Control

Electronic books have become something of an everyday convenience because they are profitable. On the website of the New York Times, Lewis Hyde, who wrote The Gift, one of my most favorite books, says an upcoming copyright case will give Google an inordinate amount of control over the catalog.

Advantage Google By LEWIS HYDE Published: October 4, 2009 Nothing in the history of copyright permits the treatment of “orphan” works spelled out in the proposed settlement between Google and the Authors Guild.

I wonder how this, and other radical technological changes like the PC Tablet, will impact my future teaching practice?

Also: XBox LIVE

Public Art Network

Is there a public art problem you need assistance with? Do you have questions about best practices, or copyright law? Please don't ask me. I have no idea.

You should email the Public Art Network*.

They have the answers.

PAN Manager.

...........
*Americans for the Arts' Public Art Network (PAN) is the only professional network in the United States dedicated to the field of public art.

At the Zoo

The Central Park Zoo is uniquely exciting.

No other organization offers a Snow Leopard, and a Wildlife Theater for young people.

It's spectacular, and so close to home--especially if you live here.

A blurb on their website explains everything:

Wildlife Theater is…

• a Central Park Zoo-based theater company that inspires audiences to learn—and care—more about our natural world.
• a group that works with schools, community centers, hospitals, camps, special events, and private events.
• an interactive and audience participatory performance using drama, puppetry, games, and songs.
• a completely self-contained performance group. We provide our own sound equipment and necessary items for the show. All we need is a working electrical outlet.
• a theatrical experience. No live animals are featured in our shows.
  

Art is Change

“How and when does art release, create, and sustain transforming power for social change?”

That's the easy question asked by eight community-arts leaders who took part in a cooperative inquiry process* which brought them together to explore a self- devised question:

The results of the process are contained in a useful report titled Can the Arts Change the World? (PDF)

I want to say I know the answer already.

---------------------------
* According to the report: "Cooperative inquiry (CI) is a participatory research technique in which a small group of participants use their own experience to generate insights around an issue that is of burning concern to all of them."

Get Insured

While they talk and talk about it in Washington, you might feel like it would be cool to have insurance now, or soon, instead of never. NYC Health Insurance Link online tool will help you scour the universe for health insurance that meets your needs and your budget, right now.

Learn more at nyc.gov.

Play by the Rules

Did you know that more than 5,000 children are expelled from pre-K programs each year because classroom teachers can't control them? I had no idea.

In a lengthy Sunday Magazine Article, the New York Times reports on that, and on researchers who are trying to prove that "imaginary play" can help young children learn how to exercise self control. More precisely, researchers are looking at something called "executive function."

From the article:

Originally a neuroscience term, it (executive function) refers to the ability to think straight: to order your thoughts, to process information in a coherent way, to hold relevant details in your short-term memory, to avoid distractions and mental traps and focus on the task in front of you. And recently, cognitive psychologists have come to believe that executive function, and specifically the skill of self-regulation, might hold the answers to some of the most vexing questions in education today.

If this research turns out to be significant, maybe adults could be offered remedial work on the college level.

A Message from Dale Davis

From ATA Executive Director, Dale Davis:

Our numbers on the listserv continue to grow!

(There are also 524 ATA members on Facebook.)

The Survey

Thank you to Fractured Atlas, Teaching Artists Organized (Bay Area California), Chicago Teaching Artists Collective, and Young Audiences of Western New York for helping ATA spread the word about our national Teaching Artists and Their Work Survey accessed at www.teachingartists.com.


If you have not completed the survey yet, please! We, also, continue to need your help with distribution of the survey. We would like to see it distributed nationally to reach as many Teaching Artists as possible. ATA's focus in this survey is Teaching Artists' experiential knowledge. We ask you to share your knowledge, your stories, and what your experience as a Teaching Artist has taught you. Thank you.

National Arts and Humanities Month

October is National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM), a coast-to- coast collective celebration of culture in America. It is held every October and coordinated by Americans for the Arts. It is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. From arts center open houses to mayoral proclamations to banners and media coverage, communities across the United States join together to recognize the importance of arts and culture in our daily lives. New York State Senator José M. Serrano recently introduced a resolution in the New York State Senate designating October as Arts Education Month.

