IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, June 4, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.
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WHAT SHOULD SCHOOLS TEACH?
------------------------------
MORAL DIMENSIONS OF EDUCATIONAL DECISIONS:THE ESSENTIAL PLACE OF VALUES-RICH CURRICULA IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Amitai Etzioni, School Administrator, May 2008
“There is a widely held notion that public schools … should not teach values. In effect, schools do. Moreover, there are next to no significant decisions a school administrator or classroom teacher can make that do not have a normative dimension … Schools are under considerable pressure from the community to focus on academics, which in effect means serving the utilitarian, economic futures of pupils. Parents, school boards and news media that push for higher academic achievements are not seeking to turn the students into scholars but to equip them to compete in the marketplace … In contrast, schools are, and ought to be, concerned with human and social development, ensuring graduates are able to work out differences with others verbally and nonabusively; to walk in the other person’s shoes; to resist temptations to act in unethical ways; and to care about higher purposes than self. Many curriculum decisions reflect the balance those who run schools and education systems strike between these two competing set of values, the academic and the social.”
Read more>>
------------------------------
DEVELOPING VOCABULARY
------------------------------
SMALL KIDS, BIG WORDS:RESEARCH-BASED STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING VOCABULARY FROM PREK TO GRADE 3
Laura Pappano, Harvard Education Letter, May/June 2008
Pappano summarizes research projects demonstrating young students’ capacity to take on vocabulary that is beyond the basics. “At Lee Academy, where 67.1 percent of the students are categorized as low income by the state Department of Education, teachers focus on words related to specific content and use a four-step process for teaching them. Using the OWL curriculum, says reading support teacher Heather Nord, preschool teachers choose a theme such as ‘wind and water.’ Using six books related to the theme, they target 60 key words during a four-week unit. Teachers read each book four times, using a different approach each time. The first time … teachers verbally highlight targeted vocabulary words and post them on cards. The second time, they reconstruct the story, with children helping to retell. The third time, the teacher leaves out words, which children fill in orally. The fourth time, children act out the story. The aim? Experience the words, the concepts, the story itself.”
Read more>>
------------------------------
BEING HUMAN
------------------------------
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
Brandon Keim, Wired.com, 6/1/08
“What does it mean to be human? And can science illuminate the answers? A star-studded panel of scientists gathered to discuss those heady themes [May 31] at the World Science Festival in New York City.” Read a summary of their perspectives, including this summation of the perspective of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio: “The critical unique factor is language. Creativity. The religious and scientific impulse. And our social organization, which has developed to a prodigious degree. We have a record of history, moral behavior, economics, political and social institutions. We're probably unique in our ability to investigate the future, imagine outcomes, and display images in our minds.”
Read other perspectives>>
-----------------------------------------
STUDENT ART SHOWCASES
-----------------------------------------
TALENTED YOUTH SHOWCASE THE ARTS
Christine Dolen, Miami Herald, 5/31/08
“More than 400 arts-loving kids will get the opportunity to perform on a high-profile stage when Growing Up With the Arts, a free program presented by The Children's Trust, takes over the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts … Children and teens will sing, dance, act, play musical instruments and display their artwork in the venue's lobby … The purpose of Growing Up With the Arts, says Trust President and CEO Modesto E. Abety, is both to showcase young talent and make a statement. ''We have in this community some wonderful, positive, creative young people. We need to engage that, celebrate it and continue it, …I question what happens when children have limited exposure to the arts. [The arts] are necessary for children to become well-rounded citizens … Increasingly, the school system is pressed. . . . The focus has been on the basics, on testing. . . . The arts are not considered part of the basic core curriculum. We're proud that we've been able to step up.'' Michael Spring, director of Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs, estimates that the Trust money his department administers provides arts experiences for more than 200,000 children each year. The showcase, he says, tells the community that ``the arts are important. They help make kids mentally, physically and spiritually healthy. They help kids think beyond their current circumstances. The Trust has been visionary in its full-spectrum look at what it takes to make a healthy kid's life.''
Read more>>
STUDENT ART EXHIBIT
Seema Mehta, The Homeroom Blog, Los Angeles Times, 5/30/08
“The news about Latino and black student relations in Los Angeles schools is often troubling, such as the melee earlier this year involving 600 students at Locke High School that was quelled by police clad in riot gear and wielding billy clubs. But today, about 100 students from 10 Los Angeles schools are coming together for the second annual ‘Colors for Unity’ art exhibition … "Our goal is to use art as a tool that will allow students a form of expression to help break the race barrier," said Mike Piscal, founder and CEO of Inner City Education Foundations Public Schools, in a press release. "Our hope is that this experience will provide students with a better understanding of each other's cultures and will bring unity by focusing on their common strengths."
