Quality Arts Education can be the primary source for student learning in innovation and cultural competency.
New Skills Seen Essential For Global Competition
September 17, 2008 by Dakarai I. Aarons
To remain internationally competitive, group argues, schools must teach innovation and cultural competency.
An Education Week article.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
From Diane Franken: Consensus on Learning Time
"Is this a way to have equal time for the arts for all children?"
Consensus on Learning Time Builds
September 24, 2008 by Catherine Gewertz
Under enormous pressure to prepare students for a successful future—and fearful that standard school hours don’t offer enough time to do so—educators, policymakers, and community activists are adding more learning time to children’s lives. Read the article from Education Week.
Consensus on Learning Time Builds
September 24, 2008 by Catherine Gewertz
Under enormous pressure to prepare students for a successful future—and fearful that standard school hours don’t offer enough time to do so—educators, policymakers, and community activists are adding more learning time to children’s lives. Read the article from Education Week.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Des Moines Register's Roundtable on World-Class Schools
The Register invited five educators to talk about how educators can make sure students have the knowledge and skills to be globally competitive.
The full transcript of educators' discussion about world-class schools is posted online.
Diane Franken's Letter to the Des Moines Register:
Response to the Des Moines Register Panel Discussion on World-Class Schools…
I am the Executive Director of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education, a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and advance arts programs across Iowa. I would like to bring to your attention, through quoting recent studies by leaders in business and education, that your responses have missed the mark in leaving the arts out of your solution for Iowa’s students and, therefore, being represented on your panel. I provide evidence for my remarks below.
The original question posed was to identify the knowledge and skills necessary in education to be globally competitive. The responses at the beginning of the discussion from the college contacts centered exclusively on obtaining more and more math and science skills. According to the authoritative evidence I refer to below, this simply is limited in scope in today’s world. One of the teachers, to their credit, pointed out that education should not be about preparing for the next level, (a place where the college contacts had misdirected the original question) but to be “prepared to live in a global society.” Yet, responses continued to be primarily about obtaining basic skills in math and science, even when it was brought out that there is just too much information out there and that students now should be life-long learners not information gatherers. Only at the end of the discussion, did one of the college contacts bring up the creative thinking skills and innovation of the U.S education system. However, this was not connected to the arts education, the original purveyors of these skills. I cannot stress the need to emphasize their importance. Please do a search for the studies I am quoting so you can read the complete reports and see the emphasis on the essential arts education skills of creativity and innovation by business leaders and economists, as well as art education leaders.
First, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a vision for 21st century student success in the new global economy in their recent report, Learning for the 21st Century. The Framework of their recommendations includes the arts as one of the Core Subjects. The Partnership also includes the skills of Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Communication and Collaboration. These skills have always been at the core of arts education teaching. The Partnership also includes the Life and Career Skill of Social and Cross-Cultural Skill and an Interdisciplinary Theme of Global Awareness, which your panel seemed to agree, are important. Why is this study particularly important? For one, as I pointed out, this call comes from the business leaders who authored the document with educational leaders. The Alliance applauds Governor Culver for recently signing Iowa on as a Partnership State, and the Iowa Department of Education’s inclusion of Arts Units in the Iowa Model Core. The Alliance plans to continue to collaborate with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor’s office and the Iowa Department of Education to include all the above recommendations from the Partnership that will further support and advance arts education programs.
The second document I wish to cite, Tough Choices, Tough Times, by the new Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce from the National Center on Education and the Economy concludes that the skills of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION are essential for our students in the 21st century and goes on to say that: “While the basic subjects of math, science, language, etc. are still important, they are no longer enough for our graduates to compete in our global world. Our education system is built for another era. Our testing system rewards students who will be good at the very routine work that will not be waiting for them. While doing this, we are not providing opportunities for students to display CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE thinking and analysis. The problem is not with our educators. It is with the system in which they work. A system that pursues the wrong goals more efficiently is not a system this nation needs.” Again, they echo that: “an equal preparation in the arts that teach these skills will make the competitive difference and translate to all types of jobs.”
