the wind stopped. I swept all the seeds up into a pile and replanted them, one by one.”

· All the students are gathered close together, seated in the center of the room.
· With a tap on the shoulder from the TA, each seed/student is replanted.

CLOSING (10 MIN)

Active Reflection

· Dialogue: “What did we do today? What happened in our story? Where were we? What did we pretend?”

· Each student gets a colored piece of paper shaped like a seed; an oval.

· TA says “Let’s plant our seeds in the garden.”

· Each child will be able to glue their seed to a piece of butcher-block paper which is divided into layers. The bottom layer is the earth and that’s for seeds. Each week we will add to this picture of our garden.

· In a seated circle, TA narrates “All the seeds go to sleep. Can you be small? Become small. Smaller. Smaller. Move slowly. Stiller and stiller. When you are fully asleep and still, then THE SUN (TA or another adult in the room) will come and tap you and then you are awake and yourself again and you can go over and plant your seed in the garden.”

· Students write their name (or stick their name-tags) on their oval and plant their seeds. Then we all line up and go back to class.

That's it, so far. See you in the garden!

Face Yourself

2011-01-12T23:24:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest installment of our, meaning my, ongoing dialogue with Bay Area Teaching Artist/Entrepreneur Anthem Salgado. Today, we face facts. Ouch.

Q: What I’m hearing is that there is no one path to success in this field. But are there some guiding principles?

Anthem: Yes, there are tons of guiding principles. And that’s why I’m such an avid reader. Because anyone who already knows what needs to be done has already written a book about it. So we just need to find the books that resonate with us and start reading ‘em! (laughs) It’s like we’re reinventing the wheel, but someone’s already figured it out. Let’s go to the people who’ve already figured it out. And I read tons of books and they inform me in such huge ways.

Q: OK, so what are the guiding principles you’re working with right now?

A: Values, principles…my gosh! (Shakes head.) There are too many!

Q: Is there a set of guiding principles for an emerging TA?

A: OK, this is one I gave recently to somebody, and it works for individuals as well as organizations. I always tell people you need to optimize, and then innovate. And those are both buzz words…I know. (laughs) So, just to be clear. Innovate is all the creative thinking that I’m suggesting you do. Creative solutions around business, and professional development. But optimize means you need to know what is working. You really need to take a full inventory of what is working and what isn’t working. You need to make a NOT TO DO list. There are probably things we are working on that aren’t moving the ball forward. Those things we just need to stop immediately. And for the things that are working? We need to use these three criteria. “What are we extraordinarily passionate about?” Would be number one. Number two would be “What can generate income?” And number three would be “What can we really excel in?” For instance, in my own work, when I did this analysis, I realized the most money I make per hour is from commercial acting, as opposed to theatrical acting. So, I thought, "Well, that’s something I need to prioritize." Because it just pays more! It’s still acting, so I’m passionate about it. It generates income. And I do have an opportunity to excel in it. Whereas theater acting, which I also love and am passionate about…well, the income per hour is not as much, although I still have an opportunity to excel at it. It’s just a semi-scientific way of beginning to prioritize which projects you should be working on at any one time. I also realize that I can stand to build a career, not have one immediately, but build one as a Teaching Artist, a professional development type of teacher, meeting all three criteria. (counts on his fingers) I’m passionate about it. I can excel in it. And I can make some money from it. For a long while, in the city, I was really well-known as a spoken-word artist. But let’s look at this. I’m passionate about it. But there’s no way to excel in it, because it’s pretty much a single tier type of endeavor. There’s no such thing as career spoken-word artist. So I can’t excel in it and I can’t make money in it. I don’t know any spoken-word artist who is really making money in that field. So I just had to face myself. It’s difficult, but I had to face myself and just drop it.

Q: These are hard choices you’re talking about. These are not choices where someone says “Well, I wanna be a spoken word artist and make money at it!” Does that mean the dream is dead?

(Hysterical laughter)

A: No, it doesn’t mean the dream is dead. The dream means putting yourself in the driver’s seat. And when people put themselves in the driver’s seat..this is what I encourage every artist to do. Think like a boss. When you’re a boss and you have to make executive decisions, you’re not going to fund or put energy or human resources into the project that’s not coming back to pay you. Right? So spoken word would be great if I had a full on career as a doctor or a lawyer or accountant and I could do spoken word on the side. That could just be my passion project. But if we’re talking about having a sustainable ecology, then you have to think like a boss. As an executive director, if you were your own company, which one of your personal artistic projects would you prioritize so that the company, which is you, can survive? It’s not about the dream being dead. It’s about having to make some real decisions. Thinking like a boss.

Q: Last tiny little question. What’s the future of the field of Teaching Artistry?

A: (laughs) Well, that’s a big question. I think the field will continue to work as it has been. We talked about $17 per hour being, for some places, a typical rate of pay. For someone that’s new to teaching art, that’s actually pretty awesome. So, you’ll always have emerging, new Teaching Artists entering the field, and you’ll always have the ones who are a bit more senior leaving the field. That’s life. There will be no shortage of Teaching Artists, ever, because the young ones will always be there to fill the place. Organizations themselves will be able to replicate their formulas and grow, but I don’t think the field itself is going to grow until the senior Teaching Artists are in more positions of influence to be able to create a graduating point for all the Teaching Artists who are leaving the field. If we can continue to stay in the field and develop our skills then we could really see something beautiful.

Q: Does that mean we should become administrators?

A: I don’t know if we become administrators. We just need more leaders. I’m not going to encourage a Teaching Artist...look, if their master skill is being in front of a class, I wouldn’t encourage them to get behind a desk. But, if they have the vision and they have the organizational skill, I would encourage them to partner with an organization...with administrators who understand the vision and know how to get the grant...know how to get the business part of it rolling, so that there is a graduating point. Right now, there’s nothing for a Teaching Artist who is really experienced to graduate to. That’s what I would love to see. We’ll always be at the mercy of someone else if we’re always asking, but not in a position of giving or creating. People ought to be asking us to participate. That’s sort of what Art of Hustle is about. Empowering ground-level artists to think bigger.

Thus ended this installment of our chat. Many thanks to Anthem Salgado for his time and thoughtful responses! Teaching Artists, if you would like to offer feedback, please click the comment button below, or send us an email.

Also: The Man In Black - When the Man Comes Around

Multiple Choice

2011-01-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Today on ATA Blog, we continue our ongoing dialogue with Teaching Artist Anthem Salgado.

Q: Ok, so what are the questions emerging Teaching Artists should be asking?

A: Is there upward mobility? What is the pay rate? Where is the biggest and brightest place I can go with this type of work? And you’ll find, if you just ask those really basic simple questions…you’ll find that the path doesn’t really go very far. And I wish I had asked those questions when I was in art school. Just real basic questions. Where can we go with this? And most people will tell you, if they’re honest, "Not that far." I went to visual art school, and even people I knew who had shown in big museums and had toured internationally were still struggling on the dollar, and if I had asked them those real questions, I think they would’ve…well, there was no way they could have lied to me…to my face. And it would’ve maybe changed some of the way I looked at life.

A: What’s the reason people aren’t asking these questions? How did we get into a situation like this, where we are paying a hundred thousand dollars for school and then being offered jobs that pay $17 per hour for three hours a week?

Q: Well, number one, most educational institutions are run like businesses, so they’re not really interested in your success in the long term. They’re just not. They just want to recruit. You’ll notice that at a lot of schools….that there’s not a lot of support post graduation. But they’ll still have the audacity to send you letters...to ask alumni to donate money. Which is hilarious. (laughs)

Q: I’m notoriously pessimistic, and you’re notoriously optimistic. I mean, you speak a lot about “abundance”, which is one reason I like talking with you. So, I wonder…within this context…within this conversation we’re having…which has a lot of negatives…you’ve still got a smile on your face, and I’m wondering how does that concept of abundance figure into this situation you’ve just described?

A: I feel like there’s only scarcity if you think that all the options available to you are only the ones that have already been presented to you. So I feel like, if you were to practice the same kind of creativity that you practice in the classroom, or if you were to take the same creativity that you practice within your own art, and apply that creativity to new ways of thinking about your own professional development, business models...then you’ll see that you have way more options. And the idea of having more options is automatically very inspiring, and it leads to optimism, because you realize you have choices. Things only get really bleak when you think you only have the choices that have already been presented to you. You're already in a disempowered position if you’re only looking at the choices that someone has allowed you to have. So if someone says “Would you choose A, B or C?” And I decide to say “D, E and F”...(laughs) automatically I’m changing the game for myself. And that’s inspiring…scary, but inspiring. (laughs)

Next on ATA Blog: Anthem Salgado presents his theory of change and suggests one sure-fire way for Teaching Artists to make those hard career choices.

Also: J.L. - Watching the Wheels

Here We Go!

2011-01-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here we go!

It's January 5^th, 2011, and I’m continuing my irregularly scheduled interview with Teaching Artist Anthem Salgado, here in San Francisco.

Q: Anthem, the question of the day is “Can you make a living as a Teaching Artist?" Most people, according to Nick Rabkin's Teaching Artist Research Project, are making $17,000 a year on average as a TA, which, of course, is not sustainable. But we’re still doing it! So, do you think people can actually make a living doing this work?

Anthem: (laughs) I would have to say you can make a living probably as a new or emerging Teaching Artist, because it would be satisfactory for you to be earning that much early in your career, but there’s no real upward mobility in the field, so, in that respect, you cannot make a living as a Teaching Artist in the long term. A lot of Teaching Artists I know are multiple freelancers. So Teaching Artist is just one among many titles that they carry throughout the course of the week just to be able to put together some decent money.

Q: We call ourselves professionals. Is that something we should just accept? How are we professional if there’s no way to make an actual living in the field? Are we then not professionals?

A: I guess most people define professional as getting paid. So if you’re getting paid you’re a professional. If you’re going to define professional by some sort of expertise...I guess in that respect you can be a professional. You can be specialized as a Teaching Artist. But if you compare it to other career choices where other individuals call themselves professional, probably it wouldn’t carry the same kind of weight. And I would go so far as to say that artists and Teaching Artists alike have this misnomer that we call career, because there isn’t a straight ahead career path for artists and Teaching Artists the same way there might be in other fields…in business or medicine or law. So, in that respect, there’s not really a full on career. We’re basically like eternal freelancers. I’d love to see that change, but, right now, that’s just the case.

Q: For people who are in education programs getting their MAs or MFAs , or just working as artists trying to cobble together this kind of career, what is your advice? Should they really be pursuing it?

A: I would say…if I was going to be blunt? I would say no. (laughs) But that’s not advice, that’s just an opinion. The advice I would really give is interview as many mentors and leaders in the field as possible to find out what you’re really getting into. Because so many people have an image of themselves within the work, but they don’t have an image of themselves within the field. So a lot of us are up for rude awakenings, because we haven’t mentally prepared ourselves for the actual reality of working in the field...because we haven’t asked those kind of career questions of our mentors.

Next on ATA Blog: Anthem suggests the essential questions every emerging TA should ask.

The Meaning of ATA

2010-12-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

What does the Association of Teaching Artists mean to our field?

A few years ago my colleagues and I were in the midst of a sensitive and somewhat drawn-out negotiation of a teaching artist union contract. I needed some outside perspective, and when I came upon the Association of Teaching Artists, I called Dale Davis. We had a long conversation about issues surrounding intellectual property, similar situations that other teaching artists had faced, and ramifications of parallel contracts in higher education contexts. We didn't necessarily nail down the answers, but Dale took the time to help me ask the right questions. And if there's one thing that we as teaching artists are called to do – in our ongoing quest to find balance in art-making and educating – it's ask the right questions.

I am grateful that I could make that call, and like other colleagues who have written this week, I am thankful that ATA provides a mechanism for sharing best practices – for encouraging emerging teaching artists – and for asking the right questions that continue to deepen the professionalism of our field.

Please consider joining me in donating today!

You can make a check payable to ATA and mailed to:The Association of Teaching Artists155 South Main Street Fairport, New York 14450-2517

Or online, at: http://www.teachingartists.com/membershippay.htm

Sonya RobinsonDirector, Artist Corps New Orleans

ATA Provides A Forum

2010-12-13T04:55:00.000-08:00

This is my first year as an ATA Board Member. When asked to join the ATA Board, I said "yes" for several reasons. I have been a teaching artist, continue to work with teaching artists and have the greatest respect for the profession and the myriad of creative skills that teaching artists share with the students they work with.

ATA provides a forum to share information and advocate for the profession. Especially in these difficult economic times, we need a place where our voices can come together. Because I want to make that voice a little stronger, I will be contributing to the ATA appeal and encourage you to do the same.

Sharon Vatsky, ATA Board Member

Who Speaks For Teaching Artists?

2010-12-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

Who speaks for teaching artists?

Artists don't generally have a problem expressing themselves. After all, art is about the expression of an idea.

Teaching artists generally don't have a problem communicating, since teaching is one of the most fundamental forms of communication.

However, when teaching artists gather and share tales of charming students, grateful parents and helpful administrators, eventually other stories emerge: the frustrations of legal limitations, poor pay rates, and absent medical benefits. A collective sigh is often heard, "Can't someone do something about this? Who can we talk to, who might know what to do?"

Does anyone hear these lamentations? Do these notes from a bitter song find an audience? Who listens to teaching artists?

ATA does.

But who shares these stories, both the charming ones and the frustrating ones? Who lets teaching artists know that they are not, in fact, alone?

ATA does.

How does ATA do it? Despite being a tiny organization with a miniscule budget (with our entire budget, we couldn't afford to buy even half of a 2004 Toyota Prius) ATA is dedicated to helping teaching artists communicate with one another, with potential employers, and with the world at large.

Our website, our listserve, our Facebook page, and our blog are all devoted to presenting the many points of view teaching artists possess. And in 2011, we're engaging in our most ambitious project yet: a Teaching Artists Congress, which will gather key figures from across the nation to address the state of teaching artistry, and hopefully, generate some momentum that will empower teaching artists and strengthen their positions within organizations and community groups.