Read more>>
--------------
ARTS EDUCATION IN POLITICS
----------------
MARKELL PROPOSES DELAWARE ARTS TRUST:CREATION OF ARTS DISTRICTS PART OF PLAN
Christopher Yasiejko, The News Journal (Delaware), 5/30/08
“If elected Delaware's next governor, Jack Markell said Thursday, he would establish an endowment to support programming at arts institutions, offer incentives for local governments to apply for designation as arts and entertainment districts and strengthen arts education programs for at-risk youth. Markell, the state treasurer and a Democratic candidate for governor, … acknowledged the financial squeeze that has threatened arts institutions, and he proposed the formation of the Delaware Arts Trust, an endowment that would comprise government agencies, the business community, philanthropists and foundations. Throughout his 20-minute address, Markell sprinkled citations of studies attesting to the economic benefits of the arts -- they generate an 8-to-1 return on investment and employ 3,685 full-time workers, for example -- with links to ‘protecting Delaware's cultural legacy.’ He vowed to ensure that all students receive a "quality arts education," including the replacement of the Delaware Student Testing Program with an adaptive testing method that would allow more classroom time for the arts.
Read more>>
--------------
GRANTS AND AWARDS
----------------
GRANTS FOR THE WELFARE OF AMERICAN CHILDREN
Maximum Award: $70,000
Deadline: 7/1/08
American Legion Child Welfare Foundation Grants to Help Children fund proposals that “contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge about new and innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth; and contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge already possessed by well-established organizations, to the end that such information can be more adequately used by society.”
Learn more>>
RICHARD RILEY AWARD:
HONORING EXCELLENCE IN SCHOOLS AS CENTERS OF COMMUNITY
Maximum Award: $10,000
Deadline: 7/25/08
“Sometimes referred to as ‘community learning centers’, schools that serve as centers of community provide a rich array of social, civic, recreational and artistic opportunities to the broader community, often clustering educational and municipal buildings together. These additional services and opportunities often improve student achievement and help maximize local tax dollars. With school enrollment in the United States forecasted to increase at record levels, and spending on school construction and renovation to total nearly $30 billion annually, it makes sense that this major investment should benefit both students and the local community. The American Architectural Foundation, in partnership with KnowledgeWorks Foundation, invites you to enter a submission for the Richard Riley Award. If your school is a center of community that demonstrates innovative design ideas and helps promote student achievement, your school could win a $10,000 prize.”
Learn more>>
# # #
------------------------------
WHAT SHOULD SCHOOLS TEACH?
------------------------------
MORAL DIMENSIONS OF EDUCATIONAL DECISIONS:THE ESSENTIAL PLACE OF VALUES-RICH CURRICULA IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Amitai Etzioni, School Administrator, May 2008
“There is a widely held notion that public schools … should not teach values. In effect, schools do. Moreover, there are next to no significant decisions a school administrator or classroom teacher can make that do not have a normative dimension … Schools are under considerable pressure from the community to focus on academics, which in effect means serving the utilitarian, economic futures of pupils. Parents, school boards and news media that push for higher academic achievements are not seeking to turn the students into scholars but to equip them to compete in the marketplace … In contrast, schools are, and ought to be, concerned with human and social development, ensuring graduates are able to work out differences with others verbally and nonabusively; to walk in the other person’s shoes; to resist temptations to act in unethical ways; and to care about higher purposes than self. Many curriculum decisions reflect the balance those who run schools and education systems strike between these two competing set of values, the academic and the social.”
Read more>>
------------------------------
DEVELOPING VOCABULARY
------------------------------
SMALL KIDS, BIG WORDS:RESEARCH-BASED STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING VOCABULARY FROM PREK TO GRADE 3
Laura Pappano, Harvard Education Letter, May/June 2008
Pappano summarizes research projects demonstrating young students’ capacity to take on vocabulary that is beyond the basics. “At Lee Academy, where 67.1 percent of the students are categorized as low income by the state Department of Education, teachers focus on words related to specific content and use a four-step process for teaching them. Using the OWL curriculum, says reading support teacher Heather Nord, preschool teachers choose a theme such as ‘wind and water.’ Using six books related to the theme, they target 60 key words during a four-week unit. Teachers read each book four times, using a different approach each time. The first time … teachers verbally highlight targeted vocabulary words and post them on cards. The second time, they reconstruct the story, with children helping to retell. The third time, the teacher leaves out words, which children fill in orally. The fourth time, children act out the story. The aim? Experience the words, the concepts, the story itself.”
Read more>>
------------------------------
BEING HUMAN
------------------------------
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
Brandon Keim, Wired.com, 6/1/08
“What does it mean to be human? And can science illuminate the answers? A star-studded panel of scientists gathered to discuss those heady themes [May 31] at the World Science Festival in New York City.” Read a summary of their perspectives, including this summation of the perspective of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio: “The critical unique factor is language. Creativity. The religious and scientific impulse. And our social organization, which has developed to a prodigious degree. We have a record of history, moral behavior, economics, political and social institutions. We're probably unique in our ability to investigate the future, imagine outcomes, and display images in our minds.”
