First Impressions of the Essential Standards in the Arts

Before our next Professional Development Day on January 20, 2012, you will need to do the following:

1.       Print your Certificate from the Module “Understanding the Standards.”

Go to your NC Education site, and use the login and password you received from your administrator on September 23^rd (the first Early Release day).  It is the same login and password for NC FALCON.

We viewed this module together, but you must “view” it through your account by clicking on all the material to receive your certificate. If you need help finding this module and figuring out how to get to your certificate, please read the following directions.  These will help you login, find the module, go through the information, and print your certificate. 

Remember to print two; one for the Central Office and the other for your records.  You need to hold all your certificates for the Central Office together until we are done with our training.  You will send them to Teresa Smeeks after our final PD day.

2.       Familiarize yourself with the Essential Standards in the Arts

All the teachers in the county are required to print out the Essential Standards and related materials for their subject areas before our next Professional Development day. 

As we discussed on the 31^st, I have requested that each of you have a notebook with the new Essential Standards and the Crosswalks and Unpacking Documents for your subject area and grade levels.  You will receive your notebooks with these materials shortly.  If you would like to go ahead and print the information on your own, please let me know so I do not unnecessarily send you a notebook when you don’t need it.   

You will need to look over these materials when you receive your notebook.  Make sure you bring this notebook with you to our upcoming Professional Development days.

*Optional*  For more information, read an article on Myths about the Common Core

You do not have to read this, but I included it if you are interested.  There’s an interesting article by Robert Rothman printed by Harvard Education Press that debunks some popular myths about the Common Core.

3.       Participation

You will need to post a significant/meaningful comment about the Essential Standards in your subject area to this blog post.  For example:  you can comment on items specifically from the “Understanding the Standards” module, something you found interesting about the Essential Standards and their related materials, changes you see in these and how they will affect our programming, an interesting feature about Rothman’s article, etc.

If you’ve forgotten how to post a comment, please refer to these directions.  

Please let me know if you need any assistance.  I really enjoyed our collaboration and discussions on our Professional Development day together in October, and I’m looking forward to continuing them digitally with all of you.  I also greatly appreciate all the time and energy you have put into our training. 

1st Professional Development Day October 31, 2011

Our first meeting will take place on Monday, October 31^st.  We will meet in my art classroom at ACHS, 206 above the JV gym.  Since this is a central location and some will need to travel, we will start promptly at 8:30 instead of 8:00.  This meeting is very important because we will complete our first mandatory DPI module together.  At the end of the day, you will receive a certificate of completion for your renewal credits.  We will overview the basics of the Common Core and Essential Standards for all subject areas and all grade levels.

For your planning purposes, here is our tentative schedule for Monday the 31^st.  We will try to stick to it as faithfully as possible.  This also means that we will start on time at 8:30 and again at 1:00 after the lunch break.

8:00-8:30—Arrival at ACHS room 206

1^st Session—8:30-10:00

DPI “Call to Change” Module

The 21^st Century Learner

CC/ES Vocabulary

10:00-10:15—Break

2^nd Session—10:15-12:00

How to locate information

12:00-1:00—Lunch Break

3^rd Session—1:00-2:00

Common Core focus on Math & ELA

Overview of NC Essential Standards

2:00-2:15—Break

4^th Session—2:15-3:15

Unpacking & Crosswalks Documents

Math Practice Standards

Looking ahead to our meeting on January 20, 2012

3:15—Exit Survey and Certificates of Completion

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Please remember that we will be using our blog for parts of your Professional Development.  You might have noticed that some of the PD days are also Snow Make Up Days.  If these need to be utilized, our blog will be vital along with e-mail.   After each PD Day, we will maintain our conversations digitally by posting about the topics we discussed together.  In order to keep you informed, here is a brief overview of our next meeting times.  Unless something changes, please plan on the same meeting times and place.

·                           January 20, 2012—Understanding the Standards

o   DPI Module

o   A specific look at the Essential Standards in Music and the Visual Arts, Crosswalks, and Unpacking Documents

o   Starting the collaborative brainstorming process for Pacing Guides and Curriculum Maps in our subject areas

·                            February 20, 2012—Developing Local Curricula

o   DPI Module

o   Further developing our Pacing Guides and Curriculum Maps

·                             March 8 and 9, 2012—RESA Training Sessions for the Arts—These are not required for all of us, the Central Office selected a few representatives for our subject areas and grade levels.

o   These two days of training sessions will be conducted by RESA (Regional Education Service Alliance) at the Holiday Inn in Wilkesboro.

o   Several of our arts staff will be going to these training sessions to learn more about the Essential Standards in our subject areas.

  Music

·         Amy Dagenhart (K-5 Music)

·         The Central Office is looking into having some more music staff attend this workshop to help cover the Essential Standard in 6-12 Instrumental and 6-12 Vocal Music. 

Visual Arts

·         Sarah Bowman (6-8 VA)

·         Robbin Isenhour Stewart (9-12 VA)

·                             March 27, 2012—Revised Blooms Taxonomy

o   DPI Module

o   Finalizing our Pacing Guides and Curriculum Maps

o   Focusing on Vertical Alignment

·                             June 12, 2012—NC Professional Teaching Standards

o   DPI Module

o   Completing any other tasks necessary from the Central Office

Participating with Our Blog

To receive credit for professional development training on the NC Essential Standards for the visual arts and music, you will be required to participate in discussions on our blog.

First, you will need to become a “follower” of our blog in order to post comments and questions.  Please click here to view the directions for becoming a member of our blogger site.   

You will then need to read this post and the two previous posts from June 15^th and July  21^st.   You will then need to make a comment/question below this post (Participating with Our Blog).  For more information on posting a comment, follow these directions. 

Posting a comment is proof that you have read the material and verifies your participation in the professional development training.  This is the standard way your participation will be verified, so remember to respond to future posts.  The Central Office and your administrators will be verifying your participation.

Please remember that a response should be more than just saying, “I agree with Joe Cornwell.”  Although Joe is amazing, you need to participate by providing something meaningful to our digital conversation by supporting your opinions. 

For example:  "I agree with Joe that our pacing guide for the Visual Arts 1 course at the high school level should factor in the fact that most students in this introductory course will already be familiar with the Elements of Art from the classes they had with Sarah and Karen while they were learning art in middle school.”  

What are the Essential Standards?

Welcome ACS Visual Arts and Music Teachers!

Dear Fellow Arts Educators,
Hopefully you've heard that North Carolina is adopting a new set of standards for all the content areas, including the arts.  The standards for Math and English are located on the on the DPI site Common Core Standards.  The Essential Standards refer to changes in the Standard Course of Study for other subject areas, including Music and the Visual Arts.  For more information you can look at a detailed overview Essential Standards.  For even more information on the changes in the standards you can look at Unpacking the Standards and Crosswalks and look specifically under Arts Education.  These are the materials we will cover on several of our Professional Development Days.  If you have any questions, please feel free to respond to this post.  I'm learning as you are, and I'm here to help you.
We will be using this blog site to conduct your Professional Development on the NC Essential Standards in Music and the Visual Arts.  You will be required to make comments to the posts throughout the year.  You will be getting CEU credits for your particiaption in this professional development training!
In advance, I really appreciate your cooperation and am here if you need anything.
Thanks,
Robbin Isenhour Stewart
Visual Arts Instructor
Alexander Central High School