Providence Public Schools

This may or may not be old news, but I had a pretty conflicted reaction to the news that all (close to 2000) teachers in Providence Public Schools are being served with a 'pink slip' at the end of the school year becasue the city is trying to deal with a $40 million dollar budget deficit in its $315 million dollar budget. I know its a different city, so they have different problems, but I was wondering if anyone had the same kinda puk-ey feeling I did when I began to think about how this might become a trend in other cities. How does one even begin to think that using fear tactics on teachers is an appropriate way to resolve larger budget shortcomings? I am addressing the prevailing trend of municipal/state administrations to react to the symptoms of a larger financial problem, rather than to be accountable for their implication as its source.

 http://www.thestreet.com/story/11026165/1/ri-teachers-to-rally-against-dismissal-letters.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN

Sketchbook project

I came across this sketchbook project a little while ago, and considered entering because they provide the materials and and I am an incessant sketchbooker. The theme, I believe for the month of April, was 'Home". The project is over, but the sketchbooks are being 'put on tour' at different locations. I share this with you all because it seems like a cool collaborative project that maybe could even be modified for the smaller scale of the art classroom. I've been thinking about how a running project of sketchbooking, with a different theme everyweek, might be an interesting idea to try with students to allow for them to experiment with materials and techniques in an "informal" way.  Sketchbooks rock. Especially on tour.
 There is also an education page link on the right side that might be cool to click on.

http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/features

another more recent and interesting article.

Hey guys, this is another interesting article, more recent, and it's news to me. It makes mention of Governor Quinn's  rhetoric that, as an 'out of state-er",  I'd really like to know your opinions about.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=178717

Article for Tuesday

I am interested to hear your opinions on Tuesday about this article in relation to the other two sites.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/2299322-452/arts-chicago-culture-daley-mayor.html

Making Art making cool

Here is another cool link (not a thesis! Lol)
This is actually a  pretty cool site too...this one has some videos and links to other sites related to Art Education and Grafitti Art. Check this one out for sure.
I am on this grafitti train of thought becasue I was thinking about the discussion and questions we posed  in class today about what happens to kids' creative urges when they go from 'children' to 'preteens', so that when they get to highschool, making art isn't something that holds their interest. I have no idea what that 'something' is that turns kids away from wanting to make art, but I sure do know that grafitti is cool. So cool. The creaters of this site mostly agree with me. Check it out!

http://artinspired.pbworks.com/w/page/13819589/Graffiti-and-Urban-Art

Grafitti

Hey guys,

I do not expect you all to read this for next week, it's an incredibly long text (part of a book or thesis), but I really enjoyed reading it and I think it really informed some ideas I've been having about street art and pedagogy and where my interest are when I am developing my thesis questions. Take a look at some of the ideas he supposes. He creates a social and historical context for street art and Grafitti (as opposed to vandalism).

Hip Hop Learning: Graffiti as an Educator of Urban Teenagers
http://www.graffiti.org/faq/graffiti_edu_christen.html

And again, this is not the text I am gonna focus on for next week discussion facilitation.  So stay tuned! I'll put that article up by tomorrow night.

WOAH! revision

oops,

I will aslo say that I did not mean to imply that social conditioning makes sense in THIS world, the one that me and all you guys live in. I meant that social conditioning makes sense in the world that Ender lives in. I mean I think so. Damn the labirynth of the science fiction series.

Ok. Correction made. Copy that. (Over).

Sidenote; Happy Valentine's Day . Anyone know what Saint Valentine and his day is all about? I will not post a link because there seems to be many ideas online, and who am I to say.
- Over and Out