IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, May 21, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REDEFINING GIFTED & TALENTED
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IDEAS ON CREATIVE AND PRACTICAL IQ UNDERLIE NEW TESTS OF GIFTEDNESS
Debra Viadero, Education Week, 5/21/08
“Yale University researchers are pilot-testing an assessment for identifying gifted and talented children that taps intellectual skills other than those captured by traditional intelligence tests. The new tests include questions … designed to measure students’ creativity. The new battery is based on [Robert J.] Sternberg’s definition of “successful intelligence,” which holds that people who succeed in the real world possess a combination of practical, creative, and analytical skills.”
Read more>>


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BEHAVIORS OF SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS
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STUDENT TURNAROUND BUILT ON TEACHING STUDENTS TO BE STUDENTS
Emily Alpert, Voice of San Diego, 4/25/08
”Five years ago, suspensions abounded at Webster Elementary. Fights regularly erupted during recess and teachers feared violent outbursts from gang-involved 6th graders. Fast forward to 2008. Students cheerfully greet their teachers by name, line up quickly, and listen respectfully to each other in class. The endless procession of kids to the principal's office has stopped. [Principal] White now spends her mornings ranging freely between classrooms to observe teachers and videotaping their best lessons to share. Teachers chalk up the turnaround to a homegrown program that explicitly teaches students how to behave in class . . . White and her teachers crafted the Webster Way, which teaches ‘scholarly behavior’ such as eye contact, cleaning up your trash, and greeting teachers by name.”
Read more>>


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ART? SCIENCE?
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GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times, 5/15/08
May 15, 2008
”Possibly the leader of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday could be considered a conductor. Definitely the leader was a semiconductor — a whole lot of them, The Associated Press reported. Asimo, a 4-foot-3-inch Honda robot, led the orchestra in a performance of ‘The Impossible Dream’ from Man of La Mancha. . . . Asimo mimicked the actions of a conductor, nodding at sections of the ensemble during the performance and gesturing with one or both hands. At the end Asimo — an aconym for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility — was greeted by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma . . .and enthusiastic shouts from the audience. Engineers based the robot’s motions on those of Charles Burke, the orchestra’s education director, as he conducted the piece about six months ago.”
Read more>>


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PARTNERING PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND STUDENTS
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WHERE THE KIDS, NOT THE STARS, ARE THE STARS
Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 5/18/08
“As members of the 52nd Street Project, the theater program for Hell’s Kitchen children, the young performers long ago learned to treat the celebrities in their midst like regular folks. For 27 years the project has provided 9- to 18-year-olds with guidance in playwriting and acting by an enviable roster of volunteers, including … Frances McDormand, . . . Jon Stewart … and Sam Waterston . . . [T]he project annually stages some 80 plays created by its 110 students, with a little adult collaboration. On Tuesday the project broke ground for its first permanent theater, part of the Archstone Clinton development on 10th Avenue at 52nd Street. Designed by BKSK Architects, the 17,000-square-foot space will be home to a two-story black-box theater as well as rehearsal rooms, a lounge and kitchen, offices, a computer bar and an area for academic tutoring.”
Read more>>


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GENDER IN EDUCATION
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AAUW SEES NO EDUCATIONAL CRISIS FOR BOYS
Debra Viadero, Education Week, 5/20/08
”Even though more women and girls are getting college degrees and scoring in the top ranks on national math tests than was the case in the 1970s, their academic gains have not come at the expense of boys, says a report released today by the American Association of University Women. Some researchers and advocates have made the case in recent years for a ‘boys' crisis’ in education, pointing out, for instance, that boys have begun to trail girls on key academic indicators, such as in rates of enrollment in and graduation from college. But the AAUW, the Washington-based group that sparked a national debate about gender disparities in education with a report issued 16 years ago, contends bluntly in its new report that the fears about boys are overstated.”
Read the article>>
Read the AAUW report>>


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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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RACHEL CARSON SENSE OF WONDER CONTEST
Maximum Award: Publication on sponsors’ Web site
Deadline: 6/16/08
“The EPA, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., announce a poetry, essay, and photography contest ‘that best expresses the Sense of Wonder that you feel for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes.’ We want you to share this love of nature with a child and others around you. When we teach our eyes and ears and senses to focus on the wonders of nature, we open ourselves to the wonders around us.” Entries should be created by an intergenerational team featuring a youth under 18 and an adult aged 50 or older.
Learn more>>

EZRA JACK KEATS MINI-GRANT PROGRAM
FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Maximum Award: $500
Deadline: 9/15/08
Provides funding for creative literacy initiatives in schools and public libraries.
Learn more>>


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