"Necessitie, the inventour of all goodnesse."
Toxophilus, 1545
"Neccesity is the Mother of Invention."
Richard Franck, 1658
Not much time.
Not many materials.
And we're responsible for decorating a huge evergreen for the 1st Annual Union Township Civic Center's Tree Lighting! Yikes!
Actually, there's no need for alarm. With the West Clermont Art Department, these kinds of situations are everyday fare. When the clock is rapidly ticking and supplies are in short supply, our talented art teachers take the reins.
In record time, West Clermont K-12 art students created festive, colorful, large-scale weatherproof ornaments. Hundreds of kids. Hundreds of decorations. We did it up on a grand scale!
And the 1st annual tree lighting was a success. Hot chocolate, cookies and carols added to the cold, clear night. But the tree took center stage, and her branches were indeed, very lovely.
"If you're doing a thing that you're passionate about, time takes a different turn entirely," said Sir Ken Robinson in his 2010 TED Talk. We'll begin our K-8 Fine Arts professional learning day with Robinson's talk, "Bring on the Learning Revolution!"
Robinson urges us to examine what we take for granted and to consider what we need to leave behind to teach and learn in a new century. He invites us to change our metaphor of education from an industrial model (one size for all) to an agricultural one (organic and adapting). He goes on to talk about customizing to our circumstances, quoting Lincoln: "Let us not rise to the occasion. Rather, let us rise with the occasion."
Rising with the occasion, our K-5 Fine Arts teachers began their 21C Skills conversation* on our September 1 professional learning day. We used the Skills Map for the Arts created by P21, Partnership for 21st Century Skills. We'll be joined September 24 by our middle school arts teachers as we continue our exploration.
As we gather again on Friday we will focus on two of Robinson's themes: sharing our talents and collaborating on lessons that customize to our circumstances.
We'll enjoy the morning with our teacher showcase—sharing our diversity of talent. On deck so far: Tim Kloth will debut his newly completed composition, Mark Messerly will play a piece from his Thursday night gig at Grammers, Jennifer Witsken will share her pattern designs for knitting, and Pam Hall will show her favorite jewelry creations.
Then we'll follow Robinson's second charge—to customize to our circumstances. We'll play, experiment, innovate, and adapt to redesign a current lesson plan or unit, customizing with two or more 21C Skills:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Communication
Collaboration
Creativity
Innovation
Information Literacy
Media Literacy
Information, Communications, and Technology Literacy
Flexibility and Adaptability
Initiative and Self-Direction
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
Productivity and Accountability
Leadership and Responsibility
We'll end the day collaborating and sharing our unit makeovers. Stay tuned for a showcase of lessons!
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*About 21C Skills and our September 1 Arts conversation, what's the word? See for yourself:
We are K-12 professionals passionate about learning together to teach students to thrive in the 21st Century. We form the Department of Teaching & Learning for West Clermont Schools, Cincinnati, OH. M.E. Steele-Pierce, PhD, is assistant superintendent for teaching & learning. Her areas of expertise are adult learning, implementation of school improvement plans, and instructional leadership. Cheryl Turner, MEd, is supervisor of instructional programs for K-5, ESL, and Title I. Her areas of expertise are early literacy, reading development, and brain-based learning. Tanny McGregor, MEd, is supervisor of instructional programs for 6-12 plus G/T, art and music. A national keynoter, she is author of Comprehension Connections (Heinemann 2007).