And as part of the Arts and Humanities Month and October as Arts Education Month, ATA is celebrating those New York State and national arts and culture organizations who provide Teaching Artists with good incomes from steady work, who always put the Teaching Artist first, who honor Teaching Artists' schedules and skills, who offer competitive wages, who are always looking for new opportunities for work for Teaching Artists, and who provide professional development. ATA is asking Teaching Artists to help us celebrate the importance of arts and cultural organizations in our lives!

We will be posting the arts and cultural organizations you want to celebrate on www.teachingartists.com during October!

Please e-mail me ddavis@teachingartists.com the arts and cultural organization you want to celebrate. Please include the name of the organization, location, a bit about the organization, your reasons, the url, and a photo of the Executive Director or an organizational photo you would like to have included.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey, help us get the survey out, and recognize the wonderful organizations who make the world a better place for Teaching Artists!

Dale

Dale Davis
Executive Director
The Association of Teaching Artists

www.teachingartists.com

Reading Rainbow

I know you are a busy person, but have you noticed that, all this week, Americans for the Arts has been launching its new arts education blog with a blogging marathon? About 30 "bloggers" have set out to deliver posts on a wide range of sometimes surprising topics, such as increasing access to the arts for special needs students (no surprise here) and jail(?!).

Among the many excellent, Laura Reeder of Partners for Arts Education posts on the Qualities of Quality, and Arnold Aprill of Chicago Arts Partnership in Education introduces readers to Building Curriculum, Community and Leadership through the Arts (BCCLA) as a project model for innovative and rewarding ways to support local arts teachers.

I read about it on Twitter. Which, at 140 characters, is basically the future in a nutshell.

Next week: It's All Happening at the Zoo.

Let's Start

Last night, in Tribeca, Urban Arts Partnership hosted an event called The Promise of Arts Education, a panel featuring Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, Arnold Aprill of CAPE, High School Principals Scott Conti of New Design, and Gillian Smith of Facing History, along with Paul King of DOE---who apparently has our back. The event addressed questions on how the arts can drive innovation in public education, and did I mention the snacks? Below, I have posted what I can decipher from my notes.

These are the things I heard panelists say in response to questions--"quotes." I should tell you that I scribbled these notes in the dark, while using my phone as a flashlight, and devouring canapes.

"Call to action."

"Future."

"Accountability."

"Diversity."

"Art is the fabric..."

"Employer'

"Workplace"

"Economy"

"Empathy"

"...different curriculum organizers..."

"...new paradigm..."

"Good art programs are, first of all, good for kids."

"Transformation"

"...students have made choices, and can talk about them."

'...traditional education doesn't work for many kids...."

"...redefining our relationship to the local community..."

"We have to start developing different metrics for testing the arts..."

"Crisis"*

"Space race"

"Violence"

"Poverty"

"Disconnected youth..."

"What does art do to ameliorate...?"

"...arts integration?"

"...direct instruction?"

"...both."

"...student engagement..."

"Thank you."

Also: Fela Kuti - Let's Start

*That was me.

Vissi D'arte

The Metropolitan Opera opened its new season, and the New York Times says they have already been forced to defend their new tradition-busting production of Tosca.

I recently learned about the world-renowned opera's Score Desk ticket program, which was created "for music students of all ages and for the visually impaired." Score desk seats are located somewhere inside the Metropolitan Opera House, but they offer "no view of the stage." Patrons are assured that the acoustics are "excellent from this location." Tickets are $16 for regular people and $14 for Guild Members.

Or: Tosca Act II - Leontyne Price

A Bite

Hey, there's this cool panel on Wednesday, and I think we should all go.

The Promise of Arts Education:
A Panel on How the Arts Can Drive Innovation in Public Education

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
92Y Tribeca
200 Hudson, NY, NY

6:30: Cocktails & Networking

7:15: Panel and Q&A

This event is free, by invitation.

RSVP required. rsvp@urbanarts.org.

Get more information: www.urbanarts.org

I have heard from good authority that there will be decent snacks--which either means the recession is over, or the funders are coming.

Quiet Riot

When I am in need of thoughts on meaning-making education, the arts and/or social change, I visit Unlocking the Classroom, because it is written by a teaching artist who does just that.

This week, the third post in a series on love, and a Zora Neal Hurston qoute introduces a documentary on dance.

