Editorial Staff

Acclaimed Poet & Former NEA Chairman Dana Gioia on Poetry & Arts Education

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Dana Gioia, a poet, writer, and the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Dana discusses why the arts are so pivotal to the intellectual and civic development of America’s K-12 schoolchildren, allowing them to grow spiritually, emotionally, creatively, imaginatively, and even physically. He also explores how some of the specific skills students learn through music, drawing, poetry, and theater go well beyond traditional subjects. Dana explains why he believes the lack of arts education in our schools is a national problem, and addresses some misconceptions about why schools are not offering it. He delves into why poetry has such a profound connection to the human experience, and the many ways in which it builds self-confidence, emotional maturity, and can lead to intellectual transformation. Dana shares stories about learning from his Mexican-American mother to love the arts, teaching students to appreciate poetry at the University of Southern California, and the success of a national contest that he launched at the NEA, Poetry Out Loud. Throughout the interview, he treats listeners to recitations from Shakespeare and Poe, and concludes with a special reading of one of his own sonnets.

Stories of the Week: A new poll finds that 1 in 5 teachers say they are unlikely to return to their classrooms if schools reopen this fall, and in a separate poll of parents, 60 percent will likely pursue homeschooling options. A USA Today series highlights the benefits of high-quality dual-language programs to close achievement gaps among America’s five million English language learners, especially in states with a growing non-native population.

Newsmaker Interview Guest:

Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet and writer. Former California Poet Laureate and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), he was born in Los Angeles of a working-class, Italian- and Mexican-American family. Under Gioia’s direction, NEA’s work included Reading at Risk, To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, Poetry Out Loud, The Big Read, and Shakespeare in American Communities, which brought wide public attention to the importance of reading, drama, and the arts. He has published five full-length collections of verse, most recently 99 Poems: New & Selected (2016), winning the Poets’ Prize as the best new book of the year, while his work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Nation, Poetry, The New York Times Book Review, and The Hudson Review. Gioia has been awarded 10 honorary doctorates, and in 2010 he received the University of Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics. He received a B.A. and M.B.A. from Stanford and an M.A. from Harvard in Comparative Literature.

The next episode will air on June 5th, 2020 with guest Jeff Riley, the Massachusetts Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Newslinks:

Back to school? 1 in 5 teachers are unlikely to return to reopened classrooms this fall, poll says

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/05/26/coronavirus-schools-teachers-poll-ipsos-parents-fall-online/5254729002/

More US schools teach in English and Spanish, but not enough to help Latino kids

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/education/2020/01/06/english-language-learners-benefit-from-dual-language-immersion-bilingual-education/4058632002/

Get Updates on Our Education Research

Recent Episodes

John Steele Gordon on America’s Economic Rise

This week on The Learning Curve, guest co-hosts Charlie Chieppo and Derrell Bradford interview John Steele Gordon, the author of 10 books on business, economic, and technology history. They discuss the keys to America’s transformation into the world’s foremost economic power and its economic prospects for competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Dr. Ramachandra Guha on Gandhi’s Enduring Legacy

This week on The Learning Curve, guest co-hosts Charlie Chieppo and Mariam Memarsadeghi interview writer and biographer Dr. Ramachandra Guha. The author of the definitive two-volume biography of Mohandas K. Gandhi, Guha discusses Gandhi’s formative educational experiences, spirituality, political leadership, and philosophy of nonviolent resistance.

Paul Vallas on Chicago, School Reform, and Teachers’ Unions

This week on The Learning Curve, guest co-hosts Charlie Chieppo and Mary Tamer, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, Massachusetts, speak with Paul Vallas, former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools and a candidate for mayor of that city earlier this year.

U-Ark. Prof. Albert Cheng on Classical Education & School Choice

This week on The Learning Curve, guest co-hosts Charlie Chieppo and Alisha Searcy speak with Albert Cheng, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Education Reform in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. Professor Cheng talks about the importance of classical education for guiding educational philosophy and practice and shaping the character of students.

Professor Jay Parini on Thirteen Books That Changed America

This week on The Learning Curve, Jay Parini, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Middlebury College, discusses his book Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America, detailing how William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, The Federalist Papers, and the works of Thoreau, Stowe, Twain, Du Bois, and others have shaped the American mind, character, and identity.

Colossal Academy’s Shiren Rattigan on Microschools and School Choice

This week on The Learning Curve, guest co-hosts Charlie Chieppo and Kendra Espinoza interview Shiren Rattigan of Colossal Academy, a microschool in Florida. They discuss how Shiren became interested in K-12 education and how and why the COVID-19 pandemic led to her founding a microschool.