Let me tell you about Art Teachers

Source: Saipan Tribune ()

Saipan Community School grabbed first place in the tree decoration contest at the Paseo de Marianas with their many creative uses of Styrofoam and water bottles.

SCS art teacher Debra Winkfield said she asked students to bring recyclable supplies to make ornaments for their tree.

“One parent came with a truckload of Styrofoam. I was really surprised! I was thinking to myself, ‘What in the world are we going to do with so much Styrofoam!’” she said.

SCS students from the first grade to the sixth grade managed to put all of their ideas and creativity together and made ornaments for the tree that stood out from the rest.

The students had cut out their abundance of Styrofoam and painted them to make giant peppermint candies, castles, colorful Christmas trees, bells, snowflakes, snowmen, and mini-Santa Clauses.

The students placed their mini snowmen made out of dryer sheets inside water bottles and used Styrofoam to make snow that would also go inside the bottles.

Garlands for the tree were also made out of water bottles. “What we did was cut and followed the lines that went around the bottles and then wrapped them around the tree,” Winkfield said.

She added that, “You can’t see the garlands very well during the day because they’re clear but at night, the lights reflect off the plastic. It’s really nice.”

With aluminum cans, “the older students were the ones who created ornaments out of these,” Winkfield said.

They also made reflectors for the tree out of cans. What they did was cut and twist them into all sorts of different-styled snowflakes.

Winkfield said the school started making ornaments for the tree ever since they got the notice from the Paseo de Marianas about a school tree-decoration contest.

“The kids did a lot. We need to be responsible for everything we use,” Winkfield said.

She said that …

Source: NorthJersey.com ()

For parents on either side of the child protection system, the holidays can bring both joy and sadness.
Parents who lost custody of a child or children are reminded of the family they now see intermittently – and, then, only under a social worker’s watchful eye. Foster parents may shower kids with gifts, but the children are not theirs to keep.

Adults who reunite with their children have personal battles that sometimes pull them from parenting. And foster children uprooted from their homes often have no clear concept of mommy and daddy.
For the holidays, the Herald News presents a two-part series about Passaic County parents who overcame obstacles to reunite with their flesh-and-blood, and of devoted foster parents who love and lose their temporary children.

They share a tremendous capacity to love, despite heartache and the most punishing of circumstances:

Emily D’Antuono, Deborah Freckleton and Lela McRae are foster parents. D’Antuono is young and newly married, a teacher who lives in North Haledon. Freckleton is a Paterson native whose husband grew up with 10 siblings in Jamaica. McRae is a grandmother, retired and living by herself in Paterson.

They all fuss over their foster children lovingly — choosing church clothes and festooning braided hair with plastic barrettes, moving cribs into their own bedrooms and learning about the latest educational toys, obsessing over school workbooks and the best daycare. Each endured five months of parenting classes, stacks of paperwork and an intensely personal interview to become a foster parent.

The children learn to call their interim parents “mommy” and “daddy.” They form bonds with grandparents and appear in photographs adorning their foster parents’ walls.

Yet 80 percent of the time, such relationships come undone in an instant. The state’s overarching goal is to reunite tied by blood, so when a caseworker calls with news that a parent has reformed, the …

Source: Fiji Times ()

PAINTINGS and masi prints were on display at the Lautoka Teachers College yesterday.

The works of art created by teachers doing their Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at the University of the South Pacific were assessed as part of the curriculum.

All paintings and prints reflected the theme of the integrated arts course taken by the teachers.

Apart from the exhibition, the teachers also performed items which were assessed for their overall grades.

Naboro Primary School head teacher Kolinio Takali said the course was an upgrade to the teaching certificate they received from LTC.

Mr Takali said the exhibition of paintings and prints were the students’ two major assignments for the arts course.

He said the course gave teachers the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions of the world around them.

His creation, an impression of the untouched islands of Yasawa, generated a lot of interest as it totems from his village, Yaqeta.

He said he wanted to let everyone see what he saw of Yasawa and his village.

Source: Daily Mail ()

School forced to teach in corridors due to lack of funding
By LAURA CLARK - More by this author »
Last updated at 17:17pm on 19th December 2007

Comments (1)
A popular school is forced to teach teenagers in corridors and the staff room because funding shortages are preventing it expanding.

Even the head teacher’s office has been converted into a classroom, leaving the head to complete his paperwork in a store cupboard.

The population of George Pindar Community Sports College has grown to 900 in recent years as improved GCSE results have attracted new parents.

