Posted Wednesday January 22 2014 at 5:53 pm
in Education
My work as a teaching visual artist in a school setting is influential to all students. I aim to teach students the basics of art in the world around them as well as teaching students problem solving skills and creative thinking to help them navigate the world as a whole.
I believe my students can do anything. It is my job as their teacher to give students the tools they need to explore the art world and world around them. Visual Art education is essential in schools as it allows for students of a wide variety of abilities to succeed in their own way, allows for individual expression, and allows students to delve into creative problem solving. I design visual art lessons meant for expression and no one “right answer” or outcome; making the work my students create as diverse as they are.
Portions reprinted from BU Today 8/28/2013. Written by Leslie Friday.
Commissioned by Boston Landmarks Orchestra for their "I Have a Dream" 50th Anniversary Concert of 2013, this official ASL translation of King's speech fills a critical void in the education of deaf children. "There's not a lot of ASL translations of historical speeches, especially as an educational tool," interpreter Richard Bailey says. "I don't remember seeing anything like this growing up. I had access to subtitled or interpreted versions, sure, but you just feel like something's missing or it's uninspired." Thus, incorporated into Bailey's translation are the proper ASL facial expression and body positioning to convey King's sermonic tone and grammar.
The goal was for the video to live forever as a resource to the deaf community. "The people who were hearing the speech at that time, understood the code messages in the speech that told people to mobilize. This is an opportunity for deaf kids to get access to the speech, appreciate it in their language, and generate a conversation about mobilizing as a minority population."
The video of Bailey's ASL translation of the speech is digitally archived at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, in Atlanta.
Posted Saturday January 18 2014 at 1:49 pm
in Education
My work is about providing students a way to use creativity to enhance their learning.
I believe that every student has an individual learning style. I use theater, movement, improvisation and whatever other art form is necessary to ensure that each student can make connections to arts learning in the classroom curriculum. Improvisation provides students with many choices and opportunities, as it offers innumerable ways for students to make sense of learning.
As a teaching artist, my role is to provide new perspectives using the arts that support student learning and engagement, and that help teachers enhance their curriculum without adding additional work.
I use improvisation, specifically in theater and movement, to connect to the needs of the students in their classroom curriculum. Prior to beginning of COOL programs, I meet with the partner teacher to find out their goals and how they would like to collaborate with me as an artist and with the art forms I will be presenting. I also like to observe their classroom beforehand so that I may present my work in a way that is mindful of how each classroom functions.
