ESPrit de Corps

When I teach a yoga class, some students focus intently on what they want but don’t yet understand how to accomplish. Other students focus on judgmentally comparing themselves to others in the class. This mix probably happens in any group of students… the Learning self and the Critical self.

Sometimes being a beginner is cause for celebration because we don’t have to prove squat and we have everything to gain. At other times, beginnerhood feels uncomfortable if we worry that others in the group seem to have ‘more’ than we do… Do we look foolish? Will others have patience with us? Can we feel smart if we don’t know or understand something that others already seem to? How come asking a question feels less safe/acceptable than giving an answer does? When did learning become so fraught with stakes?

So, the problem I’m currently obsessed with is: When and why does the state of being a beginner, first-timer, newbie, etc. become a negative rather than a positive? How can we cultivate positive states and lessen dispiriting negative states in ourselves and others when we’re in new learning situations?

I’m excited by environments where question-asking and ‘not knowing’ is a welcomed means of dialogue rather than a pathway toward feeling ignorant. Anyone have thoughts about cultivating these group learning states and how our habits of evaluation are related to our Learning selves and Critical selves?

I like Alan’s metaphor about blogging. First time blogging IS like your first kiss with someone… there’s a funny combination of excitement, anxiety and anticipation before you begin to write. Do you think about it a LOT, or just dive in and see what happens? To think or act?

There are great parallels here to Summer Seminar. How do we jump into this community and this work – especially if it’s the first time? I’ve been teaching an arts integration course to pre-service teachers this month and have been musing a lot about the ideas of ‘first time’ and ‘new’. This work is exhilarating and this work can also be scary. How, as participants and/or facilitators do we ride that edge? How do we support our own and others’ feelings of excitement around new firsts without triggering feelings of worry or self-judgment?

As educators, it is critically important to develop the capacity to evaluate what is right in front of us. You might say it is one of our strongest ‘skill sets’ […whoops, my first attempt at the previous sentence gave me the typo, ‘kill sets’, which is a mistake that points me in exactly the direction that I was intending to go…] Our evaluation habits that are so essential in the work of education can quickly become ‘kill sets’ that get in the way of the learning process.

Learning takes time, space, and a variety of entry modes. If we jump into our evaluation habits before allowing time for learning, the focus can move toward judgment and away from development. How to manage this? Protected time. While we certainly want to develop our capacity for judgment, we don’t want to do so at the expense of relaxed inquiry stance. If we cannot control our evaluation habits, then they control us by turning into negative habits of self-judgment.

Here is what I ultimately want to say about Summer Seminar and this work in general: Come and play with us. Practice entering a supportive space of inquiry where we are all learners, all riding that tricky edge of exhilaration and fear together. One way to that state of ‘first-time kissing mode’ is to simply dive in. The other way is to observe habits. Summer Seminar is good for noticing how and when our judgment capacities morph into ‘first-time killer mode’, then learning how to adjust or smack ‘em back as needed. The balance of ‘kissing’ and ‘killing’ takes practice; our time together provides that learning space.

I’ve found that posting for the the first time to a blog is kind of like your first kiss with someone. Too spontaneous and it could be awkward. However, there’s certainly the downside to over thinking it. You want it to be packed with meaning and, deep down, maybe fear that it doesn’t mean as much to the recipient as it does to you. In the best possible scenario, it can act as the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

As I told my soon-to-be-great-friend Liz Weil (I am always hopeful, always positive), I was so excited and honored to be asked to be a guest blogger, that I totally forgot to say yes. Then there was that whole second stage which included Groucho Marx’s comment running through my head that basically calls into question the type of club that would have me as a member. Then, defying the Kubler-Ross model, I skipped anger and depression and went right into bargaining. ‘Well…’, I thought, ‘…people are interested in how this Irish-looking, Hispanic guy from Hoboken, New Jersey got into playing taiko’. Hopefully, if you take my creativity lab during Summer Seminar ‘08 and/or get to hear a taiko (Japanese drum) performance, you’ll be as hooked as I was. So my next step will be to tie in this art form with Summer Seminar and its focus of ‘habits of the creative mind’.

