I teach with some very talented people. Take the other teachers on my fourth grade team: one is a great artist, one is a pianist and singer and the other wows me at every staff meeting as she sketches boarders around her notes. And I think to myself, do their students know this about them??? Maybe they have some idea if they take the time to look around the room and notice the decor and make the connection between decoration and teacher-creator. But I have to wonder if their talents are really known…
So is true for other people in my building. Do students SEE the artwork of our art teacher often enough? Do they know that the former beloved principal was an accomplished contralto! And how many other hidden talents are there in our building? Dancers, actors, designers? As part of a loving community, we need to work on getting our talents recognized and appreciated. Not as a means of PR, but as a way to instill CULTURE into our school and community at large.
The final piece
Sometimes it’s not just about showcasing student work, but the work of the adults who shape their lives!
Just this week a group of seven teachers from my district gathered together for our PLaiC (PLC focused on arts integration) meeting and created a piece of community art. When complete, we discussed ways we could use similar experiences with our students. Our piece of teacher artwork is now hanging in our school. I use it as a means to show my students that we teachers like to be creative beings too!
The Millwright-Poet
In the book Leadership is an Art, the author, Max De Pree told a story of a millwright who passed away, and when De Pree‘s father (the millwright’s boss at the time) went to visit the millwright’s family, his wife took out poetry to read during the visit. After reading through some poems, the wife revealed that the poetry was that of the millwright. Astonished by this realization, De Pree‘s father was left wondering, “Was he a poet who did millwright’s work, or was he a millwright who wrote poetry?” (p.6)
See the complete Millwright Story
This story was posed as a way for leaders to understand that all the people you work for and with have another dimension to themselves. That, “The art of leadership lies in polishing and liberating and enabling those gifts.” (p.8)
I agree with this whole-heartedly as a teacher who wants to find the gifts and talents of her students, but I also want to emphasize the importance of teachers being able to polish their talents as they feel liberated and enabled to use them in their teaching.
My purpose is for us as teachers not to think of ourselves as one or the other (a teacher or a talented person) but as both and let those talents show to our colleagues and students. We need to recognize our talents and use them to help ourselves be better at what we do. Maybe this should be part of our administrator’s job. I know mine strives to do this. But that is another post.
Composer in the Classroom
Debbie Ambrose who is currently teaching a fifth grade class in Newfields, New Hampshire shares her musical talents with the students in her school with composition.
One song, done while Debbie was teaching fourth grade was a culmination of a poetry unit she did with the other fourth grade class taught by Allie Bzdafka and some help from another talented colleague, Nate LaMontagne who played the guitar. Together, they wrote a poem about being in fourth grade and then turned it into a song.
(Links to these compositions no longer exist. ☹️)
Thank You Our Soldiers is another example of the work Debbie did with her fourth graders. It was written to send with supplies to soldiers overseas. They also sang it at their Memorial Day celebration. Just this week, Debbie’s school had a soldier stationed in Iraq visit them. The students sang the song to her and gave her a copy of the recording to bring back to Iraq.
Through her various teaching experiences at the Newfields Elementary school, Debbie has been able to touch the lives of many students with her musical talents.
Artist in a Traveling Global School
Dvora Geller has taught in the US, Europe, virtually and at International Schools in Zurich and Curacao. Currently, she is the math and science teacher at the THINK Global School , a high school where students and teachers travel and learn in twelve different countries over their four years.
Dvora gladly shares her talents with her students. Before she taught, she worked as a costume designer in New York. As a teacher, she has used her talents for school shows in Zurich using teachable moments to enhance her students’ experiences. Dvora is an avid knitter and has also been able to cultivate her own desire to paint taking classes as she travels and openly sharing her work with her students and colleagues.
Here is an example of her work. This work was done after listening to and being inspired by music.
Teacher Talents
There are teachers who are poets! screenwrights! dancers! writers! sculptors! athletes!
And let’s not limit ourselves to the arts.
Some of us are talented at collaborating! motivating! challenging!
(These talents happen to have skill sets related to the arts.)
I guess my position is this. No matter what your talent, share it with the ones you work with. Maybe you do so just by stating some of the things you enjoy doing, or maybe you use it as a vehicle to teach. But don’t waste it, don’t hide it!
Sixth Assignment:
Do something you love: make music, sing with your kids, dance, make something, go for a run – You love it? Do it!
Due: This weekend!
This is a great article – it really highlights the talent we have in the classroom and the importance of teachers in general.
Teachers really do touch the lives of their students, and what a wonderful thing it is to be able to involve the students in the creative process of writing a song, or painting a picture. You teachers are really our most important and prized assets, and though it’s not always spoken we as a society really do appreciate everything you do for our children, and ultimately us!!
Thanks Mark for your great comment. I can only hope that teachers always feel encouraged and comfortable enough to use their talents to reach out to their students. Sometimes it’s hard, so it’s nice to know others are doing it and that it is appreciated!
Here’s a quote I just grabbed off of Melissa’s website – http://mwedwardstechnology.blogspot.com/
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” ~John Quincy Adams
(and might I add, “…you are a teacher in an INSPIRED CLASSROOM!”)