Most wonderful.

Ground Control

At least the pre-Copernican mind was sure of its place in the universe. What is a teaching artist? How to define a community that represents such a wide range of disciplines? How do you advocate for teaching artists, when some of them don't even know what they are yet? How do you train teaching artists in the first place? What do we need to know? Should all teaching artists have the same pedagogical foundation, or are we still just using whatever works for us?

What's on your mind?

Please complete the latest ATA survey and join all your "friends" on Facebook.

Also: Dionne Warwick - Don't Make Me Over

Twenty One

Sometimes, I have twenty questions. For instance, how is a TA supposed to live on 5 part-time after-school gigs in 3 different boroughs that each pay $50/hour twice a week when the train costs $90 month and the average one bedroom is $2500, and you can't be in two places at once? What do you think when you hear the phrase "planning time is included?" If we're supposed to be both good artists and effective teachers, do we need two advanced degrees? If so, shouldn't the hourly rate be higher? Whose lesson plan is this? Which ones are the solid earning years for a TA? Where are the mentoring programs? What happens to all the older TAs? I know you are there, but weren't there more of you? Did your colleagues all become administrators, advocates and philosophers in residence? Or, did they just all quit and get real jobs? Are they eating? Can they pay their bills? Can you? Why does everyone keep asking me to volunteer?

Also: Alice Russell - Seven Nation Army

The New School

The New York Times says a free, unaccredited, art school has opened in Manhattan.

It may be true, but what does it mean?

I really couldn't tell you.

All I can decipher is that the Bruce High Quality Foundation is starting their own school and you are invited. They say interesting things on their website, such as: "we aspire to invest the experience of public space with wonder..."

Right on.

Also: Jay-Z w/ Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (MTV)

Supply Side

The Music National Service Corps is piloting a “music volunteerism” network called MusicianMentors that they say will expand access to music education and improve youth achievement in underserved public schools and communities.

Someone will have to explain to me why recruiting new volunteers in the middle of the worst unemployment in recent American history is a priority.

Shouldn't we be talking about real job creation for Teaching Artists?

Also: Dennis Baker examines the myth of the starving artist.

Plus: Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone (1966)

The Reasons That We Live

It's going to be quite a week around here. It's all about professionalization, again, because we are focused on it. We seek improvement in the situation.

Please, complete the newest ATA survey.

Also, two versions of the same song, by the magnificent, and late, Minnie Ripperton.

Reasons (Live on Soul Train w/ an interview.)

Reasons (album)

Developing the Professional Identity of the Teaching Artist

I wonder if you wonder what teaching artists are thinking?

I do.

Here is a 3-minute trailer for Developing the Professional Identity of the Teaching Artist; an interactive workshop and performance piece, created by colleagues Annie Montgomery, Courtney Boddie, Sharon Counts, Edie Demas, David Montgomery, Sobha Kavanakudiyil Paredes, Heidi Stallings and me.

Reasons

In 2007, Judith Tannenbaum posted an excellent entry on Arts Blog about the ongoing professionalization of the Teaching Artist:

That’s the question I’d like now to ponder: What do we teaching artists, students, program administrators, site partners, community activists cherish about the work of art in other places, as Bill Cleveland calls it, as it has been practiced over the decades? What do we want not to lose as teaching artistry becomes a more formal field?

If you ever feel like you need to talk about these things, ATA is on Facebook, and everyone is on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/carlaching

http://twitter.com/JoanneLeeJacobs

http://twitter.com/ediedemas

http://twitter.com/JohnAbodeely

http://twitter.com/dennisbaker

http://twitter.com/DanielPink

http://twitter.com/teachingartist

Survey Says

From ATA Executive Director, Dale Davis:

In response to your concerns, discussions with Teaching Artists, and with input from beginning, mid-career, and experienced Teaching Artists, ATA announces a new ATA survey on http://www.teachingartists.com/

Teaching Artists and Their WorkAn ATA Survey:
What are Meaningful, Supportive, and Sustainable Employment Environments for the Work of a Teaching Artist?

