PS Your "soapbox" regularly informs all of us. Keep "soaping"!
On 7/17/11 10:31 AM, "Renee" <[email protected]> wrote: > Sally, > > When I was teaching art, students came to me for one hour > approximately once every three weeks or so. I wish, wish, wish I > could have had them more often. With a few exceptions, most teachers > just brought the students to me, dropped them off, and returned in an > hour to pick them up. For the most part this worked fine for me > because *some* of the teachers who stayed would sometimes interject > their own strategies and thoughts and opinions and directions into my > lesson, which drove me nuts. But overall, I really wish that the > teachers had stayed to listen to the introductions, participate in > the activities themselves, listened more closely to the questions I > asked during discussions, and gave more thought to what was actually > happening in my classroom, because there was tons of problem-solving, > small motor development, eye-hand coordination, development of > observation skills, juxtapositioning of overall composition and > internal details, talking about great art works (you'd be surprised > what a 1st grader can find in and extrapolate from closely observing > the Mona Lisa!), writing about their art work, critiquing other's art > work, comparing student works, etc etc etc. There is a ton of > language arts and math work in there. Tons. > > Off my soapbox now.... > Renee > > > On Jul 17, 2011, at 9:57 AM, Sally Thomas wrote: > >> You have me thinking as I am going to bring the two emails to my >> class on >> Thursday for discussion. >> >> Maybe there should be a "push in" with knowledgeable support teachers >> co-planning with the regular teacher to help create better reading >> workshop >> type classrooms. And two informed teachers have to be better than >> one in >> terms of giving differentiated support to children???? >> >> Sally >> >> >> On 7/17/11 7:54 AM, "Renee" <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Oh my..... I SOOOOO disagree with this! No child should be excluded >>> from equal access to the curriculum, and that includes Art, Music, >>> P.E., or whatever else, no matter where they are performing. In >>> fact, I >>> would say that low-performing children might need these parts of >>> curriculum most of all.... to help them see and experience the grand >>> intertwining of all parts of learning. Children who are >>> "underperforming" according to some standardized assessment shouldn't >>> be punished and have their curriculum narrowed down. Children don't >>> need *more* reading instruction, they need *better* reading >>> instruction >>> (and in my opinion, that means more actual reading and less actual >>> drilling). >>> >>> I understand too well the frustration of having students pulled >>> out of >>> class for small group instruction and in fact I am not particularly >>> supportive of trading students around among teachers that people >>> do so >>> much of these days. But narrow the curriculum because a child is >>> reading below grade level? Sorry..... can't support that one. >>> >>> Some food for thought: >>> >>> 10 Lessons the Arts Teach >>> >>> 1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative >>> relationships. >>> Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules >>> prevail, in the arts, it >>> is judgment rather than rules that prevail. >>> 2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one >>> solution >>> and that questions can have more than one answer. >>> 3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. >>> One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and >>> interpret the world. >>> 4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving >>> purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and >>> opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a >>> willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the >>> work >>> as it unfolds. >>> 5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal >>> form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language >>> do not define the limits of our cognition. >>> 6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large >>> effects. >>> The arts traffic in subtleties. >>> 7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. >>> All art forms employ some means through which images become real. >>> 8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. >>> When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them >>> feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words >>> that will do the job. >>> 9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other >>> source >>> and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what >>> we are capable of feeling. >>> 10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the >>> young >>> what adults believe is important. >>> >>> SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In >>> Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale >>> University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants >>> reprint >>> permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper >>> acknowledgment >>> of its source and NAEA. >>> >>> >>> Renee >>> >>> >>> On Jul 16, 2011, at 3:13 PM, Amy Lesemann wrote: >>> >>>> We had arguments about this, and I lost until a new teacher came >>>> in and >>>> supported me. Frankly, if a student is 2 or more years- even less, >>>> frankly - >>>> then they really do need to sacrifice music, or art, or another >>>> special for >>>> extra reading instruction, and stay in the regular class for regular >>>> reading >>>> instruction. Before I got that extra vote in the faculty >>>> meetings, the >>>> remedial kids were getting pulled out of their regular classes to >>>> meet >>>> with >>>> me...so they were getting exactly the same amount of instruction as >>>> everyone >>>> else. That's not the idea. They should be participating in >>>> reading and >>>> writing workshop, and then going to the specialist to target >>>> their weak >>>> areas - in phonics, using context clues, and so on. >>>> >>>> Good luck! >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Amy Lesemann, Reading Specialist and Director, Independent Learning >>>> Center >>>> St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School >>> >>> >>> " What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, >>> has been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So >>> now >>> we test how well we have taught what we do not value." >>> Art Costa, emeritus professor, California State University >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Mosaic mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >>> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ >>> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org >>> >>> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive >>> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mosaic mailing list >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ >> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org >> >> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive >> > > "The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound... He depends for > his power on his ability to make other people powerful." > ~ Benjamin Zander > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
