It is strangely disquieting to realize that I strangely enjoyed gathering my receipts together this year. The reason is because it gives me an accounting of how amazing my life really is and how wonderful 2010 was.
In 2010 alone, I spent the month of February in Chicago putting up "Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, A Musical" with my writing partner Lindsay Baker and Chamber Opera Chicago. I wrote a mass called MASS for the LIVING, that received a grant from THRIVENT FINANCIAL for LUTHERANS to record it and it won an HONORABLE MENTION from the Foundation for the Sacred Arts. I wrote an SOS grant and was awarded money to take part of the NW Film Scoring Intensive in Seattle over the summer. I presented a paper at the Aspen Composer's Forum with my writing partner. I visited Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. I wrote an opera, LILY, with my writing partner. We wrote a prize-winning children's play called 'ALL THE BUZZ', and won 1st prize in a play contest with "Personal Foul". I won an honorable mention in the Celebrating Grace contest for an arrangement of a new baptist hymn and FIRST PRIZE for "Peace, Be Still" in the Marin Lutheran Competition. In September, Lindsay and I spent a week in September putting our opera together with our friends in Chicago. Over the summer, I expanded the MASS for the LIVING into SATB setting with orchestra and THAT premiered in December.
Outside of my professional life,
I got married ... to the most wonderful man in the world. Re-decorated two rooms ... bought a piano ... my cat, Jewel, died (tear) and I miss her so much ... I continued the yoga program at PEACE CHURCH. Designed a FiT-2-SiT yoga for people with limited mobility ... I started my PhD in Educational Psychology with emphasis in the Arts and Music.
All these receipts tell me what an amazing year I had ... lots of laughter, lots of stress, lots of tears, lots of creativity, lots of love!!! ... IT WAS GREAT! So, if gathering receipts together is a lot of work, at least the payback is the reflection on how I spent my life and what was important to me ... Based on the evidence, I think it was a great year ... and I strangely look forward to the same task next year because of it!!!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thinking at a Higher Level
Science has proved and continues to prove that arts-based instruction requires the highest level of cognitive ability. Using Bloom's Taxonomy as a reference, our education system today only asks students to achieve lower to mid- levels of thinking by requiring students to think at comprehensive or analysis levels. It then assesses learning through standardized tests, which can only test to mid-levels of cognitive ability.
Arts-based instruction, not only requires knowledge, and comprehension levels, but analysis, application, evaluation and then the ability to create--all six levels of cognitive ability. The ability to create is the highest form of cognitive thought.
One of the problems in education today is that scientists do not know how to study creativity because science has no way to measure it. They cannot measure it because there are no theories to create a test--although cognitive load theory is making headway--Instead, education systems get stuck with how much a student comprehends and can analyze --which results in a society that promotes lesser cognitive ability.
Most people cannot think beyond an analysis level; most people do not know how to create. This is evident in the comments posted on the internet and in reaction to proposed budget cuts for the Arts ... they haven't learned to think at a higher level where they can recognize the value of what arts-based instruction does for education in developing higher levels of cognitive ability.
Arts-based instruction, not only requires knowledge, and comprehension levels, but analysis, application, evaluation and then the ability to create--all six levels of cognitive ability. The ability to create is the highest form of cognitive thought.
One of the problems in education today is that scientists do not know how to study creativity because science has no way to measure it. They cannot measure it because there are no theories to create a test--although cognitive load theory is making headway--Instead, education systems get stuck with how much a student comprehends and can analyze --which results in a society that promotes lesser cognitive ability.
Most people cannot think beyond an analysis level; most people do not know how to create. This is evident in the comments posted on the internet and in reaction to proposed budget cuts for the Arts ... they haven't learned to think at a higher level where they can recognize the value of what arts-based instruction does for education in developing higher levels of cognitive ability.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Getting Through ...
As I continue my journey towards a PhD, I decided to take three classes this quarter. Insanity, I know, and yet it is hard to believe that I am about a third of the way through. The end is already in sight, and it is going by so fast!
Maybe it is because the classes work well together. Cognitive Learning, Learning Theories, and Lifespan Development share so much in common, so I draw on what I am learning in each class to help the other ... And yet, what I find remarkable are the differences in the quality of the teaching between the three different courses.
