Its a big week for F.O.R.s (Friends of the Revolution). Jason Welker's Welker's Wikinomics has been nominated for an Edublog award for "Best Educational Wiki". Jason does really amazing things with his students there, I hope you'll check out their amazing work and cast your vote!

F.O.R. Rebecca Burch of Art 304 has published a great article in The Charleston Gazette about Marla, the four year old 'painting prodigy' of My Kid Could Paint That fame. Her article examines how Marla's talents don't reveal so much a unique ability, but a series of wider issues- a lack of willingness to use 'serious' art materials with young artists, and a wide lack of emphasis on art education in the schools. She writes:

Other kids are not getting the artistic training that Marla is getting, and sadly, the problem just gets worse as art programs are routinely cut further in most school systems. Some students don’t get the artistic training that 4-year-old Marla has gotten until they’re in high school — and then only if they have room in their schedules for art courses and are lucky enough to attend school in a district that will ply an art teacher with good (expensive) art supplies.

...and that's an excellent point. What does the quality of materials that we use with the students tell them about how seriously they should be taking their work? The conclusion that I came to after reading Rebecca's article is that we shouldn't be so shocked when a kid like Marla comes along. Instead, we should be shocked that its such a rare occurrence, and think about what else we need to do to change that.