Artspiration – Santa Clara County Arts Initiative

This year, the Artspiration Initiative was able to award three $500 scholarships to Santa Clara County high school seniors headed to post-secondary studies in the arts. It was a competitive process with more than a dozen applicants from around the valley. Every high school district was represented. This is the first of the three recipients and her essay. The scholarships were provided by AdvancePath and CALSA, the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators.

———— Congratulations scholarship recipient Peter A.C. Reyes

To some people, drama was a nice way to pass several years of high school without a great commitment, dance was an easy way to get out of P.E. while still earning the necessary credits, and choir was fun at the time, but not anything worth continuing. To me, the arts were, and still are, much more than just another class in my schedule. They’re what I look forward to during the day, and what I hope to continue with in college. The arts gave me confidence, a voice of my own, and years of memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

Hello, my name is Peter Andrew Canales Reyes, and I am a graduating senior at Abraham Lincoln High, a magnet school for the performing arts. I was first introduced to choir during my last year at Herbert Hoover Middle School, and I have been in love with it ever since. At first, I had to essentially be forced by my friends to join the beginning choir because they needed more male singers. I had no complaints, but I did have some doubts regarding how well my choral experience would turn out. I guess you could say that choir was an acquired taste for me, because the more time I spent in the choral program, the more I grew to love it! When the year came to an end, which was sooner than I wanted it to be, I was sad to leave because of how much fun I had.

Before choir, I did not have many friends. Where I grew up, the kids were definitely outgoing, but not very open-minded. They couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of a boy being happy about going to school to sing for 5 days a week. Needless to say, I didn’t make many friends in my neighborhood. It wasn’t until later in my 8^th grade year that I became more social, and started to make fabulous friends. It was wonderful to know that people genuinely liked talking to me, and I knew that choir had helped me with this. I had to be able to be comfortable around the people in class to sing, and we all had to work together to make the pieces sound as professional as possible for middle school children. I had gained a huge amount of confidence that I never knew I had, and it was all thanks to my choir class.

When high school came around, I was much more outgoing than I was in middle school, but, I was still pretty shy and quiet. For my freshman year, I was in Men’s Choir, and I became more comfortable with myself, which allowed me to have a lot of fun in that class. As with 8^th grade, a year in Men’s Choir passed by quickly, and I had built up the courage to audition for my school’s Chamber Chorale, which I fortunately made my sophomore year. During my year in the advanced group, I discovered something about myself; I loved what choir had done for me. Thanks to the music program, I gained so much confidence in myself and my abilities, and I couldn’t believe that I was the same person who had a small handful of friends in middle school. I knew that I wanted to become a music teacher and give the same opportunity to other children in schools that didn’t have a music program at all. I wanted to give children a way to express themselves freely, the way music in middle and high school had done for me.

With this goal in mind, I went on to audition for Vocal Jazz at my school and got in for my Junior and Senior years, along with Chamber Chorale. With these advanced groups in my schedule, I took on much more responsibilities, including leading the class on some days. My teacher gave me opportunities to lead music discussions and let me experience what she does every day. The fact that I was able to help other students and teach them what they didn’t know before made me feel more important. She let me see what she does with the auditions for people who want to be in the advanced groups. She let me observe a real, dedicated teacher at work, and I liked it. It gave me the knowledge that I know I’ll need for my future.

Even though my high school years are coming to an end, I still assist the incoming students to the music department by helping them at auditions and making them feel welcome. I want to make everyone feel accepted in the music department. I feel like I owe it to others who are scared and nervous to make them feel much more accepted in a new place than I was. I just want to help those who need help. I even went out of my way to perform at multiple venues with my schools Tri-M Music Honor Society to help others appreciate just what music can do for them.

As with most music students, I do love to perform, and I hope that I can continue in that area as well as music education. Whether it’s performing and bringing a bit of joy to an audience, or teaching and bringing a bit of joy to a student, I know music will always be a big part of my future. The arts, specifically music, have helped me succeed in my life because it has given me a feeling of self-importance, and a goal to achieve for the future. I simply can’t imagine my life without music in it, and I surely wouldn’t want to.

