How to Keep the Elementary Art Teacher Position

Californians often wonder how the Houston area schools managed to have one - two (yes, count them -- TWO) art teachers at each elementary school. When I tell them I was an elementary art specialist in Texas, it's rather a hard concept to grasp, since art has been out of CA schools for a couple of generations now. Actually, it's a pretty ingenious method. Art, Music, and PE are tied to teacher planning time. And by having all the children in the same grade level go to a specialist at the same time, all the teachers in that grade share a common planning time. Voila - the arts are preserved, valued, and each child enjoys a more rounded education.

Now, a common planning time is exactly what research says teachers need, and what teachers say they want. I've certainly heard all the excuses why this couldn't happen over the years in every district I was in up until we moved to Texas. I have to admit, I bought into it -- that is, until I actually participated in it and saw it work very effectively. It took some leadership and vision on the part of the Texas districts do this. But that's how you save the arts programs. Texas requires far more PE minutes than either California or Washington, so this model ensures that elementary children meet that requirement. Kids rotated through the arts programs -- three days of PE, one of music, and one of art in a week. How much sense does that make?! How much did kids love their specialist time? How much did teachers love that specialist time? They valued that regular planning time each day.

Having a common grade level planning time supported the new teachers on staff, as they had access to their mentors right in the middle of the day. It made scheduling so easy -- none of this crazy jostling of open slots for teachers, which makes for a patchwork quilt kind of day. While it's not so hard on a PE teacher, an art teacher jumping between grades all day long is hard. Setting up and taking down for 5th, then heading to 3rd, then kareening to kindergarten, and then maybe back to a 5th grade lesson can get schizophrenic.

It required four specialists per school in one district's model - two PE, one art, and one music. Another district always had two art and two music specialists, along with the two PE coaches at each school. Some larger schools also put their librarians and computer teachers into the mix, so that class sizes remained small. This ensured that school librarians were also planning and offering instruction in the library, rather than only being a check-in, check-out service. Because we were all held to the same evaluation standards and considered faculty with just as much to contribute, and had our programs funded adequately, the librarians were dynamite. PE programs were creative and exciting, music was outstanding, and art was integrated into the regular curriculum as much as possible. And none of these excellent schools were middle class schools. These were in the toughest, most at-risk neighborhoods. But you couldn't tell from the quality of the work on the walls, or the abundant supplies in the cupboards.

What a difference a lively elementary arts program made in the lives of kids who would have had none of it in their experience. I heard school administrators say on more than one occasion that the parents would have a meltdown if they tried to cut out the elementary arts programs. There was a firm commitment, even in tough economic times. So it can certainly be done. If I'd never taught it, I wouldn't have thought it possible. But I'm telling you, it is.

Wouldn't it be great to sit down with any west coast, supposedly progressive school administrator, using these existing models, and explore the ways those Texas districts did it? Texas gives less money per pupil than California does. Oh, and was there ever a competitive spirit among all those schools to produce top programs. There was nothing wishy washy about them at all. We were expected to be good -- and help our students to be excellent, regardless of their economic situation at home. And they were/are!

Another Report on Creativity and the Workplace: The Need Keeps Growing

I found another report on my favorite topic. This need for creativity in the workplace is receiving more attention. I don't think we're at a tipping point yet. Regarding the recession, many reasons could be made for continuing as we are. However, perhaps we wouldn't be in the mess we are if our leaders and CEOs had been more creative -- or at least somewhat responsive -- towards the problems as they were coming up.

I'll quote the beginning of the article here, and then you can click over to it. I'm always cheering when I find someone smart who articulates the topic so very well!

"Educators and employers agree that creativity is increasingly important in U.S. workplaces, according to a recent report. Yet, the report suggests a disconnect exists between what survey respondents say they believe and how they act: In fact, findings indicate most high schools and employers provide creativity-conducive education and training only on an elective or "as needed" basis.

The report, "Ready to Innovate: Are Educators and Executives Aligned on the Creative Readiness of the U.S. Workforce?," was released in April by the Conference Board and Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). Researchers surveyed 155 public school superintendents and 89 American business executives to identify and compare their views on creativity.

The study is a follow-up to a 2006 report from the Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management, titled "Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers' Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce." In that earlier report, employers rated creativity and innovation among the top five most increasingly important workplace skills over the next five years. (See "Survey reveals the skills employers covet.")

The Conference Board also noted in a study last year that stimulating creativity and enabling entrepreneurship are among the top 10 challenges now facing U.S. CEOs."

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