Stories from an Urban Arts Educator

Teaching Interdependence through Love and Compassion

2012-09-18T13:37:00.000-04:00

Spirituality, Mysticism, and Arts Education

2012-08-22T14:19:00.000-04:00

Recently, a colleague and I had a discussion about the euphoria we sometimes experience when musicking (the social interaction of engaging in music). Joyce teaches music at the secondary level

Developing Figurative Thinking

2012-06-24T17:39:00.001-04:00

During the four months since my last post, I have been thinking about the format of this blog. A colleague commented that he didn’t have time to read the last posting when he received the e-mail

Supplemental Educational Services Threaten Opera Project

2012-02-23T21:08:00.000-05:00

Tom and I had just taken attendance during our second after-school opera rehearsal. Unexpectedly, five students informed us that they could no longer participate in the opera project due to

Wide-Awakeness

2011-11-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

On a midmorning in late September, I sit alone in the backyard, noticing what there is to be noticed: Prickling on my cheeks and arms, the sun warms my skin. A lone cricket calls to another, cree-cree, cree-cree, cree-cree. In the distance a squirrel chatters angrily, &

You Never Know

2011-10-16T18:20:00.000-04:00

Emmanuel brought urban culture into the classroom like no other student had ever done before (or since). He was a tall, thin, handsome, black boy who entered the school late in September 2005. The language of the street flowed effortlessly from his lips; ‘bling,’ ‘grille,’ and ‘Bentley’ were embedded in the discourse so naturally. His glib manner

Eek! It's a Mouse!

2011-10-03T20:23:00.000-04:00

It is an uncomfortably warm, humid morning in June. My students are in the middle of their performance – a medieval musical play about the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters. As I stand in the miniscule orchestra pit, I can see the actors in front of me singing and dancing on stage. I look to my right and see the instrumentalists kneeling on the floor of

Chinese Lion Dance

2011-09-18T19:02:00.000-04:00

The ornate, yellow and white clad lions bobbed in time to the percussive rhythms of cymbals, gongs, and drums. Flashes of red and gold glittered as they moved. The audience cheered wildly as the lions performed athletic leaps upon tall poles, jumping effortlessly from one pedestal to another. The dancers’ legs were perfectly synchronized not only with each

The Arts and Social Justice

2011-07-31T16:30:00.000-04:00

Recently, I have been rewriting a journal article that was previously rejected. The theme of the special issue for the journal was the relationship between the arts and social justice. In making connections between the arts and social justice, I thought it might be helpful to share my ideas here in this posting and solicit feedback via the “leave comments”

Selenna's Discovery

2011-07-17T16:06:00.000-04:00

Selenna was a shy, quiet, reserved Cambodian girl whom I had known since first-grade. For four years at the school, she refused to participate in music classes, preferring to watch in silence, huddled in her winter jacket even in warm weather. During the first music class of fifth-grade, however, she accepted my invitation to participate in mirror movement.

The White Teacher

2011-07-10T17:55:00.000-04:00

My undergraduate teacher training studies prepared me in areas of subject matter, theory and pedagogy, and various classroom management techniques. What I lacked was preparation in cultural diversity. My first teaching position was in the barrios of East Los Angeles, CA. My third-grade class consisted of twenty-nine students: three blacks, one

Risk-taking and Imagining "As If" Worlds

2011-07-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

Ali was too cool for music class. Too cool for school. Too cool for life. At only eleven years old, she was 5’ 7”, had the body of a sixteen year old, and the blasé attitude of an adult. Her jeans were tight and her necklines low. The boys loved to be close to her.I had known Ali since she was in kindergarten. Back then she was quiet and

That Was Beautiful

2011-06-29T21:51:00.000-04:00

As part of a guided listening lesson, a class of second-graders first had to describe with rich language the music of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” (1). They employed musical terms describing tempo, dynamics, mood, and instrumentation. A few students depicted colorful images that the music evoked for them. Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 is a piece originally written

Children of Possibility

2011-06-26T21:37:00.000-04:00

I have been teaching in inner-city schools for over a quarter century. My first teaching position was at Dolores Mission School in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles in 1985. Fresh out of college, I was a young, inexperienced, naive, idealistic Jesuit Volunteer who wanted to change the world. Instead, I fell in love with my students and found that they and their world