This is why I want to continue my education in the arts. I want to give other children out there the opportunity I had that many other kids did not. There are many children out there who would love to have someone teach them the basics of music, but are deprived of this because of budget cuts, or unwillingness on the teachers’ side, or whatever the case may be. With this scholarship, I can guarantee my education in college, and bring myself closer to achieving my goal of being a music teacher. With this scholarship, I can bring the performing arts to children who want and need them in their lives. After all, a world without music isn’t really a world at all, is it?

This year, the Artspiration Initiative was able to award three $500 scholarships to Santa Clara County high school seniors headed to post-secondary studies in the arts. It was a competitive process with more than a dozen applicants from around the valley. Every high school district was represented. This is the first of the three recipients and her essay. The scholarships were provided by AdvancePath and CALSA, the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators.

———— Congratulations scholarship recipient Marina Menendez Pidal.

The journey begins after years of doodling cartoon and manga characters.  Darla McKenna was my first formal art instructor.  Being an artist herself, she taught me the basic foundation of art medium and techniques.  The projects I delivered focused on the fundamental principles and elements of design using acrylic paint and colored pencils depicting still life.

After my hard work with Darla, I presented my projects to the Westmont art teacher.  Ms. Matusi was so pleasantly surprised by the exceptional quality of the completed work that she insisted I bypass Art 1.  In this class I learned how to use many other mediums and different techniques.  One of the lessons I quickly learned with acrylic paint was that in order to effectively use the medium, one should begin painting the background first, followed by the close-up objects.

After Art 2, Ms. Matsui put me into Art 4 to give me a challenge.  I was so pleased to join this class because I learned how to make directional eye movement by using materials such as ripped paper and photographs.  My journey continued through an Independent Studies class.  I began developing my own style and came up with a theme for my portfolio emphasizing a topic I am very passionate about: environmental issues.  The project combines medium and techniques from past art classes in addition to challenging myself to learn new mediums such as gouache and air brush.

In addition to art, another fond passion of mine is singing.  Ever since I was a little girl, I was known for singing in the shower, singing karaoke with friends, and jamming to tunes in the car with the family.  The first formal events I participated in were school musicals:  Mulan and The Wiz.  In Mulan I played a Chinese Opera Singer.  This role required not only good vocal skills, but dancing as well.  In the Wiz I was a pit singer where I sang in harmony with five other girls at Westmont High School.

Participating in music competitions has also helped me develop not only technical music skills but also the presentation and musical expression.  This past March, I participated in the CMEA district solo/ensemble festival at Stanislaus State University receiving a superior rating in a vocal solo.  In addition to participating at the district level, I will be attending a state solo/ensemble festival at Sacramento State University in May.  I had only two weeks to learn the Italian aria.

Preparing for the aria involved many steps: (1) researching the story line, (2) learning the Italian pronunciations (Google translate was my best friend), (3) several rehearsals with the pianist, and (4) listening to many other artists sing the aria.  Learning how to sing arias, in addition to preparing for and participating in competition events has helped me grow as a musician.

Striving for perfection, perseverance, dedication and the love for music and art are the main ingredients for studying art in a post-secondary setting.  I am a perfectionist and I devote my time to art.  Art is one of my passions and I always put my heart and soul in every project.  I do not mind being at my desk for hours and painting or drawing ideas that come to me. I take my projects home with me so I can take the extra time to achieve the finest quality.

Also, I am a hard worker and I always finish a project I start.  In addition, I strive to learning new techniques to improve and strengthen my art abilities to become a better artist.  The more techniques I learn in school, the more creative I can become.  Next, I dedicate additional hours of my busy day to perfect my singing voice.  Before a musical performance I practice at least an hour perfecting my tone and harmonies.  I am also very interested in learning other musical genres such as jazz and opera.  This will not only improve my voice but this will give me a better understanding and appreciation for each genre.

By participating and working hard in Art 2, Art 4 and Art Independent Studies I received top grades.  As well, I studied environmental problems around the world and I made artwork that was based on these concepts.  Because I used this idea, my art teacher, Ms. Matsui placed my art project which showed themes of air pollution in a recent art show.  Even though I did not win an award, my art teacher loved my art concept and I felt that getting this special recognition from her as well as getting my work in the show were quite an achievement.  Two of my art projects were placed in the Westmont’s “Got Art” Gallery this year and it was a huge success.  More people now notice my art and I learned that art can be a very powerful way to promote awareness of important environmental problems that are happening in our country today.

