art/vision/voice - Maryland Institute College of Art

case study: columbia college chicago 37
luis I wanted the kids I was working with to be in the right place when
the Columbia students came in, so we did exercises that work on
the three fundamentals: mind, body, and voice. And trust; trustbuilding
is important. They need to be in a space where there’s no
judgment, or if there is, they can handle it. That’s the kind of space
we create with these exercises, it underlies the whole process. They
need to be released while they’re writing as well, so there’s less
chance they’ll edit themselves, so it’s quality writing.
By the time the college students came in, my kids were ready to
handle the experience of student teachers who are just learning
their way around working with community youth. They were prepared
to be respectful, trustworthy, and attentive to the point where they
could accept what the student teacher was trying to teach them.
Still, they gave the student teachers an awareness of what it is really
like to work in a community setting. It’s a lot of work, and you have
to learn how to adapt and adjust to the situation at hand. It puts
[the student teachers] in the hot seat.
On the other hand, if the student teachers make a mistake, they
get to see Brian and Ron, the professionals, step in and—I don’t
want to say fix the situation — but show their expertise on how to
make things run. One thing I’ve learned very well from them is
not to panic, to adjust. Like, “This warm-up is not working, they’re
not into it. What should I do?” You learn to switch gears and find
a way to make it work. Many people don’t realize how much work
and energy that takes.
brian The need for this course was obvious to me. I was getting calls
from park-district programs or community-based organizations
turning students on to internship or job opportunities, and the
students were going out and teaching without really having any
training for it at all. They didn’t have a structure, lesson plans, anything;
they were just going and trying to entertain the kids. It’s unfortunate
that MFAs and PhDs are the requirements to get teaching jobs,
when often no active teacher training happens in those degree
programs. Teaching is tricky.
ron When I go to academic conferences, I often listen to people with
PhDs talk about community educational processes, but they don’t
really know it. They’ve observed it, they’ve seen something they
understand to be inherently valuable, but they haven’t actually done
it. This course is a great way to introduce some really practical wisdom
to young artists, students who want to work in the community.
When you are working in communities like this—or working with