ATA needs your help to maintain its current projects and to take things forward. Yes, the recession makes donating even more difficult-- but financial challenges are something teaching artists contend with, even during a stable economy. Please consider contributing to the advancement of teaching artists by supporting ATA, with whatever amount you can.

Who speaks for teaching artists?

ATA does.

In everything we do, we try to give a voice to those talented people who help others find expression in their lives.

Who helps ATA?

Now that's a question only YOU can answer

Sincerely,

Phil Alexander
Board Chair, Association of Teaching Artists

ATA Appeal

2010-12-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

From the desk of Stephen Yaffe, ATA Board Member:

Every Thanksgiving I send greetings to teaching artists. Some I have worked with. Some I am working with. On the surface it seems like a simple holiday wish. But it's actually a practice for me, a way of expressing gratitude for knowing these gifted people and knowing the good work they do is reaching students across the country.

This Thanksgiving I have one more thing to be grateful for; being on the board of ATA and having the opportunity of serving greater numbers of teaching artists. Help us serve you better, address your needs, support your work, stand behind you, stand with you and, where we can, stand for you.

Send a contribution $5, $10, $20, what you can. It all adds up. We'll put it to good use.

This holiday let's be grateful for what we have, grateful for what we do and grateful to those who support our efforts.

Thank you and happy holidays,

Stephen Yaffe, ATA Board Member

Please make your check payable to The Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) and mail it to:

The Association of Teaching Artists
155 South Main Street
Fairport, New York 14450-2517

Thanks

2010-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Teaching Artists:

Please give to ATA.

Thanks!

The Dancer or the Dance?

2010-11-21T23:03:00.000-08:00

A recent article in Education Week trumpets "Schools Integrate Dance into Core Academics".

Hurrah...I think.

I mean, yet again, we are presented with a shining example of Teaching Artists working extremely hard to prove the art's worth and value as a tool to augment a failing educational system’s “core” curriculum.

Johnny still can’t read.

The Achievement Gap is a chasm.

But Arts Integration works!

Hurrah.

If we can change nothing else, I propose we at least change the term “arts integration” to ARTIST INTEGRATION.

Let's give credit where credit is due.

Is it the art, or the ARTIST that makes the difference?

Is it the DANCER or the Dance?

Is it our art-form that increases levels of student engagement and makes for a better learning environment, or is it us?

Maybe these Teaching Artists are just good teachers?

Perhaps our habits of mind, and the fact that art is a form of communication, make some of us really effective in the classroom?

If the thing formerly known as arts integration is effective, then perhaps students in teacher training programs should be studying how Teaching Artists operate? We could model best practices.

Also: US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urges states to cut expensive masters degree bonus programs from the budget. According to an Associated Press article “Duncan told the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday that master's degree bonuses are an example of spending money on something that doesn't work.” At the same event, billionaire Bill Gates said "My own state of Washington has an average salary bump of nearly $11,000 for a master's degree - and more than half of our teachers get it. That's more than $300 million every year that doesn't help kids.”

OMG. I thought they wanted us to enter the world of higher education. I'm so confused!

Push

2010-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Like I said last time, I think that Teaching Artists will enjoy the high professional status of plumbers only after we can manage to do two big things:

First, I think that we have to wholeheartedly embrace the idea of accountability in our work. That means we have to have a group of representatives draft a set of core standards and a list of professional competencies that we can all hew to and hate on.

Sure, we’ll bicker, but they will be there, our high standards, uniting us and broadcasting our professional identity as Teaching Artists from sea to shining sea.

And they shall know us by our jargon.

We have so many terrific starting points for this national conversation. We just need a union, some snazzy letterhead, and an interview with the Wizard.

Secondly, we have to create effective and affordable Teaching Artist training programs that are separate and distinct from the MA programs that train and certify regular classroom teachers.

These Teaching Artist training programs should definitely be in universities, or wherever, I don't care, just as long as they don't cost emerging TAs an arm and a leg, and graduates can get a paper at the end that qualifies them to teach in a public school and earn an actual salary.

Public education is where arts education belongs.

Third, I know I said two, but this is my holiday appeal, so, THIRDLY, we have to get serious and coalesce into something that looks like an actual profession. The research says we aren't managing to make a collective living in this field we care so passionately about.

According to the previewed results of the Teaching Artist Research Project, the average TA made $17,000 last year.

Seriously.

Stop laughing.

It's true, and it's just ridiculous.

Why are we training people to be Teaching Artists through these MA programs if there are no decent jobs for them? How are emerging TAs supposed to be able to pay off their massive student loans while earning $17,000 per year?

We need to do some community organizing. Studs Terkel didn't hate unions, and that's good enough for me. Capitalism, you might have noticed?

So, if we are going to survive, I think we should pool our resources and get what all the other professions have: plush national and regional offices with overpaid administrators, and lobbyists whose sole job is to make darn sure that Teaching Artists get what we need to get and stay middle class. I am referring to the holy grail of American middle class existence: A living wage, a pension plan and affordable health care. Face it, this may be the last period in American history that these things are in any way attainable and I think we need to move fast as a group, or we’re toast.

This holiday season, and until our Bastille Day arrives, please, join something nascent that has the feel of a movement. Join and give your time, expertise, and cash for the collective good of Teaching Artists everywhere. It's for your own good.

You’ve got so many choices:

Teaching Artists Organized is in California.

The Association of Teaching Artists is in New York.

Chicago Teaching Artists Collective is in the middle. At least, they were earlier in the decade. Chicago, are you there?

Please, give to ATA this holiday season.

Give an amount that's significant and meaningful to you.

Next Time on ATA Blog: "It's A Trap" In which I express the creeping feeling that our love for arts integration means we'll always be second-class educators.

Also: Let's Push Things Forward - The Streets

Charge

2010-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I am a professional Teaching Artist. I work in a variety of contexts. Like most veteran TAs, I've taught all over: universities, public schools, private schools, classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, gymnasiums, basketball courts, mobile “temporary” classrooms, hallways, stairwells, lobbies, amphitheaters, black-box theaters, outdoor theaters, dance studios, art galleries, offices, prisons, women’s shelters, community centers, storefronts, churches, church basements, regular basements, parking lots, sidewalks and in the street, among other places.

I still don't know how this thing works.

I have facilitated classes for everyone from infants to seniors. I've taught in English and Spanglish, and something that felt like charades. I dutifully went to school, and I have an MFA that cost too much money. Over the past few years, perusing Craigslist, I’ve seen TA jobs that offered anywhere from $10 per workshop, to $15 per workshop, to $20 per workshop and less. Over the last ten years, I’ve had gigs that paid me something like the following range of fees: zero dollars, $30 per workshop, $45 per workshop, $80 per workshop, $150 per workshop, $175 per workshop and hundreds of dollars per day, all to do what I consider to be, basically, the same kind of intellectual and physical labor.

I have been a volunteer, begrudgingly, and only for people, and causes, and organizations that I really trust, care about, and admire. I rationalize this by reminding myself that people rarely ask a plumber to volunteer. We have too much respect for a plumber's training and expertise, and expect to pay for it. I would like to think I’m in a profession that as valuable and respected, but I’m pretty sure I’m not because plumbers usually get paid up front.

I think that Teaching Artists will achieve the status of plumbers only after we can manage to do two big things.

I'll talk about those tomorrow, or like, whenever I can get to it.

In the meantime, give a donation to ATA before the end of the year, please. Give an amount that's significant and meaningful to you.

Art is Again the Answer

2010-11-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

Someone, I think it was me, recently asked this question:

Is the professional artist with no advanced degree, certification or background in education really qualified to teach?

The short answer is “Yes, of course@^**&%What? Are you kidding?"

Yes, yes and, for the last time, yes, artists with no advanced degrees in education are totally qualified to teach. Some of us, right out of the box.

Here’s one reason why:

1. WE’RE PLAYFUL!

Seriously, Ken Robinson is not the first person in the history of the world to point out that creative play is the skill set of the future. John Dewey, who is long dead, goes on and on about imaginative play; noting that, especially in early childhood, play is a “purposeful activity” that has “an end in the sense of a directing idea.” Sure, he makes it sound boring, but if you can manage to get to the end of a passage, you'll realize that Dewey's absolutely on our side.

“In their intrinsic meaning, play and industry are by no means so antithetical to one another as is often assumed...Both involve ends consciously entertained and the selection and adaptations of materials and processes designed to effect the desired ends.”

See? After much comparing and contrasting and an ironically dreary passage about drudgery, Dewey offers another gem of the ocean:

“Education has no more serious responsibility than making adequate provision for enjoyment of recreative leisure; not only for the sake of immediate health, but still more if possible for the sake of its lasting effect upon habits of mind. Art is again the answer to this demand.”

I don't know about you, but I feel validated.

Get to work!

Also: Cathleen P. Black went to private schools and sent her children to private schools. She has no advanced degree in education, no certifications and, virtually, no experience in public education at all. Ms. Black is going to be the new chancellor of New York City Schools.

Laugh it up.

-------

Democracy and Education: Play and Work in the Curriculum. Dewey, John.

Enough About Me

2010-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

For the past two years or so, ATA blog has been, for me, a sort of diary. Sometimes I get serious and write about the hows and whys and ways in which we teach and my favorite books. Often, I just post links to my favorite music videos and complain about how hard it is to make a dollar and a dream. The issues I write about arise from my experience as a community-oriented teaching artist, and from my strong belief that art is probably the answer, no matter the question. This blog is advocacy, but it’s also kind of an ongoing art project.

I usually begin by acknowledging the truth, which is hardly ever easy, at least in the beginning. The current reality, for many of us, is that we have full artistic lives, we teach part-time, we probably have inadequate training as teachers (at least in the beginning), and we are, generally, poorly compensated.[1]

We arrive in the classroom through many different doorways, some of us by necessity, some of us because we feel we are called to teach.[2]

We do our work in a variety of contexts—schools, church basements—and, although many of us have advanced degrees in education or art, many of us don’t. Many of us learned, or are learning, how to teach on the job. In a supposedly professional field, this reality raises big questions:

Is the professional artist with no advanced degree, certification or background in education really qualified to teach?

What are the qualities of effective teaching and what basic skills, competencies and understandings should a professional teaching artist possess?

This blog addresses these questions over and over and over again because the terrain keeps presenting new challenges. As Dale Davis, ATA's Executive Director often requests, please contribute to ATA, and email your thoughts, comments and links to things that TAs might use. Your input helps make ATA a resource for teaching artists who, "qualified" or not, are out there doing the work.

Go Teach!

Also: The Trammps - Disco Inferno

[1] Teaching Artist Research Project http://www.nea.gov/research/Workforce-Forum/PDF/Rabkin.pdf

[2] Teaching Artists and their Work http://www.teachingartists.com/Association%20of%20Teaching%20Artists%20Survey%20Results.pdf

What You Said

2010-11-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

Dale Davis, Executive Director of the Association of Teaching Artists, reports that Teaching Artists from all fifty states and the District of Columbia responded to ATA's latest survey. The results of Teaching Artists and Their Work (PDF) add valuable insights to the ongoing conversation about Teaching Artists; providing information, resources and data for advocates, administrators and TAs. The responses are available for download, and may be discussed, at your leisure, on ATA's Facebook page, or wherever TAs hang out.

Anthem

2010-11-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

I am sort of interviewing Teaching Artists in my spare time, to find out what they think about our craft and our professional identity as TAs. Here is the start of an interview I conducted over lunch with Anthem Salgado, a leading Bay Area Teaching Artist. It has been lightly edited, because sometimes we stopped interviewing to talk about food and whatnot.

INTERVIEW W/ TEACHING ARTIST ANTHEM SALGADO

Q: How long have you been a TA?

A: On and off for about…oh my gosh, well if you count like the very first workshop I ever gave, I dunno, eleven years?

Q: How long have you considered yourself a professional teaching artist then? Is that different?

A: Well, it’s still on and off. I started getting paid gigs...even back then it's inconsistent. Probably the most consistent, when I started getting consistent work, was maybe five or six years ago? Even then that wasn't all the time consistent. It was just more regular than it ever had been up to that point.

Q: Is there a kind of a line between being a kind of sometime teaching artist and a professional, like “now, I’m a professional?”

A: (Nods) Like, yeah. “Now, I'm doing this pretty frequently…designing classes, you know, I’m having a style that I'm working towards, I have a methodology, a philosophy?” Yeah, then maybe that would be about five years ago I would have started conjuring those ideas more deeply.

Q: What makes a professional teaching artist?

A: I think…(laughs) well, uh, it's such a huge question. There are so many ways to answer it. I think number one is there's gotta be training.... I think training is a big part of it, because I feel like, even when I started giving workshops it took me a while to figure out how to do them properly…to develop your sort of like teacher persona. And that's something that you get with experience and training. I think you gotta have, like any organization or any person doing anything, you gotta have a commitment to certain values, which drives the whole project forward. And those are the kinds of…when you really check in with your values that's how you find out how you're going to teach certain skills, why you're teaching certain skills, what benefit you see your students getting. And those all come from what you value.

Like, I value the narrative…empowering people. So for me, I'm really interested in teaching people basic storytelling skills. And a lot of people ask me technical questions about theater or acting, but I think ultimately, and I say this all the time, you can get technical skills all kinds of different places. But my personal emphasis as a teaching artist, for performance, is I want people to really get to a place where they can connect as humans with themselves, with the audience, with their fellow scene partners. And when we have that human connection, then they can do all the more technical study after that. But for me, because I know that's what I value as a person, that's what I emphasize in my teaching, you know…for example. (laughs)

Thus ended the lunch. Thanks to Anthem for being so generous as to share. I will post more interviews, or something else, soon, or at some point.

Short Bursts of Light

2010-11-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I said I was done here, but I've missed keeping this journal, and have therefore decided I'm going to post whenever I feel like it, because why not?

I am new to San Francisco, and the world is still spinning, so last night I hopped on BART, which is what they call public transportation in this town, and headed to Berkeley to hang out with the other Teaching Artists at an event sponsored by Teaching Artists Organized (TAO).

