The launch of the third cohort for the 2014-15 Teaching Artist Training Program is only a month away and we have just two spots left! Visit www.taisandiego.org to download an application.
Below, read about the experiences of two students and one mentor from last year's cohort.
Ariana
Siegel, TAI Student & Dance Mentee, 2013
“I've
considered myself a dancer, dancemaker, and dance teacher – but never a
"teaching artist." I applied to Young Audience's TAI to learn what
teaching artistry meant and what it might mean to me. As a new San Diegan, the
aspect of the TAI that I was most drawn to was its community.
Multi-disciplinary artists, mentors, and moderators gathered to explore how we
could teach with greater relevance: against the backdrop of budding national
standards and emergent technologies, what is the role of arts in the classroom?
Ariana teaching in the Teaching Artist Training Practicum |
The
highlight of the program was the practicum. I observed how my mentor, a highly
skilled and effective teaching artist, created the conditions for student
discovery. Then, I had the opportunity to develop and teach my own curriculum.
Together with my cohort – a deeply compassionate, caring, and curious bunch – I
was encouraged to take risks and to continue along a sometimes precariously
steep learning curve. What a fulfilling challenge!”
Kaylie
Caires, TAI Student & Dance Mentee, 2013
“I had
recently moved to San Diego and was looking for a way to get to know other
artists and teachers in the area. I decided to participate in the program
because I was looking to find access to a community of support and to future
work opportunities. I had also
come to a point where working in a teaching environment had become extremely
stressful and taxing for me. I did not know how to exist in a sustainable
way as both an artist and a teacher. I was looking to explore this balance and
to reeducate myself as to how to enjoy this shared role.
Kaylie, on right, in class discussion |
The first
shift that I found was that I allowed myself to remove personal attachment to
feedback. I learned to create space for critique as a way for me to question
and investigate the work at hand. This became a very helpful insight into my
presentation of self and interaction with others in all aspects of my
life. I also found confidence and
a new ownership in the title of artist. Identifying myself as a teaching
artist granted me permission to value my own place in the school
environment. Before this experience I had thought that I was coming
into the world of education with a disadvantage. Yet I learned to see my
path into teaching as a unique perspective that could perhaps inspire students
to see that there are many ways of viewing and existing in life that are all
valued.
One of
the great gifts of the program overall was that it provided a space for
teaching artists of many disciplines and generations, to work together and
share perspectives. I believe my greatest insight into teaching was
revealed through my fellow colleagues/ participants in the program. I’ve now learned to approach teaching
as an ever-evolving process. To be a teacher means being in a place of
continuous learning. I don't have to be perfect; I can still be me. This
insight, has helped me approach the work from a much more honest place.”
Erika
Malone, Dance Mentor, 2013
“This
process was a dream come true for me!
One of my favorite things to do is to support people as they deepen a
practice. My intention in this
process is to observe, reflect, inquire, encourage, and pull out the
articulation that’s right there on the surface, while simultaneously embracing
the unique style and perspective that each dance mentee brings to the
table.
Watching
amazing dance artists embrace the profession of the teaching artist is a fairly
transformational process on both sides!
As I worked with Ariana and Kaylie over the 4-month process, my own
teaching practice went through shifts in response to our mutual questions and
discoveries. There are so many
layers to uncover and discover as dancers (or any artists) learn how to share
their art form with youth and what better way to do this than in
community!?!
Erika, in white, with graduating students |
The
cohort model of the Young Audiences
Teaching Artist Training removes the layer of isolation that so many
teaching artists can experience as they set out to bring art into schools. Instead learning happens through
dynamic dialogue, reflection gathered from many perspectives, and the
alchemical process that happens when people gather together for a common
purpose. In the context of the YA
Teaching Artist Training program that intention is to solidify and evolve the
artist and the teacher within us, a powerful duet that can impact both youth
and the field of teaching artistry.
As I witnessed the final presentations of Kaylie and Ariana and
participated in their “graduation”, I was humbled and awed both by them and by
the archetype of the teaching artist.
In my eyes, the teaching artist is a cultural icon…brave, gifted, and
luminous!