 STREET BLOG: OUR STAFF SHARES THEIR STORIES
Monday, May 19, 2008
Streetside in the News!
Recently, Streetside was in the news! You can check out an interview with Streetside Stories staffers Tara and Linda here, on KPFA's Flashpoints program. Just click on May 16th ; Streetside's interview begins at about the 30 minute mark. Streetside was also featured in Just Cause, a new magazine that focuses on the causes that unite us. You can read the article here. Labels: Arts education, Flashpoints, Just Cause, KPFA, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 2:54 PM
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Poems from Francisco
 Streetside just finished up a great after school workshop at Francisco Middle School as part of our Literate Learners project. Literate Learners is an initiative that offers our Tech Tales, Storytelling Exchange, and Streetside After School programs to middle school English language learners in San Francisco and Oakland. Often, English learners don't get a lot of arts education, and they miss out on the sizable benefits that the arts provide. Literate Learners is working to fill that gap for 1,000 students. We're even getting a formal evaluation of the project done by WestEd, to find out how we help English learners, and how we can help them even more. In Literate Learners, we've seen newcomers to the United States get up and do theater, write full stories in English, and share their work with others, out loud. We're very proud of these students, and the power their stories have to get them excited about learning English. Here's a poem, written by Literate Learners participant Sandy Jiang. Immigrants are PeopleImmigrants are people From north, south, east west Immigrants are people Come in spring, summer, fall, winter Immigrants are people Work hard, get paid less Immigrants are people Speak language differently Immigrants are people Honestly Immigrants are people Selflessly Immigrants are people Same as others Seeking freedom and happiness And another, by Vinh Nguyen. I Am HereI am here I am like a big ball Like a moon, And I am an apple in trees the wind can’t blow I want happiness I feel so good Labels: Arts education, English language learners, ESL, Streetside Stories, WestEd posted by Streetside Stories @ 1:46 PM
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Sharing Days
 At the end of each of our Streetside After School workshops, Streetside has a sharing day. On that day, students share the stories they created with Streetside for an audience of fellow students, parents, teachers and friends. They get recognition for being part of a community of storytellers, in the form of a certificate of achievement and lots of applause. Many of our older students even get a cash stipend for completing the program. Then everyone has pizza and juice. This year, Streetside is having at least 38 sharing days. Wow, that's a lot of pizza! Last week, we had a sharing day at Glen Park Elementary in San Francisco, where we helped 60 kindergarten through second grade students become storytellers. All of these brave students got up on stage, shared stories and showed off the books they created. Above, staff member Erika Alexander helps a student practice before taking the stage. Streetside StoriesArts Educationafterschool programsGlen Park ElementaryLabels: afterschool programs, Arts education, Glen Park Elementary School, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 12:10 PM
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Saturday, December 15, 2007
Streetside Fall Showcase on KPFA!
On December 14, Streetside students showcased the stories they created this fall. There were lots of holiday treats, a showing of our Streetside video, and lots of digital stories, photos, and published work. Best of all, the second hour of the showcase was broadcast live on KPFA's La Onda Bajita radio show. Streetside kids and their families chatted with the hosts and shared stories, with a cheering audience backing them up. As Streetside kids, headphones on, spoke into the mic, their parents were standing beside them, full of pride. You can listen to the broadcast here. Labels: Arts education, KPFA, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 11:48 AM
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Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Raising Voices
A couple of weeks ago, we held our annual fundraising breakfast, Raising Voices, at the Sir Francis Drake downtown. We were so thrilled about sharing Streetside's work with our 250 guests. So many people came forward with donations, advice, and offers to volunteer. We have raised over $51,000 to date. Wow! Thanks to our wonderful and generous community. And thanks to the staff, board, table captains and speakers who made it all happen. Streetside's Executive Director Linda Johnson  Audrey Adams, speaker and teacher extraordinaire, talks about working with Streetside.  Angelica and Carlos Escobar. Angelica's digital story about her dad serving in Iraq was amazing.  Longtime Streetsider Peter Vestal  Streetside StoriesSir Francis Drakearts educationLabels: Arts education, Sir Francis Drake, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 12:16 PM
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Monday, September 24, 2007
A Trend in Arts Education?
