Posted Sunday June 18 2017 at 4:55 pm
Jodi is a delightful recent addition to the COOL Schools family. She embodies the essence of what makes COOL Schools successful: she is a strong collaborator and endeavors to teach and inspire ALL students. When asked how her COOL Schools experience was, a third grader said, "Working with Ms. Jodi changed my life." This student now wants to teach other students and friends more about art. Jodi's years of experience as a classroom art teacher and as a teaching artist are ideal. In fact, the principal and teachers at Ellison Parks Early Education School have been highly impressed with her collaboration skills and ability to engage children collectively and individually. Jodi ensures that students discover the joys of physically making art, especially in the digital age.
Posted Sunday June 04 2017 at 11:23 pm
As a performing artist I use music and stories as a way to create space for interaction, inspiration, and expression. I enjoy working on projects with unlikely partners and seeing what the arts can unearth. I believe that by learning how to imagine together, we are better able to create an inclusive reality.
With strong encouragement from a teacher, my own initiation to art began when I reluctantly joined the backstage crew for a sixth grade musical. This teacher's encouragement changed the course of my life, and has also made me passionate about providing arts education opportunities for today's youth. After graduating from American University with a BA in Musical Theatre, in addition to working as an actor and singer in the DC area, I began teaching with Imagination Stage - a wonderful nonprofit for children's arts education. Through opportunities with Imagination Stage, I began to develop programming for students with disabilities. Such programs included developing a summer program for students with autism to devise a theatre production, implementing drama programming in 4 different schools serving students with disabilities, as well as becoming the Access Program Coordinator for Imagination Stage.
Read More →
Posted Wednesday May 24 2017 at 1:44 pm
Job Description
VSA Massachusetts is seeking a passionate and experienced teaching artist (TA) or arts educator for a part-time, five-day-a-week position teaching students with disabilities at Charlestown High School (CHS) for the Fall 2017 semester (with a strong possibility to continue through the Spring 2018 semester). Charlestown High School is part of the Boston Public Schools system and employs a Small Learning Community (SLC) model where students are organized into cohorts based on common matriculation goals. The VSA MA Teaching Artist will be the lead instructor for two classes, bringing their expertise in and enthusiasm for their artistic discipline to students across Charlestown's special education SLC. The school observes a block schedule and each class meets daily for one hour and twenty minutes.
About VSA Massachusetts
VSA Massachusetts, the State Organization on Arts and Disability, promotes the involvement of people of all abilities in the cultural life of our communities. Through our COOL (Creative Outlook on Learning) education program, we partner with schools throughout the state to provide inclusive arts-integrated instruction that creates learning opportunities for students of all abilities.
Read More →