ATA's focus in this survey is Teaching Artists' experiential knowledge. We ask you to share your knowledge, your stories, and what your experience has taught you.
Please complete the survey http://www.teachingartists.com/ and help us to distribute the survey as widely as possible, to as many Teaching Artists as possible. ATA's focus in this survey is Teaching Artists' experiential knowledge. We ask you to share your knowledge, your stories, and what your experience has taught you.
Thank you,

Dale
Dale Davis
Executive Director
The Association of Teaching Artists

Star Maps

HubbleSite.org, a multimedia project of NASA, encourages cosmic sightseeing.

Tonight's Sky.

Radio, Radio

I've been thinking, if we're all going to get certified, we'll probably need to know how to talk traditional educator-speak about our standards of quality and what not.

The spectacular Jane Remer thinks we should devise our own tests, before they do it to us:

What Can We Do to Make the Arts Count As Education?

My argument is a version of the old saw, what gets tested gets taught, and if we are smart, we will begin to devise the fair and challenging "tests" ourselves before someone else starts forcing standardized or inappropriate tests on us. We need to sift through our vast collective experience and figure out how to carefully blend quantitative and qualitative methods that will capture the essence of art learning. I believe we have ample, field-tested examples of productive methods using, perhaps, a version of collaborative practitioner research, that we can draw on to design more complex research, assessments and evaluations that won't break the bank.

Over at Education Week, Diane Ravitch, needs no introduction:

So, I grant the good intentions of the groups that hope to create national standards. I know why they want to do it, and I wish them well. At the same time, I am cautious, perhaps even wary, because I see how many terrible state standards already exist and fear that the same dumbed-down, vague blather might be foisted upon the nation and called “standards.”

Also: Elvis Costello - Radio, Radio

Sueños

Pinch me.

TAO Mondays at MoCHA
Professional Development for Teaching Artists by Teaching Artists

FALL WORKSHOPS KICK OFF WITH:

"From Plato to Playdough"
with Arlene Shmaeff (Museum of Children's Art)
September 14
What TAs need to know about what teachers are taught

An overview of the key education theories that inform classroom teacher training. This is an information-packed workshop, hands-on & interactive.

This grounding in education theories workshop is an excellent companion to the September 12 Teaching Artist Institute exploration of arts learning pedagogies.
Cost: $12 donation, sliding scale; free to those who attend the
Sept. 12 Teaching Artists Institute
Register now for both workshops on the TAO Website.

MoCHA (Museum of Children's Art) is located at 538 Ninth Street, Oakland. Classes are 6 to 8:00 pm.

Also: Jetblue

Plus: Betty Hutton - Orange Colored Sky

Certifiable

There is a big conversation about Teaching Artists and certification taking place at Dewey21C.

This issue raises so many questions.

Most of mine are about money.

I read that Studio in a School has this training program where you can get credentialed through Pratt.

The Long Term Program has a credential component that visual artists can take part in. It is an intensive art teacher certification program designed to establish well-trained, licensed art teachers in New York City public schools. STUDIO IN A SCHOOL (STUDIO) selects professional artists, who are committed to teaching children, to participate in this partially-sponsored certification program. Artists accepted into this component fulfill all of the employment requirements of the Long Term Program during the two-year full-time Phase One, PLUS complete all certification requirements through Pratt Institute’s graduate Program in Art & Design.

What you will receive:

• Full-time salaried employment with health insurance

• All training and a portion of the tuition for education credits required for certification (as per Pratt Institute) will be paid for by STUDIO IN A SCHOOL

• Mentoring and training for the art teaching residency by established STUDIO IN A

SCHOOL artists

• Two full years to work side-by-side in the art studio with classroom teachers;

planning together to ensure that a strong art program is integrated with other

curricular goals, and gradually developing the classroom management skills

required for teaching independently

Also: Barbra - Everybody Says Don't

Back to School

Summer is over.

Get back to work.

Idealist

NYFA Classified

Also, President Barack Obama has released the text of his back to school speech.

How Things Work

Professional TAs who are eagerly awaiting a new government-sponsored health care plan, should read the New York Times to find out how things actually work.

A White House compromise, being discussed by people who all have excellent doctors, would have government offering its own health plan only if private insurers failed to provide "affordable" coverage. This reasonable sounding alternative is similar to a plan that was instituted in 2003 for prescription drug benefits. In that case, says the Times, "private insurers, seeing a lucrative business opportunity, rushed into the market, and...the Medicare drug benefit is thus delivered entirely by private insurers under contract with the federal government."

