Artists in the Classroom (11-12)

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” - Pablo Picasso

Notes

One of the activities I participated in during our Fall welcome back PD was an activity called Post Cards. It involved teachers reflecting on their summers, discussing them with their colleagues, and finally creating a post card that captured a person, place, or moment that held inspiration; a starting point, if you will, for what would hopefully be a creative and inspired year of arts teaching. For me, the first thing that popped into my head was a moment from a dance teacher training intensive that I participated in, in July (pictured above). I was receiving feedback on a mini lesson I’d given when I asked about suggestions regarding pacing; I’d run through my prompts at such a ridiculously quick speed that it left little time for participants to explore, which was the whole point of the activity. When I asked about this, about what an ideal pace might be, the facilitator replied by saying something to the effect of ‘you have to go at your own pace’ and then she said: “Always be yourself. Kids can smell a phony a mile away.” This string of words really really resonated with me. Not only because the idea of discovering and being yourself, in all contexts, is a central tenet of my belief / value system, but also because, within the context of teaching, which is an incredible profession but one that can easily (in my experience) lend itself to posturing, haughtiness and a lot of the fakey-fakey, I found these words invaluable. This was exactly what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it. A sort of “kiss of cosmic pool balls” as Thomas Pynchon would say. One of the reasons hearing these words had such a big impact on me is because they reaffirmed what I already believe (LOL!). No, but in all seriousness, we had been talking about Spiral Learning and how part of the natural process of making sense of the world around us involves having some kind of idea and then, through experience and reflection, and synthesis, coming back to that same idea with new understanding, a more informed perspective. This idea of returning to what we already know but in a new / more informed / different way is something I heard a lot of participants talk about. It’s also something that I find myself experiencing in all aspects of life, but especially teaching, and especially with regard to the notion of being yourself in the classroom. It doesn’t work any other way. When I started as an itinerant dance teacher, almost two years ago, I felt a sort of groundlessness. I had not planned on teaching theatre or dance. I had also not planned on teaching in an elementary school setting. I found myself in K-5 classrooms, drawing on anything I could to try to make things work. I had had no specific training as an elementary theatre or dance teacher but I did go through a pretty fantastic credentialing program, so I drew from my methods courses, no doubt. And I had years of dance class experiences which I borrowed from as well…. But essentially, apart from a short bout with student teaching, I had no experience and no idea what I was doing. So, I started by trying on a litany of other teacher’s ways. I would try almost any and everything I was seeing at least once and take almost any piece of advice at least once. And always. Always, always, always, I’d spiral my way up and around to the same but more informed realization that I absolutely had to be myself in the classroom, that the worst thing I could do was try to implement something I didn’t believe in fully. The kids could tell. I could tell. Everyone was uncomfortable. It was like experiencing bad / insincere acting: everyone in the space knows it sucks, but for some reason people stay / continue to watch / humor either because they are being polite or because they have to, or I don’t know why exactly… maybe just to honor the conventions of the theatre (?). Anyway, the point is that it felt like everyone in the classroom would loose when I tried to be something I wasn’t - the students and me. While on this topic, however, I have to stress how important I think the process is of experimenting with other people’s ways of being. As a professor of mine said “We are social beings so it makes sense that we learn by trying on other people’s ways.” I learned a lot by implementing systems that I totally didn’t agree with - usually it clarified for me exactly why I didn’t agree with them. Sometimes it helped me see that system x would work great if I was their classroom teacher but I’m not, I see them once a week and in that context system x isn’t appropriate or effective. Or sometimes I would find bits and pieces of various systems and strategies that I liked, that worked for me, that I tried on and that actually fit!! And those I’ve kept with me to this day and integrated into my teaching. There is much value in the process of trying on, I think. It’s like the external approach to characterization - sometimes you need to dress the part, to walk it, to look it, to experience it on a more superficial level BEFORE you can internalize it and figure out what your personal version of it is going to be. Trying on other people’s ways from the outside -> in is extremely valuable, especially if you have no idea what you’re doing - it’s a great place, and maybe the only place (?), to start. All that being said, once I had tried on ways that didn’t work for me, I just let them go. And what I was left with (and am always left with) is a growing and evolving me, that’s feeling more and more comfortable experimenting in the classroom. One thing I’ve realized though is that the me that I gotta be always has to be honest about the process. Students might ask me “why are you doing ______ differently Ms. Jakey?” and I just say “because I want to experiment with different ways of teaching.” or “we’ve been doing it ____ way for a long time and I’m interested to see what happens if we do it _______ way.” Once a 5th grader asked me: “Why can’t we make our own dance? Why do you always have to make up our dances?” and I replied “You have a great point. I’d like you to make your own dance but, as a teacher, I’m not sure how to structure that yet. So I’m sticking to what I know how to do right now.” Even though that’s not the ideal scenario, it’s an honest reply. And I’ve found that kids, like adults, really respond well to honest answers. I remember having tremendous respect for teachers that respected me enough to be honest with me, even if what they were saying was not exactly what I wanted to hear. I feel compelled to do the same. So, in short, I agree! You always have to be your(ever-evolving)self - in all aspects of life, and especially in a classroom. As an incredible high school teacher of mine once said: “…until you do, everything you touch will crumble.” In the context of teaching, in my experience, I don’t feel like it all crumbles per se, but it certainly unravels.

