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Only 3 days left until the conference!
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Happy Birthday
Palmer Museum
of Art
Karen Lintner
Region 4 co-rep
The Palmer Museum of Art is celebrating it's 40th anniversary
and is hosting many special events and activities throughout the year.
Of special interest is the new exhibition "Celebrating 40 Years of Gifts; Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection."
This exhibit offers a variety of excellent teaching opportunities and includes among the 125 pieces, works by Cezanne, Daumier, Durer, Picasso and Rembrandt.
This is a rare opportunity to see artworks that are seldom on display. For more information,
There is a fund to help pay for buses.
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Best of the Web
Christine Besack
Past PresidentArt of the Day Gadget is a gadget that will display a different masterpiece on your computer's desktop everydayClick here.From the Met
A picture widget featuring the Artwork of the Day from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
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EPLC's Arts and Education Initiative (AEI) will hold a day-long symposium on Thursday, October 11 at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA. More details
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Trashion Fashion
Amy Migliore -Design Issues
PAEA has been fortunate to connect with several Project Runway contestants who will be joining us in our first-ever state Design Challenge on trashion called Project Innovate. Some of our members participated in our pilot launch in Quakertown, PA where seven school districts came together and over 30 middle and high school students designed and wore outfits created by 'trash'. This October, at the annual conference in Harrisburg, attendees will have the chance to get up close to some of those student designers and talk to experienced teachers who have piloted the idea already.
The Project Innovate Design Challenge is an exciting way for colleagues to empower each other and students of any skill level to feel successful! The quality of construction on the garments and imaginative use of materials is inspiring and will not fail to bring a sense of renewal to those of us forging our careers in this tense economic climate. Student models, a showcase of trashion garments and Project Runway celebrities will be on hand throughout the day on Saturday October 6th at our annual conference!
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Fall Calendar
2012  Click Here. Exhibits, events and workshops during October, November and December. Have an event or news from your region, contact Kris Fontes at kfontes2@gmail.com
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Guest Editor - James Ritchey
Videos from YouTube and other online sources have become a source of entertainment, information, controversy, and sometimes learning and education. TED talks "is a global set of conferences ... formed to disseminate 'ideas worth spreading,' (Thank you Wikipedia)." Some are funny, some courageous. Some are about design and some are about technology. You can follow your interests at ted.com and/or sign up for their weekly email.
If you visit, search for Jennifer Lin, age 14, as she improvises on piano.For the first five minutes she plays a song by Hofmann, called "Kaleidoscope." After a few introductory remarks, she plays Shumann's "Abegg Variations." Just past 13 minutes into the video, Jennifer takes the microphone to express her thanks for being at TED, and shares her thoughts on the theme of the event, "Sync and Flow." Here is where she talks about how she composes. The first time I watched the video, all the while she was discussing composition, I kept thinking how parallel her process is to making art. Turns out, she also likes to draw and makes a comparison between her composing and her drawing. I recommend you listen to her presentation for yourself, but I humbly offer here, my impressions and agreement with her point of view.
Her first step is to make a lot of little (musical) ideas. Then she chooses one of them to become the main theme. After choosing the main theme, she makes a decision about the style. Then she does research on great works of the past to give herself some inspiration. Next, she works on the structure with her teachers. Then she says comes the "hard part," filling it in with (musical) ideas. And the reason why it is the hard part is "because then you have to think." When she feels the piece takes a "solidified" form, she polishes the piece, polishes the details. And last, she polishes the whole composition. Jennifer also talks about her state of mind while she is composing or drawing and "working on it," and how she focuses and how the process does not come naturally.
Her process not only feels right, but thinks right as well. You can skip over the first 13 minutes if you want to get to her remarks or watch the whole 25 minutes and watch her improvisation.
In any case, the process she shared sounded very true to me especially when I compare it to my research and experiences with art and education. I wonder how my classroom would have evolved if more 14 year old students came to understand that making art is part inspiration but also thoughtful decision making. It's work. Fun, but work.
James Ritchey was an art teacher at State College Area Schools for 38 years and is a board member of PAEA. He can be reached at ritchey2@verizon.net
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Advocacy Means Being a Face at the Table
Leslie Ann Kunkel - Middle Level Division Director and
Region 5 Co- Representative
Sometimes we tend to think of advocacy as posters, art exhibits and letter writing to our government representatives. But there are many everyday, natural fit opportunities for advocacy. Since we are looking at the start of a new school year and find ourselves in a time where advocacy is most necessary for our content area and our profession, we thought that it might be helpful to share some advocacy strategies with you. - Is there an opportunity to be involved as a building representative for your education association?
- Does your district have a Curriculum Council?
