IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts’ weekly newsletter for January 30, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday and is archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORT
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CREATIVITY MATTERS: THE ARTS AND AGING
National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA); National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)
1/28/08
”Participatory arts education programs for older adults have been shown to improve participants’ health and strengthen engagement. [This publication,] a first-of-its kind resource for arts, healthcare and/or aging services organizations, . . . exemplifies a combined commitment—on the part of NCCA, the National Guild, and NJPAC— to lifelong learning in the arts. Authored by Johanna Misey Boyer, the Toolkit describes the benefits of participatory arts education programs for older adults; the aging services infrastructure as it relates to the intersection between arts and aging; the arts infrastructure as it relates to the intersection between arts and aging; best practices in designing, funding , implementing, sustaining and evaluating arts education/participation programs for older adults, and case studies of exemplary programs.
Learn more>>
Order the report>>


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”CORE KNOWLEDGE” EDUCATION MODEL
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MILNER STUDENTS WILL BE EXPOSED TO “CORE KNOWLEDGE”
Rachel Gottlieb Frank, Hartford (CT) Courant, 1/22/08
It will be back to basics — math and art and literature and science and other stuff every child should know — when Milner Elementary, the city's lowest performing school, transforms into a Core Knowledge school next year … Like Montessori schools, Core Knowledge schools [based on the philosophy of E.D. Hirsch Jr.] adhere to a particular philosophy. Unlike Montessori, they don't tell teachers how to teach. Instead, they focus on what items to teach, and in what order they should be taught. Core Knowledge schools seek to foster a love of learning through engaging students with literature and poetry. And lessons are planned around the goal of teaching students to be culturally literate. Hirsch, a retired English professor from the University of Virginia and author of a series of books about what children should know in each elementary grade level, said students learn to read when they are interested in the subject being taught. And the time spent teaching reading, he said, is time that should be used to teach children about the world. ’What we need to do for these poor kids is year-by-year give them interesting stuff and then they'll become readers. How did we get into this fix? How did we begin not teaching content?’ Hirsch asked. The recent trend of drilling students for hours, using a series of disconnected, highly scripted exercises, is mind-numbing, he said.
Read more>>


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DEVELOPING IMAGINATION
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NATIONAL POLL ON IMAGINATION IN SCHOOLS
ImagineNation.com/Arts Education Partnership
Released 1/24/08
Results from a national poll were released today … identifying a new strand of swing voters poised to support candidates and policy that ensures building capacities of the imagination in schools. The new national survey of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3.1% margin of error, identifies that 30% of American voters are not only dissatisfied with public education’s narrow focus on the “so-called” basics but that they also believe developing the imagination is a critical, but missing, ingredient to student success in 21st century schools and moving students beyond average … The majority of voters surveyed believe that it is extremely important to have good public schools nationwide, but there is also concern that public education in the United States is behind what is offered to students in other parts of the world and that we devote less attention to developing the imagination, creative skills, and innovation than other nations.”
Learn more>>


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GATHERING VOICES
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FORTY-CENT TIP: STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY IMMIGRANT WORKERS
A project of What Kids Can Do (WKCD)
The WKCD project turned students into interviewers. The collected interviews have been collected in the book Forty-Cent Tip. WKCD encourages teachers and students to replicate this model. Visit the Web site to download a manual, request a complimentary copy of the book, or purchase additional books at cost.
Learn more>>


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JOB OPPORTUNITY
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DIRECTOR, ARTS EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
Washington, DC
Position Open Until Filled
The Arts Education Partnership is searching for a new Director to replace founding director Richard Deasy upon his retirement in June 2008.
Learn more>>


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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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A+ FOR ENERGY GRANTS
BP America
Deadline: 3/7/08
Maximum Award: $10,000
”The A+ for Energy® program was developed by BP to recognize teachers for innovation and excellence in teaching energy and/or energy conservation in the classroom. Any public or private preK-12 teacher currently teaching in an accredited or licensed schoolin Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, or Texas, is encouraged to apply.”
Learn more>>


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DID YOU KNOW?
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We archive past newsletters here on our searchable blog.

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