One of the things we are tasked with as participants in the Eastern Michigan Writing Project Summer Institute is to create a daily log for each day. Individuals sign up for a day and find a way to present their "day in the life" creations. Here is my daily log for July 9, 2014:
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Thursday, September 19, 2013
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls - Pablo Picasso
Last night I turned on my TV and happened upon The X Factor, a show I don't normally watch. I would have just changed the channel then and there but something compelled me to keep watching. A high school-age boy named Carols Guevara was auditioning. He has Tourette's Syndrome and has tried every medication possible but to no avail. The only thing that seems to work at calming his tics is music.
So there was this boy, up on stage talking to the judges, trying to control his tics and explaining about his condition, but as soon as the music came on and he started singing, he was a new person. The tics went away and he embraced the crowd with his lovely voice.
I sat there and went into the Ugly Cry. I mean, I was full-on sobbing. That moment for Carlos not only shows how important the arts are in our world, but especially in education. These are not frivolous endeavors that we should be adding to school curricula only if there happens to be some extra money lying around. In Carlos's case, music has enhanced his quality of life, and for so many kids the arts don't just enhance their lives, they are life-savers.
So there was this boy, up on stage talking to the judges, trying to control his tics and explaining about his condition, but as soon as the music came on and he started singing, he was a new person. The tics went away and he embraced the crowd with his lovely voice.
I sat there and went into the Ugly Cry. I mean, I was full-on sobbing. That moment for Carlos not only shows how important the arts are in our world, but especially in education. These are not frivolous endeavors that we should be adding to school curricula only if there happens to be some extra money lying around. In Carlos's case, music has enhanced his quality of life, and for so many kids the arts don't just enhance their lives, they are life-savers.
Friday, April 12, 2013
What started this whole journey...
As I mentioned in my first post, the inspiration for this blog came from a class I'm wrapping up at Eastern Michigan University entitled Writing, Public Policy, and Public Writing which is designed to help find ways to give teachers a voice in a time when policy makers are
using teachers as scapegoats for all that is wrong with education.
The theme of my project for this class is teacher retention because I feel like this is education's dirty little secret that no one talks about. For many reasons that I could write in a whole dissertation, teachers are leaving the classroom at an alarming rate - and we're especially seeing it now with the spate of public resignation letters flooding the internet.
With so many teachers leaving though, who is choosing to stay, and why?
I gathered up my Twitter PLN and asked them a very simple (and yet complex) question: With all the negativity surrounding our profession today, what makes you stay? This was the result. I hope it will help to begin a healthy, positive dialogue about how we can celebrate and recognize teachers as the professionals and heroes that they are.
The theme of my project for this class is teacher retention because I feel like this is education's dirty little secret that no one talks about. For many reasons that I could write in a whole dissertation, teachers are leaving the classroom at an alarming rate - and we're especially seeing it now with the spate of public resignation letters flooding the internet.
With so many teachers leaving though, who is choosing to stay, and why?
I gathered up my Twitter PLN and asked them a very simple (and yet complex) question: With all the negativity surrounding our profession today, what makes you stay? This was the result. I hope it will help to begin a healthy, positive dialogue about how we can celebrate and recognize teachers as the professionals and heroes that they are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)