Read the full post here:

http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/10/29/arts-round-up/

Emily Pilloton TED Video

This round of Art21 Educators will be accepting applications from K-12 art and media teachers from across the United States. Emphasis will be placed on creating a diverse group of participants who reflect urban, rural, and suburban communities as well as distinct student populations.

If you don’t have time for a full-year commitment, you can always watch full episodes of Art21 online and check out lesson plans from teachers across the US!

Read it here: http://www.carolinaparent.com/articles/features/featurearticle.aspx?cid=922

Educators can download a free PDF discussion guide here: http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind

http://theteachersalaryproject.org/

and here is what I wrote: 

                As a teacher in his fifth year, I find myself at the threshold of “should I dive all the way in, or should I get out?”  I am choosing to dive all the way in.  I teach at-risk students, many in gangs, trying to get out of gangs, pregnant teens, living in foster homes, abused, etc.; a real challenging populace to teach.  The age range for the students I teach is 14-20.  Many come to the classroom with only a third- grade reading level.  I remember passing out information my first year and having the students read aloud.  The first student I called to read would not do so, and responded with a bad attitude.  I learned that it was because he simply couldn’t read it.  He was eighteen years old.  Fortunately, I teach art and I was able to focus on visual learning allowing the student to demonstrate his high level of intelligence with creative skills, visual space relations, and technical skills.  This is why I chose to stay in teaching.  We do make a difference, however it is a continuous battle.  I had a one hundred dollar budget for this year.  It is spent and used already.  I literally pick hub caps off the side of the road to teach the “color wheel”.

                Other battles I face teaching at-risk students are their lack of motivation, poor attendance (I’ve had students miss 60 days out of 90), and low self confidence.  Students sent to alternative schools have often been told by previous teachers or administrators that they can’t make it.  Other schools can’t handle them.  These students often lower their base schools’ test scores.  This is why I’m glad I teach art: it gives the students a class in which they can have fun and show different means of intelligence, without the pressure of the state tests.   This may soon change, however, as they may be standardizing art.  This would be very tough on me as a teacher who likes to teach students to “think outside the box”. 

                Taking art can change students’ lives.  I first had Jeannine as a student during my first year of teaching.  She had never taken art before and was taking the class simply because it was an elective.  I gave the students a collage project.  I remember looking at Jeannine’s piece and being astonished.  It gave me chills.  It was like a Romare Bearden masterpiece.  Jeannine continued to grow and flourish with art.  Before long we had a great portfolio and she was accepted to the Art Institute in Charlotte.  I just saw her this month and she is in the last year of a four- year fashion marketing program and will graduate in June.  She aspires to work with Betsey Johnson.  I consider her like a daughter.  There are not too many jobs like teaching in which one can make the real connections with today’s youth.  By simply listening to a student, you can help guide a talented young mind in a direction that forever alters their life.  Jeannine has made a lot of the struggles I face worth it.  To me, helping the down trodden find their talent and giving them an outlet for success is an honor.

                Besides Jeannine, I have had many students who have altered the way I look at life.  I was having a heart to heart talk with a student who was obviously in a gang. He started selling drugs because he didn’t want his mom to prostitute anymore to pay rent.  He was 16, and his goal in life was “to live to see 17.”  There are students whose fathers have raped them and they are carrying the child.  I had a tough, hardened, male cry when he saw he made an “A” in art.  He just looked at me and said “I have never made above a D.”   For the 90 minutes a day I have these students, I try to create an atmosphere where all students can succeed and escape from their troubles.  I also ask my students to reflect on who they are and how they can be more positive in their future endeavors.

                However, I realize that I have a wonderful wife who makes a great salary which gets us through a lot of financial burdens.  I could not do this alone, especially with a child.  That is a powerful statement about our society that we are not paying a living salary to many teachers who are guiding our future’s minds.   When people hear that you are a public school teacher, they really don’t understand all that entails.  We are shaping the work force to come, we are keeping students out of gangs, and we are keeping students from giving up hope.   We are sometimes more a part of a students’ life than their parents.  Teachers do make a difference: a positive one in many cases.   As a society, we can’t afford to have the teaching profession under- funded and not held in high regard.  We need quality teachers in the field now more than ever; however we have never been so undervalued.

Cheers,

$(@TT

There is a very interesting article in this month’s AAM Museum News magazine that explores some uncharted territory of tweens’ opinions on museums.

http://www.aam-us.org/pubs/mn/tween.cfm

Basically the writers’ discovered that tweens want to have interactive, “fun” experiences at museums. CAM’s programming initiatives plan to target middle and high school students. So what kind of activities can CAM offer that are “cool” and “fun” for tweens??? Hummmmm… we are working on it. Do you have any suggestions?

Check back soon for posts from the Contemporary Art Museum’s Teacher Advisory Group…