Maine Humanities Council
Notes from an Open Book: December, 2008
1. Sharing the Gift of Reading
December is an important time of year for many supporters of nonprofits to ensure that financial gifts provide a tax-deductible benefit. Much of the support the MHC receives at this time of year goes directly to our programs for readers-to-be through Born to Read. The program reaches children through training early childhood educators and other care providers in child care programs statewide.
With that in mind, we wanted to share a note that one educator sent to us in late October about a Born to Read training she had just attended. Ashley Braley works at Small Wonders Daycare in Brunswick, a home-based program that serves infants through preschoolers. She highlights exactly the experiences that we hope trainings bring to participants:
I will never read a children’s book the same way I did prior to the Born to Read seminar. As a preschool teacher, I have read many children’s books, but the insight that was given at the seminar provided me with a new outlook when it comes to choosing books for my class.
The instructors were a wonderful pair who complemented each others’ knowledge and skills. They made the seminar interesting through small group activities to get the group brainstorming. They didn’t just provide information on the books, but they also showed countless ways to use it in the child care facility.
Each week provided an important element to the overall theme of conflict resolution through the use of examples and the informative articles that were handed out. Everything was organized so well and my little binder is proof of how detailed each week was.
Getting to know the other people who worked in similar environments gave me a nice retreat in the evening to share and listen to stories that expanded my knowledge and gave me a group of people that were so easy to relate to. With each new week, new book, new article, new discussion, a plethora of experiences and ideas were generated, both from the instructors and the participants.
The theme of conflict resolution is so applicable to the preschool children I work with who are just starting to gain social skills. I have more confidence in my ability to guide the children to make constructive decisions in resolving conflicts big or small. I was able to use every book that was given during the program in some way with my children. The books that were given out added so much to our class library. I cannot thank the Maine Humanities Council enough!
We’re glad to know from Ashley how much this program will help her work in years to come. If readers are interested in helping bring Born to Read to more people like Ashley, contact Diane Magras, Director of Development, for more information.
Back to the Top2. MHC News
Born to Read’s December book list shares titles about giving and sharing. Stories include a family who receives a penguin each day for a year, two girls sharing one pair of sandals in a refugee camp, and a boy struggling to think of a meaningful gift for his grandmother.
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still need links
Podcast Update
New podcasts include school librarian Connie Burns reading excerpts from several novels, such as Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat and Revolution is Not a Dinner Party. We’ve come to realize how large this section of our website has grown, so we encourage readers to skim through and listen to anything they’ve missed.
Back to the Top3. Facilitator Profile: Nancy Ponzetti
You don’t have to talk very long with Nancy Ponzetti before you realize that she loves teaching and is a lifelong learner herself. She graduated from Sacred Heart University with a B.A. in English and received her Masters from UNH in History. She has been dipping into the humanities with MHC ever since. In the Longfellow Institute she published her research on the Longfellows in Gorham, and with the first Teaching American History Through Biography program, she revisited the life of Kate Douglass Wiggin, a famous author from Maine. What she loves about the MHC programs is that teachers are treated as professionals and learners themselves and that MHC provides great books and tremendous scholars at a reasonable price.
Nancy participated in the first History Camps on Joshua Chamberlain and Margaret Chase Smith as a teacher assistant, and then she served as the Director of the Longfellow Camp in the summer of 2006. Based on conversations with participants, she feels that the most important aspects of history camp are the special behind-the scenes visits to, say, the basement of the Chamberlain house, or the building of the new exhibit at the Maine State Museum, or the Longfellow archives at the Maine Historical Society. She noted that participants at History Camp love being treated more like college students, and they love the experience of learning without assessments. Nancy will be working with the “Immigration Experience in Maine” history camp in Lewiston this summer. (For more information on this and other History Camps, please call our office at 207.773.5051.)
