ArtsinEducation for the 21st Century:

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Arts-in-Education for the 21st Century

• The NCLB Backlash, The Mind Trilogy and the
  PTA!
• Jack Langerak
• 2008 NYS PTA Convention, Rochester, NY
• November 9, 2008

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• School accountability
• Standardized testing reading and math
• Grades three through eight

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• NCLB is premised on the notion that schools
  will be made better by following a yearly testing
  regime that leads to every child being proficient
  in reading, math and science by 2014. The
  problem is that by limiting all school success
  measures to one test score the quality of schools
  will actually decline.
• George H. Wood, Principal of Federal Hocking
  High
• School, Stewart, Ohio
• Many Children Left Behind, 2004

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• There is no evidence that high scores on these
  tests predict anything about a childs success in
  life after school.
• George H. Wood, Principal of Federal Hocking
  High
• School, Stewart, Ohio
• Many Children Left Behind, 2004

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• Simply put, with a focus on testing, the
  curriculum is narrowed, leading to the most
  ineffective teaching practices becoming the
  norm.
• George H. Wood, Principal of Federal Hocking
  High
• School, Stewart, Ohio
• Many Children Left Behind, 2004

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• The schools in New York State are now the most
  racially segregated schools in the nation.
• Jonathan Kozol, Univ. of Buffalo, Oct. 3,
  2008

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• NCLB mistakes measuring schools for fixing
  them!

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• drill for skill
• reduction/elimination of recess
• K into Pre-K 1st grade into K
• free play? No time!

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No Child Left Behind (2002)

• too much pressure on children and teachers
• one size fits all makes no sense
• further reduction of local autonomy
• teaching as a profession - undermined

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• What are school for?

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Lake Research PartnersJanuary 2008

• 89 of American voters say that using the
  imagination is important to innovation and ones
  success in a global knowledge-based economy and
  essential to success in the 21st century.

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Lake Research PartnersJanuary 2008

• 69 of voters believe that, when compared to
  other nations, America devotes less attention to
  developing the imagination and innovation

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Lake Research PartnersJanuary 2008

• 63 of voters believe that building these
  capacities is just as important as the
  so-called basics for all students in the
  classroom
• And that an education in and through the arts
  helps to substantiate imaginative learning and
  should be considered part of the basics.

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The Imagine Nation

• A coalition of more than 100 national, state and
  local organizations devoted to restoring
  imagination and innovation as key outcomes for
  education
• www.theimaginenation.net

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Partnership for 21st Century Skills

• Identifies 21st Century Outcomes and Themes
• among them
• Global awareness
• World languages
• Cross-cultural skills
• Creativity and innovation

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Partnership for 21st Century Skills

• Identifies 21st Century Outcomes and Themes
• among them
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Initiative and self-direction
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Communication and collaboration

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Partnership for 21st Century Skills

• www.21stcenturyskills.org

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• The Mind Trilogy

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Out of Our Mindsby Sir Ken Robinson

• Published in 2001
• Current educational practice squeezing out
• innovation, creativity, imagination

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Out of Our Mindsby Sir Ken Robinson

• Many governments and organizations think that
  the best way to provide for the future is to do
  better what we did in the past just do more of
  it and to a higher standard.
• The fact is, we have to do something else!

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Out of Our Mindsby Sir Ken Robinson

• The academic the able
• The non-academic the less able

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Out of Our Mindsby Sir Ken Robinson

• Creativity flourishes in an atmosphere where
  original thinking and innovation are encouraged
  and stimulated. It fades in atmospheres where
  dialogue and interaction are stifled.

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Out of Our Mindsby Sir Ken Robinson

• We now have an educational system that teaches
  ten subjects but only limited ways of thinking.
• We need an education that values different
  modes of intelligence and sees relationships
  between disciplines.

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• Remember him?
• Harvard University Project Zero
• Psychology Professor
• Originator of the Theory of Multiple
  Intelligences

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• the education policies of today, which still
  revere rote-learning, are preparing children for
  the world of yesterday.
• The capacity to ask a good question, rather than
  getting the right answer from a machine, becomes
  so much more important.

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• 1. A disciplinary mind

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• 2. A synthesizing mind

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• 3. A creating mind

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• 4. A respectful mind

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Five Minds for the Futureby Howard Gardner

• 5. An ethical mind

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• Subtitle Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the
  Future
• Agricultural age
• Industrial age
• Information age
• We are now in the Conceptual Age

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• The Conceptual Age will require
• Creators and Empathizers
• (right-brain thinking)

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• The Three As
• 1. Abundance
• So much stuff available, that theres now a
  premium on the aesthetic, emotional, even
  spiritual aspect of goods and services

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• 2. Asia
• Everything that can be outsourced, is.

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• 3. Automation
• Software does a certain kind of brain work
  left brain, routine, rule-based work, faster than
  we can.

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• Six Senses (or Abilities)
• 1. Design
• 2. Story
• 3. Symphony
• 4. Empathy
• 5. Play
• 6. Meaning

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A Whole New Mindby Daniel Pink

• Id begin by not cutting the arts, music and
  drama programs. These are not niceties. Theyre
  fundamental to both human experience and to the
  sort of thinking that will be required in 21st
  century labor markets.

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The joy of learning!!

• You know what?
• Great excitement and eagerness
• A need to share (to tell their story!)

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Robinson, Gardner and Pink

• The challenge to American education is not about
  raising test scores!
• The goals are much greater!

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Education is expected to encourage students to

• Think at higher levels
• Respect diverse perspectives/cultures
• Be motivated to do excellent work
• Take risks and persevere against odds
• Employ creative problem solving skills

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Arts Based Learning

• The goals of innovation, imagination and
  creativity
• The development of right brained-thinking
• The development of the specific minds for the
  future

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Arts Based Learning

• Active learning
• Experiential, real-world stuff
• Eagerness and joy for learning

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Arts Based Learning

• Reaches students not normally engaged
• Encompasses a wide spectrum of learning styles
• Boost learning and achievement for
• Young children
• Students with disabilities
• Economically disadvantaged students
• Students requiring remedial instruction
• 
  (Critical Thinking 2002)

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Arts Based Learning

• A report from the Center for Education Policy
  notes that
• 22 of school districts have reduced
  instructional time for art and music!

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Arts Based Learning

• Child-centered thinking and doing!
• Its supposed to be about the children - each
  individual child!
• Not about the legislation

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Arts Based Learning

• Strategize at PTA meetings
• Let others know how you feel (legislators,
  educators, etc)

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Arts Based Learning

• Connect to
• The New York State Alliance for Arts Education
  (www.nysaae.org)
• Jeremy Johannesen, Executive Director hes
  here!!

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Arts Based Learning

• Read and share the books in the Mind Trilogy
• Fight to promote the greater involvement of
  arts-based learning in your schools

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• Thank you PTA!!
• 
  
  Jack Langerak Langerakj_at_aol.com