 There was a great article in Edutopia recently about trends in education. One trend that was highlighted is the move away from arts education in schools, due partly to the rigors of the No Child Left Behind law. At the same time, though, arts education is being seen more and more, by parents and educators, as a crucial part of education and achievement. (Statistics here, for those who want more info about arts education's impact). The resulting demand for arts education, coupled with the lack of school time for arts, means that community-based organizations like Streetside are being called on more and more to provide arts programs. That often happens after school, or during school, when teaching artists make the arts part of subjects like language arts and social studies. In San Francisco, The San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Families has been at the forefront of this trend. They've begun supporting the arts after school, giving new grants to many of San Francisco's finest arts providers, like 826 Valencia, Cellspace, and Performing Arts Workshop, not to mention Streetside. For Streetside, the increased interest in the arts after school means that we are offering after school programming to over 400 students this year--so far. Our schedule of after school workshops used to be a couple of pages long. Now it's 11 pages long. Just today, three new staff people came in, reporting back excitedly about their new groups, who were choosing blog names and playing theater games. Labels: 826 Valencia, afterschool programs, Arts education, Edutopia, No Child Left Behind, Performing Arts Workshop, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 5:48 PM
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Thursday, September 06, 2007
A New School Year!
 We've had a busy summer, moving to our new home at 20th and Harrison and getting ready for our biggest year of programming ever. Streetside plans to help 2,500 youth tell their stories this year--our biggest year ever. And when we say working with youth, we mean that each youth we serve will receive at least 16 hours of Streetiside programming, with lots of hands on attention from staff and our wonderful volunteers. Usually, it's even more than that. Streetside also has the biggest staff we've ever had this year--sixteen full and part time staff members. We started off the year right, with a 2.5 day training (shown in the photos) in all of the tools we need to do a great job--classroom management, cultural competency, youth development, and working with English Language Learners. Our first day of school? September 17, when the Tech Tales program will kick off at Francisco Middle School in San Francisco.  cultural competenceyouth developmentStreetside Storiesarts educationLabels: Arts education, Cultural Competence, Streetside Stories, Youth Development posted by Streetside Stories @ 2:25 PM
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Thursday, May 24, 2007
Bored at School
 An article in today's Contra Costa Times talks about how kids in low-performing schools take multiple language arts and math classes each day. As a result, students are often taking no electives at all--no science, no art, even no social studies. This trend is largely a result of the increased focus on testing. Schools are desperately striving to meet improvement goals on standardized tests, or be penalized. In the process, students often lose their shot at a well-rounded and fun education. We see this phenomenon all the time in schools. Students tell us that our program is the only arts experience they've had all year. And they often seem bored, disconnected from learning. Who can blame them? Wouldn't most of us feel the same? Streetside focuses not on increasing test scores, but on building community and helping young people find their unique voices as writers and people. When we come into a classroom, young people, asked what they think and how they feel, come alive. And as an added bonus, research has found that our Storytelling Exchange program raises language arts test scores. standardized testsarts educationremedial classesStreetside StoriesLabels: Arts education, remedial classes, standardized tests, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 10:14 AM
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Saturday, March 10, 2007
March is Arts Education Month!
 March is Arts Education Month! Streetsiders celebrated by attending a fantastic symposium put on by the Alameda County Office of Education's Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership. The efforts of Louise Music and her crew to bring arts education to every school, every child, every day are a model that should be followed nationwide. They manage to make everyone--students, parents, schools, arts providers--feel included and ready to take on the challenges of changing our educational system. The Alliance brought David Perkins and Lois Hetland, two architects of the Teaching For Understanding framework. TFU, as it's often called, is a brilliantly simple way for educators to build lessons that truly engage youth, and help them develop a deep understanding. Streetside uses TFU in our collaboration with KIPP Schools, and we're always eager to learn more. Labels: Arts education, Arts Education Month, Project Zero, Streetside Stories, Teaching For Understanding posted by Streetside Stories @ 8:45 PM
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Friday, March 02, 2007
New Study Looks at Arts Ed in California
A new study, An Unfinished Canvas, is showing that only 11% of schools statewide meet state goals for arts education. The report can be downloaded here. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and SRI International conducted the study. According to the study:
*29% of California schools do not offer a standards-based course of study in any of the four arts disciplines—music, visual arts, theatre, and dance.
*89% of California schools fail to offer a standards-based course of study in all four disciplines, falling short of state goals.
*61% of schools do not have even one full-time equivalent arts specialist.
*Standards alignment, assessment, and accountability practices are uneven in arts education, and often not present at all.
*California students lag behind the national average in hours of arts instruction—up to 50% less in music and visual arts instruction at the elementary level.
As we've blogged about before, research has shown Streetside's amazing results when working with students. Our programs increase test scores, help students engage in school, and build community. But students need much more than any one program or teacher can offer. They need arts to be woven into their school experience, and to receive arts experiences that build on each other. We look forward to the impact this study can have at building arts opportunities for students statewide. Press coverage of the study can be found here. In local news, the San Francisco Examiner ran an update about how the San Francisco Unified School District is working to integrate arts into schools through the Arts Education Master Plan. Go SFUSD! Labels: Arts education, Arts Education Master Plan, arts instruction, arts standards, San Francisco Unified School District, Streetside Stories posted by Streetside Stories @ 10:51 AM
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