Almost There Blog... 6/15/17

Durfee Music Students at 2017 Commencement

Welcome to the FINAL STRETCH!

Love:

If you are reading this, you have made it to the final weeks of the 2016/17 School Year.  You have survived back to school woes, football season (and watching the historical Pats comeback), snow (and snow days), rain (pretty much the whole month of May) and suddenly, it's 75-90 degrees and we are knee deep in field days and finals.  While there are so many things going on, we need to remind ourselves to take a breath, look around at all we have accomplished with and for our kids, and celebrate that greatness.  I know I say this all the time, but, you need to be reminded that you are the adult in your students' day that represents the arts, whether performance or visual, and the skills you bestow are and will be something they will carry with them always.  Whether they hear a familiar song on the radio years from now that you taught them to sing, or see how that complimentary color scheme and composition draw their eye into an image on a billboard, or maybe they are in that song or on that billboard, you made an impact.  And for that, I am grateful for having the opportunity to work with all of you.  Thank you.

Plan:

As we wrap up our work with students, consider sending them off into summer with some artistic food for thought..  Are they traveling with family, or stayin' local?  Are they doing any camps, or summer school?  Consider motivating students to journal, either visually with drawings of what they see and experience or in what music, films or performances they fall in love with this summer.  We have reams of drawing paper that students can use a small stack to make into a little sketchbook/journal.  Inspire them to be active and reflective artists this summer, and have a share day in September!

Grow:

As you may have seen on the FRPS website, the district will be holding summer PD opportunities for content areas.  The arts have a couple of offerings!  

• Accountable Talk and Critiquing the Arts
• Using Technology in the Arts Classroom

These are taught by teachers for teachers.  Stay tuned for more info on how to sign up.

ART: In addition, U Mass Dartmouth is offering some great courses this summer.  

• Two-week, 3-credit studio courses

• PDPs in Special Needs and Sheltered English Immersion specifically designed for arts teachers to fulfill licensure requirements 

• Participants will share experiences and exchange ideas about contemporary issues in arts and education

• Review the list of courses and when they run

Here is the link: http://www.umassd.edu/cvpasummer/courselisting2017/?utm_source=CVPA+Summer+Arts+Educators&utm_campaign=CVPA+Summer&utm_medium=email

MUSIC: MICCA 8th Summer Institute 2017
Sponsored by David French Music Co., Anthem Musical Instruments, and MICCA
Thursday, July 20th and Friday, July 21st, 2017
The Summer Institute will be held at Hopkinton High School, Hopkinton, MA
This year, the MICCA Summer Institute will feature a "conference model" with sessions offered by local educators grouped by strand. Attendees can choose between choral, band, and string strands with several sessions being offered across all strands. Session titles have been developed by educators to meet the practical needs of elementary, middle, and high school teachers. 
Link: http://www.miccamusic.org/summer_institute.html

PLAY:

And for the final Blog next week, I need you.   
Yearbook Throwback...   Dig out those old photos and send me a pic of you for my next week's THROWBACK THURSDAY BLOG.  Kindergarten?  Senior Year?  Prom?  You pick- but please play!  This will only be awesome if you participate.  :)

Have a wonderful weekend.
Jackie