Learning techniques in art improves the way to portray topics and it can make a long-lasting impression on the viewer.  In addition, participation in school musicals has improved my singing skills by harmonizing with other girls.  Also, by participating in the CMEA festival, I learned that it takes a lot of time and devoted in order to make a great impression on the judges.  The hard work and dedication to learning the aria certainly paid off.

I look forward to working on not only improving my skills, but also working with other artists/musicians to create art.  My past experiences both inside and outside of formal classroom settings have made in impact on how I pursue art and music.  No matter what I pursue, music and art will be an important part of my life.

  Guess what’s headed to San Jose? The 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in Gymnastics! Coming our way this June, the trials will produce this year’s Olympic team members for gymnastics.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has teamed up with the San Jose Sports Authority and many other partners to present an Olympic arts competition. Through original drawings, students have the opportunity to celebrate the images and ideals of the Olympics.

The theme is simple. Think Olympics. Think sports, teamwork, vision, hard work, effort, training….and maybe that might or might not include gymnastics. No need to focus on gymnastics in the created artwork though – this is about students and their interpretation of the games. If you are working with a group of students, ask them “what do the Olympics mean to you?” or “What might it feel like to be an athlete competing on the US team?”    Then, cut them loose! Let them get artistic and creative.

  Who is eligible? K-12^th grade students in the Bay Area can enter. This includes public, private and home school students who are students as of May 2012. What counties? Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito. The school with the largest percentage of entries, based on their attendance in CBEDS, will receive a visit or assembly from an Olympic athlete.

Better yet. The winners in various grade level ranges will be honored ON STAGE at the trials. And they will receive an autographed poster, signed by an Olympic athlete.      

The deadline to submit entries is May 11^th and they need to be dropped off at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. We hope many students will be interested in competing in this amazing opportunity. Click 2012 Olympic Trials Poster Contest for 2012 Olympic Trials Poster Contest Application for the application form.

  Friday was one of the days I look forward to every year – judging Congressman Mike Honda’s annual arts competition. This year, his office was overwhelmed with entries by students whose teachers clearly spread the word. More than 90 pieces of artwork were submitted into categories such as acrylics, drawing, photography, mixed media and others.   

A panel of arts educators and leaders from around the valley have the challenging honor of selecting the top artwork each year. This year, judges included Julie Passalacqua (City Librarian for the City of Santa Clara) and Mitsu Kumagai (Arts Program Coordinator from Arts Council Silicon Valley).

When we discussed the high school student artwork after we completed our judging, it was evident that a great deal of time and effort went into this year’s entries.   

Kudos to our many arts teachers in Santa Clara County! Your amazing leadership and guidance was evident and we thank you for your passion that has certainly been shared with and by your students. 

 The final Secondary Teacher Network Meeting of this year was held last night at the Sonoma Chicken Coop in Campbell. Led by facilitators Sharon Dahnert and Sofia Fojas, the meeting was attended by middle and high school art teachers from various districts in the county.    

One of the highlights of the meeting was the sharing from Stephanie Watkins from the Cupertino School District, who worked on the CCSESA Assessment Project this year. She received a stipend for intensive work on assessment in her music classes. The focus of her work was to co-design rubrics with her students so they could assess their playing of musical instruments.

Since she had two classes of students who come together for performances, Stephanie explained how the classes focused on two rubrics and then condensed them into one, with a strong focus on academic vocabulary.

Congratulations Stephanie! We hope to have more teachers participate next year.

The 16th Annual Young Artist Showcase judging was held last week. Close to 200 entries were submitted into this year’s competition that was decided by 15 teaching artists, classroom teachers, non-profit arts managers, and employees at the Santa Clara County Office of Education.      

The County Office is home to over 500 pieces of adjudicated public school artwork from students in grades preK-12th grade. More than 20 school districts submitted their students’ artwork to compete in this year’s competition. Artwork was judged based on use of materials, color, shape, composition, and more. “This was not an easy process,” shared Ruth Mankin, Education Director at the Montalvo Arts Center. It took Mankin close to two hours to narrow the selections down to her top pics. “Are you sure I can’t add a few more?” asked Dr. Robin Love, professor from the Lurie College of Education at San Jose State University.

  Eighteen pieces were selected into this year’s permanent collection. As was noted by one judge, Director Martha Martinez, “this artwork is amazing!”