It’s been said that the boundaries of a Japanese village were determined by how far the sound of the village drum could carry. That speaks worlds to me, including and especially the thought of art and it’s impact, even creation, of community. Of course, the situation now is that we live in an age where I can type something here and that very same village in Japan (with the help of wireless towers) can read it almost immediately. Where does art lie in these times in relation to community? Is it in danger of being less relevant or does the immediacy of our lives demand more of it? It would be great to hear your thoughts about this. If you want to learn more about taiko, click here for a book called The Way of Taiko or click here for CDs of a great taiko performance group, Kodo.

I hope to see you at Summer Seminar ‘08. If we do chat and you’re interested, ask me about another experience of art and community I had in Japan. That one might make me tear up, but I won’t mind telling you about it, I promise. Best!

When I was asked by Phil Alexander to contribute to ESPrit de Corps I naturally asked him what might be a good specific focus.  He responded by telling me that I should write about some habits of mine.   I’ve thought about this, and, I’m sorry Phil but I won’t be doing that.  As Mark Twain said, “My habits protect me . . . . .  but they might assassinate you!” 

But here’s something that has occurred to me lately; something that would be good to enter into the general arts-in-ed conversation.  I hope you’ll agree.  Have you noticed that the stars seem to be slowly lining up to improve the reception for our work in schools?  It seems to me that there are a number of seemingly providential things orchestrating themselves on behalf of what we do. 

As a start I’ll offer some recent publications which, because they’ve been around long enough by now, are filtering down and beginning to have an impact on people’s thinking.  These books have singled out current U.S. educational practice for failing to properly guide student learning toward meeting the needs of the 21st century!   I refer to these as the “mind trilogy” for, you will note, obvious reasons.   These books are having an impact and you can help that along by adding them to your advocacy conversations.   

  Out of Our Minds by Sir Ken Robinson (you’ve seen the video, now read the book!).  The book (2001) points out that current educational practice stressing numeracy and literacy squeezes out opportunities to provide experiences for students in possibly even more important 21st century skills – innovation, imagination and creativity!  This is, of course, what we do!!  Go Arts-in-Education!  Go ESP!  Go Sir Ken!

 Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner’s recent addition to the conversation (2006) suggests that today’s accelerating rate of globalization, easy access to vast amounts of information, rapid advances in science and technology, etc. call for a new way of learning.  He suggests that the most thoroughly equipped 21st century learner needs to nurture the following:  a disciplinary mind, a synthesizing mind, a creating mind, a respectful mind and an ethical mind.  Do you see how we fit into all of these categories? 

Finally, Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind (2005) suggests that we have moved from the agricultural age to the industrial age, from there to the information age and that we are now in what he calls the “conceptual age.”  He suggests that the demands of the age are being shaped by three A’s – Abundance (consumers have too many choices, nothing is scarce), Asia (everything that can be outsourced, is) and Automation (computers, robotics, etc. – we no longer have to do “hard work”).   This guy is not an academic, he is writing for an audience of business people – which, of course, also helps us.  He notes that the “competitive difference” will come from: (drum roll please) CREATIVITY!!   Can I have an AHA??!!

My question to you is:  have you noticed any other things like this on a national or state level?  I don’t mean other book titles necessarily, but other elements that might be considered stars in our firmament that are beginning to line up?  Do you also have a sense that, however slowly, society (generally or more specifically) is beginning to feel better about what we bring to schools?  If so, please share what it is that’s making you feel that way.  Together maybe we can begin orchestrating the ingredients for society’s celebration of our work as times go on.

One of the things I have tried to encourage this year (07-08) is discussion of certain topics by the staff that are related to education and that could have a positive impact on how we teach. I feel that it is important, no matter how good we think we are, to strive to learn new things that can make us better. Understanding that everything has room for improvement is something that I think we should also instill in our students. I have attempted to incorporate bits and pieces of Habits of Mind, Discovering & Exploring by Costa and Kallick as suggestions for thought and discussion at every staff meeting. The following is an excerpt from a piece that I wrote for an opening to an e-staff meeting we had in November. Circumstances were such that we could not meet as usual so I decided to send the agenda and my comments as an attachment to an e-mail. For the entire day, teachers could read the items and respond to all recipients their opinions about the topics. I started the meeting with my thoughts about professional growth….

e-mail Meeting - November 8^th, 2007

I was reading from the Habits of Mind, Discovering & Exploring the other night and ran across the section about “Remaining Open To Continuous Learning.” Underneath it was one of my favorite Albert Einstein quotes. In fact I have it on the wall of both of my offices. “Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

I do not want to repeat word for word but I do want to highlight a couple of things from the paragraphs. In this section the authors (Costa and Kallick), state that people of intelligence never stop learning. They write that these people “are always striving for improvement, growing, learning, and modifying and improving themselves.” They also state that many of us are afraid to learn new things and feel quite comfortable with what we know.

