If you are a Houston area art educator, please join the Ning site, H-Town Art Teachers
At present there are 141 members. Check it out.
From the H-Town Art Teachers:
I'm sitting here at my computer wondering what in the world you are doing out there.
I started this Ning site as an alternative to sending out the twice weekly News From The Art Room. I had started to feel as though I were spoon feeding everyone. I went for long periods without any response. About the only time I heard from a lot of folks was if I wasn't sending out the news. Occasionally someone would e-mail or call with a question. Many folks seemed to assume that doing the News From The Art Room was my job. News From The Art Room was a labor of love. There was never any monetary reward. I kept it going out of frustration with an educational system that didn't seem to understand that every child needs art. Those of you who contacted me and let me know that you appreciated the News boosted my spirits and were my source of energy and drive.
I've been the gatekeeper and manager of this Ning site for almost two years now. Every month I ante up twenty dollars to keep it ad free. I'm not complaining. I do it for the same reason that I did the News From The Art Room. I need you to do something for me, for us really. I need you to participate. Share what you're doing. Tell your peers what you know. Use your voice.
I spent several hours today adding events and thinking about the state of art education, particularly in my district.
This last Thursday I sat in the HISD board room and listened as impassioned teachers tried to communicate to the school board that using EVAAS as the basis for firing teachers was a bad idea. Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal to you, after all, we don't teach one of those subjects that are measured with standardized tests and EVAAS. I'm here to tell you, it is a big deal.
If EVAAS is the be all, end all, the Alpha and Omega of the public educational system here in my district, then there is a lot to worry about. If EVAAS is the measuring stick then we are not going to be measured. It seems to me that what can't be measured is assumed to not matter.
"So what?" I hear you saying to yourself. Here I am, playing Cassandra one more time. Well, my friends, the emperor is running around naked again. You can hide your head. You can turn your eyes away. You can close your door and teach. I don't think it's going to help.
What are you doing to advocate for art today? How are you putting your program out there in the world.
You say, "I don't even work in HISD". It keeps being said that as goes HISD, so goes the country. The HISD school board is proud of pointing that out.
Are you going to wait for art positions to start disappearing? Oh yeah, the arts are mandated - for right now anyway. The state law doesn't require art specialists in elementary school. If elementary art positions disappear, how long do you think it will be before it's your turn, no matter whether you're in middle school or high school?
Let me paraphrase the Martin Niemoller quote:
First they closed the elementary art positions, and I did not speak out—because I was not an elementary art teacher;
Then they closed the middle school art positions, and I did not speak out—because I was not a middle school art teacher;
Then they closed the high school art positions, and I did not speak out—because I was not a high school art teacher;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.
It's not a joke. The emphasis on only those things that are measurable puts us all in harm's way.
Use your head. Open your eyes. Take a look around.
March is Youth Art Month.
What are you going to do about it?
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