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Lack of funding: The school needs more money to cater for its expanding number of pupils

But school funding has failed to keep pace with its rising popularity, leaving the Scarborough comprehensive needing £1.3million to build extra classrooms and offices.

It means staff and pupils are struggling to cope inside a 1950s building designed to accommodate only 400 pupils.

Extensions and temporary “Portakabins” have failed to provide the necessary extra space and the school now needs to build an extra floor on top of one wing.

Head Hugh Bellamy is concerned that billions of pounds pledged by the Government to refurbish school buildings and promises that popular schools will be allowed to expand have failed to materialise on the ground.

He says his school suffers funding shortfalls compared with similar secondaries in other areas, denying it the necessary cash to meet parental demand and accommodate extra pupils.

Since the spring, around 150 pupils have been taught art in a school corridor which is just 12 feet wide. Their chairs are arranged along each wall with a teacher standing in the middle.

Most of the youngsters are studying for GCSEs in the subject. The artwork required at this level is too large for them to fit in art rooms for younger pupils.

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Cramped conditions: Art students are having to work in the corridor

The rest …

Source: Trading Markets (press release) ()

ISTEP a plus, Best Buy a bonus

Monday, December 17, 2007; Posted: 12:14 PM

Dec 15, 2007 (Greensburg Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) — BBY | charts | news | PowerRating — The 2007-08 ISTEP+ scores for Greensburg Community Schools are showing improvement across the corporation, according to superintendent Tom Hunter, but it’s no reason to relax. At this week’s school board meeting, he stated the corporation should never be satisfied; a mantra he takes to heart. In an interview Friday, Hunter said that will remain the schools’ stance until students are excelling well beyond the state average. “We’re not going to be satisfied until we’re above 80 (percent) in all categories,” he said. Greensburg Schools scored an overall average of 73.8 percent passing, which is 1.8 percent higher than the state. The students improved their scores by nearly 2 percent from 2006-07 results; compared to the state increase of .6 percent. For Hunter, the increase proves implemented practices are working. “I don’t think there’s any grade level where we should have major concerns they are not getting the education they need,” Hunter said. “When scores go up, even though they are not really fast, that proves what we’re doing is working. We don’t want to implement any quick fixes.” Hunter said many practices have been put into place over the past few years, including the addition of a reading and writing instructor for the elementary school. The extra attention translated into an 11 percent increase in passing percentage, from 72 in 2006 to 83 percent, for language arts scores for third graders, who have been in the program since its inception, 4 percent for fourth grade and 5 percent for fifth graders. At the other end of the spectrum, Hunter said the scores for grades nine and 10, which were all at least 4 percent over the state average, show students are getting they need to succeed. He credits much of the success to the staff and their dedication. …

Source: Saipan Tribune ()

Benjie Santiago, a classroom teacher, cultural dance teacher, and a very well-known kumuhala, will be on Saipan for a week to conduct dance training for all interested teachers, aides, bilingual teachers, dance groups, and dance clubs.

Santiago will be coming to Saipan along with his four students and will conduct the dance training starting today, Dec. 17, until Friday, Dec. 21. He is also currently enrolled with the Argosy Doctorate Program and will be completing his degree very soon.

Santiago is from the very famous Natibu Cultural Group of Guam. As a group, they have won several dance awards.

They have done an exhibition dance performance at the Merry Monarch Hula Competition in Hilo, Hawaii. As one of the most famous and well-respected dance groups in Guam, they have also been sent across the region as delegates and ambassadors at-large for the U.S. territory.

Santiago has an array of experience and the CNMI’s teachers and participants will learn a lot and they can bring it back to their schools and get their students actively involved in the cultural dances.

Dandan Elementary School principal Jonas Barcinas is asking principals of other schools to encourage their staff (at least five to six per school) to take part in this very important training. All interested teachers, bilingual teachers, and aides are highly encouraged to attend.

“In the effort to help our teachers to be trained so they can feel confident and comfortable teaching the art to their students or integrate the art effectively and consistently with P.E or physical activities. We are very much aware of the huge issue facing our system and community as per PROJECT FAMILIA data. We all need to work together to get our students to be active physically so they can do better academically. I am proposing that hope one day we can hire a PE teacher for each to consistently help us bring our kids out of the classroom and move and refrain from …

Source: Times of India ()

Movie Review:
Strangers

Akki kidnapped
priyan

Why I slapped
Akshay: Katrina

Madhur is ladies
man!