If this plan works, people who own insurance companies are going to get so much more rich!

Happy Labor Day.

Also: Capitalism! @ Youtube

I Want To Go To There

I was surfing over at Partners for Arts Education, and I followed a link to read about one of their school partnership initiatives called Arts In Mind.

The mission statement:

"The mission of Arts in Mind is to increase potential for student achievement through more equitable access, alignment, integration, and professional development of cultural resources into whole-school planning."

Sometimes, I recognize words, but the full meaning eludes me. I usually just keep reading.

Then, this:

"Professional Development - Teachers and teaching artists train and plan together to develop best practices for their classrooms."

Voila!

The Job Description

What is the role of the Teaching Artist in the classroom?

There may be no simple answer, but it's a question worth considering before you arrive.

In June, in a symposium broadcast on the web, Teaching Artists gathered together at the Seattle Art Museum to chat about these important issues. This worthy event was hosted by the Dana Foundation (www.dana.org) and it is available online.

With all this new technology, it's just like being there. Only, you don't get to go to Seattle.

Watch streaming video of the event.

This video is also available on the ATA Homepage through a special agreement with the Dana Foundation.

Feed Your Head

There are so many professional TAs trying to make a living in the freewheeling Bay Area that they've organized. Starting in September, Teaching Artists Organized (TAO), a new local service organization, will offer a three-part professional development series in Berkeley, California.

Teaching Artists Organized.

I love the name.

It’s like a wish.

TAO LAUNCHES FIRST OF THREE FALL WORKSHOPS
@ Cal Shakes' rehearsal hall 701 Heinz in Berkeley (off Seventh and San Pablo) -- get directions.

* Saturday, Sept 12: PEDAGOGY SPEED DATING: Overviews and Introductions From Key Teaching Artist Schools of Practice for the TA in the know. * Keith Terry, of CrossPulse, opens the day with an interactive workshop on body music and kinesthetic movement. Presenters include: Arlene Schmaeff (Museum of Children's Art); Rica Anderson (Cal Performances); Sabrina Klein (creative education consulting); Dave Maier (Berkeley Rep School of Theatre); Tana Johnson (Alameda County Office of Education); Sarah Lenoue (Visual Thinking Strategies); Jill Randall (Shawl-Anderson Dance Studio).

For some reason, these sessions are not free. In fact, they cost money.

Also: Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit

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

Quack

I think today might be your last chance to see Theaterworks USA's Click, Clack, Moo at the Lucille Lortel in the Village. Tickets are free and it goes up at 10:30 AM and at 1:00 PM.

I saw it, and my one word review is "Hilarious."

All day long Farmer Brown hears "click clack moo, clickety clackety moo..." The cows are typing and protesting their working conditions! The world premiere of a hilariously "moo-ving" new musical about compromise, based on the award-winning book by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.

JULY 21 - AUGUST 28, 2009
All performances are at the Lucille Lortel Theatre,
121 Christopher Street, between 7th Avenue and Hudson Street.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETING INFORMATION

Gosh, they were all so funny.

The Cow. The Chickens. The Duck!

The Duck.

Seriously, rush. Experience the Duck.

About the Weather

Happy Hurricane Season!

It's Friday.

I am on Twitter.

ATA is on Facebook.

Maybe you'll visit.

Plus: From Florida, Professor Stanley Fish worries about the demise of American culture, again.

Also: Outkast - The Whole World

Radical Love

Over at Unlocking the Classroom, I am following a series on Friere and the concept of love, as it relates to doing the work of a Teaching Artist.

In my experience, when someone starts talking about love in the classroom, people get nervous--which is kind of the point of the essay:

How appropriate is it that we, as teaching artists, theatre practitioners, actors, and educators explore and create our own vocabulary of love? Or are we too, ashamed of something that appears to be too gushy, silly, or emotional?"

I write this paper is because I want to know what love means for Freire, other educators, and me. Perhaps my exploration of my own definition of love will help you to agree, disagree, and ponder the meaning and concept of love within your own educational practice.

Must read.

Something To Talk About

As you may recall, the University of Chicago Survey Lab is carrying out a large scale survey of teaching artists in specific cities. The Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP) is supposed to "deepen our understanding of the lives and work of teaching artists" in order to inform policy-makers.

