Did you know that when arts teachers teach students to create, they are bringing out the highest order thinking skills? Did you know that the New Bloom’s Taxonomy has CREATE at the very top? As part of the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative, which was held at the Maine College of Art in Portland, I just spent a week with 35 fabulous music, drama, dance and visual art teachers from Fort Fairfield to Sanford, who collaborated with each other on improving teaching and learning in their classrooms. There were sessions on Assessment, Technology, Leadership, Creativity, presentations on how the arts may be impacted by the Common Core and the National Core Arts Standards. This has been a very inspiring week!