Jeffrey J. Schnapp, Director of Stanford Humanities Lab at Stanford University
Most poignantly is what we learned while in the city. Attending the conference were countless young teachers who were climbing on the walls they were so excited to be there. I guess they did not get the memo on how teachers should be cynical all the time. The conference had record attendance. There was a sense of a ground swell of activity around the country in the area of arts and cultural education. I learned volumes talking to a young teacher who used her IPAD to take pictures of her students art work and journal about it for her grade book. Then I looked around and noticed almost everyone at the conference had an IPAD. The world is becoming more interconnected and changing rapidly. It is the artists and educators which seem to be leading the way in this new world of interconnectivity. It is the artist that imagines things before they happen and pictures solutions before the problem is solved.
Fine arts educators gathered for a panel about the current state of art education in New Mexico and how the arts are a vital part of the overall curriculum.
The National Art Education Association Conference Seattle, Washington March 18th 2011
A group of arts educational leaders in New Mexico presented their ideas on alternative assessment in the arts. They also discussed the digital formats available for those assessments. Watch the Video of the Alternative Portfolio Assessment Presentation
Check out what other school districts are doing in the area
of digital assessment in the arts.
Best Practices & Research
Learning in a Visual Age: The Critical Importance of Visual Arts Education
Fine Arts Assessment How do you know a student is learning at a high level in the arts? There are performances in the music, theatre, and dance. There are portfolios, displays in visual art. These type of alternate assessments as opposed to a traditional paper and pencil test is how we gage learninig at a high level in the arts. Assessing high level thinking is the goal of every visual art, music, theatre arts and dance teacher. Here are some examples of different types of assessment in the arts.
Virtual Violin Concert
Margaret Whitley and her star violin students performed for a group of arts educators from different regions of the state of New Mexico who attended the Winter Fine Arts Conference. On one end of the web camera was the violin students and on the other end was the educators in their conference room in Santa Fe. This event modeled two best practices: violin instruction and use of technology as our 3rd Grade students were able to transport their performance of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” to an audience six hours away.
Dance and Rhythm
Karen Salb is a master at showing the connections between physical education and the art of dance. She has a physical education background and runs a very busy dance program at the Maciolek School of Dance in Hobbs, New Mexico.
She is working with Hobbs schools in many ways from training our PE teachers to having her students give a complimentary Irish Dance concert to a group of elementary students during the school day on March 17th this year. In Santa Fe she taught some arts educators some rhythm exercises with basketballs to the tune of "I've Got a Feelin’...” by the Black Eyed Peas. As you can see this activity is engaging for adults or students.
Watch the Video of the 2009 PE/Dance Training
Vertical Teaming
We have three talented secondary art teachers in the school district: Kara Wink from the high school and Janet Davis and Deb Mitchell from the junior high schools. These teachers meet frequently throughout the year and align their curriculum so the students get a comprehensive approach of the visual art world. In Santa Fe they showcased a former student's portfolio from Kindergarten through Freshman Year in college to spotlight the value of vertical alignment in the curriculum. They also couldn't help themselves and taught a group of students passing through the museum some hands-on lessons using materials outlined in the state standards.