I'm so glad I attended, for TAO is just what it says; a super-organized group of TAs led by Executive Director Sabrina Klein and an executive committee of teaching artists and administrators.

Researcher Nick Rabkin, who is in town for the National Guild for Community Arts Education Conference, presented the results of the Teaching Artist Research Project (PDF) and I live-tweeted the event on Twitter. You can read my brief notes here. I warn you, there was quite a spread, and it's hard to Tweet while eating crackers.

Off to the races!

The End

2010-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, the good news is the same as the bad news. This is preamble to the announcement that I have to quit writing this blog. Happily, I have recently accepted a gig in San Francisco, and, since there are only so many hours in the day, sadly, I am out of here.

I have enjoyed keeping this teaching artist blog for the Association of Teaching Artists, and I hope it has been of some use, or, at least, diverting.

Dear professional Teaching Artist: I appreciate you, and I hope you keep in touch by email. If you are a teaching artist who would like to keep a regular blog for other teaching artists, please contact Dale Davis and she'll give you the hook up!

If you miss me, I can still be found here and here.

As usual, I will close with some rambling essential truths, a couple of slogans and a few random calls to action:

1. ATA's Executive Director, Dale Davis, is a hero and a visionary! The Association of Teaching Artists would not exist without her. This organization belongs to you, the working TA, and with your commitment and contributions it has the potential to be a national organizing body for professional teaching artists. Do something!

2. Teaching Artists of the world, unite! Demand a living wage, healthcare and some sort of a pension plan. They will never give us what we need unless we push for it, and even then, probably not, because paying people what they need to survive is not cost efficient.

3. We do the work.

Also: Got To Get You Into My Life - Earth, Wind & Fire

Draw Them In

2010-10-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

Drawing is fun, and sometimes a distraction. For instance, in those rare moments when we are all seated, I may notice a student doodling while I'm trying to teach other things through theater. I'm being all about experiential learning and whatnot and there they are doodling, not paying attention to me, but to the lines unspooling on the page. Noticing, I say "Hey!" but then I wonder, if they are bored, then perhaps I am being boring? If so, my hurt feelings are not the point. Maybe I should check my ego, and expand my thinking? Maybe I should bring the art of drawing into my teaching practice to increase levels of student engagement. Maybe adding more art processes to the mix will grab their attention and draw them in? The first reason I do not use much visual art practice in my teaching, is that I suspect everyone in the room can probably draw better than me, and, secondly, I have no idea how to talk about or describe the process of drawing. Luckily, I discovered this new series called Line by Line by James Mcmullan in the New York Times, which describes the art and practice of drawing by hand. Serendipity. The first article in the series was about drawing an ellipse, referred to as "the frisbee of art." The most recent piece builds on the first, and describes the process of cross-hatching in great detail. Just like that, my problem is solved. Now I can practice drawing with students, talk about drawing with students, and I can even use this thoughtful series of articles to get students to read about and reflect on the art of drawing. It's like a lesson plan just fell in my lap.

Line by Line by James McMullan can be found here.

Also: It's Friday, and ATA is on the social network called Facebook. Where are you?

Desire

2010-09-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

I am a professional teaching artist; a reflective practitioner. This post continues a stream of consciousness that started somewhere around here. Your thoughtful suggestions and comments are appreciated.

XI. Desired Learning Outcomes

A Teaching Artist is a reflective being, dedicated to the realization of clearly defined and articulated learning outcomes for students.

To be fully realized, desired learning outcomes must exist before the shared experience of teaching and learning begins.

In the physical world, learning outcomes usually take the form of brief statements written at the top of a lesson plan.

These statements may be derived from national learning standards, from state or local learning standards, from conversations with a classroom teacher, or from a combination of these.

Often these statements share a common preamble, such as “the student will understand”, but this is a mistake, since the field of understanding is too broad to be of use as an assessment tool.

Therefore, when stating desired learning outcomes, the wise teaching artist takes care to use language that imagines the student taking the kind of action that is observable, measurable, and repeatable.

This is the realm of active verbs, and phrases such as “the student will draw connections between…” or “the student will be able to….”

The twin foundations of this kind of teaching are the concepts of accountability, and transformation.

The teaching artist is accountable to a set of learning standards, and does work that can be evaluated.

The student transforms concepts into action, and is in turn transformed.

The process of learning is transformative and circular.

Our work, accountable and specific, leaves traces--evidence of our success or failure.

Also: Sly & the Family Stone - Higher

Engaged

2010-09-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

This post is about student engagement and the practice of Teaching Artistry. It picks up a stream of thought that was last found somewhere around here.

X. Student Engagement

When art is purposefully integrated into the curriculum, opportunities for student engagement are increased.

Student engagement is the key to understanding. Without it, the doors to understanding remain firmly shut, since no one can force anyone to learn.

Learning is a choice.

When content, comprised of concepts, facts and figures is framed by an essential question, authentic student engagement is more possible.

The lesson that is constructed of questions always provides more than one doorway to enter.

When content is abstracted from experience; unconnected and irrelevant to student’s lives; things may be memorized, but not truly understood. This truth is made painfully clear during testing.

The qualities that support high student engagement are relevancy, urgency, and agency.

Relevancy means that something is important enough to pay attention to.

Students will not choose to pay attention if learning is irrelevant to their daily lives.

Relevancy honors the idea that these individuals already existed before you came into the classroom, and they will exist when you leave.

Urgency is the feeling that we have to do this now.

A feeling of urgency comes from structuring lessons as problem-solving experiences, collaboratively and incrementally, we work in the now because something must be figured out before we can move on.

This kind of teaching builds excitement in the room.

Agency is the idea that the individual has power and is allowed to make personal choices within the learning experience.

Given appropriate responsibility and power to make choices, most students will feel more inclined to engage.

All of these qualities arise from the essential question. If the question is boring, so will be the class.

Also: Rakim - The M-stery

Lost

2010-09-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Why did Washington,DC's Mayoral incumbent Adrian Fenty, and his school reform champion Michelle Rhee, go down in defeat? For an answer to this question I turn to Diane Ravitch, which is itself deserving of an explanation because I usually disagree with her. But, lately, on very special days, I have noticed Diane Ravitch is right. I think this might be one one of those days.

In her most recent letter to her pen pal Deborah Mier, Ms. Ravitch addresses the election in Washington, DC, and hits the nail on the head, arguing that Mr. Fenty lost because Mayoral control of the school system led to an undemocratic process of school reform. The speed with which Ms. Rhee worked her changes, and her apparent unwillingness to compromise, may have led the majority of African American voters to feel they were being ignored. The vote became a referendum on school reform and the reformers got schooled. Sadly, the district's children may not be so lucky.

Ms. Ravitch makes another strong point:

"When the Tea Party wins a race, journalists don't write about who controlled their vote, but about a voter revolt; they acknowledge that those who turned out to vote had made a conscious decision. Yet when black voters, by large margins, chose Vincent Gray over Adrian Fenty, journalists found it difficult to accept that the voters were acting on their own, not as puppets of the teachers' union."

Read the rest at Education Week.

Also: Keep up with all the news and more by getting on Dale's List. Join the ATA Forum on Yahoo, and stay in the loop with daily updates on everything from jobs, to trends in education. Membership is FREE.

Location, Location

2010-09-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you wake up and you ask the universe, where in the world can I find a community of teaching artists?

The answer depends on where you are on the map.

The Bay Area: Teaching Artists Organized has a new website.

New York: The Association of Teaching Artists is on Facebook.

Chicago: Chicago Teaching Artist Collective is on Yahoo.

Brain Work

2010-09-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has made me aware of another spectacular teaching and learning community with a nifty slogan: "Abandon all hierarchical learning ye who enter here”, declares the Brooklyn Brainery. I did and entered to find courses in lots of cool topics, and links to skillsharing events I had never known about. To learn more, visit their website: www.brooklynbrainery.com.

Also: ATA is on Facebook. Where in the world are you?

School Day

2010-09-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

A thrilling missive from teaching artists Cassie Thornton and Chris Kennedy of the School of the Future arrived in the mailbox today about an event that happens tomorrow, which, depending upon where you are geographically, might be today.

Here is the news flash:

We greet you this Fall from islands of schooling in the South and from the West! Although our student faculties have left the asphalt land of NYC, we still think about the achievement and scholarship that took place this summer.

This Friday to celebrate you and all that you have contributed as both students and teachers, you are cordially invited to join us for an Opening Reception of a show organized by Trust Art and Kidd Yellin called '5 Social Victories', an exhibition dedicated to charting the evidence, processes, communities, and achievements surrounding five visionary public art projects, including the School of the Future by Cassie Thornton and Chris Kennedy, Wildness by Seth Aylmer, Humanity by Anne McClain, Dreamers by Justin Tellian, and Vulture by Dave Olsen.

The Opening Reception will be held on Friday, September 17th at 7:00 pm with the exhibition on view from September 17th-26th, 2010. Kidd Yellin is located in Red Hook at 133 Imlay St. Brooklyn, NY 11231 ( Directions: 4/5 to Borough Hall or A/C/F to Jay St. to B61 Bus (to Van Brunt & Verona St.)

Remember that the future is always in the past as we share our continuing knowledge of a better education in the present.
Please keep in touch.

Still building the school,
Chris + Cassie

Also: The Jackson Five - Medley 1972

At the Movies

2010-09-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

San Francisco is home to the San Francisco Film Society, and from September 24-26 the organization will present the NY-SF International Children's Film Festival.

This three-day event celebrates "diverse, enlightening, inspiring and entertaining films for kids and teens". Along with feature films, the festival program includes a global sampling of documentaries, animation, and short films geared toward young people ages 3–18 and their families.

To support the work, the San Francisco Film Society has developed a youth education and school outreach program that includes interactive workshops and special screenings for school children and their teachers.

I am looking forward to Oblivion Island, which is a 3-D adventure movie from Japan. It shows on September 25th @ 2:15 pm and it has subtitles and is recommended for ages 8-16.

All of the films will be screened at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema.

The program promises visits from some of the filmmakers and much more. Full details of the events are posted here.

Free To Be

2010-09-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Today, as usual, we are making it up. What follows is an attempt to break down my approach to improvisational teaching, which is, of course, impossible. This post joins this stream. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

IX. Improvisation

Improvisation is an act of reflection.

The ability to successfully improvise within a set of parameters, is a sure sign of professionalism in a teaching artist.

Successful improvisation advances the planned goals of a lesson and is the visible peak of a repeatable four-step process that may be completed in an instant, or may unfold over time.

The steps of improvisation for the teaching artist are goal-setting, observing, diagnosing, and responding.

Goal-setting means the teaching artist has a value system, and knows the criteria for success.

Observing means the teaching artist assesses the situation with internalized rubrics and questions.

Diagnosing means the teaching artist evaluates the situation, and imagines prescriptive moves.

Responding means the teaching artist springs into action during the moment of opportunity, trying to steer people toward a more unified understanding.

Even though the elements of preparation, experience, aptitude, and training are its true source, successful improvisation may appear to be solely the fruit of inspiration, but this is an illusion.

Drawing on past experience, and attached to specific learning outcomes, the skillful teaching artist stays in the moment, predicts the future, and transforms whatever is offered into something useful.

Accepting everything, and judging nothing, the slogan of the successful improviser is "Yes, and..."

All of this was sometime a paradox, but experience makes it true.

Also: September - Earth, Wind and Fire

Question and Answer

2010-09-09T08:53:00.007-07:00

This post continues a look at Teaching Artistry that has a beginning, but no end. Today, the topic is questions, which is terrific because I always seem to have more than my share.

VIII. Modes of Questioning

Teaching Artistry is made manifest whenever the TA displays the ability to pose a useful question at the appropriate time.

Closed Questions are limited in scope. Here the student is expected to recall and respond with a single word or a specific piece of information. In this realm, power stays with the questioner.

Open Questions have a wider scope. Here the student is expected to reflect and respond with more than a single word. In this realm, power is shared.

Questions, whether open or closed, are grappled with in the mind, but can be posed verbally, physically, or through a combination of words and activities.

The number of questions available to the Teaching Artist is infinite as grains of sand, but the available modes of questioning may be reduced to three:

There are questions that help us see the facts. This is the sphere of memory and comprehension.

There are questions that help us see where things converge or diverge. This is the sphere of analysis and application.

There are questions that help us draw conclusions. This is the sphere of synthesis and evaluation.

For the Teaching Artist who discovers how and when to pose questions, teaching is transformed into a learning experience; a reciprocal and collaborative process where surprise is possible.

The Essentials

2010-09-04T10:33:00.005-07:00

This post is a continuation of this stream. Recent posts quote from and mimic the format of Yoga: Discipline of Freedom the Yoga Sutra attributed to Pantanjali translated by Barbara Stoler Miller.

VII. Essential Questions

When essential questions are articulated, a workshop’s reason for existence is revealed and obstacles to effective workshop planning fall away.

The obstacles that distract effective workshop planning include apathy, laziness, doubt, misconception, carelessness, failure to attain a firm foundation in pedagogy, and ego.

These distractions can result in poorly integrated lessons with unclear and/or misaligned goals, objectives and activities, along with an often incoherent approach to assessment and evaluation.

The practice of training emerging teaching artists to plan backward, to articulate essential questions, and to continually assess the quality of their work is the means to prevent and overcome these distractions.

Here's a summer reading list of books and authors I must give credit to for many of the ideas in these most recent posts.

Understanding By Design by Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe

Asking Better Questions by Norah Morgan & Juliana Saxton

Yoga: Immortality and Freedom by Mircea Eliade

The Reflective Practioner: How Professionals Think In Action by Donald A. Schon

Acting Learning and Plays by Jan Mandell and Jennifer Lynn Wolf

Structuring Drama Work by Jonothan Neelands

I believe the term "essential question" is now the property of UBD and I dig it, but I might rather say "driving question" instead. They also talk about unit questions versus essential questions. I have heard it said that essential questions are "human questions." That works for me. What do you think?

