Just In Sight

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

Stay Strong

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.

Words To Live By

I am reading A Short History of Myth, by Karen Armstrong, and have found much that inspires me. Teaching artists who have ever had a hard time getting a group of resistant students to engage in play may relate to our text for the day:

"Human beings are unique in retaining the capacity for play. Unless they are living in the artificial conditions of captivity, other animals lose their early sense of fun when they encounter the harsh realities of life in the wild. Human adults, however, continue to enjoy playing with different possibilities, and, like children, we go on creating imaginary worlds. In art, liberated from the constraints of reason and logic, we conceive and combine new forms that enrich our lives, and which we believe tell us something important and profoundly "true". "

- Karen Armstrong  A Short History of Myth page 9

Off the Shelf

Reading is fundamental:

bell hooks - Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom

Mike Rose - Why School? 

Marcia L. Tate - Shouting Won't Grow Dendrites: 20 Techniques for Managing a Brain-Compatible Classroom

Finally: It's Friday, and ATA is on Facebook.

Plus: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - They All Laughed (Gershwin)

Play On

According to her official website, teaching artist Elizabeth Swados has written 3 novels, 2 works of non-fiction, a book of poems and nine children's books. She's also a musician, director and composer, with 5 Tony Award nominations.

I can't imagine where she finds the time, but I'm so glad she does, because I find her book At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater to be terrifically useful and illuminating. In the introduction, she explains that the book is meant to guide educators who need to do some of my favorite things, such as:

1. make a show outside of school
2. make a show in school
3. train young actors in a community or drama school environment
4. train young actors in a classroom or after-school environment
5. use one or two exercises in a limited class time

Also: The annual Face to Face Conference starts tomorrow. Tweet.

We Do the Work

On ATA's Yahoo Forum, a member mentions A Teaching Artist at Work by Barbara McKean.

It's a terrific book. For example, in an excerpt posted on ATA's website, the author gives some useful background and context for the term Teaching Artist:

"The term teaching artist first appeared in the 1970s through the work at the Lincoln Center Institute and its arts education programs. I began working in classrooms and in education programs with professional theatres, the term artist-in-residence or artist-teacher was used to set us apart from the arts specialists employed by school districts or artists who did not participate in teaching. Today teaching artist has be come the term to used to describe the wide range of activities for those individuals who both practice their art form and engage in teaching others the knowledge and processes they employ as artists.

Teaching artists are distinguished from those who dedicate most of their time to teaching the arts in schools and are licensed teachers and from master-teachers who share specific knowledge and techniques from their won work in a limited workshop-type environment.

Teaching artists in education are expected to work as artists as well as invest themselves in the creation and implementation of project in collaboration with other teachers or education staff. The modifier—teaching—highlights the pedagogical nature of the work. It helps the individual conceive of teaching as the activity that modifies and drives the education approach of the art form."

From Barbara McKean, A Teaching Artist At Work: Theater with Young People In Educational Settings, Heinemann, 2006.

Finally, it is Friday and ATA is on Facebook. That's 800 teaching artists who have information, knowledge and resources for teaching artists.

Share.

Also: The People In Your Neighborhood - Sesame Street

Behavioral Problems

Classroom management issues can be debilitating. When Monday rolls around, anticipating the arrival of a "difficult class" can rob your entire practice of a sense of joy. Of course, since there is no quality teaching without a sense of joy, the problem is compounded. If there is no colleague in the building to commiserate with, or no time to problem-solve classroom management issues, a bad situation can get worse.

How do we encourage young people to participate? How do we proceed when student behavior is disruptive? How can we transform our relationship to students so that classroom management is not about discipline?

In his book Encouraging Children to Learn, Rudolf Driekurs presents a radical re-thinking of our relationship to the concept of discipline. Instead of reward and punishment, he argues that children should be made aware of logical consequences for their behavior.

A radical idea.

In the news:

Detroit's unemployment rate nears 50%.

The number of people applying for Food Stamps is rising fast.

Uncertainty grows about whether the Imperial Senate will be able to pass a health care bill before 2010.

Goldman Sachs is having the best year ever!

How To Do That

Most professional teaching artists are freelancers. If a TA is lucky and has a lot of clients, this can mean a considerable amount of time in the field, and little time to manage the flood of paperwork and emails that are the millstones of success. Over at her excellent blog Minutiae & Flux, professional teaching artist, and colleague, Carla Ching posts on this very topic.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity is a book by David Allen, but the GTD Cheat Sheet @ LifeDev.net summarizes the book in a page or two, because who has time?

Over at Unlocking the Classroom, professional teaching artist Lizzie Hetzer writes on Freire, bell hooks, Radical Love and Buddhism, all of which can make time management issues seem like background noise.

In the News: The Teaching Artist Union has meetings, and the deadline for proposals to the Common Ground Arts Education Conference is fast approaching, which means it is today.

Unemployment hovers at just above 10%. Make those dollars before the winter break! Luckily, many jobs are posted on the Yahoo Listserv, courtesy of ATA Executive Director, Dale Davis.

Finally: Consider Disco. KC & the Sunshine Band - I'm Your Boogie Man

From Memory

Artist Stephen Wiltshire is drawing a panorama of New York City from memory in a gallery at Pratt, and it's astounding. The whole thing reminds me that I need to finish reading The Colossus of New York, Colson Whitehead's hymn to the city in his mind. A brief excerpt from the book's opening essay City Limits reveals that Mr. Whitehead prefers not to let the rules of punctuation cramp his writing style:

No matter how long you have been here, you are a New Yorker the first time you say, That used to be Munsey's, or That used to be the Tic Toc Lounge. That before the internet cafe plugged itself in, you got your shoes resoled in the mom-and-pop operation that used to be there. You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now.

