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Showing posts from January, 2017

Weekly Arts Wrap Up 1/27/17

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Durfee Artists and Writers Win Scholastics Awards!   Congratulations to the following five Durfee students who earned recognition in the 2017 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards:   Art: ​             Macklin Coronel '17,  honorable mention  in photography for 'Fall River City Highway                                      Nichel Nhem '18,  honorable mention  in ​illustration for 'Sweet' Writing: Cade Scott '17,  honorable mention  for his memoir 'Cosmogony' Florentino Correa-Garcia '18,  silver key  for his memoir 'The Boy' Lisa Houston '18,  gold key   for her memoir 'Tinkerbell'  This week , I am inspired by the  Massachusetts Cultural Council !  Great news...   Governor Charlie Baker today released a state budget proposal that would invest $14.3 million in the arts, humanities, and sciences through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) in the coming fiscal year. The Governor's budget

Weekly Arts Wrap Up- 1/20/17

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This week, I am inspired by our students' ability to communicate the "what they are doing and learning" in your classes.  In so many schools, our kids just love talking about what they do with you!  They are great advocates for your programs- I spoke to a student named Lauren last night at the Durfee New Building Visioning Meeting, and she was very open about her answer to my question..  I asked her "What memories will you take from this building?"  Being a true renaissance girl involved in a plethora of school activities and classes, she said, "I feel at home in the music wing.  It makes me feel comfortable- like I want to be there all the time.  I'm going to miss that."  This is a tribute to the "work" that we do, not only with Lauren, but all of the other "Laurens" we serve.  You are making memories and teaching skills that go far beyond their formative years.   I know January can be one of the most trying months in terms o

Weekly Arts Wrap Up- 1/13/17

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Welcome to another weekend! Let's start this weekend off with a celebration!!!  I am excited to share with you the district WINNERS of the annual BCC Martin Luther King Jr. Art Contest.  We  have 9 students this year   who have been chosen as winners in the 17 th  annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Art Contest. At the BCC breakfast, they will announce which place each poster won. The  keynote speaker this year is Cape Verdean American filmmaker/historian  Claire Andrade-Watkins , a professor of Africana and Postcolonial Media Studies at the Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College as well as a 2016 Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, and a Fellow, Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University. Mrs. Andrade Watkins was a 1995-1996 Fulbright Scholar in Cape Verde and a recipient of an American Philosophical Society grant in l997.  Congrats to the following Fall River Artists! Morton: Eden McCausland    Talbot:

Weekly Arts Wrap Up- 1/6/17

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Welcome to the end of the first week of 2017!  If you are reading this, you survived a 4 day week filled with art and music making.   I found an article that has some interesting strategies for consideration as we swing back into the work...  Here it is! How to Use Brain Science to Engage Students After the Holidays Judy Willis, Neurologist As the holidays come to an end, thoughts of students and lesson plans replace time spent indulging in puddings and turkey. But teachers know all too well that it’s challenging enough to motivate a class on a Monday morning after a weekend, never mind after a longer break. To reignite energy levels this January here are my tips as a neurologist and former teacher: What gets the brain’s attention? All learning starts as information perceived by the five senses: vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. There are also millions of sensory nerve endings throughout the skin, muscles and internal organs. But the brain is only able to proce