| Team East 2012 will be held in Vermont at the end of June. More details to come. |
2011 TEAM EAST RETREAT IN CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA
The Team East annual meeting this year was in the farthest southwest corner of the Eastern Region, and our NH contingent of Martha Rives, Claire Provencher, Marcia Connors, and Pauline Pichette, was the largest of all the visiting state groups. Arriving in this beautiful, green, and mountainous state, we were treated to wonderful food and hospitality by our hosts, and lots of information. Highlights of the meeting included a visit to the Cultural Center where we walked through a diorama of West Virginia History, a reception at the governor’ mansion, and a trip to Tamarack, where numerous West Virginia arts and crafts were on display.
Our meeting started off with journal-making as a focus on Learning and Community. Equipped with small, blank books, and a ‘buffet’ of materials, we set about filling our journals with whatever moved us. This activity served as the background for the whole weekend, and gave us some great ideas to bring to students this fall.
Each state gave a report of its activities, past and future. Some highlights that I remember:
Pennsylvania has a program called ‘College to Colleague, which supports pre-service teachers in their transition to work in the classroom, through their membership in PAEA.
Maryland has a program called HOT: hands-on technique.
Other states incorporate strong themes into their Conferences, such as: “What’s the Big Idea?” (NY) Where art curriculum encompasses major life themes into the art-making process.
Other themes include: “Art at the Heart of Learning”; ‘Imagine That!”; “The Power of Art” (with a great graphic of a fist inside a lightbulb.)
Saturday focused on Educational Vibrancy, with a talk by Dr Robert Sabol, President of NAEA. We learned about the governance of our national organization, and how NAEA is working to develop national and state leadership. One highlight was the idea that we are all Chief Creative Officers: the experts on creativity in our schools. How can we make our programs indispensable in our schools? By emphasizing how creativity, exemplified by what we teach, is vital to the development of 21st century skills. These skills include:
Creativity and innovation
Critical thinking and problem-solving
Communication
Collaboration
We also looked at the NAEA dues increase and how NAEA is working to increase membership, deepen relationships with state and regional art education associations and deliver member services more effectively.
NAEA is focused on advocacy. We saw several presentations on how our national organization is working to develop an advocacy plan, and to monitor, influence, and evaluate the impact of national policy and legislation on visual arts education. Dr Sabol spoke about his meeting at the White House, along with Deb Reeve, executive director of NAEA, as part of an education summit. It’s empowering to know that we have strong supporters in our corner, and to be able to speak to them in person!
All in all, there was more information than I can include in this article, but I encourage you to go to the NAEA website and see what your national organization is doing, on many levels- for teachers, students, communities, research, and the whole universe of visual art education!
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