In a recent email reminder, TARP says:

Despite all of the interest generated by the Teaching Artist Research Project, we have heard from surprisingly few of you. We know that teaching artists lead hectic lives, but we keep encouraging you to take our survey about your work for very good reasons. TARP will help us understand your perspective on how to shape new strategies to expand arts education and train teaching artists so that they work best for artists. So, please give us fifteen minutes of your time now..."

The study sites are Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Providence, and eight California communities.

Did you answer?

Environmental

Grist has been publishing environmental news and commentary since 1999. They call themselves a "beacon in the smog." Their website is sleek, cheery and filled with useful information about environmental issues, including sections on food and art.

I think they must be from Seattle.

A recent post presents an educational comic strip developed by the coal industry for school children.

Good for a laugh.

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.

Literary Events

Last week, when we were doing an informal listing of the best short stories around, I failed to mention the Moth--New York's most alive, live literary event.

I went, and I can report that the storytellers were unbelievably good.

Also: Listen to the Moth podcast.

Or: Host a Moth in your living room.

Culinary Arts

I think cooking is an art form, but I never see chefs at any of the industry meetings.

Anyway, sometimes you get peckish.

If you are really hungry, don't visit Zen Can Cook.

It's too delicious.

Vacation

When a TA goes on vacation, it's because they saved their pennies.

We don't usually get vacation days.

Or health care.

Or a pension.

Or a guaranteed amount of work.

Anyway, Jones Beach is free and it's named after a pirate.

New ATA Board Members Announced

From Glenn McClure, Board Chair, The Association of Teaching Artists

I am proud to announce the new class of the Board of Directors of the Association of Teaching Artists!

Tina Lapadulla- Arts Corps of Seattle, Washington

Jeanette McCune- Kennedy Center, Washington DC

Godfrey Simmons- EPIC Theater in NYC

We have not only have added some top-notch talent to the Board, but we have also expanded the Board's membership to include a vital national perspective that is vital to our current services. Though ATA was born with a small band of Teaching Artists in New York State eleven years ago, we reach Teaching Artists across the nation.

Our listserv, the resources on our web site, Facebook, and the blog reach beyond US Borders to include teaching artists in Italy, Belgium, Pakistan, Australia, and more. ATA's new class of board members represents the leadership necessary for ATA to continue to expand and support the needs of our burgeoning profession.

Continue to let us know what you are thinking and keep sending entries for the listserv. We continue to build this profession together with Teaching Artists and those who support them in every corner of the world. I look forward to seeing what we can build together in the coming years!

All the best,

Glenn McClure
Board Chair
The Association of Teaching Artists

Now or Never

A special report at Edutopia lays out the case for saving Arts Education.

I found out on Twitter.

The Panacea

In the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the indefatigable Nicholas Kristof and company put in an extensive report on the new crusade for women's liberation.

"The world," says Mr. Kristof, "is awakening to a powerful truth. Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution." According to the article, addressing more resources toward freeing women from brutal oppression may be an effective way to solve other intractable, global problems, like poverty:

"Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that’s mostly an aspiration: in a large slice of the world, girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it’s not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and riven by fundamentalism and chaos. There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism..."

In Diapers

The New York Times' Alison Gopnick delivers an editorial in support of experiential learning approaches. The writer points to new research on the behavior of young children and babies:

"Three recent experiments show that even the youngest children have sophisticated and powerful learning abilities. Last year, Fei Xu and Vashti Garcia at the University of British Columbia proved that babies could understand probabilities. Eight-month-old babies were shown a box full of mixed-up Ping-Pong balls: mostly white but with some red ones mixed in. The babies were more surprised, and looked longer and more intently at the experimenter when four red balls and one white ball out of the box — a possible, yet improbable outcome — than when four white balls and a red one were produced."

Also: Everything But the Girl - Apron Strings

Hear the Bells

In the ongoing "debate" over health care reform, people who already have excellent health care are signaling that ditching the public health care option is not a deal-breaker.

“The president is going to continue to try to persuade everyone of the great value of having a true public plan,” said this Democrat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid discussing strategy publicly. ”But at the end of the day, I believe he recognizes that there are other, arguably less effective, ways to achieve greater coverage, more choice, better quality and lower cost in our system.”