Also: Studs Terkel: Conversations with America

Endurance Testing

2010-09-03T07:56:00.007-07:00

This post continues my previous musings on the subject of Teaching Artistry. I do appreciate your thoughtfully worded comments, thoughts, and suggestions. Click here to send a nice email.

VI. Enduring Understandings

Teaching Artistry can also come from dedication to the concept of an Enduring Understanding.

An enduring understanding can be recognized by its usefulness and high value relative to other things that are worth knowing.

It is the kind of understanding that goes beyond facts and figures, stretching across the curriculum to provide a contextual framework for things we already know or things we still need to learn.

An enduring understanding serves us in other areas of our lives, either as a model for grappling with something similar, or as an underlying structure in a broader field of knowledge.

It is a distinct form of awareness; simultaneously augmenting, and relying on, our ability to transfer things we have previously learned to a new context.

An enduring understanding both encompasses, and reconfigures, the familiar taxonomy of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

The artist dedicated to generating enduring understandings through their work becomes an accountable and ethical teacher; acknowledging that people need the tools to both decipher and construct meaning for themselves.

Also: ATA is on Facebook. Where are you?

Also: Madonna - Nothing Really Matters

Learning Experiences

2010-09-01T08:08:00.007-07:00

Today, I will continue my attempt to describe the doctrines that make up my teaching practice. Links to previous posts on the same topic can be found here. I am inspired by Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Barbara Stoler Miller, so I am writing in epigrammatic fashion, and this is going to take awhile, if not forever. In the meantime, Teaching Artists are invited to comment below, or, if you feel compelled, please send an email with suggestions. That would be nice.

V. Learning Experiences

In a workshop where the arts are purposefully integrated, understanding can arise through various forms of inquiry, reflection, enjoyment and practice.

Beyond this is a workshop where the teacher and student are engaged in a shared process of discovery.

For teachers and students who are curious, but still enmeshed in a workshop without art, understanding is limited by a reliance on the phenomenal world.

For others, understanding follows from inspiration, imagination, conjecture, experimentation, and performance.

For teaching artists with a lesson plan, understanding arises by design.

Higher than this is a workshop where the student is curious, questioning and self-directed.

Also: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt

Planning & Improvisation

2010-08-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is my continued attempt to describe the practice of teaching artistry. Read the previous post here.

IV. Lesson Planning and Improvisation

The purposeful integration of art and knowledge comes through lesson planning and improvisation.

Lesson planning is the conscious effort to envision the entirety of a workshop.

A lesson plan is firmly grounded when its goals are specific, measurable, accountable, repeatable, and bound by time.

Improvisation is the sign of mastery in a Teaching Artist.

Effective improvisation advances the goals of the lesson plan, and arises through observation and assessment.

Also: Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts

Verses

2010-08-26T07:44:00.007-07:00

I. OK, this is an attempt to describe the practice of Teaching Artistry.

Teaching Artistry is the purposeful integration of art with specific knowledge so that people can achieve a certain level of understanding.

When arts are integrated into a workshop, the person can achieve a deeper understanding, and is capable of transferring knowledge to other areas.

Otherwise, the individual achieves a shallow understanding, and is incapable of transferring knowledge.

II. Understanding, whether deep or shallow, comes through inquiry and reflection.

Without inquiry and reflection, there is no understanding.

Knowledge, whether of skills or of concepts, can be of two kinds: expertise and awareness.

The person attaining expertise and awareness of specific skills and concepts should be able to demonstrate what they know.

III. Demonstrations of knowledge and understanding can be set up as formative and summative assessments.

Formative assessments are non-evaluative in nature. They are used during the teaching and learning process to answer three questions:

What do I want to know and understand?
How close am I to that knowledge and understanding?
What will close the gap?

Summative assessments are evaluative in nature. They are used at the end of a learning process to answer three questions:

What do I know and understand?
How deep is my knowledge and understanding, especially in relationship to other people's?
What don’t I know and/or understand that I had intended to learn?

That's it for now, but this kind of rambling and musing about the nature of our work will be continued here, quite possibly forever, but at least for the rest of the month...off and on.

Also: @ the New York Times, a report on the winners of the Race to the Top, in which we learn the sad truth: If it's a competition, somebody has to lose.

Also: Ravi Shankar - Mangalam

The Great Beyond

2010-08-21T10:12:00.005-07:00

"Somehow, understanding goes beyond knowing. But how?"

This thrilling question, which I am pondering now, and probably forever, is posed by David Perkins in an 1993 essay which you can read in its entirety here.

As you may recall, my new advocacy campaign is based on the idea that Teaching Artists achieve professional status only when we embrace the idea of accountability and find effective ways to integrate it into our planning model. Of course, many of us are already doing this successfully and have done so for decades, usually within schools and cultural organizations that provide the time, money and kind of administrative support necessary to document and assess our work.

The focal point of the discussion is the concept of UNDERSTANDING. There are many seminal books on the subject, including Understanding By Design. Indeed, talking about teaching for understanding is a cottage industry. But I can't afford to buy all these books and seminars. I just want to do good work and get paid a living wage.

Therefore, I shall begin to organize my random thoughts into a nice manageable list of do's and don'ts, or Yamas and Niyamas, mostly Niyamas.

I warn you, this may take some time and there will be detours. Please send me your thoughtful comments and suggestions.

Ok, here goes!

1. DO try your best to create delightfully challenging experiences that move students toward a deeper understanding of specific concepts.

2. DO be really specific about what you are hoping students will know, understand, or be able to do when they are done working with you.

3. DON'T do random things in your workshops that are unconnected to your desired outcomes. It's a waste of time and kind of unethical when you think about it. This does not mean you can't be creative. In fact, disciplining your mind to envision everything you want to say and do in the workshop means that you have to be more innovative and flexible. Also, teaching then becomes more like a partially improvised performance, and you can achieve the same kind of rush you get onstage, just don't go overboard because it's not all about you mister.

4. DO provide multiple ways for students to engage with the knowledge, understandings and skills-sets the workshop has been planned around. Don't set up just one narrow door, because everybody is different, and if you don't believe me, ask Howard Gardner.

5. DO make rubrics because they are infinitely adjustable tools that you can use for planning, assessment and eventually evaluation.

6. DON'T confuse Assessment and Evaluation when you are planning. These are two different things. Assessment is more about observing and identifying where someone is along a continuum. It's a conversation starter. A grade kind of says "we're done here".

In the next few weeks, I will continue to post about these things, but I am traveling, so don't judge me if I miss a day.

Also: ATA is on Facebook. Where are you?

Also: Joni Mitchell - Help Me

The Open

2010-08-18T08:18:00.001-07:00

The Open Studio Project, which is produced by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, is a "Collection of Art-making Ideas by Artists". Open Studio "aims to make contemporary arts education accessible to teachers and classrooms across the nation and around the world."

Lead artist, and MacArthur Award-winner, Mark Bradford, explains his inspiration for the project in a video on their site. His delightful 3-part lesson plan is excerpted below:

Assignment #1
Song Text Piece: Arrangement/Subtraction

Pick a song with lyrics that you like, then type the lyrics into the computer. Pick a font you like and make the type size 36 or 48, so that it’s big enough to read at a distance, and then print the whole thing out. Cut the words out and arrange them on a large poster-sized sheet of paper. Finally, use scissors and cut out words that you don’t like, or that make you feel bad or uncomfortable.

… if you re-arrange the words out of order, is it a remix?

Download a PDF version of all the lesson plans at the Getty.

Did you know that links to resources like this are often posted on The Association of Teaching Artists Facebook page?

Super Model

2010-08-14T09:53:00.001-07:00

The Arts Education Master Plan developed by the San Francisco Unified School District concludes that "Assessment is inherent to the artistic process" and offers itself as a conversation-starter and step toward establishing "standards and expectations for the literary arts that can provide a statewide and national model." On page 23, the Master Plan goes on to say that assessments in the classroom should be "formative (conducted when a program is being developed or improved) and summative (typically quantitative, using numeric scores or letter grades to gauge a student’s achievement)."

Using Assessment as the foundation of a TA planning model requires that the Teaching Artist articulate desired learning outcomes that are specific, observable, and measurable. Our planned activities are aligned, and TAs can come away with documentation--written observations, reports and data. I wonder if you feel close to the idea that this kind of planning will make for better teaching, and that our collaborations with Classroom Teachers will be more successful in terms of student achievement? Teaching Artists are invited to send an email or make a comment on the blog.

According to the Master Plan, the assessments should follow the five strands outlined in the California Visual Arts Content Standards:

Artistic perception – processing sensory information through elements unique to the arts.

Creative expression – creating or performing original or existing art works.

Historical and cultural context – understanding and appreciating how the arts represent the time and place of their creation.

Aesthetic valuing – analyzing, judging and pursuing meaning in the arts.

Connections, relationships and applications – applying what has been
learned through the arts to other subjects to support lifelong learning.

Download a copy of the SFUSD Arts Education Master Plan at their website.

Also: Blondie - The Tide is High

Something to Talk About

2010-08-10T08:56:00.007-07:00

In a recent blog post, Teaching Artist, and author, Rabin Nickens asks "Can we talk arts advocacy?"

This article gives me the thrill one gets from swimming in the zeitgeist. It is peppered with interesting observations, suggestions, and links to online conversations about things like formative and summative assessment. These are all things I adore, and want to know more about.

At one point, Ms. Nickens quotes a blog post by theater artist Bora Koknar, who writes: "Instead of focusing on the ‘soft’ skills we can anecdotally show we improve such as creativity, critical thinking, empathy, ability to make judgments etc, we need to speak the language of the policy makers."

Hurrah!

Ms. Nickens' final paragraph frames the issue quite nicely:

"Ultimately, I don't think that arts educators are from Mars and everyone else is from Venus. We already speak the same language in terms of our mutual desire to effect positive change and development in the lives of young people. (S)haring specific evidence of how our work impacts academic achievement will only facilitate understanding and benefit the children and families we serve."

Read the rest of the post here.

Also: Shirley Bassey - Where Do I Begin?

Be More Specific

2010-08-06T06:05:00.006-07:00

Today, and much to our delight, we will share a rubric emailed to us by a fellow Teaching Artist.

Those who have been following along on the blog already know that our most recent fantastic voyage is all about rubrics, and learning the language and processes of assessment. In posts here and there and elsewhere, we have been offering up drafts of a rubric that students and Teaching Artists can use to assess student work in a Spoken Word Workshop for 5th Graders.

So far, I have posted two different versions of the rubric. The first version functions like a checklist, asking "did the student meet the criteria? Yes or No." After some feedback, I drafted a second version containing a scale. This scale allows a TA to answer the question "how close to proficiency is the student?" Anything that allows a Teaching Artist to frame observations in multiple ways is alright by me. Think of it, now you too can look up from your artwork to greet a passing administrator with a cheery "yes, the students are getting it! Here are the numbers: Out of twenty-five workshop participants twelve scored a five, and twelve scored a four on the last assignment. With one being the lowest, and five being the highest score, that means nearly fifty percent of the class is exceeding the criteria. The quality of the work is excellent. Sadly, there was one three, and we have a plan to address gaps in understanding later on in the workshop."

Seriously, we have to be able to talk this way, or we should get out of the game because being accountable, is where the money is. It's literally a Race to the Top.

That reminds me, as promised, here's another rubric to review. The generous author , to whom we are grateful, is Teaching Artist Brendan Boland, c/o Urban Arts Partnership. I have been told that this sample rubric follows "the format that DOE uses" but that it has been adapted for a semester-long theater residency at a high school. Like our Spoken Word Workshop, this class also has students "creating and performing their own work" so, perhaps there are some parallels we can use to improve the rubric we are developing. The areas to be assessed are all in caps. The level of mastery is in italics, and the qualifying language is beneath that. I dig it.

SAMPLE RUBRIC by Teaching Artist Brendan Boland

INTEGRATED LEARNING

Struggling
Does not turn in work
Does not participate in writing/rehearsal process

Achieving
Turns in written work
Turns in assignments.

Excelling
Listens to instructions.
Revises material when needed.

CREATIVE PROCESS

Struggling
Doesn’t move or speak much
Refuses to get up
Not invested in group work

Achieving
Makes informed, committed choices as a writer/performer
Memorized when needed/self-motivated
Has an active role in rehearsal/script development

Excelling
Makes informed, committed choices as a writer/performer
Memorized when needed/self-motivated
Has an active role in rehearsal/script development

PARTICIPATORY LEARNING

Struggling
Doesn’t focus.
Seldom volunteers to participate
If they speak, it is often off topic and/or disruptive to the class

Achieving
Focuses on activity
Volunteers to participate

Excelling
Offers suggestions/takes suggestions
Listens to other groups present their work and offers feedback

Keeping Score

2010-08-05T03:00:00.009-07:00

Today, we will take another look at the Rubric we are developing for our Spoken Word Workshop. In two recent posts on this topic here and here, we characterized the Rubric as a "checklist", something students and Teaching Artists could both use to assess whether or not students have met the criteria for the assignment.

We asked for feedback, and a reader helpfully pointed out that calling a Rubric a checklist might not be totally skillful or accurate. In fact, our commenter explains "A rubric specifically refers to the grid that defines for the students how close to mastery they are. You would need to define the each step on the range of mastery for each criteria, from developing skills to proficiency, in order for it to be a proper rubric."

Ok, cool. Let's try that.

PROFICIENCY SCALE

After observing the student's performance of the assignment, the TA will use this scale to provide appropriate feedback. (Since this workshop will be conducted out of school time, or after school, I would probably not announce the numbers, because numbers sound too much like grades, and I am not required to issue grades.)

5 proficient; the poet exceeds all expectations

4 competent; the poet meets all expectations

3 satisfactory; the poet approaches all expectations

2 emerging; the poet approaches some of the expectations

1 beginning; the poet does not adequately address the criteria

Hey, it seems to me that by adding a scale, or a numerical scoring system to our rubric we increase its usefulness, and we don't lose anything in the bargain. Without the scale, the rubric can still be used a checklist to make sure students have met the basic criteria for the assignment. But with the addition of a scale, the Teaching Artist is now in a better position to actually assess the quality of the work and give appropriate and useful feedback.

