- Name:
- Alex Simmons
- Subject:
- Inspirations & A Proper Method
- Date:
- 31 Oct 2005
- Time:
- 02:36:32 AM -0500
BlogIn my previous blog I mentioned influences and inspirations. I also told of a friend who passed away recently. The two elements do connect with one another, and with my work as a teaching artist. How?
Do you remember who inspired or influenced you as a child? Can you recall what books, stories, movies, music, plays, cartoon, or act of kindness sent you off into day dreams about creating your own worlds of wonder? I can remember a few. Not just the TV shows and such, but also some of the performers who visited my schools. There were dancers, magicians, puppeteers, and one or two painters. True, I tolerated some of these folks with the jaded patience of a 10 to 15 year old trying to look cool. But many of those exposures were eye opening – a glimpse at something tangible from outside of my regular day-to-day world.
Some of those artists helped me believe that one day I could be an actor or writer. Those memories were with me at age eighteen, or so, when I started performing in children’s theater. They were also there at twenty-something when I began teaching acting to children and directing in theater. They are still with me – as are the words of my departed friend. She told me I’d become a professional writer long before I had any real success in the business. Her encouragement aided me when I was at one of the lowest ebbs in my life.
One of her most unselfish acts of kindness and support was to input my first full length play on to a computer disk, to make it easier for me to do rewrites, and to submit it for a possible presentation. The play went on to receive several readings and productions and was finally published in an anthology with the likes of August Wilson and Amiri Baraka. Just as those artists influenced me, so did my friend. Her belief in me helped validate my desire to become an “artist of words.” As teaching artists we often do the same. Hopefully, we support, influence and inspire others to do their best, whatever that may be. Certainly, we give it our best efforts.
That’s the heart and soul of what we do. Now how about the nuts and bolts? There are a number of great books and such on this subject, so for this blog I will simply list just a few of the techniques that I have found useful.
1) Never enter a class or workshop with a preconceived opinion of the population. I am not saying ignore the information you may receive, but also remember you don’t KNOW them, nor they you, until YOUR relationship is established.
2) Have artistic expectations HIGHER than your client, or students. Just because they are possibly elderly, very young, or delinquent, or boys, or act out, abused, ESL challenged, handicapped, etc. – no one knows what they are truly capable of … until they try.
3) Have a plan – either a Lesson Plan, or a curriculum for long term engagements. Be clear about your methods, but also be a bit flexible to help you accommodate the crowd. Learn as they learn. Grow as they grow.
4) Know who you are there to SERVE. I mean no malice when I say that my first allegiance is to the kids I work with. Naturally, I want the agency, school, etc., that hired me to be pleased with the final outcome – but the kids’ sense of worth and accomplishment comes first. Being clear about where you stand makes it easier for you to present your self and to better select assignments.
5) Determine what are the GOALS of your program? Knowing this will aid you in presenting your program to others. It will also help you to guide your students towards that end. What do you want the students to walk away with at the end if it all? Will your focus be more on them learning the PROCESS or completing an end PRODUCT? Accomplishing both is possible, but there are always “balances” to strike. Plan carefully and have occasional dialogs with your client.
6) Draw up a standard Supply List. This list should be available when you interview for your position. You may have to redesign your workshop if the client will not be able to furnish some of your material needs. Better to know that up front.
7) Speaking of interviews … Though it is wise to have your credential and resume available for same, you should also have SAMPLES OF YOUR STUDENTS’ WORK from previous programs. This will not only help the client to visualize what you hope to accomplish, it proves that students can reach your goals.
8) Be sure to have good examples of the skills or lessons you are trying to teach. Feel free to use drawings, photos, or on-the-spot demonstration.
9) Stay light on your feet, literally as well as metaphysically. There are many … “challenges” in this field. You will find it easier to navigate them if you can bend and flow with the wind. For me, this goes back to my other precept – Know why you are there. If I am there for the children, then I will do what I can to make the program a success for them.
10) Last (for now) … Understand that THIS IS A BUSINESS, and you are the commodity. You are also the president, bookkeeper, press agent, etc. Understand the necessity of these other jobs and try to make it as easy on yourself as possible. Prepare as many business document templates as possible (i.e., Invoice forms, Lesson Plans, Supply Lists, etc.). I have found jumping back and forth between the left and right brains, to be energy draining at times when I can least afford it. The more time I can spend on the creative aspects of my programs, the more fun it is for all of us.
Well, that’s it for now. If I cannot write one more of these before my time here is up, my apologies. Please know, it has been fun for me, and I hope you find some value in my ramblings.
All the best. Now Go Get’em!
- Name:
- Alex Simmons
- Subject:
- Paperwork & Inspiration
- Date:
- 29 Oct 2005
- Time:
- 01:22:53 AM -0400
BlogGreetings All:
October is almost over, and I must apologize for not blogging as much as I had intended. So many things are determined by influences ... societal, parental, spiritual. In this particular case, at the beginning of this month, I lost a very dear friend. We had known each other for over 30 years and that is -- as the phrase goes -- "some serious street time."
My friend had been battling throat cancer for 3 years and the war had been difficult and ugly. If the world is truly yin yang, then the balance here is -- as we mourn her loss -- that we know she is no longer suffering.
But as I said, so many things are affected by influences ... not the least of which is what we do.