Instead of a new government health insurance plan, which is what so many of the public in question thought they were promised, it seems likely that a network of low-cost health care cooperatives will be the proffered solution.


I think they mean group insurance plans like those available through membership in the Freelancers Union/Working Today.


Also: Peter Paul and Mary - If I Had A Hammer

From the Start

Hurrah, it's Monday!

Quick, before the shock wears off, ART!

Nearly anything will do.

How about a collage?

Or a poem?

I found this lesson plan on collage at Art Blueprint from Studio In A School. It's designed to help second-graders begin to experiment with the layering and placement of colorful shapes. After reading the description, I can't wait to start.

Description:

The unit begins with students making observations about an Eric Carle collage illustration. Youngsters note that the figure is composed of several shapes; they explore making a balanced composition of shapes. After making observations about collages by Alex Katz and Romare Bearden that feature a figure in an environment, students create a collage that incorporates a figure in a setting. The unit concludes with a display of work accompanied by signage.

Also:

TWO FIGURES IN A DENSE VIOLET LIGHT

I had as lief be embraced by the portier of the hotel
As to get no more from the moonlight
Than your moist hand.

Be the voice of the night and Florida in my ear.
Use dusky words and dusky images.
Darken your speech.

Speak, even, as if I did not hear you speaking,
But spoke for you perfectly in my thoughts,
Conceiving words,

As the night conceives the sea-sound in silence,
And out of the droning sibilants makes
A serenade.

Say, puerile, that the buzzards crouch on the ridge-pole
and sleep with one eye watching the stars fall
Beyond Key West.

Say that the palms are clear in the total blue.
Are clear and are obscure; that it is night;
That the moon shines.

-- Wallace Stevens

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.

The Farm

Over at Community Arts Network, arts advocate and thinker Arlene Goldbard delivers a third installment in her nifty series on national service initiatives. The article, which was published in July, is lengthy, which means I won't be finished reading for about a week. I have skimmed it though, and I can tell you that Ms. Goldbard does a fine job reporting on some of the most worthy volunteer and artist corp initiatives percolating all around the country.

As she advocates, persuasively and relentlessly, for the return of the Works Progress Administration, Ms. Goldbard always reminds me of all the great artists that benefited from the program, like Dorothea and Zora. I am also reminded that low-paying survival jobs with no workplace protections and few guarantees are basically what we are talking about. Long after her time doing field recordings for the WPA, Zora Neal Hurston died in abject poverty and obscurity. She probably wasn't able to save any money while she was in her 30s because she didn't have a real job.

To her credit, Ms. Goldbard crisply points out that, for the most part, the efforts she profiles "fall short of sustainable fulltime salaries for artists working in public service," but, she says, they are "widely perceived as steps on the road toward that goal."

Anyway, if we're all going to volunteer for a living, then I think the administrators who run these worthy National Service Initiatives should also be unpaid volunteers. After they've paid their dues, they can join Mckinsey & Company and make all their lost earning potential back again, with interest.

The artists will have all that useful experience to put on their resumes.


Also: Animal Farm - George Orwell

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?

Jamaica

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL) is hiring Teaching Artists to teach some things that I would love to learn:

Bollywood
Tango
Zumba
Capoeira and Afro-Brazilian Dance
Yoga
Ceramics

The starting pay rate $40 per hour, depending on experience.

Jamaica, in Southeast Queens, is a transportation hub, and one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city.

Also: Om Shanti Om - Deewangi Deewangi

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.

Sightings

Today, we are doing celebrity sightings.

At the AATE/ATHE Conference: Risking Innovation, many important community leaders were spotted across a crowded room, including David Shookhoff, Russell Granet, Katie Koerner, Jen Strycharz, Lizzie Hetzer, and Courtney Boddie.

I took a session with Helen White, which was as crowded as a lunchtime yoga class, and just as fun.

Risking Innovation

American Alliance of Theatre and Education (AATE) connects and inspires people, who, let's face it, are probably already committed to transforming young people and communities. The Association for Theatre in Higher Education, advocates for theater artists within the university setting.

They are both great groups, and their terrific joint conference, which is happening right now, features more presentations than I could possibly attend, or avoid, in a lifetime.

