August 2011
Discover What Your Digital Footprint Says About You
August 2011 | Lisa Nielsen, theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com - "Does your digital footprint convey the message you want? If you don't know you should spend time figuring this out. In the 21st century our digital footprint conveys an important image and people should know what that is. Below are ideas that will enable you to explore and consider if your digital footprint conveys the message you want to share with the world. It will also give you ideas for activities you can do with your students so they can do the same." Original Article
Not Your Imagination: Kids Today Really Are Less Creative, Study Says
August 2011 | Rachael Rettner, todayshow.com - "It sounds like the complaint of a jaded adult: Kids these days are narrow-minded and just not as creative as they used to be. But researchers say they are finding exactly that. In a 2010 study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are also less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas, Kim said.
Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth? Experts say creativity is innate, so it can't really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured. 'It's not that creativity can necessarily disappear,' said Ron Beghetto, an education psychologist at the University of Oregon. 'But it can be suppressed in particular contexts.' The current focus on testing in schools, and the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, may be hampering development of creativity among kids, Beghetto said. 'There's not much room for unexpected, novel, divergent thought,' he said." Original Article
National Arts in Education Week, September 11-17
August 2011 | ArtsEd Digest - "In July of 2010, Congress designated the second week of September as National Arts in Education Week to promote and showcase the immense role arts education has in producing engaged, successful, and college and career-ready students. In celebration of the second annual National Arts in Education Week, AEP will serve as a hub for information on how the arts are going strong in our nation’s communities and schools and strategies for getting involved in arts education and supporting arts in your community." More information can be found on the Arts Education Partnership's website.
Charter School, Chaney to Vie for City STEAM
August 2011 | Denise Dick, vindy.com - "(Youngstown, OH) The city school district’s new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and visual and performing arts school has competition from a new charter school. Mosaica Education Inc. will open the STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math — Academy of Youngstown on Aug. 8 at 810 Oak St., the former Immaculate Conception School, the company said. Mosaica’s company headquarters are in Atlanta and New York. STEAM Academy will be the second Mosaica school in the city. The company also operates Youngstown Academy of Excellence on Rigby Street.
Though the new charter school will house students in kindergarten through eighth grade, it opens the same year that the former Chaney High School opens as a STEM and visual and performing arts school. That city school will accommodate students in sixth through 12th grades. Original Article
Crayola, Principals, Art Educators to Launch "Champion Creatively Alive Children" Program
August 2011 | U.S. Department of Education - "The U.S. Department of Education will host the launch of "Champion Creatively Alive Children," a professional development program involving Crayola, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Art Education Association, and Partnership for 21st Century Skills -- all aimed at spotlighting the value of arts-infused education in schools and fostering creativity in every child.
The program will emphasize creativity as a 21st century skill, promoting the importance of arts education and ensuring that principals have the tools to lead their faculty in developing originality in every student.
Among those on hand will be Rachel Goslins, executive director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, who will join the Education Department's Director of Strategic Partnerships Suzanne Immerman to announce the new program. Goslins will present key findings from the newly released report, 'Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future Through Creative Schools.' She will also emphasize the critical role that arts education plays in closing the achievement gap and building students' innovative thinking skills.
Additional participants will include Sharon Hartley, executive vice president for marketing and product innovation at Crayola; Vicky Lozano, vice president at Crayola; Gail Connelly, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals; Deborah Reeve, executive director of the National Art Education Association; and Tim Magner, executive director of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Crayola will present 36 works of art by students on the theme, 'What creativity means to me,' for placement in public spaces around the Education Department's headquarters and regional offices to stress the importance of fostering creativity in children." Original Article