Review the draft of our new proficiency scale above, and, if you have a moment, please let me know how you think it affects our rubric. The original rubric is reprinted below and links to the related posts are here, here and here.

THE RUBRIC

Criteria #1 RHYME

Does the poet employ rhyme? Yes/No

Criteria #2: COMMON LITERARY DEVICES

Does the poet employ at least two of the following common literary devices: alliteration, repetition, onomatopoeia? Yes/No

Criteria #3: ADJECTIVES or DESCRIPTIVE WORDS

Does the poet use at least three adjectives, or descriptive words? Yes/No

Criteria #4: METAPHOR or SIMILE

Does the poet use at least three metaphors and/or similes? Yes/No

Criteria #5: POINT OF VIEW

Does the poet express a strong personal point of view, or a strong opinion? Yes/No

Criteria #6: VOLUME & CLARITY

Can the poet be heard and understood by the audience? Yes/No

For the Win

2010-08-03T21:22:00.026-07:00

Great jobs for Teaching Artists are available, even now. But the chances that you'll make a living solely on your Teaching Artist wages do seem to be to be slimmer than ever. As Paul Krugman of the New York Times has noticed, there is "growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn’t care — that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal."

As I've said before, and will again, Teaching Artists deserve a living wage, a pension and decent health care. Unless it's a full-time gig with health care, $20 per hour is a poverty wage. Some may argue, in good faith, that there isn't much our non-profit leaders can do--the funding streams have all dried up, and expenses are high. But there is still the fact that workers have to eat, and, in the immortal words of Ralph Kramden's mother-in-law, "I have no doubt the bills are high, but how much of the food are the Teaching Artists actually getting?*

Below, just after the necessary music video, are the results of our daily job search, courtesy of Idealist.org. Keyword "Teaching Artist". Good luck teaching artists, and whatever you do, don't panic!

Sing-along: Lauryn Hill - Everything is Everything

Idealist.org - Jobs
Daily Job Search: Key Word "Teaching Artist" (Don't Panic!)

Piano Department Head, Diller-Quaile School of Music
Posted on: Tue Aug 3 14:04:20 2010

Program Associate, DreamYard Project
Posted on: Tue Aug 3 12:03:26 2010

Artistic Director, Project HIP-HOP
Posted on: Tue Aug 3 09:16:12 2010

Office Manager, Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA)
Posted on: Mon Aug 2 19:17:27 2010

Alternate Routes Program Director, Side Street Projects
Posted on: Mon Aug 2 17:27:02 2010

Dance Instructor, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
Posted on: Sun Aug 1 20:12:02 2010

Theater Instructor, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
Posted on: Sun Aug 1 20:13:07 2010

Groundwork for Youth Campus Director, Groundwork
Posted on: Fri Jul 30 12:27:30 2010

Associate Director of Education, Philadelphia Young Playwrights
Posted on: Thu Jul 29 17:18:14 2010

Teaching Artist, Changing Worlds
Posted on: Thu Jul 29 11:01:11 2010

Another Piece

2010-07-31T14:50:00.005-07:00

In previous postings here, and there, I've been putting forth some drafts of simple assessment pieces for a Spoken Word Workshop for 5th Graders. Here's a second assessment piece. This would come somewhere in the middle of a nine-session workshop process. Who knows, if this kind of stuff really works? Please feedback, and be nice about it.

“SPOKEN WORD” POETRY WRITING RUBRIC (5th Grade)

About the Assessment Process

- The TA must assess each student 3 times over the course of the workshop process.

- The first assessment must be done early in the process.

- The second assessment must be done at a midway point in the process.

- The third assessment must be done at the end of the workshop process, before the planned culmination, which is a poetry slam. The poetry slam will be graded. The assessments might be a part of the grade, but they are not themselves graded, if that makes sense.

How to Use this Rubric

This rubric functions as a checklist. It lists the criteria for the second of three formal assessments. The criteria for this formative assessment* piece is transparent. Students know the criteria for success, and they know what to expect. They know what it's going to look like at the end. The criteria are transparent because an assessment is not a test and there is no grade..yet. Our value system says that we empower students so that they can independently achieve the desired outcome. The working theory is that a student who understands what's expected will be more able to carry her understanding into the future. She will be more able to achieve transfer of that understanding and apply it in other areas of her life and learning process. (Someone smart has probably proved this, but I just think it's logical because if you're going to succeed here, then you have to be paying attention. Paying attention is pretty much a guarantee that you're engaged. If you're engaged, you must be having some sort of learning experience, otherwise you wouldn't be paying attention...right?)

Before the TA observes the students, there should be a conversation about the criteria and what's expected. The students and the TA should go over the rubric together. In an ideal situation, students might comment on the rubric and add to it. They might even be asked to add their personal desired outcome to the list. All desired outcomes must be specific, observable and measureable in a way that makes sense to each individual, or none of this is guaranteed to work.

The TA must set up an activity to observe. For this assessment we will set up something like this:

Activity

Students are required to write an original poem of at least 14 lines. "Everyone will write a poem of at least 14 lines by next week. We'll work on it today for about 30 minutes and then you can take it home. By the end of the next session, you must have 14 lines written. Your poem must have the following things in it:

1. It must be 14 lines. "Your poem has to be at least 14 lines. Yes you can write more. No you can't write less. Nothing over 2 minutes, please, thank you."

2. It must meet the criteria on the rubric. "Let's go over that together, and see if we need to make any changes."

3. Students must provide four copies of their poem. "You'll need four copies of the poem, because you'll be working with partner and they'll need a copy. One copy stays in your book. The other copy goes to me. The other one is for when you have to do some revising and editing, and because you might lose one. Double-sided is fine. We love trees."

4. Students are paired with partner. "You will work with a partner and I will assign those right now. Partners are supposed to help each succeed. Help your partner meet the criteria."

5. Each student will perform for the other. "When the first draft of your poem is finished, you will perform your poem aloud for your partner."

6. Partners are required to use the rubric as a checklist to provide feedback to their partner. Partners must make notes on each other's poems, showing where they heard the criteria being met. If criteria are not met, students must go back and help each other revise their work so that it meets the criteria. "Listen to your partner's poem. Use the rubric as a checklist. Did they meet the criteria? If so, make notes on your copy of their poem to show them where you heard the criteria being met. If not, talk to them and help them make notes on their poem. Help them to revise their poem so that it does meet the criteria. When you're done, switch."

7. Students must add their own personal desired outcome to the rubric. "Ok, what's your personal criteria for success? What do you want to accomplish with this reading? Take some time to articulate that for yourself. When you have it, write it down on a fresh copy of the rubric and hand it back to me. I have copies of the rubric right here."

8. After all students have assessed each other's work and added their own personal criteria for success, we will have a mini-poetry slam. Each student will be required to perform their poem aloud in front of the class. "OK. We are about to do our performances. Each person has written their poem, and rehearsed it in front of a classmate. Each person has used the rubric to make sure their poem meets the criteria. Now is the performance. I will use the rubric now as a checklist, and I'll give a little feedback to each of you, just as your classmates did. Let's applaud for each person before they perform. Show your love!"

9. As the final step in this piece, the TA will observe each student's performance and use the rubric to provide feedback to the student, and to assess where each student is in the process. If there are gaps in understanding--if criteria are not met--the TA will make a plan to address those gaps in a later workshop.

THE RUBRIC

Criteria #1 RHYME

Does the poet employ rhyme? Yes/No

Criteria #2: COMMON LITERARY DEVICES

Does the poet employ at least two of the following common literary devices: alliteration, repetition, onomatopoeia? Yes/No

Criteria #3: ADJECTIVES or DESCRIPTIVE WORDS

Does the poet use at least three adjectives, or descriptive words? Yes/No

Criteria #4: METAPHOR or SIMILE

Does the poet use at least three metaphors and/or similes? Yes/No

Criteria #5: POINT OF VIEW

Does the poet express a strong personal point of view, or a strong opinion? Yes/No

Criteria #6: VOLUME & CLARITY
Can the poet be heard and understood by the audience? Yes/No

*Many thanks to Jennifer L. Wolf PhD for pointing me toward the light. This changes everything.

Future Perfect

2010-07-29T07:29:00.002-07:00

In case you failed to notice, the School of the Future is now, and, as usual, there is no time like the present. It's in Brooklyn and all the details of this exciting project are below.

Catch!

SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE

Upcoming Classes | July 29-31

Details about classes are on the website, at http://schoolofthefuture.org/classes/ . Click on the class name to look at the description. All classes are held, or will meet at Sgt. Dougherty Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

A Note about the Weather: Looks like no rain or just a scattered storms predicted this weekend! Scattered is our middle names, so come on down to Sgt. Dougherty Park! If you are suspicious of the weather, check our website for updates the morning of the event you plan to attend! We will keep you posted.

July 29th, Thursday

9:30am - Monitor School

12:30pm - ReBuilding the City

6pm - Text Performance Creation

7pm - Illustration from Inside

July 30th, Friday

9:30am - Print in the Park

6:30pm - Conviction Fiction: Flight or Invisibility

July 31st, Saturday

12pm - Irish Ceili Dancing

1pm - Interactive Hegelian Lordship and Bondage

2pm - How to Say Goodbye: Hair Extension

2pm - Ballet

2pm - THE DEBT LAYERCAKE: WHO OWES WHO WHAT AND WHY

2:30pm - Learning Language Guerilla Style

3pm - Human Size Chess

4pm - Easy-to-Draw Dictators

4:30pm - Ticking Time Capsules

5pm - Movement for Seniors

7pm - Graduation Ceremonies and Potluck

School of the Future is a collaborative project by Student Body Cassie Thornton, Head Librarian Christopher Kennedy and an array of community partners and supporters including: Solar One, AlphaOne Labs, Flux Factory, Association of Teaching Artists, Trust Art, Buckminster Fuller Institute, NYC Parks Department, Open Space Alliance of North Brooklyn, St. Nicks Alliance, St. Cecilias, Neighbors Allied for Good Growth and our wonderful Bored of Education.

Also: Oleta Adams - Get Here

The Rubric

2010-07-26T08:14:00.002-07:00

Our last post was a basic Formative Assessment Piece for a Spoken Word Workshop for 5th Graders. We are pushing the idea that the language and processes of assessment should be a standard part of the professional Teaching Artists toolkit. (For some, it's already de rigueur.)

The Assessment piece we are working around is basic, because the goal right now is simply to break down an effective way to do this kind of stuff.

So, what's the next step? We asked the hive-mind for feedback and one cool response is reprinted below. I really dig it, because it's clear and it aligns with our value system, which requires that we honor students by asking them to take some responsibilty for their own learning.

So step 1 in the assessment project you set up for the 5th graders is to make a rubric, preferably with them, and share it with the class. This lets the kids know what the expectations are, how they can meet them, and how they can surpass them. You can record asking the kids questions on their comprehension of this rubric at the start, record peer to peer critique the kids give each other using this rubric in the middle, and then measure student performance against the rubric at the end. That’s a basic and quick structure in which you establish data, measure its process, and record its outcomes.

Thank you dear reader.

In our next post, I'll ask you to take a look at an assessment piece that will come later in the workshop. This one should build on past work, and students should be aware of the criteria for success. I'll also do some musing on the difference between being able to parrot the right answer, and actually understanding something in a way that is enduring and useful.

Also: Bryan Ferry - More Than This

River Deep

2010-07-22T12:53:00.003-07:00

Ok, I'm working diligently on my approach to assessment, and I need feedback. So here is an excerpt from a simple plan I am working on for a Spoken Word Workshop. It's for 5th Graders. I'm starting small.

I think we should be doing this kind of assessment as a matter of course, but we're not because we're often not required to, and because it takes time. That's why they call us "activity specialists" or "group leaders" It's how they justify offering us $20/hour. We have to get serious.

My new advocacy theory is this: IF we Teaching Artists start to really understand and do things in ways that mirror and complement the way the non-arts educators are doing things, THEN maybe we can earn enough to live on as full-time Teaching Artists, rather than perpetually struggling hybrids. If I hear another TA over the age of 40 tell me they don't have health insurance, I'm going to pass out.

Yes, I know we're all doing this for love, but I'm not getting any younger, and the rent's not going down. So, I have taken a pledge to try to do work that is more accountable, even if I'm working in 90 degree heat and there are no grades issued at the end. This is the professional approach and it's the only way we can achieve the kind of professional legitimacy that leads to interviews with the Lords of Equity, and mortgage payments.

That's what I think. I'm sure you'll tell me if you disagree.

Anyway, here goes:

SPOKEN WORD WORKSHOP

1st Assessment Piece

Requirements: During the course of this 9-session workshop process, the Teaching Artist will formally observe and assess each poet’s performance three times before the culminating project; a Poetry Slam.

Assessment #1: The first assessment will be done early in the workshop process. For our purposes, we’ll use the familiar classic Name, Adjective & Gesture. The criteria for success in this activity will be transparent; students will know what success looks like. However, this assessment may also function as a non-transparent diagnostic; the TA may be observing for skills and understandings not yet discussed or addressed in the workshop. In this case, we might be observing for effective use of volume.*

Process:

Teaching Artist invites participants to stand in a circle.

TEACHING ARTIST
“Here’s the game. We’ll go one by one. Each person will say their name, and then offer an adjective and a gesture that describes a bit about their personality. When you’re done, people watching and listening should know more a bit more about you than they did before. Please don't share anything you don't want us to know, Ok? Ok, I’ll go first and then we’ll talk about it a bit and then we’ll all get to try. Here goes! MUSICAL MARLEY! (TA mimes playing a trumpet)”

TA might ask a few questions here to make sure participants understand the game.

TEACHING ARTIST
What do you know about me now that you might not have known before I offered my name, adjective and gesture? Did my gesture and adjective work together? If so, how? If not, how would you do it better?

TA might have to define the Vocabulary Words (Adjective, Gesture) for students to be successful.

