Fall 2011 PD
For PD this year all of the VAPA teachers (theatre, dance, music, and visual art) met as a group. We shared our summer experiences, created post cards about particularly salient summer happenings & shared them with our colleagues, visited the Walt Disney Family Museum, and learned about Balinese culture at the Asian Art Museum. We sang, we danced, we made shadow puppets, we discussed thinking and doing and the cycle of creativity and perseverance and resonance, and finally, our professional development culminated in a really lovely showing of what we had learned & created.
I’m excited about the new school year. I have lots and lots of new ideas (many of which came from Luna Dance’s Summer Institute) and I’m ready to start implementing! I always find our PD’s really inspiring - the perfect way to kick off the school year. I have a bomb job in a fantastic city! I’m so lucky.
PD Notes: Resonations (yes I made that word up):
Day 1:
- Someone is paying attention to the work you’re doing! People are noticing.
- A lot of people don’t know that there is still art in elementary education.
- The district’s foci / priorities for this year => Special Education is totally being restructured (they are phasing out mild to moderate Special Ed - these students will be mainstreamed), English Language Learners, and Early Childhood Education, and the gradual shifting to Common Core Standards.
- We need to educate people about the financial situation - we don’t want Prop H to be the sole source of arts education in San Francisco.
- Culture has so many faces.
- “Inclusion” is about including all children in public school.
- With regard to cutting edge brain science and pretty much cutting edge everything - “By the time you take a class, it’s out of date.”
- Deep inquiry often leads to empathy.
- It’s very valuable and important to fail (ala Walt Disney)
- Imagining -> Doing.
- A great play has conflict and leaves you asking a lot of questions.
Day 2:
- Theme = BALANCE
- How do the arts provide balance.
- How does the artist bring balance? (perhaps by showing the imbalance?)
- In one person / character there is always duality (dark / light, good / evil….).
- Dynamic opposites.
- The journey from out of balance to in balance informs and results in a lot.
- “Deepening levels of inquiry lead to deepening levels of empathy.”
- On Bali: “the religion can’t be taken away from the culture and the arts can’t be taken away from the religion.”
Bits and Pieces:
- Honoring people that are not present is important.
Language I hear being used a lot:
- Concept based Learning.
- Project based learning.
- Interdisciplinary.
- Cross-disciplinary.
- I also hear the term “pathways” being used a lot in schools which seems like a more p.c. way of saying tracking…. but I’m not sure. A post to come on Education Speak!
Language that I connected with:
- “…working on changing the ecosystem and culture of schools…”
- “..sorely aware..”
- “…engage you in looking…”
- “…straddling the past and the future…”
- “…internal support mechanism…”
- “…core belief in self…”
- “…creature of his time..”
Personal Reflections:
- Today I was asked to briefly speak about my experiences this summer. Whenever I have to do this or whenever I’m put on the spot in any way, the entire chemistry of my body changes - my heart beat doubles, I get that sinking feeling in my stomach, occasionally my hands start shaking… The irony of this is not lost on me, a performer and teacher who experiences occasional yet totally manageable bouts with nervousness when performing or teaching - However, I must say, I think it’s getting better :) I distinctly remember thinking “cool, that felt a little better than it usually does.” I still ramble, and you can still tell that I’m totally nervous and would rather not be talking, and I still sound like a valley girl and like someone who sounds like they are trying to sound like what they think they should sound like, but it’s getting better - I’m going to write a post soon on the history of this feeling for me, and why I think I get this way.
- I have a lot of mixed feelings about Walt Disney and his empire but the museum was impressive. It totally reminded me of my homophily / camp post, though. It’s important to keep in mind that this museum is owned and operated by his family - we are being presented with a very deliberate image of the man. That being said, after all these years, Winnie the Pooh still makes me smile :)
- Conflict -> Resolution -> Balance.
- We were asked to notice which part(s) of the Walt Disney museum we were drawn to / resonated with us. I realized that I instantly gravitate toward words - the quotes painted on the walls. I am fascinated by language and by what people say, especially when they talk about big-picture ideas, or touch on their philosophy of life, or discuss beliefs and values that have sustained them through trying times - I eat that stuff up! I love it!
Resources:
Asian Art Mueseum
Shadowlight Productions
Walt Disney Family Museum
