As this is a high school with the special tagline "...of Arts Integration," they put some emphasis on art here. Crazy, I realize. Crazier when you know my art skills. I can write, and sing, and I used to play a lot of music... but visual art I can not do to save my life. So when I was told that every teacher would need to do an "arts integration" project for each class, I got a little bit frightened.
Think, think, think.
This school is located two blocks from The Art Institute. "Hello, Art Institute? I'm Stephanie Sablich, a teacher at... I teach a journalism class here, and I was wondering if you had any community outreach programs? Something where my students could perhaps work with an artist from the Institute to do a photojournalism project or something? Oh you do? Great."
So yesterday we went to The Art Institute. I'm not sure EXACTLY how this is going to work, but I do know that of the 19 students on the trip, only one had been to the museum before. I do know that my kids got to walk around the museum in small groups with people who KNOW art. I do know that it was the coolest field trip I've ever chaperoned. I do know that we'll be going back two more times, and I do know that every single student was engaged and interested and excited to be there.
So, you know, score. Score for teaching in a city with these resources. Score for the artists who are just desperate for people to be interested and looking for education. And score for being willing to make a complete fool of myself for the benefit of my kids. I'm starting to realize that it really is part of what teaching is all about.
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