Thanks to West Music!

West Music of Coralville was one of the sponsors of the Governor's Education Summit. All IAAE members send our collective appreciation.  Steve was the only arts business who put his money where his passion is.

Integrating the Arts Webinar

Integrating the Arts Across the Curriculum
Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 2 p.m. EDT
Also available "on demand" any time 24 hours after the event.
Free registration is now open.

Many arts advocates suggest integrating dance, music, theater, and visual arts across the curriculum holds great promise to enhance student learning—and revitalize the arts in public schools.
Although not a new idea, teaching "through" the arts appears to be gaining a stronger foothold, proponents say. Examples span the country and content areas. Take dance, where the art form has been used in a Baltimore County, Md., school to help teach scientific concepts like photosynthesis, and in suburban Minneapolis to bring the Underground Railroad to life.
A White House advisory panel recently made the case for "reinvesting" in arts education and drew special attention to arts integration, suggesting that it can boost student motivation and provide both academic and social benefits.
This webinar will explore the potential of bringing together the arts with other subjects in a mutual learning experience and point to promising examples, as well as the challenges to ensure that such efforts achieve their academic goals.

Guests:

• Sandra Ruppert, director of the Arts Education Partnership.
• Shana Habel, dance demonstration teacher, Los Angeles Unified School District and co-president of the California Dance Education Association.

This webinar will be moderated by Erik Robelen, assistant editor, Education Week.

Related Article:
"Schools Integrate Dance Into Core Academics"
Register for this free webinar.

Sir Ken Robinson in Iowa

July 26, 2011 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sheraton Hotel, Iowa City

Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation, human potential and the people side of organizations. One of his speaking topics is “How to Profit from Diversity”. His 2006 talk at the TED conference is the most-watched video in TED history—more than 5 million downloads—and a brilliant example of his extraordinary speaking style; a perfect balance of content, anecdotes and humor. Read more...

education roundtable discussions

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will hold three hour-long roundtable discussions on Wednesday, July 13, to gain a deeper understanding of changes needed to create world-class schools across the state. The conversations will be live-streamed and videos will be posted afterward. 


The governor and lieutenant governor also will host seven town hall meetings around Iowa to listen to Iowans’ ideas for improving education before the Iowa Education Summit July 25-26.  “We have a wonderful line-up of participants for each roundtable,” said Branstad. “We are looking forward to great discussions, and hope many Iowans will have the opportunity to watch.”


“Iowa used to be a top performer on national tests, but has slipped toward the middle of the rankings,” said Reynolds. “We have a proud education tradition to build on, and must assure our students are not just best in the nation again but globally competitive as well.”

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

10 a.m.          Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold business leaders’ roundtable.

                        Governor’s Office – Large Conference Room

                        State Capitol

                        Des Moines, IA

Leaders will talk about the qualities, skills and knowledge they need in a globally competitive workforce.

Panelists are:

·        John C.  Bloomhall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Diamond V Mills, Inc.

·        Clayton M. Jones, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rockwell Collins, Inc.

·        Mary A. O’Keefe, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the Principal Financial Group

·        Paul E. Schickler, President of Pioneer Hi-Bred

·        Suku Radia, CEO and President of Bankers Trust

1 p.m.            Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold college and university presidents’ and K-12 educators’ roundtable.

Governor’s Office – Large Conference Room

                        State Capitol

                        Des Moines, IA

Leaders will discuss how to better prepare more students for college and post-secondary training.

Panelists are:

·        Katie Mulholland, Linn-Mar Superintendent and Iowa Board of Regents Member

·        Deb Derr, North Iowa Area Community College President

·        Jon L. Erickson, ACT Interim President of the Education Division

·        Greg L. Geoffroy, Iowa State University President

·        Paul R. Gausman, Sioux City Superintendent

·        Kent Henning, Grand View  University President

3 p.m.            Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold teachers’ roundtable.

                   Governor’s Office – Large Conference Room

                        State Capitol

                        Des Moines, IA

Teachers will talk about what they need to be more effective in the classroom.

Panelists are:

·        Nick Bradley, Denison High School English Teacher

·        Jessica Gogerty, School Improvement Leader at North High School in Des Moines, where she previously taught science

·        Philip Moss, North Tama Junior High and High School Social Studies Teacher

·        April Pforts, Mount Pleasant Middle School Mathematics Teacher

·        Amy Prime, Berg Elementary School Second-Grade Teacher, Newton

·        Jerry Serrano, Wood Intermediate School Sixth-Grade Social Studies Teacher, Davenport

Linda Fandel, special assistant for education in the Office of the Governor, and Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass will moderate the conversations.

JDL Horizons, using its flagship Internet streaming solution EduVision, will produce and stream the roundtable events in cooperation with the governor’s office. eSchool Media will accept the stream and deliver the roundtable events to a national audience of nearly 1 million K-12 educators throughout North America and around the world. The stream can be seen live at https://educateiowa.eduvision.tv/SchoolLiveSchedules.aspx.Or go to the Iowa Department of Education website to find a link to the stream or to watch roundtable videos later.

The embed codes for the roundtable discussions will be made available to media outlets following the live event for on-delay viewing.

To learn more about roundtable participants and the town hall meetings, please go to:http://iowaeducation.iowa.gov/education-summit.  The Iowa Department of Education Summit website is:http://educateiowa.gov.

Setting New Priorities in Education...

Americans for the Arts says:

Last month, a piece of federal legislation named “Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act” (HR 1891) was introduced for the purpose of terminating 43 existing federal education programs, including Arts in Education. The Arts in Education program currently funds 57 active education projects around the country, and to date has supported more than 210 competitive grants serving students in high-need schools, as well as the affiliates of the Kennedy Center and VSA arts education programs.

The Arts in Education program also provides critical federal leadership in supporting a well-rounded curriculum throughout our nation’s public schools.

On May 25, the House Education & Workforce Committee approved HR 1891 by a party-line vote of 23 Republicans to 16 Democrats. Americans for the Arts worked with Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and other members of that committee who offered an amendment that sought to restore some of these education programs, including arts education, but that amendment failed to pass.

The full House of Representatives may vote on HR 1891 prior to their August Congressional Recess.  The Senate education committee, however, is not expected to consider HR 1891 as Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) plans on offering a separate, more comprehensive bill to reauthorize the Elementary & Secondary Education Act.

We call on arts advocates to contact their House Representative through our customizable e-alert and request that they oppose HR 1891 because it seeks to terminate the critical federal support directed to arts education. Don’t let this bill narrow the curriculum of our students.

Arts and Technology

Education Week has published a Special Report:

MULTIMEDIA TRANSFORMATION: A SPECIAL REPORT ON HOW DIGITAL TOOLS ARE CONNECTING TEACHING AND LEARNING

This report, Multimedia Transformation, examines the many ways multimedia tools are transforming teaching and learning as schools work to raise achievement and prepare students for careers that require increasingly sophisticated uses of technology. The section on the arts includes some prime examples of arts teachers and the technologies they use. 

Funding of Arts Agencies

Jonathan Katz, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies' Executive Director:

 

This is not the last time we will hear the specious argument that funding the arts agency will compete with money for education, law enforcement, and health care. In fact, arts funding contributes to all those public purposes and state arts agencies are highly competitive in terms of cost effectiveness for the public dollar. We know the public cost of a high school dropout and we know that including the arts in the curriculum will help all students learn better and will keep them coming to classes. We know the costs of incarceration and we have known for decades that arts activities significantly reduce both violent incidents and recidivism rates. We know the costs of medication and falls and social isolation for the elderly, and we have solid research that arts activities significantly reduce all of these.

Read more...