Winter 2011-2012 edition - Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities ...

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND ARTS & HUMANITIES COUNCIL
ARTS IN EDUCATION
Here’s how we know it makes a difference
4 CURRENTS WINTER 2011 - 2012
At the end of each school year, the Arts & Humanities
Council takes time to evaluate our Arts in Education
program. One 2010-2011 artist-in-residence, poet Vicky
Edmonds, sent us a particularly touching evaluation of her
experience that perfectly encapsulated how and why our
Arts in Education program matters to families, to teachers,
and to artists.
My family is like a baseball.
My father is like the leather that protects us.
My mother is like the stitching that holds us all together.
My brother is like the cork inside
that makes that beautiful sound when it’s hit,
and I am like the bat
that hits a home run of love
for all of us.
This program is funded in part by The Suquamish Tribe,
Washington State Arts Commission, and Bainbridge Community Foundation.
At Ordway Elementary
School, Edmonds had the
opportunity to teach poetry
in every classroom. In an
uncommonly silent fourth
grade classroom, she saw a
challenge ahead of her.
“They were very quiet, very
internal kids. There was
barely a word the whole time
they were listening, which is unusual in any classroom,”
she said.
Undeterred, Edmonds continued with her lesson
plan, which included an explanation of the extended
simile – a type of poem that compares two dissimilar
concepts. The students embraced the format, writing
poems about their families. And although they were
initially shy about sharing their work aloud, Edmonds
was able to draw them out of their shells.
“When they did share, the poems were amazing,”
she said.
On the last day of Edmonds’ residency, a break-through
occurred. A boy approached her and told her he’d
written a special poem for his mother as a birthday gift.
“I can’t quote it exactly, but it went something like this,”
she said:
My family is like a baseball.
My father is like the leather that protects us.
My mother is like the stitching that holds us all together.
My brother is like the cork inside
that makes that beautiful sound when it’s hit,
and I am like the bat
that hits a home run of love
for all of us.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity to do this
amazing residency with all the kids and teachers
at Ordway Elementary this year,” Edmonds said. “It
has been one of the best experiences of my life to
be there for three weeks and have such a feeling of
community…I am so grateful to the children, to the
teachers and to [the Arts in Education program] for
making this possible for me.”
Planning for this year’s program is under way; to
learn more, e-mail admin@artshum.org.