Tuesday Artist's Blog- February 8, 2022

 

Thank you to those who have planned tasks for our students this month that celebrate the life and art of Black Artists.  Let's keep it going!  I will be visiting all schools between now and the end of the month and capturing/sharing great ideas!

I am so sorry I didn't send this yesterday, but I was out.. getting old sometimes means you have to get a shot in the back so you can move around again LOL..  Well, I am back, and happy to say that I will be back in buildings facilitating CPTs for middle and high schools.  I am also happy to share with you the video from today's press conference around mask wearing in schools.  Click HERE.  The mask mandate will be lifted on February 28th in schools in Massachusetts.  More to come on this I am sure- I will be meeting with the district principals today to plan for the remainder of the year regarding this change.  I understand the reason why we wear masks, but I also know that they had a negative developmental impact on our kids (ELL, SpEd, etc).  Here's an example that hit me hard last week- An elementary art teacher reported that her student drew a picture of himself with no nose or mouth.  It's something we will need to be aware of as we transition back to full face to face interactions.  

I also want to give a huge shout out to our Fine and Performing staff who LITERALLY have known no other teaching than MASKED teaching.  Take Brian Niro, music teacher at Tansey and Watson.. do you know that I hired Brian in the midst of the pandemic?  Did you know that he has NEVER taught students without wearing a mask, and he teaches MUSIC?  Did you know that he has never seen not one of his whole classes unmasked?  Yup.  He signed up for this, and did so facing the COMPLETE UNKNOWN.. and he is doing great.  Brian, we love you, and like I have said to you before, your teaching skills were "forged in fire."  You will be amazing.

SHOUT OUTS to Ryan Gagnon, Alison Emard and Esylin Rivera Santana of Durfee High School for qualifying for SEMSBA!

To continue with shout outs, check out this quick video of our Durfee art student explaining the thought process behind the work she is producing:

Planning Ahead:

Man, oh man, do we have some great stuff planned!  

• Feb 11-12- Morton presents The Addams Family- The 2/11 performance is at 7:00pm and the 2/12 performance is at 2:00pm.
• Feb 17th- 4PM- "This is a Test" at Talbot!!  See info HERE
• March 29th- All City Band Concert
• March 30th- All City Orchestra
• April 27th- K-12 Arts EXPO

K-5 Music Teachers:

Thank you so much for working with Abby during the monthly department meeting- you all are doing an AMAZING job at revamping the collective map!  Let's set the March 7th PD time to be some digging into recorder work now that the mask mandate will be lifted.  This will make the Link Up Program so much easier.  Also, I was awarded a grant for almost $5,000 to get the NBSO in the 5 elementary schools throughout the school year- Terry Walkowicz will be in touch with dates- she will be visiting with her peeps, kids will compose music, and then we will share this music with the Durfee Orchestra and THEY WILL LEARN IT AND PLAY IT!!!!  OMG so excited.

K-5 Art Teachers:

Thank you all for working with Rochelle Monday- they conversations and work you are doing are great.. so awesome to see the Black History shares and the bulletin boards!  Amazing!  Keep it coming!  During the March 7th release time day, art teachers will shift gears and be working on prepping their student work for the art show.  In addition, the March and April department meeting time will be used to prep student work.  Therefore, we will not meet online or in person during the PD day (3/7), or online for the March and April department meetings.  This time will be given to you in your classrooms to get student work ready.  I am printing out the 2022 Arts EXPO name tags this week, and will send them over to you.  I will also be telling you how much kraft paper/sizes you will have.  Stay tuned!

6-8 Art and Music Teachers:

Same as above, let's keep this ball rolling- the art and music map still need some of your input, but we have made some great progress.  So awesome.  Art, you will also be doing the plan above in italics.. :)  Music, we will keep mapping out the tasks, and prepare for the Spring Concerts/shows!

Have a great week, people.. the sun is shining down on us.

Jackie