TA might invite students to arrange themselves in a circle facing out, while they choose their gesture. This can make the activity less “high focus” and give individuals who need it a safer work space.

TEACHING ARTIST
“Face out. Take about 30 seconds to decide on an adjective. When you’ve decided, put your hand on your head, so I know. (Pause) Great. Everyone should have their adjective. Now, take a few moments to decide on a gesture that matches your adjective. Your gesture should be something you can repeat over and over again. Take 30 seconds to decide. When you’ve decided, put your hand on your head, so I know. (Pause) Terrific. Everyone should have their gesture. Now, rehearse or practice performing your name and gesture together. Do them at the same time. Do this three times in a row. Rehearsal. Starting now!

The next step would be to do the performance. The TA has a checklist and they should use it here.

1^st ASSESSMENT PIECE CHECKLIST

1. The poet must offer an adjective that describes a bit of their personality. Example: Musical Marley!

· Does the poet offer an appropriate adjective? YES NO

· Is the poet able to justify their choice? Why did you choose that adjective? How and why do you feel it describes you?

2. The poet must offer a gesture that describes a bit of their personality and matches the adjective they’ve chosen. Example: Poet mimes playing a trumpet while saying Musical Marley!

• Does the poet offer an appropriate gesture? YES NO

• Is the poet able to justify their choice? Why did you choose that gesture? How and why does it match the meaning of the adjective you’ve chosen?

To end the activity, TA might ask something like "What did we learn about each other?"

* Informal Assessments, Observations, and Diagnostics: Practically, and ethically, the student must know and understand the criteria that they need to meet in order to be successful in the activity. Even so, the TA can withhold some information until it is useful or necessary. The TA should use any available opportunity to diagnose for things that will need to be addressed later on. For example, during this first assessment piece, the TA might be observing to diagnose how students are using their voices. Are they using volume effectively? Can they be heard? Are they pushing too hard, or putting their vocal cords in danger? If there are notable gaps, the TA is wise to go back to the original plan to make sure that the class or the individual gets to work on the necessary skill or understanding in a later session. In this case, the TA knows that using the voice effectively is definitely going to be one of the criteria for success during the culminating project—a Poetry Slam!

Also: Ike & Tina - River Deep...

A Message From Dale Davis

2010-07-21T09:21:00.001-07:00

July 21st, 2010

A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Members of the ATA Listserv,

ATA thanks Board Chair Glenn McClure for his years of service on the Board. Thank you Glenn for your commitment and all the expertise you brought to the ATA Board.

And ATA thanks Georgia Popoff for the dedication she brought to ATA. Georgia's experience and insight as a Teaching Artists and her advocacy for those in the profession are unparalleled.

ATA thanks you Glenn and Georgia!

This is the beginning of ATA's twelfth year and more than ever your financial contributions are important to us. We need your help.http://www.teachingartists.com/membershippay.htm

And here we are in midsummer!

Dale Davis
Executive Director
The Association of Teaching Artists

Even

2010-07-20T14:24:00.001-07:00

After yesterday's post about money, and our lack of it, a faithful reader, an arts administrator, asked me to remind you that administrators are not out to exploit teaching artists. I am happy to do so, primarily because I am giddy with the thrill of finding that someone is actually reading this thing.

Seriously, since comments on the blog are as rare as unicorns, or full-time teaching artists with affordable health insurance, here is the faithful reader's response, reprinted, verbatim:

Anonymous said...
I've worked as a TA for several organizations and as an art administrator for a small handful. It's a touchy subject, but in each case I made more per hour as a TA than I do as an arts administrator. I made more as a full time nanny than both, incidentally. Insurance and health care aren't free for us either. We're not middlemen fleecing our staff. What would be the point? How would I make education better that way? And most of us are, after all, working for nonprofits, where any extra money goes to offering schools free or discounted programming- which we of course pay our TAs in full for. I know it's hard to cobble together a living as a TA. But rest assured, your boss often makes $8 an hour when factoring salary and the time put in. My job is to try and make teaching artistry as impactful and educationally relevant as possible. I'm not a booking agent. And I don't get paid enough either. We should think about elevating the whole feild and our worth, rather than fostering an internal resentment that is neither relevant nor fruitful.

Also: Joni Mitchell - All I Want

On the Farm

2010-07-19T09:00:00.013-07:00

When people ask me, and they do, just how much I think a teaching artist should be getting paid, I usually answer "enough to live on."

It's really very simple when you think of it that way.

If a teaching artist is supposed to be a professional--by that I mean a reflective practicioner with an advanced degree, and the ability to accurately diagnose a problem, plan a course of action, and implement said plan--then I think our expertise has a street value of at least $75,000 per year.

So a good minimum figure is about $75/per workshop hour for a part-time TA. Those with more experience and more training should, of course, get paid more and there is no reason why a spectacularly talented veteran TA shouldn't be worth six-figures.

A full-time, experienced teaching artist with the requisite education, artistry, skills and training should be able to afford to pay off their student loans, buy a home and raise a family. It is expensive to be middle class in America in the 21st Century, and the organizations that hire us are going to have to start paying us more if they care about us as fellow human beings. The funders will understand our desire to be middle class.

The reality is that TAs do much of the actual work, but the arts administrators reap the bulk of the reward--including more job security and health insurance. We are a line item, and when it comes time to cut the budget, we are often first in line.

The cultural organizations and schools that hire the most TAs operate just like agents, curators and producers in the art world. They are the "middleman" and like artists everywhere, TAs are dependent and relatively powerless in this system. They cut the checks and set the agenda. We need jobs, and it is not politic to complain too much, especially since there is usually someone standing right behind you, resume in hand.

Faced with a laughably low workshop fee, a TA can always say "no", but then of course she would starve to death.

Back to work.

Also: LaBelle - Are You Lonely?

Just In Sight

2010-07-15T13:43:00.007-07:00

I wonder, if the goal is for student artwork to be a demonstration of a newly acquired enduring understanding, then what happens when the student's performance is brilliant, but the facts are all wrong?

How do I assess for understanding, when I have aesthetic preferences?

I have to be hard as nails, that's how. No, not on them, on myself.

I have to ask myself: Brother, what are your desired outcomes? What does success look like? What kind of evidence will you accept from students to prove that you, not them, are really worth your weight in salt?

No more flying by the seat of your pants, buddy.

Our book of the month is Understanding By Design and the salient quote is on page 79:

"...the thorniest problem we face in assessing for understanding is differentiating between the student's insights and the student's performance. How do we identify a sophisiticated understanding buried in weak performance or incorrect facts? By contrast, how do we avoid overrewarding students for being articulate and dutiful?"

This line of questioning changes everything.

Also: Kate Bush - Big Sky

Night Music

2010-07-14T03:00:00.003-07:00

Someone at the Metropolitan Opera had this great idea to broadcast on TV, and in movie theaters, and they should get a raise.

Tonight's classic offering is a delight:

Puccini’s La Bohème

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 6:30 pm local time (U.S. Only)

A magnificent cast comes together for Franco Zeffirelli’s iconic production of the Puccini favorite. The exciting young conductor Nicola Luisotti presides over a glorious vocal ensemble led by Angela Gheorghiu, opposite tenor Ramón Vargas as her lover, Rodolfo.

Conductor: Nicola Luisotti; Production: Franco Zeffirelli; Angela Gheorghiu, Ainhoa Arteta, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tézier, Quinn Kelsey, Oren Gradus, Paul Plishka

Celebrating Brooklyn

2010-07-12T16:57:00.002-07:00

Celebrate Brooklyn, the annual festival of music, dance, performance and film produced by BRIC Performing Arts is brighter than a thousand suns, and just as hot.

This weekend's events are presented in partnership with the Museum for African Art, which offers free Educator Resources and other Public Programs of interest to teaching artists, when we are not busy dancing.

Information on this weekend's concert is below:

African Festival with Konono No. 1

Saturday, July 17, 2:00pm
Gates open at 1:00pm
with Omar Pene & Super Diamono, Chiwoniso, Meta & the Cornerstones and Djarara
Presented with the Museum for African Art
Our annual celebration of African music, food and culture builds to an ecstatic crescendo with the distortion-fueled trance music of Congolese thumb-piano wizards Konono No. 1. Dakar heavyweights Omar Pene & Super Diamono, seminal figures in the birth of the modern Senegalese sound, add a jolt of energy to the proceedings, while the distinctive voice of Zimbabwean Afro-soul diva Chiwoniso, the pan-African reggae of Meta & The Cornerstones, and the festival horns and drums from Haiti’s Djarara bring other unique flavors to the day.

Too Hot, Two Hot

2010-07-09T04:40:00.005-07:00

The Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) is a not for profit professional organization whose mission is to strengthen and serve Teaching Artists from all disciplines in New York State and beyond.

Connect. Get jobs. Go Teach!*

*There are two job listings below. My favorite is the second one-where they say they would like to hire an artist with a Master's Degree, years of experience, and the ability to speak Mandarin. It pays $20/hr, plus health benefits. Good luck everybody! You're going to need it.

JULY JOB LISTINGS

1. PROGRAM COORDINATOR – URBAN ARTS PARTNERSHIP
Urban Arts Partnership is seeking a team-oriented, enthusiastic Program Coordinator to join its full-time staff. Urban Arts Partnership advances the intellectual, social and artistic development of underserved public school students through arts-integrated education programs to close the achievement gap. Currently, Urban Arts is providing over 60 New York City schools with in-school and after-school arts programs.
The primary responsibilities are facilitating the development of an arts based literacy curricula targeting the improvement of literacy and fluency skills in English Language Learners; overseeing the implementation of quality arts education programs in Urban Arts' portfolio of schools; collaboratively working with the program department staff to coordinate special events and workshops, and providing support for teaching artists. The Program Coordinator reports to the Director of Programs.

Responsibilities:

Works with the Program Department to develop and implement comprehensive arts programming for a wide range New York City Public schools.

Works closely with a staff of 70+ teaching artists to help them develop their curricula, evaluate their programs and maintain the organization's high standard of arts education.

Develops and maintains proactive relationships with school administration and partner organizations. Develops, coordinates and presents professional development workshops to staff and teaching artists. Prepares quarterly and end of year programmatic reports.

Skills and Experience:

2+ years of experience in arts administration or non-profit administration. Comprehensive experience developing and implementing programs. Experience with ELL/ESL literacy curricula and development of ELL/ESL programs. Familiarity with the arts education community of New York and the non-profit sector. Background and interest in the arts . A creative and innovative approach to program development . Exceptional writing, editorial, and verbal communication skills. Ability to multi-task and trouble-shoot . A dedicated team player who is able to take initiative and work independently . Ability to deliver effective public presentations . Excels in a fast-paced, open office environment. Proficiency in Microsoft Office. Experience working with NYC DOE classroom teachers a plus.
To apply: Send a cover letter, resume and three references to jobs@urbanarts.org

2. TEACHING ARTIST

Salary: $20.00/hour + Benefits (medical, dental, paid vacation, holidays and sick days
Education: Bachelor (BA, BS, etc.)
Location: Elmhurst, New York, 11373, United States
Posted by: Arts & Literacy Afterschool Program

Last day to apply: August 31, 2010
Last updated: July 2, 2010

Description:
Innovative after school and summer program seeks teaching artist for elementary schools serving children ages 5-12 in Elmhurst, Queens. The teaching artist teaches her/his discipline to a group of twenty students incorporating literacy in the widest sense of the word. Our teachers work 21 hours per week (Monday -Thursday from 2:15pm-6pm and Fridays 12pm-6pm).

We are looking for versatile teachers who are open to feedback and are excited to be a part of a creative team. We are also open to interdisciplinary artists who can create dynamic curriculums merging two art forms i.e. Yoga and storytelling. The teaching artists are responsible for creating their own lesson plans, communicating with parents and day-time teachers, providing homework help, and creating final projects with the students. We are interested in teachers who focus in any of the following art forms: dance, music, drama, visual arts, yoga, martial arts, photography and video.

Additional Qualifications:
Masters Preferred, BA required. EXPERIENCED TEACHING ARTISTS ONLY. Bilingual Mandarin Required.
How to Apply:
Please email your cover letter and resume to Erica Mena at emena@hispanicfamilyservicesny.org.

Also: I'm Not Your Superwoman - Karyn White

Saved

2010-07-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) is the place to get Educator Tools, including ideas for projects, professional development and other useful resources. The site, which is made possible by volunteers, also supports teachers who work in afterschool contexts.

Joining is easy.

Believe It Or Not

2010-07-06T09:36:00.003-07:00

I predict that one day, in the not too distant future, veteran teaching artists will tell tall tales of the long ago days when we worked in schools with classroom teachers we had never met.

Anecdotes about "the time I was teaching a workshop and the classroom teacher was grading papers" will leave incredulous audiences dumbstruck.

Stories about "the time we showed up and they had forgotten we were coming" will make conferences halls rock with laughter. Teaching artists of the future will confusedly ask "You mean they made you work without a desk or an office of your own? How did they expect you to write lesson plans?"

Dream on...

Also: Our book of the day is Understanding By Design by By Grant P. Wiggins, Jay McTighe. This book is made of gold, or it should be.

Time Flies

2010-06-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

Cassie Thornton of the School of the Future reminds us that there's no time like the present! The school, which has been in the works for months, opens today. Unfortunately, they have no electricity. Luckily, they do have vision, and lots of it. See below:

Building the School is a School
So it's really happening folks, School of the Future is opening and we invite you to come to an old fashioned school raising tomorrow morning. Bring a paint brush, a drill, a hammer and some coffee and join us starting at 9:30 AM at Sgt. Dougherty Park. We will be there all day building things, playing basketball, drinking liquids and staying cool. WE HAVE MANY JOBS FOR VOLUNTEERS! So please join us!

and then later....School picnic, class registration, folk music, inauguration ceremony, food sculpture, bball, and WE HAVE NO POWER!
Thursday, 7-10pm | Sgt. Dougherty Park, Brooklyn

Join us for a celebratory opening ceremony and picnic at Sgt. Dougherty Park this Thursday. Help us salute pedagogues past and present as we raise the School of the Future flag and christen Brooklyn’s first intergenerational free school to open in a public park for one month of unschool programming. Music, food sculpture, dome building and an irrational sense of togetherness and joy in a public space. Every week around this time, for all of July, you'll receive the week's schedule. Please rsvp and join us! Propose a class or just come teach one! It's the only way you'll graduate to the next level.

