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Professional Development on the Go Our learning is not complete once we have finished traditional schooling, but is a "lifelong experience that needs to be fostered", explains Julie Frost, who coordinates Professional Development workshops for Avenue Road Arts School (ARAS) teachers. Professional facilitators, either on staff or from the industry, have provided training in everything from: how to teach drama to children, to strategies on handling behavioral issues, to first aid training. The most recent workshop was taught by Lois Lillienstein (Sharon, Lois & Bram) on pre-school music. She worked on expanding the teacher's ideas of what a children's song could be and introduced her approach to working with children.
Offering Professional Development is a "way to ensure that instruction and curriculum is current or relevant" to the organization's philosophy, remarks Julie. These workshops also help to maintain an element of consistency, as all our teachers are coming from such varied disciplines, backgrounds and experiences. "It is also a great forum for staff to gather and share strategies and successes", she says. Additionally, ARAS has teamed up with OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) to host an internship with one of their student teachers. Attending ARAS five days a week from the beginning of April to the end of May, the student will gain exposure to different styles and approaches in a studio setting. In terms of Professional Development, this will be a "wonderful exchange of knowledge and ideas," declares Julie, as not only will we be helping the student advance in her studies, but she will in turn give us teaching systems that are up to date with the Ontario Ministry of Education. With such varied and integrated courses being presented at the Arts School every year, it is vital that we maintain a very high level of programming. Providing professional development as a resource to our instructors is one way to ensure all of our students can fully enjoy themselves in whatever class they wish to embark on.
School News and Updates Welcome Back We would like to welcome Jennifer Gould back from Stratford, where she had the title roles in Gigi and Hunchback of Notre Dame. Jennifer will teach our Let's Make Music classes for Toddlers this Spring (Wednesday and Friday mornings). To register or for more information, see the Toddler Arts section. Calling all kids who are serious about theatre! The Arts School will be holding auditions for the Musical Theatre II Program (gr. 6-10) and the new full-year Young Company Drama Class (gr. 4-8) for the 2004- 2005 school year. To arrange an audition time or to get more information, please call (416) 961-1502 or watch for details to be posted online soon.
Summer 2004
Details of our summer camps and classes for toddlers, kids, teens and adults are now online and registration is open. From toddler camps, to the Adventures of Stuart Little Arts Camp for kids in JK-Gr. 4, to courses in guitar for teens or watercolour for adults, we offer something to suit the creative streak in just about everyone! Check it out – sessions are filling quickly.
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Jumbo Awards Jumbo Book of Art Recognized by Disney and National Parenting Publications
Five years ago, Valerie Hussey, CEO of Kids Can Press, asked Lola Rasminsky if the teachers at the Avenue Road Arts School would develop a book of art projects that children aged 8-12 could do on their own, which captured the imaginative, innovative spirit that she experienced at the school when her own son attended classes, many years before. The challenge with this project was to create a book that would give the child using it the sense that nothing was more important than what was in his or her imagination. At the same time it was offering step by step guidance to completing satisfying art projects. Irene Luxbacher, a longtime teacher at the Avenue Road Arts School, wrote and illustrated the book based on projects developed by 12 artist/instructors from the school. Irene recently gave a two day workshop to a class in Virginia, which had won a contest organized by Kids Can Press. While there she was struck by how starved the children were for good quality art experiences and how valuable a book like The Jumbo Book of Art is in situations where there is no or little art instruction available. Kids Can Press is about to sign a contract with Irene Luxbacher and the Avenue Road Arts School to create a second Jumbo Book – this one will be The Jumbo Book of Outdoor Art. Watch for it in 2006. It will be worth waiting for! The Jumbo Book of Art can be purchased at any bookstore in North America as well as at the school for $18, tax included ($24 with shipping). A portion of the proceeds are donated to Arts for Children of Toronto. |
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Auditions
In
Canada, it's often said that a best seller is a book that has sold 5000
copies. By these standards, the Avenue Road Art School's Jumbo Book
of Art, published just this past fall, is a runaway success. The
Publisher, Kids Can Press, has sold over 35,000 copies, including 25,000
to the Scholastic Book Clubs and Fairs in the US and Canada. It has
won two prestigious prizes in the US – the Gold Award in the Books
Category of the 2003 National Parenting Publications Awards for Children's
Resources, and First Place in the Walt Disney Adventures Magazine annual
Book Awards Contest in the "Hands On" Category. And it has international
editions coming out in China and the Netherlands. That is all in the
first six months!