Retreat!

Thank you all for a fantastic retreat. It was inspiring to see all of you in one room making some revolutionary art and curriculum.
We'll send a recap of the retreat soon via email, and will also schedule follow up sessions for those that missed all or part of the retreat.

And don't forget to turn in your curriculum by Nov 9th!

Also, here's a fun place to see what other projects are out in the feild by discipline, population, or social context. It's called Community Arts Network and it's great.

Preemptive Education: Language, Identity, and Power

Reccomended by illustrious TA Fabian:

Urban Word NYC,
NYU Center for Multicultural Education,
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, & the Hip-Hop Theater Festival present:

PREEMPTIVE EDUCATION: Language, Identity & Power Urban Word NYC's Annual Mentor, Teacher, Educator & Community Activist Training [Silver Center, 100 Washington Square East]

Preemptive Education aims to examine the issues that affect today’s youth, while providing creative and practical resources to address them. Using the power of spoken word poetry and hip-hop as the lens to explore language and privilege, participants will learn best practices in student-centered pedagogy from professionals in the fields of education, youth development, and spoken word & hip-hop. Combining performance, panel discussions, and professional development workshops, Preemptive Education will provide comprehensive
opportunities for educators of all levels.

Opening Panel and Youth Performance: FREE to the PUBLIC FRIDAY October 2nd, 7-9PM Room 703, Silver Center WORD LIFE:
A Performance and Conversation on Language, Identity & Power
Poets: Jamilla Lyiscott, Carvens Lissaint, Ceez, Thiahera Nurse
Respondents: David Kirkland, Ph.D., Regie Cabico, Black Artemis

This dynamic performance and panel series will start at the word. Three poems with three panels will interact and converge in a conversation that uses spoken word poetry to reclaim identities and challenge inequities around language, privilege and power. Using each poem as a starting point, panelists will address and illuminate issues around language privilege, youth voice, and social justice. Young poets from Urban Word NYC will provide the platform from which respondents and panelists will vision a new dialogue around the transformative power of spoken word poetry and the pedagogies that champion the voices of the next generation.

Weekend Training Series for Mentors, Teachers, Educators and Community Activists SATURDAY & SUNDAY October 3rd 9AM-5PM, October 4th 9AM-2:00PM

This training series will provide educators with cutting edge best practices in social justice, spoken word and hip-hop education. This weekend participants will work with professors, activists, educators, emcees and spoken word artists to engage in the critical literacy work that Urban Word NYC is known for. The workshops are geared towards building foundational frameworks, that are then followed up by specific sessions for: writing mentors, NYU community members, and NYC public school teachers. The range of perspectives provided will bridge both theory and practical application, as well as inform your personal pedagogy to enable you to work and grow as an educator dedicated to liberatory education. Also included will be a lunchtime panel with the Hip-Hop Association, as well as presentations by NYCoRE, EARS, DNA works, and leaders from our sponsoring orgs. For a full conference schedule visit www.urbanwordnyc.org

REGISTER NOW!
Suggested donation for weekend training is $100. Includes breakfast & lunch.
Please be sure to pre-register by emailing Program Director, Parker Pracjek at parker@urbanwordnyc.org Training is free for UW mentors, NYU students and staff, and the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival staff.
For additional information, please call 212-352-3495. Scholarships available.

For more information on agenda, check out:

http://www.urbanwordnyc.org/uwnyc/index.php?q=node/254

Wasting Time, Learning, Showing Off

Is there a category on the blog for cool things I stumbled into on the internet? Of course, that's what a blog is. Lookit this internet future rainbow robot keyboard drum set. 

And then come to the Classroom Management workshop this Thursday the 19th from 6:00 - 8:30! We'll talk more about Teacher Language and sharing your concerns. Please email me (Alice) with other areas in which you'd like support.

And finally here's an article that might help you in planning end of the year sharing at your school.

Free BAX Workshop

(Thanks for sending this in, Nora!)

Friday March 13, 2009 -- 6-9:00 PM
Your Teaching IS Your Art -- THE PATH

Taught by Michael Wiggins

Who is this workshop for?
For the performing artist who wants to teach, the new to the field teaching artist, or the teacher who needs a boost! The focus is on High School age students.

This FREE 3 HOUR WORKSHOP explores tools and tricks of the trade of working in the arts-in-education field. Participants will walk away with a framework of how to build lesson plans, effective planning and networking opportunities.

Enrich your teaching with your passion
and your passion with your teaching!

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED BY THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2009.
Call 718-832-0018 or email Pene@bax.org to register.
www.bax.org

(BAX is also hosting the 2009 Teen Arts Conference on March 13th and 14th, which has all kinds of free workshops for youth and oldies. Don't forget to pre-register, though.)

PD Recap

Thanks to to the Theatre Dept for a productive and inspiring first PD meeting.   For those few who missed it and as a reference for everyone in general, I am posting the meeting agenda along with accompanying notes.  The warm-up list we generated will be posted in a separate entry, to make it easier to find in the future.  As always feel free to post comments and/or sign up (on the right side of this page) to "follow" this blog so you can receive updates as they happen.  Thanks to all our TAs!  Here is the agenda (with notes) from Friday's meeting:

Check-in: We discussed our early successes and challenges in our classrooms

Warm-up Workshop: We shared successful warm-ups, modeled them and discussed how to modify them for different classrooms (this list is large so has been posted in a separate entry, hopefully this will be a valuable resource for you as the year progresses)

Methodology Follow-up: Is the UAP teaching process of "Experience," "Study," "Create," "Refine," "Present," and "Reflect" being used in your units/lessons?  Can it be clarified?  What steps/transitions are most challenging?

Intro Theatre Standards Discussion: What is a standard? How is it different from a goal or an objective?  Why is it necessary to have standards?  If we take a look at the NY State Theatre Standards, do they apply to our work?  If so how?  If not, how could they be modified to reflect our work with UAP?  Can we create a set of standards for our own UAP Theatre Department by the end of this year?

Intro UAP Theatre Website: www.uaptheatre.blogspot.com.   How can this site, still in its early stages, be improved so it is more useful to you?

Open Forum/New Ideas:   Ideas raised were :

The importance of feeling connected to other Theatre TAs here at UAP

The need for a unified language for our department

How to keep curriculum and other UAP requirements clear and useful for us as Teaching Artists

The challenge of doing live Theatre (especially in relation to the other art disciplines here at UAP)

The request for a resource packet of warm-ups/exercises/goal-driven lesson plans for TAs

The possibility of our next PD devoting the first hour to an Improv Workshop

The idea that for our next PD we ask all TAs to email in 3 questions to be addressed that upcoming meeting.