Sixteen additional animal-themed pieces will be displayed at San Jose’s Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, starting this September. The zoo’s cafeteria currently houses 14 pieces of artwork as part of a one-year display, sponsored by the San Jose Water Company. A reception for students whose artwork will be at Happy Hollow will be held this Fall.  

The following blog was submitted by San Jose State student Adelina Vargas from Dr. Verducci’s class.  She attended the conference on a scholarship from the Montalvo Arts Center. The conference was held on March 17th in conjunction with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (as part of our Artspiration Initiative) and San Jose State University.

——————

I have heard about the Montalvo Arts Center but I had never paid attention to what it actually was.  When I first heard about it, I thought that it was an art school.  This center is sort of like a school but there is much more to it.  For the two workshops I chose storytelling and the rhythm of math.

I teach Sunday school to a group of five and six year olds at my church.  In order to receive their attention in the beginning of class, I start off with a Bible story.  Therefore I believed that if I attended a storytelling workshop it can help me better myself into the storytelling.  From this workshop I learned that in order to tell a story you do not have to memorize it word by word, rather you read the story only three times.  The first time you read it so that you know what the story is about.  The second time you read it, you begin to outline the main points of the story.  For this section you just need to know the main events that happen in the story.  The last time, you read it to the class and act it out.

Especially for my five and six year olds it was a very good idea to play the different parts of the story.  Since I attended this workshop on Saturday, the next day when I taught class I used what I learned.  As a result, my storytelling was very successful.  My kids seemed to be more into my story and paid more attention.  When I asked questions about the story, they were all very eager to answer.

The second workshop I attended was the rhythm of math.  The reason I decided to join this workshop was because I have a cousin who has problem with math and I thought that by attending this workshop, I would be able to help my cousin approach math in a different way.  Although this workshop was not as easy to understand as the previous workshop, it was still very interesting.

The teachers Keith Terry and Linda Akiyama taught me and about six other participants how to use our body in solving math.  They started by telling us that they have been using this method for about seven years now at a school in San Francisco and that the students test scores in math have gone up every year.  Keith began teaching this workshop by showing us how we use our body to count to ten.  The basics were to clap our hands together or clap on our body.  He made sure to explain to us to not clap so loud and that this would also be important to tell our students when teaching them.  Keith and Linda also pointed out that this method of teaching math works from third to fifth grade.

After we got the basics of one through ten, they began teaching us how to apply it to the different properties of math.  They taught us how to use the rhythm of math with the distributive, associative, and communicative property.  For younger children, they taught us how to sing “Hickory Dickory, Dock” and for fun they taught us how to play “Billy Jean” by Michael Jackson.  This workshop was definitely entertaining.

By the time the workshops were all over, everybody was discussing how much we all wished we could have been able to go to more workshops.  We all felt that the information that was given to us was so valuable and interesting that we all wanted to keep learning.  I was truly amazed and amused by all the teachers and even the speakers.  All of the teachers seemed excited and engaging.  I am so glad that I was able to experience this opportunity because I will certainly continue in visiting the Montalvo Arts Center in the future.  I was also added onto the teacher’s email address so I can communicate with them for ideas.

*** this blog post was submitted by Chernell Paige, teacher in the Oak Grove School District, presenter at the Academic Success Conference and consultant extraordinaire!

Chernell Page, Teacher

For English Language Development teachers and specialists there is an ever present challenge to access the rich wealth of experiences and prior knowledge language learners bring to their initial classroom experience.  How does one gain access to this information, as well as motivate students to integrate these experiences to the benefit of their learning?

Fortunately, within the practice of visual arts there is a unique and multifaceted opportunity to do just that.  As students express their creativity they are simultaneously engaging in language development processes that will help their instructional experiences remain significant well beyond their academic pursuits.  Avenues to this type of skill building were highlighted for participants to the “Putting the Pieces Together: Developing English Language Skills through Visual Arts Observation and Exploration” workshop.

Participants were encouraged to emphasize the California Visual Arts standard strands of Artistic Perception and Aesthetic Valuing to reinforce and develop language learners listening and speaking skills.  Participants were then guided through a 5 day skill process model that allows students to move fluidly through the English Language skill sets of asking and answering questions, observation and perception, and authentic discussion.

