This is the online stream for sharing conversations that happened throughout the Greater Bay Area from March through June 2012 around the question:

How can we collectively transform public education through the arts to create a better future for everyone?

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February 23, 2012 Report Outs

Below are the transcriptions of your report outs. You will see there were some spots which were tricky to transcribe. Please feel free to hit “edit” below this post, and jump in to fill in the gaps!

Where do we want to go?


Participants:
Yvonne, Elizabeth, Tina and Carly

What are three takeaways that emerged from your discussion?

  • How do we keep up with accelerating change and slow down?
  • Arts help us stop and reflect and express

What are key questions that emerged from your discussion?

  • Need to provide this to teachers and students to support them becoming success/global citizens
  • innovation and creativity are essential
  • Embrace the wiggliness!

Where do we want to go?


Participants:
Andrea, Ruth, Ann, Tana

What are three takeaways that emerged from your discussion?

  • Building of multigenerational communities
  • Teach for empathy and resilience and community

What are key questions that emerged from your discussion?

  • How can we be at the core of the shifts?
  • How can we be leaders at the core of the shift?
  • How can we incorporate native wisdom and diverse perspectives in to our work
  • How do we teach what we teach and are we teaching the right stuff?

Where are we now?


Participants
Carolyn Carr, Carolyn Peterson, Tina Silverstein, Yvonne Curato

What are the key learnings that came out of your discussion?

  • Development of all the art programs in the Bay Area
  • Concern about budget cuts and that art is “flaky”
  • At ACOE, STEM to STEAM, The “a” is going to make it difficult. Shows that art is still marginalized in education.
  • Parents believe in art education, but educators resist it.
  • This is a great time to advocate
  • Innovation takes many failings. People think of the solo artist, such as art in a museum.
  • The word art may need to change. Perhaps “creative expression”
  • Redefining the role of the artist in everyone
  • Art is about emotions and not rules and facts. This is why people are afraid if they like rules….
  • Music touches people… alzheimers patients, brain injuries, pre-schoolers,
  • Music gets people moving and engages people. It is joyful!
  • Art creates a safe environment, Sole Shops, allows for collaboration. Art teacher made it safe to be me.
  • A museum is discovery.

Where are we now?


Participants

  • Rick Alva – ACOE on-line
  • Ruth – SF Opera / Education direction
  • Phil Ryden – OUSP Arts Learning Manager

What are three key learnings that came out of your discussion?

  • Statewide – regional and institutional city leadership is necessary to sustain programs
  • The need is for leadership
  • Project launches can be occassional – what is the long-term impact?
  • We can create pockets of greatness, but we have not yet seen the long term, universal access to arts learning for every child in every school every day
  • How do we make systematic change? Is the learning transferable?
  • Does the model/model work? How do the model schools become the way we do school?
    • What makes model schools work? A leader who embraces within teachers are having to integrate….????? community engagement?

Where are we now?


Participants
Ann, Robin, Monique???

What are three key learnings that came out of your discussion?

  • Sustainability: fiscally and transferring knowledge / bldg on past work under new names, frames, and prospect??? — re-generation
  • Reflection: thinking back on past work and relationships before move ahead. Connecting the dots.
  • Leaders/Leadership: coming from multiple areas top, schools, community members, parents. Deliberate naming and organizing to develop leaders
  • Professional Development: more effective, sophisticated. From guided instruction to teacher leadership through high quality teaching frameworks
  • Tools and Resources: ????
  • Institutional Support and Understanding: shift from art as an additive to art as essential to education. However still fragile – long term
  • Fragility and tension: b/w art and education mutual understanding and respect—-> how to build a sense of urgency?


Visioning – hopes and dreams?

  • No models more
  • communities of ????
  • Community Building — with our members, family and social network (invisible, unknown)
  • Dinner Party
  • Multi-generational thinking
  • More connected
  • Schools of different size/shapes

Where are we now?

Participants

  • Karen Monroe (ACOE)
  • Eric Engdahl (Cal State East Bay)
  • Julia Marshall (SFSU)


3 Key takeaways

  • Importance of Professional Development: PD gives teachers & teaching artists a common language and a theoretical coherence (through the Teaching for Understanding and Studio Habits of Mind). Professional Development has unified our community of educators and provided an articulated continuum.
  • Collective Impact: The variety and number of different voices and different constituents in Alameda County ensures that we have a strong, active and engaged community. Even though public education undergoes ups and downs, as a unified community we are poised for the next opportunity.
  • More Student & Parent voice still needed: Looking at our timeline it’s clear that we still need much more parent and student voice/involvement in planning and implementing programs.