- Does your district have a Wellness Committee?
- Are you on the Strategic Planning Committee?
- Are there opportunities in your community? Does your public library have a Friends organization, or a board opportunity?
- What professional education organizations are in your area?
- Have you nominated a colleague for one of the PAEA awards?
- Are you aware of language? I am not a "special", I am a "specialist".
- Do you make a point to collaborate with the other core curricular content areas, such as math and reading?
- Do you remember that "They see you before they hear you" ?
- As we start a new school year, do you attend all academic and content area meetings, or do you go and work in your room since that "stuff" doesn't have to do with art? Be at the meetings, be like the other content areas in your behavior and then expect to be treated in a professional manner, as the other core curricular content areas. We need to know what is going on with testing and the data that drives the decision making in our districts. We can't know that if we are working in our art rooms while that information is being discussed!
How can you keep the face of art present at meetings and activities in your school and community? Now more than ever, we need your face at the table! Remember, you are a core curricular academic content area specialist! |
Practical Applications for Education Policy and Leadership Center's (EPCL) report, Creating Pennsylvania's Future Through the Arts and Education
Kristin Baxter - Region 10 representative
Last spring, the Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC) released the report, Creating Pennsylvania's future through the arts and education. As I read it, I asked myself, "what can I do to improve our circumstances?" The purpose of this article is to encourage you to perhaps re-read the EPLC report and find meaning in it in your own teaching contexts, as well.
The first outcome of reading this report was theoretical in nature. It confirmed questions that frame my thinking as I develop the course of study for pre-service art educators and develop syllabi. Such as, How can I teach my course, "Art for the Elementary School," in way in which I am both an advocate for certified art specialists in schools, yet at the same time introducing Early Childhood Education students to the idea that they can (and should) teach art in their classrooms? Am I undermining what art teachers do when I teach art methods for the classroom? Additional questions that this report helped me consider include, "How can I help students "un-learn" the "make and take" model of art education, with lessons with few meaningful learning objectives? How can I strengthen students' understanding of creativity and imagination? How can I help my students develop authentic assessment strategies in their written lesson plans and in actual teaching settings, so that the visual arts remain vital to public schools?" Perhaps this report can help other art educators and supervisors think about the larger mission or goals of their programs.
The second outcome was the need to put ideas for advocacy into practice. There were clearly practical, "doable" things I could act upon. For instance, I can:
- Include this report as required reading in my courses.
- Challenge my students to think of their lesson plans as creative acts of their own, through which they mindfully and purposefully nurture their K-12 students' creativity, imagination, and meaning-making.
- Encourage students to join the National Art Education Association.
Finally, this report makes me hopeful for the future, because I choose to see deficiencies as opportunities. Therefore this report underscored an interest of mine in one final, not-so-practical project that I hope to achieve in the future. That is to start a K-12 public school on the Moravian College campus; this would be a "lab school" with the arts infused into the curriculum; children would engage in the arts everyday in meaningful, sustained ways. I encourage you to re-examine the EPLC's report and see what opportunities could await you.
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New Teacher Chat - Digital Citizenship
Lisbeth Bucci - Region 12 co-representative
New Job! Your own classroom! Students! Parents! Paycheck! Benefits! You're starting a new job and you have used social media forever! I advocate for the use of technology, social media and digital citizenship in the classroom. I love how digitally connected we are. I utilized all aspects of technology daily in the classroom. As an educator, you now have responsibilities that reach farther that yourself.Here are some things to remember in and out of the classroom:
- If is followed or posted it is considered social media!
- Remember the game of Tag? Well if you are tagged. You know the rest.If it is deleted, it still takes 6 months to really disappear.
- A red cup in a photo is still a red cup. Everyone knows it is not lemonade.
At this point in time your social media profiles and involvements should be professional, because eventually your students and parents will find you. Are you checking Facebook while on the job? A big no- no! It is unprofessional. There are times during the day when you might find it appropriate, but it can become a distraction and you can be fired! Tempted? No self -control? Turn off your phone and put it away. School issue computer? Talk about Big Brother. Don't risk it? How long did it take you to land that job? Your own laptop on your desk? Who do you really think you are kidding? Your students? Administrators? Other teachers? Is your social media really more important that your students? Your profession? Your job? Common sense right? Then practice it! Unless you can justify absolutely 100% that what you are doing is research, for your students or job related! Stop! don't do it. Never ever post anything, anywhere that could be hurtful about a student, parent, co-worker, etc. It is the fastest way for relationships and your professionalism to be destroyed! You are only as good as your name!
Any comments or questions concerning this article can be directed to Lisbeth.Bucci@gmail.com or Twitter.com@Lisbeth.Bucci
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