Read other perspectives>>
-----------------------------------------
STUDENT ART SHOWCASES
-----------------------------------------
TALENTED YOUTH SHOWCASE THE ARTS
Christine Dolen, Miami Herald, 5/31/08
“More than 400 arts-loving kids will get the opportunity to perform on a high-profile stage when Growing Up With the Arts, a free program presented by The Children's Trust, takes over the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts … Children and teens will sing, dance, act, play musical instruments and display their artwork in the venue's lobby … The purpose of Growing Up With the Arts, says Trust President and CEO Modesto E. Abety, is both to showcase young talent and make a statement. ''We have in this community some wonderful, positive, creative young people. We need to engage that, celebrate it and continue it, …I question what happens when children have limited exposure to the arts. [The arts] are necessary for children to become well-rounded citizens … Increasingly, the school system is pressed. . . . The focus has been on the basics, on testing. . . . The arts are not considered part of the basic core curriculum. We're proud that we've been able to step up.'' Michael Spring, director of Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs, estimates that the Trust money his department administers provides arts experiences for more than 200,000 children each year. The showcase, he says, tells the community that ``the arts are important. They help make kids mentally, physically and spiritually healthy. They help kids think beyond their current circumstances. The Trust has been visionary in its full-spectrum look at what it takes to make a healthy kid's life.''
Read more>>
STUDENT ART EXHIBIT
Seema Mehta, The Homeroom Blog, Los Angeles Times, 5/30/08
“The news about Latino and black student relations in Los Angeles schools is often troubling, such as the melee earlier this year involving 600 students at Locke High School that was quelled by police clad in riot gear and wielding billy clubs. But today, about 100 students from 10 Los Angeles schools are coming together for the second annual ‘Colors for Unity’ art exhibition … "Our goal is to use art as a tool that will allow students a form of expression to help break the race barrier," said Mike Piscal, founder and CEO of Inner City Education Foundations Public Schools, in a press release. "Our hope is that this experience will provide students with a better understanding of each other's cultures and will bring unity by focusing on their common strengths."
Read more>>
--------------
ARTS EDUCATION IN POLITICS
----------------
MARKELL PROPOSES DELAWARE ARTS TRUST:CREATION OF ARTS DISTRICTS PART OF PLAN
Christopher Yasiejko, The News Journal (Delaware), 5/30/08
“If elected Delaware's next governor, Jack Markell said Thursday, he would establish an endowment to support programming at arts institutions, offer incentives for local governments to apply for designation as arts and entertainment districts and strengthen arts education programs for at-risk youth. Markell, the state treasurer and a Democratic candidate for governor, … acknowledged the financial squeeze that has threatened arts institutions, and he proposed the formation of the Delaware Arts Trust, an endowment that would comprise government agencies, the business community, philanthropists and foundations. Throughout his 20-minute address, Markell sprinkled citations of studies attesting to the economic benefits of the arts -- they generate an 8-to-1 return on investment and employ 3,685 full-time workers, for example -- with links to ‘protecting Delaware's cultural legacy.’ He vowed to ensure that all students receive a "quality arts education," including the replacement of the Delaware Student Testing Program with an adaptive testing method that would allow more classroom time for the arts.
Read more>>
--------------
GRANTS AND AWARDS
----------------
GRANTS FOR THE WELFARE OF AMERICAN CHILDREN
Maximum Award: $70,000
Deadline: 7/1/08
American Legion Child Welfare Foundation Grants to Help Children fund proposals that “contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge about new and innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth; and contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge already possessed by well-established organizations, to the end that such information can be more adequately used by society.”
Learn more>>
RICHARD RILEY AWARD:
HONORING EXCELLENCE IN SCHOOLS AS CENTERS OF COMMUNITY
Maximum Award: $10,000
Deadline: 7/25/08
“Sometimes referred to as ‘community learning centers’, schools that serve as centers of community provide a rich array of social, civic, recreational and artistic opportunities to the broader community, often clustering educational and municipal buildings together. These additional services and opportunities often improve student achievement and help maximize local tax dollars. With school enrollment in the United States forecasted to increase at record levels, and spending on school construction and renovation to total nearly $30 billion annually, it makes sense that this major investment should benefit both students and the local community. The American Architectural Foundation, in partnership with KnowledgeWorks Foundation, invites you to enter a submission for the Richard Riley Award. If your school is a center of community that demonstrates innovative design ideas and helps promote student achievement, your school could win a $10,000 prize.”
Learn more>>
# # #
posted by IEA Newsletter @ 6:19 AM
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