The Workshop Agenda

Running away with our imaginations

Particularly beneficial to classroom teachers is the ability to  integrate this 5 day language modeling approach within any visual arts practice or activity.  As a hands on practice activity, attendees joined in an interactive exploration of ink printing and water coloring with wax resist.

Group by puzzle pieces

As the present day demands of classroom instruction increasingly requires that teachers provide students with standards based instruction and assessment- inter curriculum planning of this type gratefully provides both teachers and students with not only motivation to teach and learn but renewed inspiration to create both art and language.

Following directions

  As part of a grant from the Avant! Foundation, TheatreWorks is presenting theatre-based professional development to four school district this year. On Monday, the TheatreWorks team headed out to the Oak Grove School District.

Elementary teachers from various schools in Oak Grove stayed two hours after school on their time to learn about how to incorporate theatre concepts into any subject, any day. As a matter of fact, most activities could be used by teachers the next day with their students.  

One such example was name introductions. Each attendee introduced him or herself by saying the first name in an animated way with body movements and having everyone in the class copy what that first person did. Mary, in this picture, said “Mary” in a high pitched voice and did a circular movement, and everyone else said Mary the same way and replicated her movement.

 In the next activity, participants worked through descriptive words in groups of three. The first person got into a position to show what it meant to be “sad.” The second person in the triad showed “sadder” and the third then became “saddest.” This is a great activity for English Learners who might need sentence starters and help with the initial word (sad), comparative (sadder), and superlative (saddest). And yes, the students did learn the terms comparative and superlative as well, then had a new triad do a similar word and repeat the activity. Some other examples included angry and happy. Great conversation also came out of the follow up. Why does she look madder than someone else? Rich discussions with teachers and that trickles down to rich discussions with students, especially English Learners.   

How enjoyable quiet, albeit for a minute, it was when the participants became magic rocks! Magic rocks are a safe starting point in a classroom where you can start activities and move into different sections of a lesson, whether it be a vocabulary lesson on history or science words, or topics in math.  

In a primary grade classroom, letters and corresponding sounds are critical for learning. Today’s letter was “Z” and participants became a word that began with “Z.” Here, one person lied on the ground and what sentence could be used to describe her?      “I see a zebra that fell down in the mud.” Students are able to make up sentences, nonsensical if they want, to narrate their classmates moves.

Here, participants resembled zippers. 

A final FUN activity was “build and break.” In this segment, participants reviewed the parts of a snail. Imagine other extensions you could use for history, science, PE, visual arts like a mission, states in the union, body systems, insects.

To do this activity, the group reviewed the vocabulary to diagram a snail (body, tentacles, shell, mucus trail, eyes, mouth, air hole). As one person acted out a body part, another put on a label of the part and defined what that body part does, such as “the shell protects the snail.” The class would then repeat the part and what it does. This was a fun, engaging, simple way to go over parts of many different concepts in subjects.

I will guarantee you this. For a very long time into the future, the participants will remember what an air hole is and what the snail trail is called. And isn’t that the same learning we want for our students?

  Over 30 teachers tapped in to their own creativity while participating in the afternoon workshop, “Making Meaning Through Art: Using Art as a Tool to Explore Language.”  Presenter Jenay Kiddoo led the group through a hands-on activity to demonstrate how integrating arts provides a variety of opportunities to develop vocabulary and academic language.

With tools such as oil pastels, magazine cut outs, and their imaginations, teachers took an idea through four “stages” of art integration – thinking, doing, talking, and writing – learning strategies along the way for encouraging students in the creative process and having discussions about their work.   

Engaging in a common experience, the group was guided through a visualization, followed by discussion, using explicit sentence frames and vocabulary words to describe the artistic elements of their unique mental images.  The shapes, lines, colors, and textures were then brought to form using art tools that are easy to obtain, and inexpensive.  Words they used to describe how they felt about making art included “motivated,” “in the zone,” and “relaxed.”

During the process the group was interrupted to learn new strategies to facilitate partner talk based on observation and connecting what they see to other content areas and their lives, asking and answering questions such as “What do you notice?” and “What is your eye drawn to?”  Modeled for them were the tools they need to not only build a upon the academic discourse, but also to bring their own student’s ideas to writing, and within minutes they had a completed graphic organizer ready to use an assessment tool or even for a four paragraph essay.  The participants felt that they walked away with immediate strategies they can use to help English Learners develop their academic language and oral language skills.