Yesterday, there were so many learning opportunities, I could barely squeeze in lunch at Cafe Edison, the charming old-school diner on the first floor of the Edison Hotel, located at 228 West 47th Street.

Some of the most inspiring, and effective, members of the teaching artist community are there.

Maybe you can still catch a session.

Pre-Raphaelite

Happy Monday!

It's unavoidable.

In any case, I'm not really here. I'm at the at the Tate Modern Museum, visiting the painting titled Ophelia.

Also: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Ophelia
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword,
Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
Th' observ'd of all observers- quite, quite down! 1845
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth 1850
Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me
T' have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

Get There

When you are a professional TA, sometimes, you have to teach in Staten Island. That means you have to take the ferry.

Today is one of those days.

Not that there's anything wrong with Staten Island. I love Staten Island. I just don't know how to get there.

In situations like this, I used to use Hop Stop. These days, I rely on the mobile version of Google Maps, because it displays arrival and departure time for the subway, on the tiny screen of my mobile phone.

Never be late again.

The Heartland

The mission of the Iowa Arts Council is to "enrich the quality of life for Iowans through support of the arts."

At their useful website, the resources include an "In-Box" for Artist Opportunities, regional news and a curriculum called Iowa Folklife, which celebrates the traditional artist.

From their website:

This online resource includes content pages, photos, audio samples, suggested readings, lesson plans, and a variety of online resources for students (k12) and educators. Use the whole curriculum or just one unit! Enhance your experience by inviting featured traditional artists or those from your community into your classroom. Consult the Folk & Traditional Artists link for each unit, the Iowa Folklife Roster , or Iowa Roots for artists' contact information, and apply for an Iowa Arts Council grant for artists' fees and other program expenses.

They also have an extensive funding program for arts education.

Which One?

Are you looking for a job, an internship, or artist opportunities?


Arts Opportunities is a new service provided by the Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University; which is more than just another place I've never heard of.


I like the way they talk; using some of my most favorite phrases and mentioning some of my favorite things, like jobs and other opportunities to make money.


When I visited the website, I noticed that they divide the world into two kinds of people: Opportunity Seekers and Opportunity Posters.

Which are you?

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.

Can You Feel It?

On the ATA Listserv, Executive Director Dale Davis posts a slew of cultural policy tidbits.


Today's offerings include a link to an article at Grantmakers in the Arts. The results of recent surveys of arts funders are presented in an effort to give the community "real-time information about the impacts of the recession on funders and the arts field as a whole."


There's also useful guidance for fearless leaders of non-profit arts groups:

We asked funders to describe the characteristics of the arts groups they think are adapting most effectively to changing circumstances. No one we interviewed had a definitive list, but these qualities were mentioned most often:

• Courageous leaders, willing to ask tough questions about the relevance of their organization to its community, face the answers honestly, and take informed risk.


• Relentless focus on core mission and strategic position, and on capitalizing the core mission (that is, secure the necessary financial resources for the core before funding any ancillary activities).


• Clarity about the function of structures, processes, and products, and flexibility (even heretical flexibility) about the forms those functions take.


• Powerful connection to and genuine engagement with community.


• Forecasting ability and a keen interest in the larger forces likely to impact viability — economics, demographics, technology, audience behavior, capitalization, environmental sustainability, and community priorities.


• Strategic thinking, capacity to learn from previous experiences (both positive and negative), and nimbleness in integrating change strategies throughout the organization.

Of Teaching

The New York Times reports that New York State has a brand-new state education commissioner, courtesy of the New York State Board of Regents under the leadership of the fabulously wealthy and well-connected, Merryl H. Tisch.

Ms. Tisch says she hopes Dr. Steiner will continue to build on the work he has done at Hunter College where, she says, he “has pushed the envelope, challenged orthodoxy and developed rigorous evidence-based approaches that help prepare and support teachers in a diverse range of settings to lead their students to remarkable gains in achievement.”


Ms. Tisch used to be a first-grade teacher, whereas Mr. Steiner has taught only at the university level. His response when asked about this:

“I have had the pleasure of teaching about 2,000 students in the last quarter of a century,” he said of his time in universities. “Of course I have spent a lot of time in schools and I look forward to doing ever more of that. There are certain truths of teaching — some that transcend age, and some that are lost.”

Also: J.R.R. Tolkien - Ring Verse.

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