Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy on February 17, 2012
I have worked in collaboration with the Clay Studio for many years in order to provide access to the clay arts to the children who attended General George G. Meade Elementary School. I have greatly valued this partnership.
I am an educator who believes that children learn best when they are doing. This is a belief I hold in common with the Clay Studio organization. I love how the many clay artists working with my Meade children over the years have always put learning into the hands of the children. I most appreciate how they have helped our children to realize that they can be involved in shaping and influencing the world around them through the art they choose to create.
Many hundreds of the sons and daughters of our North Philadelphia community have been empowered by this notion that they can be creators…… a notion impressed upon them by the inspirational clay artists who helped them to shape clay into tangible statements of their own visions of beauty and personal expression.
Most of the children who appear in this video are Meade students. All of the clay murals shown are from the hallways of General George G. Meade School. It was my privilege to appear in this video in order to speak of the benefits of integrating the arts into the instructional programs of our school. Please join me in advocating for a robust arts education program in all of Philadelphia’s public schools. Please share this video with your friends, family and colleagues. Add your voice to the call for fair and adequate funding for our public schools.
A Big Idea that came out of my EduCon 2.4 experience was creating conditions in which failure is acceptable, useful, and fast. Students failing at something should be viewed as something instructive to both learner and educator. A classroom without risk damns those who don’t “get it” the first time. I really took to this idea and thought it related well to the kind of writing instruction I do with my 2nd grade classes.
As a classroom teacher, my position would likely not be among those eliminated within the next weeks to close the $61 million budget gap by June. Still, it was painful to read the list of items on the SRC’s “Options Menu” during that Thursday, January 19th meeting. How many more colleagues’ lives will be affected by massive layoffs, and how will the students cope? School police officers, nurses, bilingual counseling assistants, teachers, music programs, athletics—how do they matter in the lives of our students, and how do students experience the loss of these resources and relationships?
The 
In a