The third document is a recent survey, called Ready to Innovate: Key Findings, by the Conference Board, Americans for the Arts, and the American Association of School Administrators that found 85% of employers, concerned with hiring creative people, say they cannot find the applicants they seek. The findings indicate that in most high schools, this study in their curricula is only offered as an elective not as an essential core learning for all. A national survey of American voters( artedpartnership.org ) indicated that the “majority are dissatisfied with public education’s narrow focus on the ‘so-called’ basics and believe developing the imagination is a critical, but missing ingredient for student’s success in the 21st century and for moving students beyond average. 88% of respondents indicated that: “An education in and through the arts is essential to cultivate the imagination."
International lecturer and author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, Ken Robinson, says: “American’s education system continues to stress the skills needed in the past, ignoring the real needs of today’s workforce. The biggest mistake is educating people to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. CREATIVITY is central to the practice of science and business and more. The U.S. needs creative people in all fields. CREATIVITY is now as important in education as literacy and mathematics and we should treat it with the same stature.” He goes on to say: “It is essential that there be an equal balance between areas of the curriculum and between knowledge and creative development. We need an education that values different modes of intelligence.”
--------------------------------------------------
Improving Iowa schools: Use arts to nurture a global outlook
CANDICE MCMAINS IS A FOURTH-GRADE TEACHER AT HILLSIDE SCHOOL, WEST DES MOINES. CONTACT: MCMAINSMC@ YAHOO.COM. • SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
If you want to see global education right in central Iowa, look no further than Phenix and Hillside Elementary in West Des Moines. Granted, the Leonard Bernstein model of "artful learning" emphasizes the arts as the vehicle to hook kids into engaging in learning, but globally speaking, it does so much more. More...
The full transcript of educators' discussion about world-class schools is posted online.
Diane Franken's Letter to the Des Moines Register:
Response to the Des Moines Register Panel Discussion on World-Class Schools…
I am the Executive Director of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education, a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and advance arts programs across Iowa. I would like to bring to your attention, through quoting recent studies by leaders in business and education, that your responses have missed the mark in leaving the arts out of your solution for Iowa’s students and, therefore, being represented on your panel. I provide evidence for my remarks below.
The original question posed was to identify the knowledge and skills necessary in education to be globally competitive. The responses at the beginning of the discussion from the college contacts centered exclusively on obtaining more and more math and science skills. According to the authoritative evidence I refer to below, this simply is limited in scope in today’s world. One of the teachers, to their credit, pointed out that education should not be about preparing for the next level, (a place where the college contacts had misdirected the original question) but to be “prepared to live in a global society.” Yet, responses continued to be primarily about obtaining basic skills in math and science, even when it was brought out that there is just too much information out there and that students now should be life-long learners not information gatherers. Only at the end of the discussion, did one of the college contacts bring up the creative thinking skills and innovation of the U.S education system. However, this was not connected to the arts education, the original purveyors of these skills. I cannot stress the need to emphasize their importance. Please do a search for the studies I am quoting so you can read the complete reports and see the emphasis on the essential arts education skills of creativity and innovation by business leaders and economists, as well as art education leaders.
First, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a vision for 21st century student success in the new global economy in their recent report, Learning for the 21st Century. The Framework of their recommendations includes the arts as one of the Core Subjects. The Partnership also includes the skills of Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Communication and Collaboration. These skills have always been at the core of arts education teaching. The Partnership also includes the Life and Career Skill of Social and Cross-Cultural Skill and an Interdisciplinary Theme of Global Awareness, which your panel seemed to agree, are important. Why is this study particularly important? For one, as I pointed out, this call comes from the business leaders who authored the document with educational leaders. The Alliance applauds Governor Culver for recently signing Iowa on as a Partnership State, and the Iowa Department of Education’s inclusion of Arts Units in the Iowa Model Core. The Alliance plans to continue to collaborate with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor’s office and the Iowa Department of Education to include all the above recommendations from the Partnership that will further support and advance arts education programs.