🙂
Some teachers keep their personal life, creative or otherwise to themselves. I am not of this mindset. My students know that I have worked on a film, they know I edit screenplays, they have read the self-published book I have written, and they listen to me talk about the one I am working on now. I used my filmmaking experience to make a short stop-motion movie for them after a story we read in class about animation. I can still remember the looks on their faces that said, “This can really be done.”
Later in the school year, a District Film Festival was announced. I was proud when my students asked to make a film to enter the contest. I was impressed at how easily they retained and learned filmmaking skills based on our prior project. The notion of making a movie was so profound to my class that 16 out of 17 students came to school each day, longing for that hour we set aside to work on the project. After my principal saw the progress they were making, he authorized more time for my class to complete the project.
The film came out great. In the future, I believe my students will always remember this project as one of the pivotal events of their time in school. My kid’s film, INVASION OF THE ROBOTIC ROACHES can be viewed by following the link below:
http://myitowntv.com/media/776/Invasion_of_the_Robotic_Roaches/
My class and I will find out if we won an award in the Film Festival this Thursday, May 20, 2010 at the awards ceremony. At least one member of my class and I have to be at the ceremony to find out the winners.
However, my class already won. They won by the pride they feel, every time someone at school complements their film. They won because they took a DVD home of the film and showed their parents that they are filmmakers. They won simply because they started and finished a project like this in the first place.
And I won, because I was able to use my creative interests and experience to teach third graders how to make a film.
Thanks for this post Elizabeth. Just wanted to say that just Friday, I had some students from last year stop by for a visit. They were asking about the song projects we have this year and recalling ones they were part of, when one of them, with great pride, recited the lines she was responsible for in last year’s fifth grade song, “NES IS THE BEST”. How awesome it is to see the pride of a songwriter…a student who helped to create something from nothing!!! Debbie Ambrose
It’s funny… My students didn’t realize I was a “real” artist (their words) until I donated a piece of my artwork for a school fundraiser. They asked if I was famous like Da Vinci or crazy like Van Gogh??? I realized that I needed to show my students a little of myself to get them to “buy in”. They soon realized that their art lessons just weren’t coming from their art teacher but, a “real” artist. I got more questions, cooperation and much improved final products.
Ted, Debbie, and Darolyn – It is great to hear stories of teachers who feel comfortable enough and free enough to share their talents with their students!
I think you are right, Darolyn that it allows the students to see us as real, contributing human beings!
Debbie – What a wonderful thing to have a student come back and share their memory of something creative they experienced with YOU as their teacher!
Ted – Your students are very fortunate to have such a talented teacher who can show them new and motivating ways to use the arts! Couple more days until Thurs!
This is a great article – it really highlights the talent we have in the classroom and the importance of teachers in general.
Teachers really do touch the lives of their students, and what a wonderful thing it is to be able to involve the students in the creative process of writing a song, or painting a picture. You teachers are really our most important and prized assets, and though it’s not always spoken we as a society really do appreciate everything you do for our children, and ultimately us!!
Bruce – Thanks for taking the time to comment here! It’s important to be able to get teachers’ stories out to the public. There are some great things happening in classrooms across the country!
My talents are limited! Or at least I think they are….I do love to cook and I feel that cooking is the closest thing to a talent for me. I create, I add, I subtract, I dabble, I swirl, I even sometimes dance. I wonder how I am going to add more dance, song, art and theater to my daily classroom routines. That said, I feel that if I am talented enough to make a meal out of whatever happens to be lying around in someone else’s fridge and pantry, then I must be talented enough to integrate the arts into my classroom! Wish me luck!
I love this post, Elizabeth! I am excited to be able to take a closer look at the artwork you and your colleagues created together, when I’m at Cashman tomorrow. I think it would be fun to embark on a project like this with my colleagues.
As an early childhood educator, I have heard an admonishment at times, not to model artwork for students…because they will think their work needs to look like ours. This article is an interesting spin and fresh perspective.
This past year, our guidance counselors led monthly community-building assemblies. One portion was called “Mystery Staff Person”. Clues would be given about staff members and the audience/students had the opportunity to guess who was being described. I love the idea of incorporating a “talent” as one of the clues and then somehow displaying the talent via a piece of artwork, a song, a photo…
Not sure what my talents are and how they can be tangibly “shown”…you have given me cause for more reflection….
I loved the article about the millwright. It really makes one think about how we are perceived by others and if we let our jobs define us or we define our jobs….I think we all have talents that we hide. Some of us are more forthcoming about those creative talents than others. The article gives many teachers fuel for thought however as it makes us develop new ways to reach our students. Victoria, I like the Mystery Staff Person idea that your school uses. What a great way to help teachers feel more comfortable about their talents by highlighting them.
Many years ago, we were given a chance to share our interests and talents at a Professional Development Day. I remember it as the best PD day – ever! Not only was it a great time to collaborate, but we had fun as a staff. We learned a lot about each other. When I consider this possibly happening again, with the idea of it being a beginning to an Arts Integration initiative – I think it’s a great idea! So many of the teachers at my school have wonderful talents and interests. I am not sure what I could offer, but I would love to tap into the gifts and talents of my colleagues!