Kukunoor follows
Yash Chopra

Source: Earthtimes ()

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ — The first annual Homecoming for the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, late last week brought together 135 respected designers representing more than 90 nationally and internationally recognized design firms, all alumni of the School of Graphic Design, Academy of Art University.
A juried alumni exhibition, mounted at the Academy’s 79 Gallery at 79 New Montgomery, featured work of alumni for such clients as Adobe Systems Inc., award winning See Magazine, The North Face, CLIF Bar, and Gmund, the world-renowned paper manufacturer. Noted designers from some of the region’s top design firms were in attendance including David Schuemann, CF Napa; Bill Cahan, Cahan & Associates and Daisuke Maki, Landor.
The keynote speaker was Michael Osborne, MOD/Michael Osborne Design, an MFA graduate of the School of Graphic Design and a faculty member. "The evening was very special in many ways. Students and classmates, teachers and students, old friends and new, reconnecting and sharing stories, many for the first time since they graduated. It was so beautiful to see their individual successes hanging right there on the wall. As a teacher, there is no better feeling," said Osborne.
A surprise for the alumni were the wines exhibited and poured throughout the evening: 43 wines, with labels and packages designed by alumni of the Academy of Art University were featured in the exhibit and served to guests. "This represents a fraction of the work our alumni have created in the wine category. I do believe Academy graduates have designed more wine labels than any design school in the country," said Mary Scott, Chair, School of Graphic Design. Labels included Parallel Cabernet Sauvignon, Bacio Divino Janzen, and Vagabond (CF Napa); Rodney Strong Cabernet BEX Riesling, and Saracina (MOD/Michael Osborne Design); Hey Mambo and Mia’s Playground (Don Sebastiani & Sons). …

Source: Bizjournals.com ()

The Chartrand Foundation is giving out $175,000 to five Duval County schools and five nonprofit groups that serve students.

The Jacksonville-based foundation started its "Inspire.Create.Achieve" initiative last spring and awarded money to 14 public schools and two nonprofits.

The latest round of awards will go to two elementary schools, Holiday Hill and Lake Forest School of the Arts, and three middle schools — Eugene Butler, Jean Ribault and Matthew Gilbert.

Butler will get a $10,000 grant to buy instruments and uniforms to fund a school band, and a $17,000 grant to support science initiatives.

Gilbert will get a $17,500 grant that will allow it to continue a summer program for girls into the school year.

Ribault will use a $17,500 grant to send 40 students on a four-day trip to Washington, D.C.

A $9,880 grant will allow Lake Forest to provide teacher training and to send some of its students on daylong trips to LaVilla School of the Arts.

Holiday Hill will use a $15,000 grant to support a program designed to help troubled students.

Nonprofits receiving funding include the Cathedral Arts Project ($15,500), Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens ($17,500), Girl Scouts of America Gateway Council ($17,500) and the Jacksonville Zoo and ($15,000).

The Jacksonville-based Chartrand Foundation was started in 2006 and its mission is direct funding of public education.

Source: The Ledger ()

Jessica Gartrell has the same name, the same Social Security number and the same fingerprints she had before 50 days in the hospital in 2005.

But in many ways she’s like a character in a science-fiction story, someone who went in for an operation and came out with an altered identity.

“It’s like going through a door and coming back out, and here’s a different person,” said her mother, Wanda Gartrell.

Jessica, 25, copes with Frontal Lobe Syndrome, a condition that resulted from the most recent of a dozen or so brain surgeries she has endured since she was 7 months old.

She wrote a poem titled “Stolen”in March to describe the effects of the syndrome, which she says transformed her from quiet and reserved to excessively talkative and uninhibited, a manner she says repels potential friends.

I am lost, in disarray;

A stealthy Thief has stolen Me away …

Since writing the poem, Gartrell has finished college, achieved her long-held goal of becoming a music teacher and forged an almost entirely normal life. She considers her story to have a happy ending, yet the frustrations of a dramatic personality change still shadow her life.

“People who have known me for a long time, they really stuck around because they knew it (the change) was because of this surgery,” she said. “But people I’d made friends with more recently, after the surgery they didn’t really stick around because they didn’t know me that well and they thought I was just being a jerk.”

Gartrell has had health problems since infancy. She contracted a viral form of spinal meningitis at seven months, the result of a double ear infection, and the meningitis caused hydrocephalus. The condition, marked by an excess of cerebrospinal fluid in brain cavities, increases pressure inside the skull, causing headaches, nausea and, in some cases (but not Gartrell’s), enlargement of the head. Hydrocephalus has no …