The second document I wish to cite, Tough Choices, Tough Times, by the new Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce from the National Center on Education and the Economy concludes that the skills of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION are essential for our students in the 21st century and goes on to say that: “While the basic subjects of math, science, language, etc. are still important, they are no longer enough for our graduates to compete in our global world. Our education system is built for another era. Our testing system rewards students who will be good at the very routine work that will not be waiting for them. While doing this, we are not providing opportunities for students to display CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE thinking and analysis. The problem is not with our educators. It is with the system in which they work. A system that pursues the wrong goals more efficiently is not a system this nation needs.” Again, they echo that: “an equal preparation in the arts that teach these skills will make the competitive difference and translate to all types of jobs.”
The third document is a recent survey, called Ready to Innovate: Key Findings, by the Conference Board, Americans for the Arts, and the American Association of School Administrators that found 85% of employers, concerned with hiring creative people, say they cannot find the applicants they seek. The findings indicate that in most high schools, this study in their curricula is only offered as an elective not as an essential core learning for all. A national survey of American voters( artedpartnership.org ) indicated that the “majority are dissatisfied with public education’s narrow focus on the ‘so-called’ basics and believe developing the imagination is a critical, but missing ingredient for student’s success in the 21st century and for moving students beyond average. 88% of respondents indicated that: “An education in and through the arts is essential to cultivate the imagination."
International lecturer and author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, Ken Robinson, says: “American’s education system continues to stress the skills needed in the past, ignoring the real needs of today’s workforce. The biggest mistake is educating people to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. CREATIVITY is central to the practice of science and business and more. The U.S. needs creative people in all fields. CREATIVITY is now as important in education as literacy and mathematics and we should treat it with the same stature.” He goes on to say: “It is essential that there be an equal balance between areas of the curriculum and between knowledge and creative development. We need an education that values different modes of intelligence.”
--------------------------------------------------
Improving Iowa schools: Use arts to nurture a global outlook
CANDICE MCMAINS IS A FOURTH-GRADE TEACHER AT HILLSIDE SCHOOL, WEST DES MOINES. CONTACT: MCMAINSMC@ YAHOO.COM. • SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
If you want to see global education right in central Iowa, look no further than Phenix and Hillside Elementary in West Des Moines. Granted, the Leonard Bernstein model of "artful learning" emphasizes the arts as the vehicle to hook kids into engaging in learning, but globally speaking, it does so much more. More...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
From Diane Franken: Congressional Art Contest
An Artistic Discovery is the annual art contest conducted by Members of Congress for high school students across the country. Students submit original works of art to their Representative’s office, and the winning piece from each Congressional district goes on display as part of a year-long national exhibition in the Cannon Tunnel, an underground walkway to the United States Capitol from the House office buildings.
The Congressman’s First District Art Competition is open to all high school students residing in the First District of Iowa. Only one entry per student will be accepted.
Guidelines and rules for the competition follow:
Only high school students in grades 9-12 may enter the art competition.
Artwork must fall into one of the following categories: painting, drawing, collage, print, mixed media, computer generated art or photography.
The following guidelines apply to all submitted artwork:
All submissions must be 2-dimensional
Artwork can be no larger than 30x30 inches, including the frame
Artwork can be no larger than 4 inches in depth.
All artwork must be protected by a frame. Metal frames with glass or Plexiglas recommended.
Each entry must be original in concept, design and execution; no violation of US copyright laws. Pictures reproduced from existing photos, paintings graphics or advertisements will not be accepted.
Artwork must be submitted for the entire year. Artwork cannot be removed early for any reason.
A completed Student Release Form must be submitted with all entries.
Artwork must be submitted to one of the Congressman’s District Offices by Monday, May 5, 2008. Entries should be mailed to the Waterloo office or delivered to any District office. The Release Form
The Congressman’s First District Art Competition is open to all high school students residing in the First District of Iowa. Only one entry per student will be accepted.
Guidelines and rules for the competition follow:
Only high school students in grades 9-12 may enter the art competition.
Artwork must fall into one of the following categories: painting, drawing, collage, print, mixed media, computer generated art or photography.
The following guidelines apply to all submitted artwork:
All submissions must be 2-dimensional
Artwork can be no larger than 30x30 inches, including the frame
Artwork can be no larger than 4 inches in depth.
