This past Thursday a group of teachers took their third field trip organized by The Inspired Classroom. We attended Beat Night at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH. What fun! It was a great night of relaxin', groovin' and inspirin'.
The evening began with an hour of featured poets reciting their original poems. There they stood, poets of all ages and backgrounds sharing their experiences with us - unhinged, unrated, truthful and full of life. They spoke of love and pain, emotion and faith. And all this was recited to the backdrop of live, improvisational music. The poets asked for a certain feel and the musicians started to play, laying out the landscape on which the lyrics of the poems rested.
The second hour was open mic and those who felt it, signed up to recite a poem with or without the band. I, knowing I would regret it if I didn’t, decided to put my name down before I lost my nerve. Ayanna Gallant, the hostess of the night (and guest blogger on TIC) introduced the readers one by one and they got up to read.
One poet was a former student of mine who gave an emotional poem about a tragic childhood experience. And in the end of the poem we heard her be at peace. It was beautiful and poetic, it sucked me in to her experience and emotional past. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought how poetry must have been a healing agent for her and how fortunate for me to have been able to witness this beautiful young lady share this part of her with all of us.
A couple of poets later, it was my turn. Once introduced, I got up to the mic, asking the band leader, Larry Simon to play something rhythmic and sultry with lots of drums. He instructed the rest of the band and the music started to play…
It was like magic how my words melted together with the music. We complimented each other with each nuance of melody and lyric. The words poured out my mouth like satin and I was entranced in the moment created by the sounds all around me.
It was a great experience and I’m glad it was captured on video, or at least you can hear the audio.
Later, as I listened to the performance and remembered the experience, it got me thinking.
Why don’t we do things like this more often? Be creative, share our experiences and build community through these art forms in true, raw, and meaningful ways? For me, reading my poem was pure enjoyment, a thrill, but for others it can be a way to get a message out, to tell a story or act as therapy for their soul.
Why don't we ask students to do this more - write from their experiences, from the gut!?
Another teacher near us had some of his high school students there. Two were being featured that night. HE allows for this in his classroom. He inspires his students to write gutsy poetry that means something real for them in their lives.
We need to do more of this for our children and for ourselves. I am thankful for these field trips. They have helped me to stay inspired in my own teaching so that I can inspire my students!
Next month is jazz and poetry month. What a great excuse to use to try out some poetry writing with my students.
Showing posts with label field trips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label field trips. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, November 19, 2009
TIC - A New Beginning
This may ramble a little - just need to get some thoughts out...
For a leadership class I am currently enrolled in, I am to assess the environment I hope to change. Right now, I am in the middle of doing some reading and developing a survey. This is not easy. I feel like I have one chance to do this initial assessment well. Survey Monkey is the avenue I think I will take in terms of the platform for the assessment. I'm hoping that is the most user friendly for my colleagues. The questions are in arts integration and I plan to survey ALL teachers: classroom, arts, special ed and specialists.
My ultimate goal has been and continues to be focused on the teachers - what they need to develop their craft and feel comfortable in the arts as they teach. The long term goal is to reach out to teachers and to implement some sort of teacher-friendly program/professional development opportunities to do this. Something that is accessible, meaningful and, most importantly practical to the teachers.
I know that so many teachers see the value in arts education and integration, but the pressures being put on us is immense and it is hard to stray away from the basics. However, I believe that there is a way. There are places in our country who have seen such success in arts integration. It is my hope to shed light on this and to help empower teachers who want to integrate TO integrate.
I've been taking small, what I thought were unrelated steps, but the momentum has kicked in in the past few months. With the beginning of The Inspired Classroom's online social network http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com , many teachers have found a place to chat on various arts infused topics in education as well as find a community of like-minded educators.
We also started TEACHER FIELD TRIPS where teacher get together to do various cultural and arts infused activities. (The first one, going dancing, was such FUN!)
I continue to present at conferences and teach workshops in arts and music integration. This is a topic that teachers are into and once they hear the possibilities, they are convinced that there is a place for it in their classrooms!
There are many other possibilities with this too: Professional Learning Communities centered around arts integration, additional publications, community involvement and outreach, the use of artists in residence.
This is truly beginning to take shape and become something more than I anticipated 10 years ago when I started to write down the first sentences of what became my book on my once new computer.