Also: Snap - Power

Essential Questions

2010-06-28T11:27:00.003-07:00

Teaching artists work in a variety of environments. One of my favorite ways to work is in authentic partnership with classroom teachers. As artists, we pose and try to answer essential questions all the time--it's our bread and butter. To classroom teachers, our perspective on this kind of inquiry-based approach can be incredibly useful. We are sounding boards and cheerleaders, and we have a distinct set of instructional skills that Classroom Teachers can adopt. When I am working in close partnership with a teacher, I feel like the impact of our work increases exponentially. We make each other better teachers. The students are the winners.

The essential question I am asking myself this week is "How can we as professional Teaching Artists better help Classroom Teachers use art to achieve their teaching goals?"

I think the possibilities are infinite, because art-making involves every skill and understanding under the sun, right?

Stay Strong

2010-06-25T00:08:00.002-07:00

Teaching artists who partner with classroom teachers might want to read "Strong Arts, Strong Schools: The Promising Potential and Shortsighted Disregard of the Arts in American Schooling" by Fowler. It is our book of the day, and it comes highly recommended. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Arts-Schools-Promising-Shortsighted/dp/0195148339

Also: ATA is on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Teaching-Artists/45276461667

I am blogging by phone. It's a small world, afterall.

DIY

2010-06-22T03:00:00.007-07:00

At Community Arts Network, author Tom Borrup, says the way people consume and produce "culture" has changed. Using California's Silicon Valley area as an example, he notes recent research that found "the cultural infrastructure far more decentralized, nonhierarchical, participatory and culturally diverse than in typical U.S. cities and metropolitan areas."

The future, it seems, will be defined by user-generated content--a Do it Yourself culture, in which individuals pick and choose their cultural markers, just as you choose your preferred content here on the internet.

I hope the future has good taste.

The Other Side

2010-06-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, blogging may be light because I am out of town co-teaching a seminar at Stanford University in the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching. Dreams do come true.

Teaching artists in New York may be shocked to learn, as I was, that secondary public School classrooms in San Francisco may have a class size of 40 students. Still, the weather is fine here, which must be some consolation.

Also: Please visit ATA on Facebook, and join the ATA forum on Yahoo.

Music Makes the People

2010-06-18T03:00:00.027-07:00

Songs For Our Times is a lesson plan, and online resource that teaching artists can use to help students respond to this exciting question:

"What do songs say about the time in which they were created?"

The resource is free, and has been made available in a text-only version, and an enhanced version that uses Flash video. The multimedia version is first rate--colorful, musical and fun. More details and a link to the lesson plan are below:

Songs express what people think and feel, even as they introduce people, places and events. In this activity, you can explore the past through songs of the time. You can consider why the songs were written and what they tell you about life and beliefs during previous eras. Then, you can rewrite the songs for our times, reflecting the events, places, people, feelings and perspectives of today.

A printable version of the teaching instructions can be found here.

Also: It's Friday, and ATA is on Facebook. Go, be social.

Football

2010-06-17T03:00:00.014-07:00

The World Cup is happening now, even now, and the New York Times Learning Network has posted a set of related resources for Teaching and Learning in a variety of subject areas, including English Language Arts.

Teaching artists who with non-fiction might be interested in this Sports Journalism lesson plan, which is designed to help students learn and practice the art of descriptive writing.

Open Book

2010-06-16T03:00:00.019-07:00

Billionaire Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s executive budget calls for millions of dollars worth of cuts from our struggling public library systems.

It's austerity for everyone, except the rich.

For instance, 14 of the 51 community branches in Queens will have to close up shop. Hours of service at the libraries that remain open may need to be cut in half, and 1/3 of the staff could be fired. The Brooklyn Public Library, and the New York Public Library, which runs branches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island face similarly devastating cuts.

Teaching artists can lend their voice to the debate over the wisdom of these cuts, but time is running out. On their website, the New York Public Library warns that this is the last week to take action, and urges you to write a letter to your local officials to tell them how you feel about the impact the Mayor's budget will have.

Teenagers now have an excuse to use Wikipedia, and if they need a place to socialize after school, I suppose the thinking is there's always the street.

At the Center

2010-06-15T03:00:00.010-07:00

The Center for Performance Research (CPR) has more than a catchy acronym to offer--it's a space for dance in Brooklyn. More specifically, CPR "provides affordable space for rehearsal and performance, innovative arts programming, education and pedagogical engagement with the communities of New York City and abroad." Located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the 4000 square feet center is "L.E.E.D. certified green."

Tonight, Tuesday, June 15th @ 7pm , Caras El Puente Ensemble will be at CPR to share their "choreographic process of workshop"; something which the blurb promises is" ideal for teaching artists working with dance, diverse youth populations, or addressing socially engaged themes."

There is a reasonable $5/$10 suggested donation for all CPR events, and the glorious details are below:

Choreographing The Last Layer

Tuesday 6/15 @ 7pm

Where: CPR, 361 Manhattan Avenue (at Jackson), Williamsburg, Brooklyn,
11211. L train to Lorimer

Workshop/Demo with CARAS El Puente Dance Ensemble and Rozz Nash
Ensemble director Rozz Nash and young dancers address and demonstrate
the group's choreographic process; how culturally specific dances
and backgrounds of the troupe members inform the creation of
contemporary works such as their most recent, The Last Layer.

Rozz has an MA in Performing Arts Administration from NYU, and has been
teaching in New York City schools for 17 tears. Rozz founded CARAS in
2009.

For more information : www.cprnyc.org

The Word

2010-06-14T03:00:00.004-07:00

Community Word Project is now accepting applications for their 2010-11 Teaching Artist Training and Internship Program. The program has a tuition cost of $100.

Details are below:

Announcing Community~Word Project's Teaching Artist Training and Internship
Program (TATIP) for the 2010-2011 School Year

We are pleased to announce the 11th year of TATIP, which offers practicing
artists and MFA students the opportunity to transform their creative process
into teaching tools to integrate the arts into the public school curriculum.
Through this program, participants gain skills that enable them to reach out
to underserved youth while gaining experience in NYC classrooms.

This training gives participants the opportunity to identify and explore
their own creative and thinking processes and then to transform these
processes into effective teaching tools. These tools become the foundation
from which one can build and implement a meaningful curriculum. Throughout
the training, participants will gain real-life classroom experience through
our internship program as they assist experienced Community-Word Project
teaching artists.

*PLEASE NOTE: There is a $100.00 tuition contribution fee payable upon
acceptance to the program (for the Advanced and New & Beginning levels
only.) Scholarships will be available; details and procedure for requesting
scholarships will be forthcoming with notice of acceptance.

Application Deadline: 10am on Monday September 27th 2010

The application can be downloaded directly from our website. Early
applications are encouraged. Applications must be received in full by the
deadline in order to be considered. Late materials will not be accepted
under any circumstances.

There are three levels of training offered; one for beginning and new
teaching artists, one for undergraduate artists, and another for those
advanced artists that have at least two years experience working with
underserved youth in the public school environment. Applicants will be
notified of acceptance by Friday October 1st.

Please visit our website to download the applications and the ³Frequently
Asked Questions about TATIP² document.

http://www.communitywordproject.org/teaching-artist-training-program/

Arts and Sciences

2010-06-11T03:00:00.032-07:00

Teaching artists who have ever wanted to learn how to "Build and Surf an Origami Hang Glider on a Wave of Air" are in luck!

Via BoingBoing, the editors at Make Magazine have published this exciting video of a classroom teacher guiding students through the construction of paper airplanes made out of phone book paper. Science teacher Slater Harrison's terrific website is a generous work of art.

Also: It's Friday, and ATA is on Facebook, now and forever.

The Graduates

2010-06-10T03:00:00.003-07:00

Grantmakers in the Arts reports that the Joan Mitchell Foundation has announced its list of MFA recipients for 2010. Details are below:

(6-8-10) The Joan Mitchell Foundation's annual Masters in Fine Arts Grant Program was created in 1997 to help MFA painters & sculptors in furthering their artistic careers and to aid in the transition from academic to professional studio work upon graduation.

Each recipient receives a grant in the amount of $15,000. To date the Joan Mitchell Foundation has awarded 162 MFA Grants. These grants are given in recognition of artistic quality to artists chosen from a body of candidates put forth by nominators from the academic art community across the United States.

The 2010 recipients are as follows:
Molly Anderson, Tulane University
Janet Bruhn, Virginia Commonwealth University
Micah Daw, The Ohio State University
Michel Droge, Maine College of Art
Patricia Fernandez, California Institute of the Arts
Rema Ghuloum, California College of the Arts
Erik Gonzalez, Yale University
Kristin Haas, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Eric Kniss, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Jon Lee, Syracuse University
Caitlin Lonegan, University of California, Los Angeles
Cobi Moules, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Brian Porray, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Ashley Shellhause, Miami University
Michael Sirianni, University of Illinois at Chicago
The nominated candidates' images were viewed for grant consideration through an anonymous process by a jury panel. The jury convened in April at the facilities of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Additional programs undertaken by the Foundation include free art classes for New York City youth, an annual grant to painters & sculptors, and grants to artists and arts communities in need of emergency support after a disaster.

To see past recipients, visit the Joan Mitchell Foundation website.

In the Air

2010-06-09T03:00:00.003-07:00

The School of the Future is now, or soon, and teaching artists are invited to a special dinner to learn all about it. In case you haven't heard, the School of the Future opens this July, for one month, in Brooklyn.

Information about this weekend's special event to support the School of the Future is below:

A Romantic Sunset Dinner in
the Wake of an Ever-Nearing Future

June 11th from 7 -10pm at Solar One (E. 23rd St. @ the East River)

Directions: Take the 6 to 23rd Street and walk to the River (Map and Directions Here)

To learn more about how to support and get involved in School of the Future please visit www.schoolofthefuture.org

To Live

2010-06-08T04:52:00.001-07:00

According to our daily job search @ www.idealist.org (don't panic!) some great teaching artist jobs are still available, even during the great depression. That's good news!

Distressingly, with fee scales of $15 - $20 per hour, there are some other TA gigs that don't seem to actually pay enough to live on, especially if the teaching artist likes to do silly things like pay rent, purchase health insurance, or eat.

$20/hour x 40 hours per week comes to a paltry $38,400 before taxes, and since New York is one of the most expensive cities in the world, even the lucky teaching artist who somehow manages to cobble together a full 40 hours worth of work per week would still be poor at that rate.

It seems perfectly reasonable to think that if a job requires a person to have a college degree, then the job should pay a decent wage, and take into account the realities of the marketplace. Teaching artists don't get 40 hours worth of work per week. Maybe there should be fewer of us? That way we could charge more money.

In other news: In New York state, a bill offers Nannies and other domestic workers hope for substantive workplace protections. If enacted, the new law will require employers to provide paid holidays, sick days and vacation days for domestic workers, but not teaching artists, we are not on the list.

In Health: The New York Times' Prescriptions blog says it helps readers make sense of the new health care law. My big questions are about eligibility for the new health care exchanges and subsidies. I would make a list of the critical issues, but I can't. It's all so confusing, and the start date of 2014 is so far away. What does it all add up to? Do you have to be poor to purchase insurance? If so, where are the forms, and when do we start filling them out? What changed? When does it start?

Is this thing on?

In real estate: A decent apartment in New York City is probably more than most teaching artists can afford, especially while paying off a new $100,000 university degree.

Also: Boll Weevil - Pink Anderson

Teatro

2010-06-07T03:00:00.104-07:00

TeatroStageFest, a unique, and family friendly, festival of circus, music and dance will run June 17-30, 2010 in New York City.

Some anticipated highlights are below:

From Argentina, Fulanos (“Everyman”) – a dazzling exploration of human nature in a tour-de-force performance by La Arena's troupe of acrobatic actors on six ladders.

From Spain, m³- A NoSpace Odissey – You think your New York apartment is too small? Wait until you see this comical fringe masterpiece in which a city dweller must learn to live in the largest apartment he can afford: a one cubic meter size box.

From Brazil, Isadora.Orb: The Final Metaphor – What would happen if NASA decided to send to outer space a module ship with theater, music, dance and video artists? Discover it in this stunning multimedia exploration about creating art in outer space.

From Peru/NYC, Oh! Yantay – A colorful family-friendly adaptation of the classic Inca tale of Ollantay, considered the first play to be performed in the Americas.

From Brazil, Animals of Brazil – The jungle's many endearing animals come to life in this whimsical carnival of Brazilian music, choreography and awe-inspiring puppets.

From NYC, I Want You By My Side – An all-teen cast stars in Tere Martínez’s new play about a college freshman who’s on top of the world, until she is forced to face the possibility that she may be HIV positive.

Don’t miss El Museo del Barrio’s FREE outdoor Summer Night Concert presenting Chico Mann’s Electro-Freestyle-Latin-Afrobeat fusion.

The festival's website, which is available in both Spanish and English, says the box office is open!

Lips Together, Teeth Apart

2010-06-04T03:00:00.012-07:00

Via BoingBoing, researchers put an opera singer and an MC in a MRI machine, and recorded video of them performing. It is so much fun to watch how it all happens. I urge you to do so after the jump!

Also: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the release by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers of the Common Core State Standards.

In other news: Over at MOMA, Marina Abramovic has left the building, and, if it's Friday, this must be Facebook.

And: Love is Here, Now You're Gone - The Supremes

News Worthy

2010-06-03T03:00:00.013-07:00

The New York Times Learning Network is ridiculously useful. It offers "lesson plans, news quizzes, vocabulary words, and other ideas and activities for teaching and learning with The New York Times."