All artwork must be protected by a frame. Metal frames with glass or Plexiglas recommended.
Each entry must be original in concept, design and execution; no violation of US copyright laws. Pictures reproduced from existing photos, paintings graphics or advertisements will not be accepted.
Artwork must be submitted for the entire year. Artwork cannot be removed early for any reason.
A completed Student Release Form must be submitted with all entries.
Artwork must be submitted to one of the Congressman’s District Offices by Monday, May 5, 2008. Entries should be mailed to the Waterloo office or delivered to any District office. The Release Form
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
National Arts and Humanities Month
October is National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM)—our opportunity to recognize and celebrate the positive impact the arts bring to our schools and communities. We hope you’ll join us along with other arts leaders and supporters across the county in recognizing the importance of arts and culture in our daily lives.
This year’s highlights are listed below, but be sure to visit the NAHM website at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/NAHM for additional information.
Participate Locally (Des Moines Symphony is listed)
National Arts and Humanities Month Events Map—Learn more about the NAHM events happening nationwide this October. Use this Google Map to create, track, and share information about your NAHM events and programs with others. To have your event included, e-mail nahm@artsusa.org.
Creative Conversations—Are you an Emerging Arts Leader? Attend or host a Creative Conversation in your city this October and connect with others who want to make a difference for the arts in your community.
Get Involved
Become a fan of NAHM on Facebook—Americans for the Arts is encouraging all arts lovers to join Facebook to show support and promote the arts and humanities during NAHM. On the page, you can view videos and photos from NAHM events around the country or post your own. Be sure to leave a message on the Wall and read NAHM’s twitter feed for the latest news.
Advocate for the Arts—Anyone can be an advocate: parents, teachers, children, artists, arts organizations, and patrons. Defend, support, or promote your cause by writing your local newspaper, contacting local political leaders, organizing community meetings, circulating a petition, or finding other ways to make your voice and message heard.
Official Proclamations—Encourage local public officials to support the arts by signing a NAHM proclamation. Samples are available from the online tool kit. And send your signed proclamation to nahm@artsusa.org to have it posted on the website.
Promote NAHM—Include the NAHM logo in your publications, or place a Web sticker on your website or blog. These graphic resources are available as part of the online tool kit.
Be Inspired
National Arts and Humanities Month presents the opportunity for every American to experience the arts this October, whether it’s attending the theater or other cultural event, taking a ceramics or dance class, or singing songs with your kids. Please join Americans for the Arts in recognizing this special month.
Monday, September 22, 2008
From Diane: World-class Roundtable?
"World Class Education in Iowa" Roundtable from the Des Moines Register. The Register invited five educators to talk about how educators can make sure students have the knowledge and skills to be globally competitive. You may not be surprised by their opinions!
While you are on that site, don't miss the Related Article: Improving Iowa schools; Use arts to nurture a global outlook. It is an article written by Candice McMains, a fourth grade teacher at Hillside School, West Des Moines.
While you are on that site, don't miss the Related Article: Improving Iowa schools; Use arts to nurture a global outlook. It is an article written by Candice McMains, a fourth grade teacher at Hillside School, West Des Moines.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
From Laurie Olk: Changing Makeup of Iowa Schools
At the secondary level, the squeeze is starting with those pesky new regents entrance requirements and also staff additions to cover model core concepts, cutting in the fine arts. It just doesn't get easier.
Interesting mtg. and discussion at the IMEA mtg. today. Something brought up was the changing makeup of Iowa Schools and request for mariachi bands competition, apparently big in the South and West, and other needs that align with other cultures, like the Bosnians. They spoke about how involved these other cultural populations are at the k-8, but then drops drastically at 9 - 12. Something I think we'll need to address more of in the future.
Interesting mtg. and discussion at the IMEA mtg. today. Something brought up was the changing makeup of Iowa Schools and request for mariachi bands competition, apparently big in the South and West, and other needs that align with other cultures, like the Bosnians. They spoke about how involved these other cultural populations are at the k-8, but then drops drastically at 9 - 12. Something I think we'll need to address more of in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)