One of the activities I participated in during our Fall welcome back PD was an activity called Post Cards. It involved teachers reflecting on their summers, discussing them with their colleagues, and finally creating a post card that captured a person, place, or moment that held inspiration; a starting point, if you will, for what would hopefully be a creative and inspired year of arts teaching.

For me, the first thing that popped into my head was a moment from a dance teacher training intensive that I participated in, in July (pictured above). I was receiving feedback on a mini lesson I’d given when I asked about suggestions regarding pacing; I’d run through my prompts at such a ridiculously quick speed that it left little time for participants to explore, which was the whole point of the activity. When I asked about this, about what an ideal pace might be, the facilitator replied by saying something to the effect of ‘you have to go at your own pace’ and then she said:

“Always be yourself. Kids can smell a phony a mile away.”

This string of words really really resonated with me. Not only because the idea of discovering and being yourself, in all contexts, is a central tenet of my belief / value system, but also because, within the context of teaching, which is an incredible profession but one that can easily (in my experience) lend itself to posturing, haughtiness and a lot of the fakey-fakey, I found these words invaluable. This was exactly what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it. A sort of “kiss of cosmic pool balls” as Thomas Pynchon would say.

One of the reasons hearing these words had such a big impact on me is because they reaffirmed what I already believe (LOL!). No, but in all seriousness, we had been talking about Spiral Learning and how part of the natural process of making sense of the world around us involves having some kind of idea and then, through experience and reflection, and synthesis, coming back to that same idea with new understanding, a more informed perspective. This idea of returning to what we already know but in a new / more informed / different way is something I heard a lot of participants talk about. It’s also something that I find myself experiencing in all aspects of life, but especially teaching, and especially with regard to the notion of being yourself in the classroom. It doesn’t work any other way.

When I started as an itinerant dance teacher, almost two years ago, I felt a sort of groundlessness. I had not planned on teaching theatre or dance. I had also not planned on teaching in an elementary school setting. I found myself in K-5 classrooms, drawing on anything I could to try to make things work. I had had no specific training as an elementary theatre or dance teacher but I did go through a pretty fantastic credentialing program, so I drew from my methods courses, no doubt. And I had years of dance class experiences which I borrowed from as well…. But essentially, apart from a short bout with student teaching, I had no experience and no idea what I was doing.

So, I started by trying on a litany of other teacher’s ways. I would try almost any and everything I was seeing at least once and take almost any piece of advice at least once. And always. Always, always, always, I’d spiral my way up and around to the same but more informed realization that I absolutely had to be myself in the classroom, that the worst thing I could do was try to implement something I didn’t believe in fully. The kids could tell. I could tell. Everyone was uncomfortable. It was like experiencing bad / insincere acting: everyone in the space knows it sucks, but for some reason people stay / continue to watch / humor either because they are being polite or because they have to, or I don’t know why exactly… maybe just to honor the conventions of the theatre (?). Anyway, the point is that it felt like everyone in the classroom would loose when I tried to be something I wasn’t - the students and me.

While on this topic, however, I have to stress how important I think the process is of experimenting with other people’s ways of being. As a professor of mine said “We are social beings so it makes sense that we learn by trying on other people’s ways.” I learned a lot by implementing systems that I totally didn’t agree with - usually it clarified for me exactly why I didn’t agree with them. Sometimes it helped me see that system x would work great if I was their classroom teacher but I’m not, I see them once a week and in that context system x isn’t appropriate or effective. Or sometimes I would find bits and pieces of various systems and strategies that I liked, that worked for me, that I tried on and that actually fit!! And those I’ve kept with me to this day and integrated into my teaching. There is much value in the process of trying on, I think. It’s like the external approach to characterization - sometimes you need to dress the part, to walk it, to look it, to experience it on a more superficial level BEFORE you can internalize it and figure out what your personal version of it is going to be. Trying on other people’s ways from the outside -> in is extremely valuable, especially if you have no idea what you’re doing - it’s a great place, and maybe the only place (?), to start.

All that being said, once I had tried on ways that didn’t work for me, I just let them go. And what I was left with (and am always left with) is a growing and evolving me, that’s feeling more and more comfortable experimenting in the classroom. One thing I’ve realized though is that the me that I gotta be always has to be honest about the process. Students might ask me “why are you doing ______ differently Ms. Jakey?” and I just say “because I want to experiment with different ways of teaching.” or “we’ve been doing it ____ way for a long time and I’m interested to see what happens if we do it _______ way.” Once a 5th grader asked me: “Why can’t we make our own dance? Why do you always have to make up our dances?” and I replied “You have a great point. I’d like you to make your own dance but, as a teacher, I’m not sure how to structure that yet. So I’m sticking to what I know how to do right now.” Even though that’s not the ideal scenario, it’s an honest reply. And I’ve found that kids, like adults, really respond well to honest answers. I remember having tremendous respect for teachers that respected me enough to be honest with me, even if what they were saying was not exactly what I wanted to hear. I feel compelled to do the same.

So, in short, I agree! You always have to be your(ever-evolving)self - in all aspects of life, and especially in a classroom. As an incredible high school teacher of mine once said: “…until you do, everything you touch will crumble.” In the context of teaching, in my experience, I don’t feel like it all crumbles per se, but it certainly unravels.

Filed under Always. Be. Yourself. Jakey Toor Jakey Toor