COLLEGE BOARD
Kim Wheetley, SCEA's executive director, has been invited to serve on the College Board's new National Task Force on the Arts in Education. The first meeting of the Task Force will be in New York City on October 10-11, 2008.
No one can dispute the role and importance of the arts in human life. Lester Monts, chair of the College Board’s Board of Trustees and professor music, wants to ensure that all students are exposed to this important element of our culture as early as possible. A strong understanding of the arts is vital to increasing creativity and innovation strategies and processes. Monts believes that the U.S. education system should promote the arts from preschool through college and make every effort to integrate the arts with other disciplines. As a result, the Academic Assembly Council established the College Board National Task Force for the Arts in Education.
“The purpose of the Task Force will be to advise the Board in developing and articulating a vision for arts education in the United States, with the hope that the Board will use its considerable resources and influence to promote and inspire artistic creativity and innovation and to achieve and sustain an integrative vision for arts in education.”
“As it has with many other initiatives, the College Board has the opportunity to once again take a leadership role in curriculum and teacher development in the arts,” said Monts. “We’d like to see the College Board launch a national discussion about the role of the arts in education and the meaning of citizenship.”
Further, the advocacy arm of the College Board can help to expand exposure and participation in the arts for students who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to participate, while fostering in all students a lifelong love of the arts. The membership can be motivated to promote the arts at their institutions, while the College Board initiates this important conversation with other educational organizations.
TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION GRANT
SCEA has has been awarded a $4,300 grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission to host the Center's second National Forum on Professional Development for Arts Integration. The goal of the Forum is to examine the quality of integrated arts instruction and the effectiveness of related professional development methods. Fifty professionals from across the country will participate in discussions, sample lessons, and PD models. Additionally, three nationally known experts in the field will help plan and facilitate the conference. The Forum will take place May 7-9, 2009 at the UTC University Center.
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Susanne Burgess, SCEA's director of music education, presented a session on An Integrated Approach to Music and Reading at the International Society for Music Education in Bologna, Italy in July 2008.
SCEA is among 12 higher-education institutions profiled in the Dana Foundation’s new book TRANSFORMING ARTS TEACHING: THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION. The book examines innovations in arts-teacher training and features the proceedings from Dana’s 2007 national symposium that examined ways in which colleges and universities can enhance arts learning. It is available free from the Dana Foundation.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO CENTRE FOR ARTS EDUCATION & INTEGRATION
SCEA and the Trinidad Dance Theatre are planning to establish a professional development program to facilitate professional development in arts integration for university arts and education faculty, primary and secondary school administrators and teachers, and practicing artists in the Trinidad & Tobago islands.
For more information:
Trinidad & Tobago Centre for Arts Education & Integration
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT VIDEO SERIES
Annenberg Media is now airing three professional development series about arts education. These programs are produced by Lavine Production Group (New York) in collaboration with the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts (Chattanooga), EDC Center for Children and Technology (New York), and KSA-Plus Communications (Washington DC). Explore the links below for more information and view the programs through video on demand.
The Art of Teaching the Arts workshop examines how principles of good teaching are carried out in high school arts programs. Arts specialists from across the country demonstrate their practice and discuss their goals, methods, and experiences.
Connecting with the Arts video workshop and library feature a variety of meaningful arts integration approaches taking place in middle school classrooms around the country.
The Arts in Every Classroom video workshop and library provide new ideas about working with the arts for K-5 classroom and arts specialist teachers.
A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING & LEARNING THROUGH THE ARTS & TECHNOLOGIES OF TELEVISION
Gaining a deeper understanding of the numerous art forms comprising television can strengthen students' abilities to perceive and interpret visual symbols, stories and messages in our complex media-saturated society. This 121 page Framework was authored for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences by Kim Wheetley (SCEA director) and Cyrice Griffith-Siebens. It provides background and instructional strategies to engage students in exploring the artistic processes utilized to create and electronically communicate visual stories.
Download the framework from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences website. On the Downloads page click on Academy/Getty Educational Framework.
TENNESSEE GOVERNOR'S AWARDS IN THE ARTS
The Tennessee Arts Commission awarded SCEA it's 2003 Governor's Arts Leadership Award for nurturing creative inquiry into teaching and learning. Read what friends of the Center had to say in their letters of support.
STUDY ON ARTS EDUCATION
We are pleased to share the results of the five-year Transforming Education Through the Arts Challenge, which began in 1996. SCEA worked with five other regional arts education organizations and 35 schools in seven states. Consortium members explored, assessed, and documented ways in which intensive professional development, comprehensive arts education, and systemic school reform can transform schools.
