Arts Education Professional Development
Share up-coming professional development opportunities with other Iowa Arts Educators. Send the details to the IAAE webmaster.
Exploring the Past: Archaeology in the Upper Mississippi River Valley
Walking beside thousand-year-old burial mounds, flaking raw stone into tools, learning how potsherds tell us about human behavior, and understanding how humans adapt to complex, ever-changing environmentsthe 2012 NEH Summer Institute features all this and more.
The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse will offer a three-week NEH Summer Institute on July 9–27, 2012. This dynamic learning experience for K-12 teachers will explore how Native Americans and Euro-Americans have adapted to the Upper Mississippi River Valley over the past 13,500 years, and how archaeology leads to an understanding of how human cultures change and adapt through time.
The Institute will feature a one-day excavation experience, field trips to archaeological sites, hands-on laboratory and workshop activities, demonstrations, and classroom activities. Individual projects will help participants tailor the content to their own teaching areas. NEH Summer Scholars receive a $2,700 stipend to help offset their expenses.
Application and other information on the Institute will be available online at http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/neh.htm. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2012.
Bonnie L. Jancik
Director of Public Education
Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center
at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
1725 State Street
La Crosse, WI 54601
Phone: 608-785-6473
Fax: 608-785-6474
E-mail: bjancik@uwlax.edu
Art of Education classes only take about an hour per day, and it’s all online. There are no specific times you need to meet online you work at your own pace, on your own time!
Please see www.theartofed.com/classes for the course catalog to get signed up for upcoming classes.
Good News
Been waiting for some good news about the Fine Arts and the Iowa Core? Well, here it is!
On November 8, 2010 Alliance members attended a meeting at the Department of Education, and received some welcome words from several Department heads and Iowa Core Lead Team members regarding two major topics – the writing of overarching Concepts and Skills sets for the Arts, and Professional Development Workshops connecting Arts teachers to the Iowa Core.
Due to the personnel changes at the DE, new Bureau Chief, Connie Maxson, called the meeting to insure that all staff members were on the same page about the progress that had been made to write Arts Concepts and Skill Sets related to 21st Century Skills and the Universal Constructs. DE staff in attendance (including Maxson, Rita Martens, Cindy Yelick and Rosanne Malek) were pleased with the work that has been submitted to date.
In order to be included as an Iowa Core content area, the Arts will need to follow the same process as the other five content areas. Maxson asked Rosanne to continue to direct and organize this work (which will employ Arts Literacy Concepts) and report back to DE leadership next April. When the Concepts are finalized, the DE Leadership Team will provide direction regarding possible implementation of the Arts Concepts and Skills Sets.
As Arts advocates, we need to keep in mind that this interest does not guarantee future legislation or funding to expand the Iowa Core. It does, however, recognize the contributions made by the Arts, and opens the door for expanded professional development opportunities for the thousands of Fine Arts teachers across the state.
During the past two years, the Programming Committee of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education (IAAE) has been creating and field-testing professional development materials designed to help Arts teachers see how they are connected to the Iowa Core. During the Nov. 8 meeting, the Department of Education staff in attendance perused and approved all of the worksheets and materials for future use!
Consequently, committee members Elaine Fargo and Leon Kuehner have been invited to work with the State Professional Development Lead Team, which is responsible for designing and promoting PD materials for all Iowa teachers. Our IAAE Workshop, Supporting the Iowa Core through the Arts, will be incorporated into the state PD materials (which will be available on-line), and promoted along with other content area workshops and Professional Development opportunities.
The DE has asked that the Alliance please notify them whenever we ‘book’ one of our workshops somewhere. That way, the appropriate AEA liaisons (AEA Coordinators or Lead Team members) could be notified and perhaps even attend.
Those in attendance thanked each other for the opportunity to share information so that everyone would be on the same page with issues involving the Arts. Connie Maxson requested the group to reconvene sometime in the spring to share updates and materials. The Alliance looks forward to this opportunity and the work that lies ahead!
Respectfully submitted by
Elaine Fargo
IAAE Programming Committee
Three OLLIE Courses Offered this Spring Semester:
- Technology for Online Learning
- Instructional Design
- Online Facilitation
Visit Evan Abbey's blog Changing Iowa for more information.