He doesn't even use quotation marks!

Freewheeling passages like this inspire giddy questions.

How strict do teaching artists need to be about enforcing the rules of grammar and punctuation?

Should I toss out my copy of the Elements of Style?

Monday

It is Monday.

I have no idea how this happened.

I am reading Chapter 5 of Asking Better Questions. The authors propose three broad categories of questions. The book, which totally qualifies as a classic teacher resource, also suggests that instead of asking "What type of question should I ask?" it is probably more practical to ask, "What do I want this question to do?" Download and read Chapter 5 here (PDF).


Also: The Mamas and the Papas - Monday, Monday

Shorts

Wow.

Occasionally, I will exclaim about a book or some other piece of art that I think is astounding.

For instance, Caryl Philips' short story collection, Crossing the River, opens with this amazingly economical line:

A desperate foolishness. The Crops failed. I sold my children. I remember."

I kept reading.

Also: A cartoon short about economic, social and cultural rights is posted on the website of Amnesty International.

The Birthday of the World

The next winner of the award for Best Short Story writer is Ursula K. Le Guin. On the author's website, she describes her short story collection The Birthday of the World:

These seven stories share a pattern: they exhibit in one way or another, from inside or through an observer...people whose society differs from ours, even whose physiology may differ from ours, but who feel the way we do. First to create difference — to establish strangeness — then to let the fiery arc of human emotion leap and close the gap: this acrobatics of the imagination fascinates and satisfies me as almost no other.

Ms. Le Guin, is a myth-maker and a poet, she also pens award-winning novels for young adults. Her book, Powers won a Nebula award in April of this year. She's delivered 100 short stories, 22 novels, 7 poetry collections and 12 books for children, so far. At 79, she has earned a reputation as a writer's writer. Her extensive personal website offers free information and resources, both for readers and for aspiring writers.

Since she has already won 5 Nebula Awards, 5 Hugo Awards and a National Book Award, this one should come as no surprise.

Sci Fi

Octavia Butler's Bloodchild and Other Stories is our next notable book.

For those who missed yesterday's episode, we are on in the middle of a week-long series, featuring the best short stories around. There are no prizes, just praise:


Octavia Butler writes Science Fiction parables.

Disturbing, yet hopeful, stories with a feminist perspective.

How's that for summer reading?

Subject for a Short Story

I love to read.

Luckily, I've been meaning to do a series on books and today is the day we begin our series on the best short story writers around.

The criteria for selection are very simple. I choose, because I type. There is no committee. No prizes will be awarded. It's all just for fun.

Our first winner is Jhumpa Lahiri; the well-known writer and thinker.

At GRANTA Magazine, a literary paradise, we find this entire article featuring Ms. Lahari and Mavis Gallant talking about the art of short story writing. Ms. Lahiri reads from her her collection, Unaccustomed Earth (2008), and Gallant, whose work I've never read, also shares one with the audience.

I recommend the reading highly.

Her Story

Russia's most famous museum, the State Hermitage, occupies six buildings along the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg.

They offer a digital collection, as well as a "Virtual Academy."

I read somewhere that the Hermitage exists because of the avarice and foresight of Catherine the Great, who reigned as Empress in the 1700s.

She was a patron of the arts. She wrote a manual of education for girls and volumes of memoirs, comedies and other dramatic literature.

The Secret Life of Plants

Historically, many botanists were also talented illustrators; handy with a sketch pad.

E. J. H. Corner's classic book, The Life of Plants, is filled with many botanical illustrations and it's the most fascinating introduction to botany you are likely to find.

Also: Little Shop of Horrors - Da Doo

Out of this World

Madeline L'engle wrote the science fiction novel A Wrinkle in Time; which is a science fiction novel about love and quantum physics.

The protagonist is an intelligent little girl who has to fight an unspeakable evil to survive.

Also: Do you know about The Lower East Side Girls Club?

Their mission statement will blow your mind:

The Lower Eastside Girls Club provides a place where girls and young women 8-23 can grow, learn, have fun, and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. By delivering strong arts, literacy, science, health and leadership programs we provide girls with the vision to plan – and the tools to build – their future. All Girls Club programs develop environmental, entrepreneurial and ethical leadership in the girls we serve.

The Tower

Sometimes, I think that real storytelling won't survive the cultural revolution.

On the other hand, Rapunzel doesn't seem to be going anywhere:

Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace; Raul Colon, Illustrator


Rapunzel by Rachel Isadora


Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale by Lynn Roberts and David Roberts

Letters from Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes

Rush

Dear Reader, thank you for visiting ATA Blog!

You make it fun.

Hey, ATA is on Facebook!

And: It's the weekend. Let's go to Dia Beacon, or somewhere else entirely--like the Berkshires.

Also: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope by bell hooks

Plus: Walden by Henry David Thoreau

And, finally: Les chemins de l'amour - F. Poulenc

The List

Over at the New York Times Op Ed section, Nicholas D. Kristof has the temerity to post a summer reading list he's calling "the Best Children’s Books — Ever!"

At last count, there were over 1000 comments from readers who disagree completely.

I think he does it on purpose.