I have been at this work for more than 10 years and this week has some of the most delightful and some of the most distressing moments I have ever encountered as a teaching artist. How is it that this happens? This school year, I estimate that I will be teaching approximately 1,800 students by the time June arrives. This will include five different school districts throughout New York State. Additionally, it will also include somewhere between 68 and 75 different classes of 5 - 25 students each, and nearly 70 teachers, teaching assistants, and student teachers before I call it a summer. In most cases, there will be a minimum of 3 contact sessions but in some isolated cases, it may be one or two sessions. No matter how you look at it, this is rather overwhelming. It also does not include my course at the higher ed level or my adult ed workshop, nor my professional development classes for teachers. That pushes the statistics to an even more remarkable total.
As I travel through these 10 schools, the differences are significant and sobering. Developing a sense of the climate of each building and then the climate of each classroom, and then the temperaments of each student takes a particular skill of flexibility combined with rapid response in improvisation and performance art. It is exhausting at times, exhilarating at others.
But I love this work and now that it is the central focus of my career, I am delighted. I will share stories and theories of my work as I grow more adept at this process of the Blog world. For now...the sun is shining and I have spent nearly 2 hours of this magnificent Saturday morning in front of my computer breaking into my blog and then posting. Out to the garden!!!
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