Arts Academy Revitalization Action Team

Arts Academy Meeting Notes, May 23, 2007

May 23, 2007 at 1:10 pm | In Minutes |

Summary:

Meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.

Next meeting: ?

We did some debriefing of the HOME project with Lisa. Lisa will prepare a survey that we can print and give to students to gather feedback about the project. Please see below for details about the debriefing comments–to be continued as we gather feedback and plan for next year.

Present:

• Vicky Stubbs
• Diane Manzi
• Valerie Green
• Lisa DiFranza
• Phil Divinsky
• Dave Nichols
• Lisa Hicks
• Jane Krasnow
• Dave Beane

Full Notes (paraphrased):

What are the next steps for the HOME project? How do we assess feedback? WE’re not talking about grading students, but how do we get student feedback about the project?

We went around the room to talk about status of students’ projects.

Video Tech:

will concentrate on the writing piece next week. THis week is really busy with a few other time-sensitive projects going on.

Web Programming:

Many students took a 0 instead of doing the project. Lots of pushback. Others have finished the project and/or the writeup, responding to the prompt.

Commercial Art:

next week will do a last day of writing.

Music:

having a writing prompt day this week or next

Dance:

extremes. There were kids who didn’t want to do it vs. superstars.

Graphic Arts:

One student is writing but not about HOME, another student did a speech, other students are writing Artist Statements.

What did we promise in the LIT grant?

• write to a theme
• develop material through improvisation
• pull out/ create a visual or performance piece from their/others’ writing
• build visual project and/or rehearse the performance
• present project in a visual display or performance piece
• use complex thinking skills to demonstrate levels of understanding.

We’ve each achieved these, or not, in various amounts. We at least need to get a handle on how we’ve done.

Lisa will develop a survey to gather student feedback. She will e-mail it to us so that we can print it and distribute it to our students. We wanted to be sure that it will include:

• number who did the project
• number of students who collaborated, and which classes
• checklist for some questions, and some written responses
• teacher notes column on the right that can be used as necessary
• feedback about what students liked and what they would change
• feedback about how their original writing piece related to the project they ultimately produced

Some of us reflected on this year’s project and what we would change for next year. All agreed that we need to set the stage for a project like this from the very beginning of the year. We need to teach reflection and the creative process from the very beginning and get kids used to doing this kind of work.

Next year, let’s really teach the creative process. It would be great to be able to take a group of students to another class to observe them going through starting a project from scratch. [Val: or even experience it themselves in that other discipline?]

For a lot of kids, it was too scary to write about home. But it’s important to bring up taboo subjects, because it will help kids. We need to create a safe environment and get them used to doing this kind of thing from the beginning. We don’t have the credentials to handle really heavy problems, and those will come up more when we’re doing projects like this. We need to share resources and know what to do in tough situations.

Next time we need a shorter, more intense format. WE need to create opportunities to work together more often. By June, we need to debrief enough so that we can be planning for next year.

What do we need to do for assessment of students’ work this year? Do we need a unified rubric?

Next year: pre-writing about goals/expectations before students begin project?

Next year: blog/student feedback area? [Val note: this will be available next year in various formats--I will give training at beginning of year next year].