The Arts in Education
Exclusive Interview with Yoko Ono
By Dr. Pola Rosen
Education Update (EU): In your poignant introduction to the John Lennon Anthology, you mention the great love that you and John shared. In what way do you think your talent in the arts helped him?
Yoko Ono (YO): Just the fact that we were there together, made us realize things we would otherwise not realize....READ MORE

Jacques d’Amboise, Preeminent Dancer and Founder, National Dance Institute
By Lisa K. Winkler
“I don’t have to do anything but enjoy,” National Dance Institute (NDI) founder and ballet dancer Jacques d’Amboise says. But d’Amboise has done plenty....READ MORE

An Interview with the Juilliard String Quartet
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Making its first appearance with its new member Nick Eanet (Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) recently, The Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) was led in animated conversation by noted lecturer, writer and broadcast commentator Nancy Shear....READ MORE

Making Room for the Arts
By Richard Kessler
Is the state law that created mayoral control of New York City public schools is set to expire in June, state policymakers, parents, and everyone in between is discussing what governance structure is most appropriate for New York City’s education system and its over one million students....READ MORE

Paula Nadelstern:
Unique Quilter Exhibit at American Folk Art Museum
Paula Nadelstern’s exhibit is not to be missed....READ MORE

More Articles From the May 2009 Issue To Come Soon!

APRIL 2009

CUNY In The News
Spitzers’ Gift of $25 Million to CUNY Will Change Students’ Lives
By Steve Frank
The economy may be in recession, but City University of New York (CUNY) recently reached its ambitious $1.2 billion fundraising goal three years ahead of schedule, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein announced.....READ MORE

Bronx Community College Presents Awards to Stellar Grads: Administrator, Scientist and Nurse
By Lauren Shapiro
Community colleges get a bum rap.  Some say their graduates do not excel and are not high achievers.....READ MORE 

An Inside Look Into
The Teaching Profession
Ariel Nadelstern: A Teacher Always Looking to Learn
By Lauren Shapiro
When asked how she chose the teaching profession, Ariel Nadelstern responds, “It actually chose me. I was relocating from Miami when a friend of my mom’s suggested I apply at DeWitt Clinton.”....READ MORE

Joyce Gilliard-Williams: A Commitment that Spans Generations
By Lauren Shapiro
One of the advantages of teaching Kindergarten in the same school for 25 years, says Joyce Gilliard-Williams, is that, “I know the children that are coming to me now and I know their parents.....READ MORE

A Troubling Experience at a Struggling School
By Lauren Shapiro
It’s no secret that some schools don’t work. The 2007-2008 statistics on the New York City Department of Education website (http://schools.nyc.gov) show 374 New York City schools in need of improvement (SINI) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.....READ MORE

Architecture: A Passion & A Career
Despite significant gains made by women interested in careers in architecture, the profession remains male-dominated. The prestigious awards, such as the Pritzker Architecture Prize, it’s been observed, go overwhelmingly to men, and women rarely “receive headline-grabbing commissions.” Still, it should be noted that Marion Mahoney Griffin who was the country’s first officially licensed architect, was also Frank Lloyd Wright’s first employee. And no doubt the 36-year old advocacy group, The Organization of Women Architects and Design Professionals, has been and continues to be a major force in improving the professional standing of women architects by way of promoting networking opportunities, providing support for women entrepreneurs and offering women students mentoring programs and resources. In this spirit, Education Update is pleased to showcase two women architects who Made It.

