Spotlight

In a recent interview with MAAE Executive Director, Phyllis Pasley, Tom had this to say:

E.D. What are some favored ways of spending spare time?

Tobias: Technically, since I’m retired, all of my time is spare. However, I’ve created a variety of activities that make up the totality of all the time I have available. So, all of my time is spare and none of my time is spare. Here is the current list of my activities, not necessarily arranged by degree of importance:

• MAAE meetings and projects

• Continuing to improve my German Language reading comprehension and ability to speak. I continue to take a Saturday morning German class.

• Working on several home improvement projects and making improvements to my artist’s studio on the second floor of a rental property I own

• Traveling to visit my children and grandchild. This has been curtailed recently.

• Creating works of art. Lately these have been drawings that have a common theme of social justice.

• Reading a variety of newspapers, magazines and books.

E.D. - What personal achievement gives you the greatest satisfaction?

Tobias: Looking back on my career as an art teacher and my four and a half years as the DESE Arts Education Director, there have been numerous days, hours and minutes that have been deeply satisfying and would be worthy of an achievement story. One event stands out though, and I knew going into it that it would probably be the most influential thing I accomplished in my career.

I had been seeking an opportunity to speak with the members of the Board of Education since I started at DESE, but nothing ever came my way. I always had to sit and listen while others spoke about their programs or policy.

When it came time to tell them about the new arts standards, there was only one person from DESE who had the background to answer all of the Board’s questions. I was the one.

I went into the meeting pretty confident, and I think I did a pretty good job answering their questions. They wanted to know why I thought the new Arts Learning Standards were important for Missouri students. They didn’t really want to know a lot about what the standards said about arts learning, but they were very curious about how the standards connected to learning in other subject areas.

E.D. - What brought you into MAAE?

Tobias: It was through my previous position as the DESE Arts Education Director that I began to work closely with MAAE and the Missouri Arts Council. Ben Martin from MAAE and Julie Hale from MAC guided me through that difficult first year at DESE and helped me find my voice.

E.D. - In your tenure, tell us what educational issue that MAAE has addressed that you believe was most beneficial to Missouri's arts ed community?

Tobias: Two things come to mind. The arts education required minutes in elementary and middle school and the one-year high school fine arts requirement are lasting MAAE achievements. I feel that long term, both of these accomplishments are in danger of being diluted. I hope I am wrong.

The other beneficial accomplishment that MAAE initiated and sponsored are two research projects that used DESE student data to indicate a clear relationship between strong arts programs, students enrolled in these programs and improved academic performance, attendance, and engagement in school.

E.D. - Are there any particular initiatives of MAAE that are of significant personal interest to you at this time? If so - tell me which issue and why it is important to you.

Tobias: The future of arts integration and STEAM in our state are important to me because I feel that through these two approaches to teaching, the role of the arts teacher will become indispensable to school programs as the arts become more clearly seen as essential to improved student outcomes as well as to social and emotional well-being.

E.D. - What do you see as pivotal issues to be addressed moving forward?

Tobias: For the future, I see an expanding role for the arts educator as awareness of the interconnectedness of our arts standards and our approach to teaching make the growth of arts rich schools in our state compelling and necessary in producing well-rounded citizens who can adapt to the ever-changing demands of our new economy, society and culture.