Today, they promise readers a round up of the past year's coverage of " language arts, literature, journalism and fine arts" issues.

Also: It Couldn't Please Me More - Cabaret

The Great Work

2010-06-02T03:00:00.023-07:00

Here are three upcoming theater events produced by Brooklyn-based theater companies. In each of these grassroots organizations, teaching artists play a significant role; using their professional expertise in theater arts to help educate young people, and create positive social change in our communities.

Go see.

REDBULL THEATER COMPANY

RUNNING OF THE BULLS

Monday June 7, 6:30pm

Only 10 "Young Buck" Super-Discount Tickets Available for the second annual   honoring F. MURRAY ABRAHAM • MICHAEL STUHLBARG • THE HOWARD AND MARCIA OWENS CHARITABLE TRUST and THE ANGELO PATRI MIDDLE SCHOOL with MATADOR AWARDS FOR CLASSICAL THEATER

 Join host Michael Cerveris and special guests Robert Cuccioli, Paige Davis, Roberta Maxwell, Patrick Page, Laila Robins, and more for an evening featuring fun entertainment including flamenco dancing, special guest performer Malcolm Gets, fine dining, great company, and spectacular views. Celebrate Red Bull Theater, honor four contributors to classical theater, and be the first to hear about our 2010-2011 Season.  
RED BULLET DISCOUNT 
Limited Number of "Young Buck" Seats for Only $100 Buy Tickets Now 
www.redbulltheater.com 
212.352.3101

 Use Discount Code "YB"

The Performance Project @ University Settlement Presents 

IMPOSSIBLE COUNTRY 

Conceived & created by THE MUD/BONE COLLECTIVE

   FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY! 
June 2-5 @ 7:30pm, and June 5th @ 4pm

When life is no longer possible in your own country, when you are forced to flee and begin again, how do memories of the past influence your present? Inspired by the true stories of refugees living In New York City, Impossible Country explores the conflict between honoring the past and embracing the present.
  Directed by: Mahayana Landowne** 
 The Performance Project @ University Settlement 
184 Eldridge Street, NYC  (corner of Rivington - 2 blks south of Houston)  
Advance tickets at  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98447  or call 800-838-3006  
Join Us for an Evening of Food, Wine and Theater 
Benefit Performance and Celebration 
Thursday, June 3rd  

Text Architecture by: Sandi Carroll & Jordan Dann Performed by: Christopher Burris*, Sandi Carroll*,   Sarah Douglas*, W. Kerry Huang, &      Jennifer Kidwell*       SARAH RUHL’S PASSION PLAY

Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play

Directed by Mark Wing-Davey
EXTENDED TO JUNE 5th!

Hailed by the New Yorker’s John Lahr as “extraordinary”, “bold”, and “inventive”, Sarah Ruhl’s PASSION PLAY takes us behind the scenes of three communities attempting to stage the death and resurrection of Christ. From Queen Elizabeth’s England to Hitler’s Germany to Reagan’s America, Ruhl’s exploration of devotion takes us on a humorous yet unsettling journey filled with lust, whimsy, and a lot of fish. (3.5 hours with 2 intermissions)

The PRESS has faith in PASSION PLAY. Read the raves from The New York Times, Time Out New York, Associated Press, and more!

Read the April 18th New York Times feature on PASSION PLAY: Sarah Ruhl’s Sunday School

PASSION PLAY is staged at the Irondale Center inside the historic Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, as the centerpiece of a community FESTIVAL highlighting the intersection of religion, art, sexuality, and politics. This festival is produced by a COALITION of artists, arts groups, academic institutions, and local community members.

The Quiet

2010-06-01T03:00:00.025-07:00

Teaching artists who have ever found themselves struggling over how to approach a young person who could not, or would not, speak aloud in class, may be interested in a recent post over at the blog Unlocking the Classroom. Lizzie Hetzer, formerly a teaching artist, now a classroom teacher, recounts a recent experience working with a girl who was usually silent. A useful and inspiring story from the field:

"Selective Mutism is a low incidence anxiety disorder in which a child does not speak in one or more social settings. It occurs in less than 1% of the population and is more common in girls than in boys. Because children typically speak in the home setting, teachers play an important role in identifying and finding appropriate treatment for students with selective mutism. When asked to speak, they may blush, fidget, avoid eye contact and become increasingly rigid. They may even avoid asking to go to the bathroom. My student places her index finger in her mouth when she is nervous. She does this less now..."

Keep reading at Unlocking the Classroom.

Baseball Hero

2010-05-28T03:00:00.009-07:00

Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente is a website maintained by the Smithsonian. The classroom portion of the site introduces students and teachers to the famous baseball player and humanitarian through visual arts, drama, and language arts exercises. Of course, it's free, and we like that.

Download the curriculum guide
Adobe Acrobat Required
Grades 6-8.

Also: It's Friday and ATA is on Facebook with all the other teaching artists. Are you still there?

Revival

2010-05-27T03:00:00.005-07:00

Teaching Artists who are looking to develop themselves professionally might want to check out Moore College of Art & Design's Teachers Summer Institute, which starts on June 27th, in Philadelphia.

It's an annual residential program and the theme this year is Recharge, Refocus, Reconnect.

Registration information is available online. Details below:

Under the guidance of exceptional teaching artists in painting, printmaking, ceramics, and photography, art educators are given the support and facilities to revitalize and advance their individual studio skills while collaborating with colleagues in designing inventive classroom applications. Curators from the Barnes Foundation will lead daily seminars dealing with issues in modern art and how to relate them to the issues of young people. Add to this Moore’s highly respected gallery program and access to the city’s vital contemporary arts venues, and you’ve got a dynamic framework for introducing new opportunities for teachers to connect with youth in the classroom.

The Teachers Summer Institute 2010 runs June 27– July 3 at Moore College of Art & Design, 20th Street and The Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103. The annual program draws art educators from as far away as Florida and Massachusetts. Participants earn graduate–level credit. For more information, visit www.moore.edu, e-mail ce@moore.edu or call 215-965-4030.

Bike

2010-05-26T03:00:00.003-07:00

Teaching Artists who ride their bikes to work may already have noticed that it is now possible to ride the length of Manhattan along the Hudson River Greenway, from downtown all the way to the GW Bridge.

New York City's Bicycle Network Development program works to reduce congestion by promoting cycling in New York City

Get your copy of the NYC Cycling Map. It's FREE!

2010 Citywide Cycling Map:

The 2010 NYC Cycling Map is available in PDF format as one complete map (4.1 MB).

Draw

2010-05-25T03:00:00.020-07:00

MOMA's spectacular special exhibition of work by William Kentridge ended on May 17th, but the family study guide is still available online. The document suggests fun ways that adults and children can engage with, and respond to, Kentridge's art work.

Kentridge's reading of Nikolai Gogol's "the Nose", a story about a man who finds his nose has jumped off of his face to live a life of its own, inspired the artist to create the multimedia piece "Performance 8: William Kentridge: I am not me, the horse is not mine." In MOMA's guide, children and adults are instructed to "draw your own picture of a nose character in action. explain to your friend or family member what the nose is doing in your drawing."

Download the guide, with a click, here (pdf).

View the multimedia site here.

I'm off to find a pencil.

Shape Up

2010-05-24T03:00:00.003-07:00

Teaching artists have to keep in shape, because we are always on the go. Those who live in New York City can now take advantage of a new fitness initiative sponsored by the Parks Department. Free fitness classes are offered at public recreation centers in all five boroughs. The best things in life are free things, it is true.

Details and links are below:

Shaping Up has never been this easy! Starting May 17, Shape Up NYC will be offering FREE fitness classes every week at dozens of NEW locations across the five boroughs. Shape Up NYC classes are taught by expert fitness instructors who know how to make fitness fun. Class offerings are varied and include aerobics, yoga, pilates and zumba. No pre-registration is required, so just find the location in your neighborhood and start to Shape Up today!

Reading further, I learn that many Monday night programs at City recreation center are always free.

Happy Monday!

The Real Deal

2010-05-21T03:00:00.056-07:00

Over at Crain's New York Business, ace arts reporter Miriam Kreinin Souccar points out that City-funded cultural institutions should expect cuts of up to 40%. If cultural institutions are forced to scale down, teaching artist jobs will be collateral damage.

Crain's New York Business, 5/16/10

"The Queens Botanical Garden could be forced to cut its hours during the summer and to close down for part of the winter, and it just started charging admission fees for the first time. The New York Hall of Science may have to cancel its spring and summer exhibits next season. And the Public Theater is considering shortening its free Shakespeare in the Park season to six weeks from eight..."

Plus: Find information for your whole job search including free resume templates and tips at CV Tips.

Plus: Join ATA on Facebook, that's where we hang out.

Also: The Fab Four - Get Back (rooftop version)

Frozen

2010-05-20T03:00:00.005-07:00

The scary headline in the New York Times reads "Teachers Facing Weakest Market in Years." After saying such an awful thing, they then go on to prove it with terrifying anecdotes and numbers. Have you heard the one about the school district in Long Island that got 3620 applicants for 8 available teaching jobs?

With hiring freezes and layoffs, recent graduates who can't find work as classroom teachers may find themselves asking the age-old question: "How To Become a Teaching Artist?"

Join the crowd!

Two For One

2010-05-19T03:00:00.101-07:00

As summertime approaches, teaching artists who know how to play a musical instrument are in high demand. This is a tight job market, and, for the job-hunting TA, being able to make music might make all the difference in getting a position at an arts camp, or summer-school program. Luckily, it's never too late to learn a new skill, and maybe you should? The good people at Lifehacker have posted an intriguing article that promises to explain how it is possible to "Learn to Play an Instrument Online."

Also: G. Gould - Goldberg Variations 26-30 & Aria Da Capo

The Care

2010-05-18T03:00:00.031-07:00

Teaching Artists who find themselves working without adequate health insurance coverage might be excited to learn that the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic provides free health care to eligible artists who work in the entertainment industry.

Summertime, and the living is easy.

Details and links below:

Located in New York City at The Dorothy Ross Friedman Residences (formerly The Aurora) (map), the Hirschfeld Clinic offers urgent care, primary and specialty care with low cost referrals to a wide range of specialty clinics and practitioners.

Visit the Actor's Fund website here.

Also:

Sonnet 18 - William Shakespeare

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:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

La Bête

2010-05-17T03:00:00.051-07:00

Before heading out to teach on Monday, it's always wise to start with a little Frank O'Hara poem.

I dig this one:

ANIMALS

Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth

it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners

the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water

I wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days

(1950. Frank O'Hara)

From The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara. Copyright © 1971 by
Maureen Granville-Smith. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Also: ArtsEdge offers teaching artists so much, including this free lesson plan that asks students to examine the connections between the New York School of poets, and the abstract visual art movement that was happening around the same time.

Wild.

All at Once

2010-05-14T03:00:00.010-07:00

PEN is a global literary community dedicated to human rights, and freedom of speech. The PEN Prison Writing Project provides inmates with teaching artists to conduct writing workshops. PEN's Handbook for Writers in Prison is "an invaluable resource to any incarcerated writer."

Learn more about PEN at their website.

Also: Hello, World: Diaries by Men and Women in American Prisons at the Anne Frank Center 38 Crosby Street, 5th floor. Click here for directions and gallery hours.

Finally: It is Friday, and ATA is on Facebook, along with everyone else. Tell your friends!

In the Cut

2010-05-13T03:00:00.048-07:00

On a budget page that proposes massive cuts to education and the arts, the state of New York also expresses its "strong commitment to quality public education". Irony is lost in the confusion--poor thing.

Governor David Paterson's Executive Budget was proposed in January, and has not yet been adopted. In fact, New York State is still operating without a budget, well after the budget deadline has passed. Governor David Paterson has ordered a set of 1-day cost-saving furloughs--but those have been blocked after legal appeals by state worker's unions.

Theoretically, there is still time for your voice to be heard on these cuts.

Find your local representative's contact information at Americans for the Arts' Arts Action Center.

Going Your Way

2010-05-12T03:00:00.045-07:00

Teaching artists who work all over town may not appreciate the high cost of riding the subway, but the Metropolitan Transit Authority's list of Cultural Centers and Galleries is due some small praise. I must admit that a searchable online database that lists all of the nearby bus and subway spots for each cultural venue is a useful idea, and the MTA's version exists. It is convenient, and alphabetized, but not exactly comprehensive. It is usable. Thank you MTA.

Search the MTA's list of Galleries and Cultural Centers here.

Flight Plans

2010-05-11T03:00:00.008-07:00

This has been a windy springtime in New York City, and we may as well take advantage of it. Here is a handy instructional guide from the American Kitefliers Association, which shows how easy it is to build a basic kite. The guide is posted on the website of Gomberg Kites, which sells things, and also has many free online resources for teaching artists, including this one on "How to Run a Kite Workshop".

All you need is a sheet of paper, a needle and thread, a stapler, and a hole-punch. It's a snap.

The Difference

2010-05-10T03:00:00.004-07:00

At Edutopia there is posted a classic interview with Howard Gardner in which he explains the theory of multiple intelligences, and argues for new forms of assessment. The interview, which is from 1997, is still timely, because the educational dilemmas discussed have still not been solved, and probably never will be. There's also this nifty quiz to help you answer the big question:

What's Your Learning Style?

What Can I Do?

2010-05-07T03:00:00.050-07:00

Teaching artists can look forward to attending The School of the Future (SOTF).

SOTF, not be confused with the School of the Future, is a month-long art project in Bushwick, that invites teaching artists, and everyone else, to answer the question of a lifetime:

"What do you want to learn?"

The question links to information about upcoming classes, and forums on their website, along with an invitation to "share your idea here."

Also: The weekend is now, and teaching artists are invited to join ATA on Facebook to talk about jobs and things like the terrifying budget proposal just put forth by mayor Michael Bloomberg. The New York Times says the mayor's plan, which even he admits is a nightmare, will "reduce the city’s teaching force by 6,700, and close 50 senior centers, 16 day care centers and perhaps 10 libraries."

Finally: Xanadu - ONJ