Zentangle link

 

Room 315, The NEW Art Room

made with Photosynth app on iphone...

Art and the New Evaluation Tool for Teachers

Yep, I predict a worse education system in this country and stupider kids, yep I said stupider. All decent careing teachers will quit, all new teachers will not pursue the profession, and who knows what will teach our kids. We teach because we want kids to learn, we are excited and get pumped about kids learning. NOT about paperwork, forced lessons by rote or reading and writing in Art. Art class is for ...um...ART.

This is an excellent read:
http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/2011/09/tn-new-evaluation-system-one-size-does.html

WHY TEACH ART?

WARNING:  Soap Box is placed and I am standing on it!
    
  With all the "evaluation" crud coming down upon teachers, I am yet again agast at the idiotic ways the "government" thinks we should teach and be measured for our teaching. The new evaluation model, without exception, stifles creative teaching, adds more stress to teachers and therefore students, and asks for teachers to teach in 55 minutes what in all reality would take days. With all this is the "testing" issue. My subject is not tested by standardized tests, and note here- IT SHOULD NOT BE!

       But then how can the "state" evaluate me?  So now, I am evaluated upon what other teachers do or do not teach as reflected on how a student scores on their test. Need I even mention here the kid who sits and in the last five minutes of the test creates a sailboat in their bubbled in circles. Yep, that's fair.

I found this website www.whyteachart.com and I highly recommend it as a good read. If only I could get the government and the powers that be to read it and believe it! Here is a small excerp....

"WHY TEACH ART? I am certain there are more answers than one can conceive, and much has been written about this question, which seems to be as big as the infamous daunting one, ”What is art?” But the question that truly interests me is, “Why teach art in the 21st century?” Why teach art in an age in which so little importance is given to the subject in a school curriculum? The answer is so simple that it is almost absurd. We live in a global economy, in an age in which infrastructure is the key word to explain economic dynamism, and mobility is the requirement that insures one is ahead of the game. In a post-modern world there is an increasing demand for creativity, seen as the competitive key to innovative ideas and the continuous development of the marketplace. The search is constantly scrutinizing candidates who are attentive, problem solver, and who can make decisions without hesitation. Those three elements are the answer to my question. To teach art first means to learn about art, and then to make art. Learning art requires attention, and develops the analytical skill to dissect and interpret a situation (a work of art) by focusing on each component and being alert of unexpected paradigms. Art students not only make works of art, they also make decisions, and must take full responsibility for choices that are wholly theirs. They learn the skills to address unknown situations and all issues that rise from it; whether it is a technical problem, a conceptual issue or an unforeseen logistic wrinkle. We teach art in the 21st century because the 21st century needs creative minds that can face the complexities of a multilayered reality, offer solutions, and follow through their completion and successful outcomes. Art teaches abstract principles that fully prepare the young mind for adult life. Once acquired, they can be applied to any subject and any aspect of life." Thank you

tuppaware, it all ends here, and too many kids

Saturday, July 16
Julie had a tupperware party, so cleaning, snacks and Tim the Tupperwareman were the adgenda. Once they all left we went and saw HARRY POTTER: THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Part 2.  Woot! So excellent!


Sunday, July 17
Set up the room for the Art component of Kids Activity Day at Gymea Baptist. Here are some pics

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A VERY long day. Got there at 730 and left at almost 6 pm.

Tuesday, July 19
I was sick today. too many kids, and a sore body with a cold. Sweet Sam came by and got me medicine and I gave him lunch...while I continued to sleep. Crazy cold wind, all night and big rain for around here.

Saturday in the Park

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The Reason I'm Here and Uncle Bruce

Sunday,July 3 to Friday, July 15
These two weeks were mostly filled with Hope Street-Urban Compassion preparing for the Kids Activity day at Gymea Baptist.

Helen would pick me up at 745 and we would weave thru traffic into Woolloomooloo (Sydney) See map

Woolloomooloo is a dicotomy of rich and poor. Within blocks of each other you have the highest concentration of homeless people in Australia and the most expensive condos. I spent my days there helping Helen with the year end receipts on computer, mail merging and stuffing envelopes. I would also take time to go "down" to the Back Shed Cafe or the Art Space to see who was hanging out and talk to them. Then around 430 I would climb the hills up from Woolloomooloo to  Kings Cross Station (quite a steep hill), and catch the train for about an hour back to Gymea (Where Julie lives). 

I went in Tuesday July 5, Friday July 8, Wednesday July 13, Thursday July 14 and Friday July 15. I will  blog in more detail about that.

Across the street from HopeStreet,
A local guy who feeds the cockatoos each morning

The desk I was at had a very fun and creative owner..
thanks Tim for sharing your space.

Yes, this stared at me as I worked for an urban mission 

View walking down from Kings Cross Station

The city

Outside a tenement house

The station

Alley cut thru to the cafe

This square houses the most homeless in Australia,
and if you walk to the end of it you see Finger Bay Warf
where the rich and famous like Russell Crowe live.
....literally blocks from Hope Street.

Government housing

the train track over Woolloomooloo in the city

Tim, Helen and Beth at Hope Street Urban Compassion

Pray for Hope Street Urban Compassion with all the ministries they support. Pray for continued government and Baptist support, for financial and prayer partners and for the staff of Hope Street.

I also had meetings for the Kids Activity Day at Gymea Baptist Church.

While this week passed we also went to visit our Uncle Bruce, my Dads, sisters husband. He is one of our favorites. Sadly however the week prior he suffered a stroke, in his spine! And now he is paralysed from the waist down...odd huh? But Uncle Bruce is a "glass half full" kind of guy, I guess from running the Baptists here for years (ha ha). But he has a fantastic attitude, goes to Physical therapy every day to build up his core and upper body. Please pray for him, we are praying for a miracle. He has had a miracle healing before and his with us still for a reason! So we went North to the Northern Beaches to Forster to visit with him for two days.

Uncle Bruce and me

Julie with Uncle Bruce

Forster Beach

Ahhhh relax and watch