Nancy is currently the chair of the Social Studies Department at Catherine McAuley High School in Portland, ME and has designed and taught courses in every area of social studies, including World Geography, Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History, and Women’s Studies. She observes, “In my generation, women were not IN history”. She remembers reading John Demos’ A Little Commonwealth and realizing the importance of social history. Her current project as chair of the department is making sure her Women’s Studies course becomes obsolete because its content is integrated into every course in the department. She was Gilder Lehrman Maine History Teacher of the Year in 2006, and was chosen this year to facilitate for experienced AP U.S. History teachers at the AP Collaborative meetings held in Augusta.
What does Nancy do with her “spare” time? She’s a devout science fiction fan, especially of Crichton and Heinlein. And she loves sports, but most especially baseball and the Red Sox. She’ll be glad to discuss statistics with anyone.
Back to the Top4. Grants and Events
Recent Grants
$1,000 to the Saco Museum, Dyer Library Association, Saco, for Heat Stroke: New England Wax, Artists Working in Encaustic
This special exhibition will feature work from New England Wax, an association of artists who work in encaustic (a beeswax-based painting medium). The exhibition will offer the opportunity for local and regional artists to exhibit their work together and exchange ideas. Public programming in the form of lectures & demonstrations will also be provided.
Grant-Funded Events
Through January 11, 2009 ~~~ Portland
In conjunction with the exhibition “Textiles/Translations,” featuring the work of Alice Spencer, the University of New England’s Gallery of Art will hold a series of five educational programs. Each program will approach textiles from a different perspective: their cultures of origin, their common themes and symbols, the role of women in their creation, and their ability to inspire artists like Spencer. In addition to the general public, students from the Maine College of Art and local high schools will be encouraged to attend the exhibition (November 13, 2008 - January 11, 2009) and related programming, including a gallery talk and slide show with Alice Spencer on November 19 and a Global Textiles Expo on November 23. For details on future events, please call (207) 221-4499 or visit www.une.edu/artgallery.
December 4, 2008 - June 14, 2009 ~~~ Bar Harbor
The first test of the new textile display cases at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, purchased with support from a Humanities Infrastructure grant, comes with the exhibit Twisted Path: Contemporary Native American Artists Walking in Two Worlds, for which the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and American Art in Indianapolis has loaned a coat made by Mi’kmaq artist Teresa Marshall. This exhibit, along with future exhibits that take advantage of the new textile display cases, will particularly enhance the Abbe’s contribution to Native American studies in Maine schools. To learn more, please call (207) 388-3519 or visit www.abbemuseum.org.
April 3, 2009 - May 30, 2009 ~~~ Saco
A special exhibition at the Saco Museum will feature work from New England Wax, an association of artists who work in encaustic (a beeswax-based painting medium). Juried by Katherine French, Director of the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Massacusetts, the exhibition will offer the opportunity for local and regional artists to exhibit their work together and exchange ideas. Programming will include a lecture by Kim Bernard about the history of this ancient medium, as well as art-making activities and school tours. Connections will be made to nineteenth century waxworks in the Saco Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition opens on April 3, 2009, and runs through May 30. For more information, please call (207) 283-3861 or visit www.dyerlibrarysacomuseum.org.
Back to the Top5. What We’re Reading
This booklist includes personal favorites of MHC staff members, as well as books used by MHC programs. Featured titles are At One in a Place Called Maine, The Yearling, Why We Run, and Oblomov.
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6. Quote of the Month
“Participants commented during the final meeting that they needed these discussions and new material to keep them feeling centered during national/global crises.”
—Pat Onion, scholar/facilitator of the “Crossing Over” Let’s Talk About It in Belfast
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Thank you to our current members. Your support helps to make Maine Humanities Council programs like the ones detailed in this newsletter possible. If you are not a member but would like to make a gift you may do so online or contact me, Diane Magras, for more information.
Notes from an Open Book welcomes feedback from its readers. Please contact Diane Magras by email at diane@mainehumanities.org or by phone at (207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233, ext. 208) to respond.