Online teaching is very different from a regular classroom--especially at Capella --because so much depends on the written correspondence. This has become quite obvious as I compare the differences in how I feel about the teacher and the class itself. The tone of what a professor writes contributes to the dynamics of the class and there is so much sub-text in what is written.
You can tell when a teacher likes to teach, just in how much s/he contributes and how much s/he interacts with the students. One of the best classes, so far, was where a teacher really *talked* to us about what we were writing, prodding us to be more explicit and definitive in our answers. Contrasting this to a class I am currently taking, is a teacher who doesn't *talk* openly to us at all. She maintains a private conversation and it is isolating. Part of online learning is the sharing of information and what a teacher *says* to the other students.
Also important to online teaching is for the student to have a sense that the teacher likes the students. In a class where students feel liked there is open communication. They feel free to comment and interact with each other. But ... from my experience in a class I am currently taking, the teacher from the *get-go* threatens every deadline and expectation with "or you will get a zero". I call her the zero tolerance teacher. Her expectations are ridiculous when comparing her requirements with the lifestyle of an online learner and what Capella has already designed.
Online learners are different. They are going to school because they want an education. They are working or retired professionals with real life experiences and recognize their desire to have a college or advanced degree. They are not the typical 18-year-old at a brick and mortar college who need supervision and/or threatening deadlines. Many of the students in my classes at Capella are much older and have a LOT to contribute in classroom discussions. All they want to do is "get the work done" and have a sense of overall enjoyment through that process. As a result, it becomes clear that a really good online teacher understands the people who are in the class and adjusts the deadlines to make them more realistic for the learner.
It is an interesting process. Online learning is successful when the student is responsible and responsive because the student cannot hide from the learning process. At the same time, if the online teacher is supportive, recognizing that the learner has a real life outside of the online environment, then a class is successful in educating the student. It is the genuine contribution of both the teacher and the students that is getting you through ...
Maybe it is because the classes work well together. Cognitive Learning, Learning Theories, and Lifespan Development share so much in common, so I draw on what I am learning in each class to help the other ... And yet, what I find remarkable are the differences in the quality of the teaching between the three different courses.
Online teaching is very different from a regular classroom--especially at Capella --because so much depends on the written correspondence. This has become quite obvious as I compare the differences in how I feel about the teacher and the class itself. The tone of what a professor writes contributes to the dynamics of the class and there is so much sub-text in what is written.
You can tell when a teacher likes to teach, just in how much s/he contributes and how much s/he interacts with the students. One of the best classes, so far, was where a teacher really *talked* to us about what we were writing, prodding us to be more explicit and definitive in our answers. Contrasting this to a class I am currently taking, is a teacher who doesn't *talk* openly to us at all. She maintains a private conversation and it is isolating. Part of online learning is the sharing of information and what a teacher *says* to the other students.
Also important to online teaching is for the student to have a sense that the teacher likes the students. In a class where students feel liked there is open communication. They feel free to comment and interact with each other. But ... from my experience in a class I am currently taking, the teacher from the *get-go* threatens every deadline and expectation with "or you will get a zero". I call her the zero tolerance teacher. Her expectations are ridiculous when comparing her requirements with the lifestyle of an online learner and what Capella has already designed.
Online learners are different. They are going to school because they want an education. They are working or retired professionals with real life experiences and recognize their desire to have a college or advanced degree. They are not the typical 18-year-old at a brick and mortar college who need supervision and/or threatening deadlines. Many of the students in my classes at Capella are much older and have a LOT to contribute in classroom discussions. All they want to do is "get the work done" and have a sense of overall enjoyment through that process. As a result, it becomes clear that a really good online teacher understands the people who are in the class and adjusts the deadlines to make them more realistic for the learner.
It is an interesting process. Online learning is successful when the student is responsible and responsive because the student cannot hide from the learning process. At the same time, if the online teacher is supportive, recognizing that the learner has a real life outside of the online environment, then a class is successful in educating the student. It is the genuine contribution of both the teacher and the students that is getting you through ...
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