During our discussion group at the Roland Hayes yesterday a great art teacher said that we have been denied one of our greatest resources, each other. Our creativity has been reinventing itself in isolation. Now we have the opportunity to reach out and collaborate. Let’s imagine together. Let’s create a virtual masterpiece.
Here is a question for all my colleagues. If you were the principal in your school, if money and resources where plentiful, and if you could hire the best talent out there; how would your school integrate the arts everyday? What kinds of arts programs would you implement? How would your teachers motivate students? How would you use the resources available to you? COME ON, LET YOUR CREATIVE THOUGHTS TAKE OVER! SHARE THEM WITH US!
Thanks, Laura for your enthusiasm in reporting this and for this site. The group of 6 or 7 of us offering opinions to the research agency hired by BPS to consider where arts education is happening is a start. This may be the first time anyone asked us what we think. It will be terrific if a time becomes designated for us to meet as BPS Arts Teachers in the near future to continue this dialogue.
ReplyDeleteYvonne
I feel the same way. I hope this is the start of more opportunities to collaborate. I was thinking about how important this is. We all felt it during that meeting. We need officially designated times to meet as bps arts educators and share resources. Going back to my original question about the perfect school, here would be my requirements:
ReplyDelete1- All teachers should be willing to truly integrate the arts in their classrooms.
2- The school would have an arts specialist team to support teachers and organize special programs.
3- There would be a certified arts teacher for each arts area with enough supplies, materials and instruments to have a school marching band, chorus, etc.
4- Each student would be required to belong to the specialized arts group of their choice: dance, visual arts, music, theater.
5- There would be an extended school day staffed by partner organizations to run it as an in-depth after-school arts program to complement the regular school day and offer additional help to struggling students.
DREAMING IS FREE SO THERE IS IT! MY UTOPIA! I would need to fine tune it, so if anyone has any suggestions please send them this way. Post them right here! Hope to hear from many of you soon!