the bulletin
Visual Arts faculty member David Roane
Arts Teacher Advises MFA Visual arts faculty member David Roane was appointed to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Educator Advisory Board and will serve a two-year appointment. Roane joins 20 other local educators who come from public, private, parochial and charter school systems. The board advises the MFA’s education department, which develops a variety of programs to serve K–12 educators and schools. Roane serves on a subcommittee, which helps develop programs that align with the Common Core—an optional set of academic standards for public school systems.
“What’s great about this advisory board is that it’s made up of teachers from all systems,” says Roane, who is one of few independent school teachers on the board. “I can bring some contrast and a different perspective on the profession, without feeling like I am being patronizing in any way. Nobles dignifies the profession of teaching in ways that are rarely found in secondary education. The school allows teachers to be professionals and grants us autonomy. And we’re provided with support and resources that place us in the best position to succeed.”
Roane, who has taught in public and private institutions, and suburban and urban schools, believes in continually engaging in conversations about education reform. “Working at Nobles has sharpened my awareness of the inequities that exist in our nation’s education system,” he says. “I believe it’s everyone’s duty to protect public education, no matter where one works. The task of educating our nation’s youth demands attention and expertise from all realms of society. It’s an issue that’s really important and has become even more important to me since I’ve been working at Nobles.” The board recently helped with the launch of a website for educators (http:// educators.mfa.org), which offers free teaching tools and resources to build interactive art-based lesson plans. Educators have access to online art collections and to create blogs, online discussion groups and activities, among other curricula. Roane helped forge a collaboration between the Nobles visual arts department and the MFA to further examine teaching techniques, including VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies). He hopes the relationship will extend to other departments, such as the history and English departments, which could also benefit from the affiliation. “MFA’s programming is extensive. There are so many exciting things going on—a lot of it free,” he says. “[As board members], we’re not just participating in the development of programs but also helping promote the programs.”
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