Shirley Sherak
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
That Shirley Sherak went to architecture school when she was already in her `30s speaks multitudes about this soft-spoken, modest but intensely focused woman whose rigorous intelligence is immediately apparent in the thoughtful way she eschews the predictable response and tests answers on the pulse.....READ MORE

Maggi Sedlis Goldstein
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Maggi Sedlis Goldstein, a licensed architect, “evolved” into the project management business from a career as a practicing architect, and has been at the helm of her Project Management business, Sedlis Goldstein Group, LLC, since 1995.....READ MORE

Annie Kurtin: Architecture Student Follows Her Dream
By Sybil Maimin
In architecture, Annie Kurtin has clearly found the perfect fit.....READ MORE

GUEST EDITORIAL

GUEST EDITORIAL
The Cooper Union Celebrates Its 150th Anniversary 
By Dr. George Campbell, Jr.
One hundred and fifty years ago Peter Cooper, a true urban visionary, established The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art with the belief that all who qualify should have the opportunity for a college education of the highest quality and to the possibilities that it offers.....READ MORE

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

Dr. Christine Cea, New Appointment to Board of Regents from Staten Island
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Education Committee Chair Catherine Nolan and Higher Education Committee Chair Deborah Glick announced the election of Dr. Christine Cea and Wade Norwood as the newest members of the 17-member panel of the New York State Regents.....READ MORE

Is City-Funded Day Care at Risk?
By Dr. Randi Herman
As New Yorkers suffer through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, we find our city-funded Day Care system under attack once again. Without communicating why, or providing any transition, the Mayor’s office seems bent on upending Day Care Centers.....READ MORE

The Windward School’s Mission
By Dr. John J. Russell, Head of Windward School
In his most recent book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell contends that the extraordinarily successful individuals he studied did not reach their level of achievement by pure merit.....READ MORE

COLLEGES & GRAD SCHOOLS

THE DEAN'S COLUMN
Motivating Instruction: for Mathematics and Other Subjects
By Dean Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D.
One of the most important aspects of classroom instruction is the way you motivate the students in your class to be receptive (enthusiastically) to the topic of a lesson.....READ MORE

APRIL Is NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
City Tech Professor Captures Walt Whitman Spirit in Digital Teaching
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently awarded Matthew K. Gold, assistant professor of English at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), a grant for his innovative digital humanities project, ”Looking for Whitman: The Poetry of Place in the Life and Work of Walt Whitman.”....READ MORE

TOURO COLLEGE
Start Your 2009 Educational Goals at the New York School of Career and Applied Studies, a Division of Touro College
At the New York School of Career and Applied Studies (NYSCAS), a division of Touro College, new and transfer students constitute an integral segment of our student body, bridging a diversity of educational backgrounds that enrich and strengthen the overall academic experience for all students.....READ MORE

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Education Update’s Second New York Citywide Special Education Conference at Hunter College
By Sybil Maimin
Education Update’s recent Second New York Citywide Special Education Conference at Hunter College provided much needed insight, data, and innovative approaches to parents and teachers working with special needs children.....READ MORE

SPORTS & CAMPS

Ruth Lovelace is “Coach Love” at Boys & Girls High, Brooklyn
By Richard Kagan
Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant section is an inner-city neighborhood. Poverty and crime are all too prevalent.....READ MORE

MUSEUMS AS EDUCATORS

Gilder Lehrman Institute Brings Abe Lincoln To Capitol Hill
By Steve Frank
More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other American, but when he sought a seat in the U.S. Senate from Illinois—once in 1855 and again in 1858—he was defeated both times and never served in that legislative body.....READ MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

Believe
By Rachel Gellert
It’s 11:15 p.m. “Charley,” I groan, “your parents will be home any second. You have to go to sleep.” I have been babysitting for the past six hours, and my last nerve is fraying.....READ MORE

BOOKS

Review of Give Them Poetry! A Guide To Sharing Poetry With Children K-8
By Merri Rosenberg
As someone who was expected to memorize poems from canonical writers like William Blake, William Wordsworth and Emily Dickinson (with a little Robert Frost, too, as I recall) during my grade school years at what is now Brooklyn’s Berkeley Carroll school, I was disappointed that poetry rarely figured in the curriculum for my children at their suburban public school....READ MORE

Review of A Parents’ Guide To Special Education In New York City And The Metropolitan Area
By Merri Rosenberg
Few experiences are as overwhelming for parents of special needs children as negotiating the complex and often confusing world of special education....READ MORE