Check out Barbara Mullen (above) leading the 2017 ARTMOBILE on her T-Rex.. She ROCKED it through our city parks this summer, keeping our kids engaged in the arts... So awesome!
This week, I returned to Pink's A Whole New Mind for inspiration...
Here's what inspired me. Pink visited the Charter High School for Architecture and Design. This public school takes students who for most, had never had an art class and read at a 3rd grade level, and inspires them through a design centered curriculum. Using design to teach CORE academics, students spend 100 min/day in a design studio. "..when the study the Roman Empire, rather than only read about the Roman water delivery process, the students build a model Aquaduct. They are learning to bring disparate things together to a solution. That's what designers do." -Pink (p.72)
This leads me to reflect, what we do as artists and musicians is the culmination, the glue that binds all content, the "Symphony" of all of the parts.. It is our job to inspire our young artists and musicians, to empower them to be bold, creative and create, present, and perform- to express their own symphonies.
Welcome to the 2017/18 School Year, Fine and Performing Arts Super Stars!
Exciting News:
- 3rd Graders at HLCS, Fonseca, Tansey, Spencer Borden and Letourneau will be learning about the ecosystem through music in this year's grant funded New Bedford Symphony Orchestra Program, "The Orchestra as Ecosystem." Check out what they will be doing! The 2017-2018 Learning in Concert program will explore the concept of balance in music and ecology. The children will explore various ecosystems to analyze whether it demonstrates elements of stability or imbalance. By focusing on ecological instability threatening salt marshes, rain forests and wetlands, the children will identify specific actions or ideas that could help restore ecological balance to these areas. In music, the children will explore balance in classical music and hear how composers achieve balance through the orchestration of musical parts among musical instruments. They will develop a strong understanding of the various instruments of the orchestra and hear how individual instruments, sections and families interact to achieve balance within a piece of music. Children will analyze balance cross-disciplines by determining niche (the musical part’s role in creating balance within a piece of music and the organism’s role in creating balance within an ecosystem), population (number of the same species within an ecosystem or number of same instruments playing within a piece of music),and biodiversity (how many different musical parts transpire and interact throughout a piece of music or how many different species exist within an ecosystem). In the classrooms, the children will analyze various ecosystems that are in some state of ecological imbalance. Through classroom discussions and research, the children will identify potential actions or interventions that might begin to restore balance to this environment. With these actions in mind, the children will adapt and change their orchestration to demonstrate the ecosystem moving from a state of imbalance towards a state of balance. SO COOL!
- 5th graders will be participating in the Rhode Island Philharmonic Link Up Recorder Program! I will have more information for you soon on this event, but the performance date is set for Friday, May 25th at 9:45.
- We have a new art studio at Fonseca Elementary School! Our own Katie Grinnell is the new art teacher there, and she is loving that space!!!! Way to go, Katie!
Drum Roll, PLEASE! New teachers, we welcome and love you! This year, joining the team, we have....
- Ms. Katie Grinnell, art teacher at Fonseca!
- Ms. Rochelle Pettinatti, art teacher at Doran!
- Mr. Jayson Newell, music teacher at Doran!
- Mr. David Arruda, music teacher at HLCS!
- Ms. Kelsey Raposa, music teacher at Talbot!
- Ms. Michaela Gardner, music teacher at Morton!
- Ms. Caroline Herrerro, Orchestra teacher for the district!
- Ms. Emily Plunkett, Orchestra teacher for the district!
- Mr. Alex Ollivierre, percussion teacher for the district!
Super excited that our team is growing! Please lean on us, we are your new family.
On the Calendar/Nuts and Bolts:
- Lesson Plans- please share with me via email by the Monday morning of the week. Thanks!
- Supplies- You should have received your supplies, and I am waiting for the recorder order (I actually bought some to supplement the Link Up recorders).
- Monthly Department Meetings- As in the past, I would like to continue to hold these for and with you! Can we commit to the last Thursday of each month? In terms of start time and school location, could we commit to having the meeting at the school who gets dismissed the latest, and hold it at the end of their school day?
- K-5 Music/Art would meet at Silvia at 3:45.
- 6-8 Music/Art would meet at Kuss at 3:35.
- 9-12 Meets at Durfee monthly at 2:45.
- We have a professional development day on Tuesday, November 7th. I would like to bring the whole team together for a few hours that day to dig deep into our work. Stay tuned!
Evaluation Items:
- This year, each school has created a School Improvement Plan (SIP) that will drive the work for improving student learning. These plans adhere to goals around Literacy, Numeracy and SEL/Attendance. High Schools have additional goals around graduation. As you draft your goals later on in the month, I will also be sharing a team goal for you to adopt if your building leadership allows- this goal will tie directly to the Literacy District Goal, but will be relevant to students' visual and music literacy and using content specific language to defend, critique and explain their reasoning.
- Our District Literacy Goal: Graduates of the Fall River Public Schools will be able to access and use complex texts in a variety of forms including visual/performing arts and digital media technologies, demonstrating clear and concise mastery of content as proficient readers, writers, speakers, and listeners capable of using oral and written language to develop an argument and communicate as an active civic participant of our democracy within a global community.
- Dates:
- 9/23 Training on SMART Goals/Goal Setting/Plan Development/Evidence Collection
- 10/7 Self Assessment and Goals submitted
- 10/14 Review and Approve Goals
Learning Walks:
- I will continue to do learning walks periodically, and this year will do this with a specific focus on our Literacy goal and the strategies we use to get students talking and writing about art and music. So excited to see the great work you do, and share out.
Happy Birthday to Grandma Moses!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Jackie
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