Mapping Out A Sky

Each summer, members of the Rooftop Art Committee meet to talk about the opportunities for arts learning that we see ahead, and we begin to identify the works of art for study that are available for community exploration.  We discuss possible themes that we hope our school community will enjoy exploring. Over the past 7 years, we have implemented these ideas and grown an arts education program known at Rooftop as "Art Is..."

Art Is... is a Rooftop art education program that uses works of art to provide an inexhaustible resource for exploration, reflection and understanding. The program actively engages students, supports learning across the curriculum, and builds critical thinking skills through “hands-on” art making, reflection and research.

Art Is... will bring works of art (music, dance, theater and visual art, with a focus on multicultural work) to all Rooftop students and develop partnerships between teachers, teaching artists, arts organizations and art parents to develop integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum that will support learning for all students.

Rooftop's Art Is... studies have framed areas of exploration, in hopes of helping the Rooftop school community to connect art and life with learning: 

Coming Together (2012-2013), Expression (2011-2012), Illumination (2010-2011), Innovation (2009-2010), Shaping Memory (2008-2009), Jazz (2007-2008), Asawa (2006-2007).

The choosing of the works of study is a purposeful act of curation. As we begin our eighth year of engaging the community through this model, we should note that we are now working in a time of great transition.  At the systemic level, the purposes, processes, challenges and successes of an educational system are being examined, and at the school site, new ways of teaching are being implemented. Of course, each new school year brings change as families and teachers enter and exit.

http://www.hbs.edu/pelp/framework.html

The SFUSD Strategic Plan Progress report puts forward this Theory of Change.

If we
• engage students, families and the community in this effort;
Then, every student who enrolls in our schools can achieve his or her maximum potential.
• deliver a rigorous core curriculum with high quality instruction and a results oriented equity mindset;
• invest in adult learning, leadership, and change; and
• engage students, families and the community in this effort;
Then, every student who enrolls in our schools can achieve his or her maximum potential.

This Theory of Change, created by the Harvard Business School, sets out to establish a formula for success with quantifiable educational outcomes. But what of the aspects of learning that are much harder to measure, and no less important to a life?

Important personal discoveries such as passion, wisdom, empathy and purpose.

ART IS A WINDOW

First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson said, “Art is the window to man’s soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.”

After eight years of creating “Art Is...” studies, we have gathered quite a bit of information, resource materials and experience.  It’s a good time to take stock of things.  A letter written on September 11, 2006, when the program began, offered some thoughts about the role of the arts in shaping the soul of a community. 

When we make art, we leap without ever completely knowing how and where we will land. The detours, the myriad of choices, the surprises and the resulting illumination are the reasons why the arts can transform a life, or even a community.

Today, the works of art and the people who have come together to work are different, but hopefully, the passion and purpose for the art-making — the desire to transform the ordinary is still the same. 

With three weeks until the start of school, it’s time to go to the window and pull back the curtains.
Take a good look around and get started. Time to begin mapping out your slice of the sky.

Window to the Sky by seren*

A Magic Portal

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

At TED's annual staff retreats, everyone has to get up and talk about something -- either about work, or about something interesting from their own lives. In fall of 2012, TED's Lisa Bu prepared a talk about her love of reading. The quiet, funny and efficient Content Distribution Manager brought down the house, with a story that was too good not to share. Lisa is the first TED staffer ever to be invited to speak on the mainstage at the TED Conference.

As a young girl of growing up in Hunan, China in the 1970's, Lisa had dreams of becoming a Chinese opera singer, but received little encouragement or support from the adults in her life to pursue her dream. Chinese Opera students start their acrobatic training from a very early age, and at the age of 15, Lisa knew that she had missed her window of opportunity.

My dream would never come true. I was afraid that for the rest of my life some second-class happiness would be the best I could hope for.

She was determined to find another dream. With no one around to teach her, Lisa realized that books could help her to discover who and what she wanted to be.

Lisa talks about comparative reading, gaining insight by reading books in pairs, a standard academic practice that she used in her job as a researcher. She began thinking about her reading in a new way.

“Compare and contrast gives scholars a more complete understanding of a topic.  So I thought, well, if comparative reading works for research, why not do it in daily life too?” 

She thoughtfully pairs the books that she reads using a kaleidoscope of criteria. She reads books about different people involved in the same event or she might read the same stories in different genres. She reads similar stories from different cultures, and she even reads in different languages.

“Books have given me a magic portal to connect with people of the past and the present. I know I shall never feel lonely or powerless again. Having a dream shattered really is nothing compared to what many others have suffered. I have come to believe that coming true is not the only purpose of a dream. Its most important purpose is to get us in touch with where dreams come from, where passion comes from, where happiness comes from.” 

The Common Core Reading Standards for Literature K-5, “Integration of Knowledge and Ideas” invites students to “compare and contrast” while reading.  

Will the grown ups remember that books and reading are a way for kids to discover dreams, passion and happiness?

Be sure to watch for the signs...