IDEALISM IN A WORLD FAR FROM IDEAL

As a young budding musician in high school, I am now slightly ashamed to admit that music was the most important thing to me. The shame lies not in my immature idealism, but in the fact that I would use it as an excuse to get a pass out of senior pre-calculus. Entering college as a music major, I found that my ideals (still immature) were catered to through a rigorous schedule of content specific classes. After college, I could enter the world of music education with an arsenal of research and experience that backed my ideals. Now I was a mature idealist… until I realized that the world is far from ideal. Read More...

DO THE ARTS REALLY HELP MY CHILD IN MATH?

I’m willing to bet that most have heard the assertion, if not the research, about the arts and math. A couple of times a year, I hear the question from a parent and it is always difficult to answer. The difficulty lies in whom the child is we are speaking about and how my own biases get infused into the conversation. Each conversation I have is characterized by the particular talents and/or struggles the child is facing making it difficult to provide a standard response. Also, having been a music teacher in my pre-principal life, it is difficult to approach my response in an unbiased way. While, admittedly, a standard response is not appropriate when having a discussion about an individual and my biases are a strength on this subject (if I do say so myself), there are common items that appear in each conversation that support the connection between the arts and mathematical success. Read More...

Supporting The Arts In a Climate of Financial Crisis

In a financial climate that calls for prioritization, sacrifice and often a day to day fight to keep our heads above water, interesting (yet entirely explainable) contradictions appear: Sales of $50 video games remain strong if not increase. The price of gold continues to rise. It seems that while historically America has seen, understood and persevered through hardship, we today are unwilling to let go of the things we find entertaining and beautiful. The contradiction: why do the arts suffer so deeply when they are arguably the biggest bang for our beautiful entertainment buck? This article will offer direction with regards to who in your community can offer the loudest voices of advocacy. It may seem like preaching to the choir but, in times like these, the choir must be inspired to sing louder and stronger than ever. Read More...

The 5 Elements of Reading Instruction and How They Relate to Theater

In our fast paced world of smart phones, GPS, tablets and other forms of near-instant information, it may seem that literacy skills have become less important than the tactile navigational routines we have developed. On the contrary, the acquisition of literacy skills and the teaching of them remains a central and evolving component of education. And while theater, as a direct result of literacy instruction, evolves as well, it remains a classic example of the unification of the 5 elements of literacy instructing: Fluency, Comprehension, Vocabulary, Phonics and Phonemic Awareness. Read More...