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PS/MS 95’s Arts Leadership Team is one of fifteen Arts Leadership Teams that belongs to a community of arts leaders in the Bronx, the Bronx Arts Learning Community (BALC).  This year, DreamYard has gathered fifteen of our partnerships to create a community of schools who are all committed to strengthening the arts programs in their schools to provide their students with a quality arts education.

Each school that belongs to the BALC has formed an ALT.  It’s been really amazing and interesting to see the different things that have come out of each ALT - school art celebrations and festivals, arts professional developments, arts newsletters and teachers impacting the way that the arts are programmed within their schools.

I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on ALT meetings at each of our schools.  Given the time and the space, ALT are able to have conversations about the arts in their schools and take steps towards accomplishing their goals.  It’s been wonderful to see inspired individuals take on leadership roles, teams starting new traditions within their school and also to see administrators fully supporting their ALT’s efforts.

This leaves me believing that despite the many challenges that surround teachers, administrators, schools, Teaching Artists and arts organizations, many great things can be accomplished by people who are willing to make it happen!

How can we get more people to take the time to come together and have these conversations?  How can we further support these efforts?  What other ways can we set ALT up to be successful?

My name is Lori Brown-Niang and I am the Site Coordinator at PS/MS 95.  I also teach six theater classes where with my teachers, we integrate theater into their curricula.  I also teach two after school drama club classes where we practice arts for arts sake.

Currently as the leader of the PS/MS 95 Arts Leadership Team, we have a goal of creating an Arts Festival week to take place during the last week of May.  During this festival, we will have a chance to share the work that has been going on in the classrooms of not only integrated DreamYard class but also any class that has created an arts or arts integrated project that they would like to share.

I envision the walls of the auditorium covered in art from pre-K to 8th grade and the performances to include theatrical skits, monologues, poetry and ballroom, jazz and african dance.

The Arts Festival will be an opportunity to celebrate the creative work that has taken place throughout the year.  This is also a time for students to share their not only their process but their growth.  Last year’s festival sparked an interest in students that were not receiving any arts instruction.  Many students stopped me in the hallway to remark about how much they enjoyed the experience of seeing their fellow students’ creative process.  They also showed an interest in joining our after school programs.  Because of this, I had 50 students show up to audition for the 20 spaces that were available for the after school drama club.

There was a hitch in last year’s festival when it came to the theater pieces being heard because to my knowledge there were only hand-held microphones.  Also, one of the unfortunate realities when working in an elementary school auditorium is that there is no wing-space.  So my question to you would be… How can I overcome those obstacles for this year’s festival?

I am an 8th grade ELA teacher at PS/MS 95 and a member of the ALT.  For the past three years, I have been fortunate to partner with DreamYard teaching artists.  This year I am partnered with Asma Feyijinmi, a dancer and teaching artist.  We have been working together this year to help our students understand the connections between narrative elements in dance and the written word.

One ALT initiative that is underway at 95 is planning and preparation for our upcoming professional development.  Currently, there are 15 arts partnerships at 95 and several teachers without partnerships who want to more actively integrate the arts into their curriculum.  On March 25th, we will hold a PD for teachers paired with teaching artists and their unpaired “buddies.”  One goal for the “bring-a-buddy” PD is to encourage more inter-grade and cross-curricular sharing.  We want to explore how sample arts activities can be applied in a multitude of settings.  How can one art activity be successfully brought into a literacy classroom OR a science classroom, an eighth grade classroom OR a first grade classroom?

In the past, it has been challenging to attract non-DY affiliated teachers to PDs, so we’re hoping our bring-a-buddy strategy will jump-start involvement by teachers who may not have attended otherwise.

