[title subtitle=”WORDS and IMAGE courtesy Kathleen Davis”][/title]
Mrs. Davis is the Fine Arts teacher at 1st Lutheran School in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She recently shared an article she wrote about teaching music, band, art and theatre in the middle of a pandemic. Mrs. Davis has, like many educators, gone above and beyond to completely change everything while ensuring their students still receive fine arts curriculum. This is her story.
Teaching Amid COVID-19: Challenges and Successes
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In all of my thirty-six years of teaching, I would have never have dreamed that I’d be completely upending all these years of lesson plans and teaching techniques! Starting out the 2019-20 school year, I had great student lessons planned, with everything going smoothly. In March, within days, colleges were closing early for spring break and we started receiving communications about event cancellations. It seemed that overnight the world came to a grinding halt amid COVID-19.
After the initial shock of my Operetta “The Lion King” being cancelled, as school immediately went to an AMI platform for teaching – I looked through tears at my empty stage and quiet classroom and prayed “Please God, give me wisdom and strength to do my best for these children.” A flurry of photocopying lessons and gathering up textbooks followed as we moved to distance learning. To me “Zoom” meant to go really fast….I had no idea I would be learning a completely new communication platform! We all made our way through the spring semester, handing out new assignments on Sundays and having class via Zoom.
“Now, I have some time to breathe!” I told myself in June. After deciding to offer Summer Art via YouTube videos, I began thinking about how to navigate the coming year. This is all new territory. Mandates changed with the wind as experts did their level best to develop guidelines to keep children safe. The guidelines for music were the most confining. Gone are the days of choir class as we work on singing at church, singing all that cool Lion King music, and singing silly songs just for fun. Gone are the days where kids come into band and play their instrument in a carefree manner. We are no longer allowed to sing, as the virus is airborne. This also affects band with instruments being blown into.
THE CHALLENGE: Shifting my music curriculum from choir to general music (minus singing) has been a huge adjustment. I have more classes to teach because the children are divided into grade group “pods”. The division keeps students safe. Students cannot share any art supplies or musical instruments, and have to be masked at all times in my classes. Classrooms (stage & art) have to be sanitized between every class, and all items touched must be sanitized. Band members have to utilize two masks and be 6-10 feet apart. Sounds daunting.
THE GOOD NEWS: Where there is a will, there is a way! My dad inspired me from childhood to always do my best, no matter what the difficulties. This encouragement has been my best friend as I developed new lesson plans, new goals and new teaching techniques. In many ways, I feel like a first year teacher, but I have many years of experience from which to draw. And yes, God is always with me.
THE RESULT: I am just shocked at how well the kids have adapted to wearing their masks, walking through the halls in a safe manner, sanitizing their hands many times a day…and many other changes. Music class now involves lots of playing of hand percussion, boomwhackers, silly sound poems, rap, rhythm games, ethnic dances, hand chimes, Orff instruments, recorders….and more! We are having a blast! In July, I would have never believed it! Band students have adjusted to sitting 6-10 feet apart, wearing facial masks and masks on their instruments. We come into band, mask up and play our hearts out!
Professionally I have grown exponentially this year. I have learned new technology as we perform dances, samba rhythms and hymns using American Sign Language. Since we cannot have public performances, we record these activities in small groups or individually and produce composite videos to share with our parents and friends. I have learned the art of the change. I have learned new ways to not only teach, but new ways to encourage students. They are learning to navigate this new world and our job is to encourage them. I have learned to appreciate those small moments that often get lost in the fray.
Research indicates that fine arts education has overwhelming benefits in the formative years of children, critically impacting brain development. Hard times create challenges and ultimately help define us. Even with new techniques and new methods, we will continue!
The Show Must Go ON!