My final note before I finish - "WE" I need a we in this now. I cannot do this alone. I am quickly realizing that the potential to this work is much greater than I am and in order to continue I need the ideas, support and community that other educators and interested persons can bring to the table.
And so, this fall has brought on a new beginning to Yeogirl Press and The Inspired Classroom. It is exciting, stimulating, overwhelming and nerve racking all at once. I guess that's a good sign of what is to come!
For a leadership class I am currently enrolled in, I am to assess the environment I hope to change. Right now, I am in the middle of doing some reading and developing a survey. This is not easy. I feel like I have one chance to do this initial assessment well. Survey Monkey is the avenue I think I will take in terms of the platform for the assessment. I'm hoping that is the most user friendly for my colleagues. The questions are in arts integration and I plan to survey ALL teachers: classroom, arts, special ed and specialists.
My ultimate goal has been and continues to be focused on the teachers - what they need to develop their craft and feel comfortable in the arts as they teach. The long term goal is to reach out to teachers and to implement some sort of teacher-friendly program/professional development opportunities to do this. Something that is accessible, meaningful and, most importantly practical to the teachers.
I know that so many teachers see the value in arts education and integration, but the pressures being put on us is immense and it is hard to stray away from the basics. However, I believe that there is a way. There are places in our country who have seen such success in arts integration. It is my hope to shed light on this and to help empower teachers who want to integrate TO integrate.
I've been taking small, what I thought were unrelated steps, but the momentum has kicked in in the past few months. With the beginning of The Inspired Classroom's online social network http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com , many teachers have found a place to chat on various arts infused topics in education as well as find a community of like-minded educators.
We also started TEACHER FIELD TRIPS where teacher get together to do various cultural and arts infused activities. (The first one, going dancing, was such FUN!)
I continue to present at conferences and teach workshops in arts and music integration. This is a topic that teachers are into and once they hear the possibilities, they are convinced that there is a place for it in their classrooms!
There are many other possibilities with this too: Professional Learning Communities centered around arts integration, additional publications, community involvement and outreach, the use of artists in residence.
This is truly beginning to take shape and become something more than I anticipated 10 years ago when I started to write down the first sentences of what became my book on my once new computer.
My final note before I finish - "WE" I need a we in this now. I cannot do this alone. I am quickly realizing that the potential to this work is much greater than I am and in order to continue I need the ideas, support and community that other educators and interested persons can bring to the table.
And so, this fall has brought on a new beginning to Yeogirl Press and The Inspired Classroom. It is exciting, stimulating, overwhelming and nerve racking all at once. I guess that's a good sign of what is to come!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Teacher Field Trips
This month, the The Inspired Classroom will be officially starting two new ways to get in touch with teachers - newsletters and field trips!
The first newsletter is set to be sent out on Thursday 11/5. It will be a short intro to TIC (The Inspired Classroom) and hopefully will spark interest and help the network (http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com) gain more membership. Anyone who is interested in submitting articles, both short and long, are encouraged to email submissions to newsletter@theinspiredclassroom.com.
Our first ever Teacher Field Trip will be held on 11/13. We will be going out dancing in Boston and we already have some interested teachers! The way I figure, in order for us teachers to be inspired, we need to get inspired and part of that is to feed our own creativity.
This is only the beginning, though! In the future TIC hopes to organize field trips to the symphone, to local poetry slams, museums, ropes courses - you name it! If we don't take care of our own creative sides, how can we do that for our students??
Needless to say I am excited! This is the beginning of a new page for TIC. So, help spread the word, get online, share your ideas, get inspired and be inspiring! That's what it is all about!!
The first newsletter is set to be sent out on Thursday 11/5. It will be a short intro to TIC (The Inspired Classroom) and hopefully will spark interest and help the network (http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com) gain more membership. Anyone who is interested in submitting articles, both short and long, are encouraged to email submissions to newsletter@theinspiredclassroom.com.
Our first ever Teacher Field Trip will be held on 11/13. We will be going out dancing in Boston and we already have some interested teachers! The way I figure, in order for us teachers to be inspired, we need to get inspired and part of that is to feed our own creativity.
This is only the beginning, though! In the future TIC hopes to organize field trips to the symphone, to local poetry slams, museums, ropes courses - you name it! If we don't take care of our own creative sides, how can we do that for our students??
Needless to say I am excited! This is the beginning of a new page for TIC. So, help spread the word, get online, share your ideas, get inspired and be inspiring! That's what it is all about!!
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