DreamYard and PS/MS 95 have been art partners for the last four years.  This year is our second year partnering in an ESP grant.  We currently have 15 arts integrated residencies that include visual arts, theater and dance, plus two after school arts programs in theater and visual arts.  This is their first year together as an Arts Leadership Team (ALT)!

What is an Arts Leadership Team?

The PS/MS 95 Arts Leadership Team is a team of teachers, Teaching Artists and school administrators who meet monthly to discuss, plan and spread the word about the arts to their school community.

I’d like to open this up to our Arts Leadership Team to tell you more about their team and what they do!

• How would you define the Arts Leadership Team at PS/MS 95?
• What’s exciting about the Arts Leadership Team?
• What are some things you are working on as a team?
• What is one thing that you would like to accomplish this year as an Arts Leadership Team?
• What are some challenges you have encountered?
• Do you have any words of advice you would offer a school that is thinking about starting their own Arts Leadership Team at their school?

The myths are done! They are beautiful. My students had a good time doing this project and they learned about astronomy, history and storytelling. There were some bumps in the road as I was sick for a week and there were partnerships that needed some help. There was editing and revision, rewrites and retypes, but the books were published. Next week some students will read their myths to students in other classes.

We are now focusing on two other arts integrated projects in my classroom. City Center’s Encores program and an architectural residency with Howard Stern.

My class has been studying Juno (the play, not the movie!). I have been thinking about the play, which is not necessarily accessible to eleven year olds and about the enormous learning potential the Encores program provides. It has so much “meat” and opportunity that I find I have to be careful not to bite off more than I can chew. One of the most valuable opportunities that this City Center program provides is an inside look at the lives of artists who work in the theater. My students now know what a director does, what a musical director is responsible for and how a choreographer works with a cast of characters. Now I want to assess, evaluate and confirm how well they understand these roles. I also want to see how well my students understand the theme of “family values” and “immigrant struggle”. What do we all have that comes from our traditions? What do we hold onto from our past? What do we embrace that makes us American? How can we distinguish ourselves from our families? These questions are ones that I want my students to consider. (Essential Questions Anyone?!?) It took me a while to formulate the project in my head that would accompany the rich work of the Encored program. I wanted something that would help my students better understand this play and at the same time assess that they have learned the important roles of the director, choreographer and musical director in the theater.

So I turned to the internet and found a wonderful list of children’s books about the immigrants experience. I will ask my students to read a book and to create a theatrical character based on one from the book. This is something that my students have already done with Sophia, the director from City Center. Together with other students they will create a script and block a scene that tells the story of characters struggling with their identity as immigrants coming to a new place and/or leaving their homes. The students will then be challenged to write lyrics to a song to help tell their story. Again, this is something they’ve had experience in with Tammy, from City Center. But now, can they put this skill into action on their own? Have they learened enough from Karen, the choreographer, to choreograph their own dance number? In this project I am hoping to see that my students can understand motivation and “back story”. I also want them to appreciate how difficult it is to create characters, stage a scene, write a song and perform. Since this is the first time I’ve assigned this learning activity I am not sure how the students will tackle this project, but I am looking forward to watching them try.

While they are creating their own theatrical works, we will continue to perfect our scene and song from the play “Juno” and our original scene and song. We will perform these at City Center on March 26th when we share our work with students from Washington Irving High School. When I take my students to City Center to see Juno on March 26th, I think my children will have an experience they won’t forget.

The school improvement project with architect Howard Stern is just now starting. My colleagues and I met in the library today at lunch and had a working meeting to discuss how to raise the level of work. This will be the fourth year Marion, my colleague on the grade for 14 years, and I we have collaborated with Mr. Stern and we are hoping that the children walk away from this residency having a visual language - the ability to identify architectural styles, while at the same time, create something that will be installed at the school for years to come. Of course, there will be research for the children to do and more for them to write about. With these residency programs, I look forward to what I will learn, and what the students will learn and take with them. My hope is that when they travel the world years from now, that they will consider this their first introduction into art history.

It has been a pleasure to share with the ESP community a little about my class and the projects that we are undertaking. I look forward to seeing you at Summer Seminar!
Cheers!