In the past two years a great many of the funding sources we rely on have instituted an obstacle course of paper work to be filed. After school programs, community centers, and arts organizations have been forced to require their teaching artist to submit volumes of forms outlining their professional qualifications, affiliations, personal history, multi week (or semester) curriculum, not to mention program goals and how they relate to city or state educational standards and guidelines. OUCH!!! There's more, but you get the point.
Now, most of us became ARTISTS first. We honed our craft for ourselves as well as for the sake of building a career in that particular field. Some of us even studied our craft within the walls of a private or educational institution. Why, I've known Teaching Artists (TAs) who carry degrees in their art forms ... though they haven't looked at the things since they graduated, many moons ago.
As pure artist, we focused our brains (the right side I believe) on how to do what we do, and do it well. When some of us decided to become TAs, we felt certain that we could approach that endeavor from the same mercurial path that we approached creating a dance, painting, poem, or novel. In some cases this stream-of-conciousness-inspired-by-the-moment-method held together and was responsible for many great moments in our students' lives.
Then along came the paperwork. A blinding snow storm of white surfaces, speckled with dark gibberish that hardly seem to relate to what we feel, believe, say, or do.
Where are the proper words to describe how you inspired shy, or hyper students to meld into a Shakespearean production? How do you describe the process from angry, dysfunctional, problem child to expressionist painter, or poet? Who's standards measure the connections made between new academic achievements, and one's efforts to achieve oratorical splendor?
Can comics teach history, or social consciousness? Can ceramics and mosaics build bridges between ages, race, and genders in a community?
Art inspires. It always has, and not simply those who sit and watch it, attired in finery -- transported in luxury. No one culture's perception of art holds the high ground. No, all cultures influence and generate our awareness of the world around us, past, present, and future.
The past five months have served to reinforce, remind, and renew many of the precepts by which I function as an artist, teaching artist, and human being.
For instance ...
During the month of June and August, I was privileged to commune with a small group of teaching artists who covered many different fields. We were joined by a psychologist, and one of the august leaders of ATA, as we explored the work we do. Why? To better understand it and to find the words we could use to describe what we do, to others. I don't mean just the colorful, poetic phrases that might come to mind instantly -- I mean the terminologies, caption headings, and descriptive sound bites that administrators and non artist might use or need to understand our world.
Just as many of us can be lost in the semantics of accounting, auto mechanics, or brain surgery, so will those looking into our realm. So, our goal was to help find a common language that would aid us all.
This leads me back to the mound of bureaucratic paperwork I mentioned before. To start ... I hate filling out forms! There is little joy in reporting on my every adventure in education with my students. I enjoy the journey and the experience, and watching them grow from it. I do not savor the chronicling of same. And mapping out our journey before hand -- in minute detail -- is often tedious and unspontaneous.
Against all of these feelings, I rebel.
Yet, it is necessary. And over the past year I have learned how doing this has actually helped me with certain more challenging classes, or students. (More on that another time.)
Mapping out a curriculum also helps the organization that hired you, to better promote the value of what you have to offer. It helps them, and the funding sources better envision what to expect at the culmination of your program. True, you will still have to hold hands at times and explain certain aspects of what you do, but that is the nature of the beast.
Your curriculum, as well as any project reports, or exit reports help the various nonprofit agencies validate their existence and subsequently pursue additional support.
See, beyond the students, the easels, music, camera, pencils and paints, sports, stone and plaster, books, and puppets ... there are auditors, and educators, and dollars to be allocated to causes favored and championed at the time. Sometimes we are even at the mercy of changes in government officials, or tragedies spawned by mankind or Mother Nature.
Schools and agencies must have before them something tangible that they can place before those critical eyes. The words must have a solid feel to them. The concepts must seem grounded in thought, though they maybe be more ethereal in their creativity.
Now, what does this have to do with inspiration?
More on that tomorrow.
Adieu.
"Never give up and never bow down!!"
- Name:
- Alex Simmons
- Subject:
- Where It Begins
- Date:
- 13 Oct 2005
- Time:
- 10:28:03 PM -0400
BlogI wish I could say when and where my first teaching artist job took place. My eclectic life has been blessed by a number of wonderful creative experiences. Often they blended together, a series of unexpected opportunities, springing forth from chance and circumstances, sometimes one right after the other.
For now, the earliest one I can remember began while I was performing with a couple of Westchester theater companies. One was a children's theater group, called Westco. I was in my early twenties, and acting was everything to me. I enjoyed the challenge of learning lines, interpreting the words and themes, developing my characters and their relationship with others. Theater was imagination come live, a thousand times scarier, a million times more rewarding!
Though not formally trained -- in those days -- I had a few rules I lived by. The most important one was ... you never cheat your audience. From time to time I would meet actors who would not give their all in a performance because it was "Children's Theater." It seemed they considered that synonymous with not real theater, or not as good, or not worthy because it was -- after all -- just kids. Some of these actors were formally trained in various methods, and dedicated to their "craft." They had the theories and lingo memorized.
But they were, without knowing perhaps, age snobs. They believed that their art was for "real" audiences, meaning adults. They believed that children would not "get it." I suspect "it" represented the essence of art, the quality, the purity, the subtext, etc.
They were wrong in many ways.
Though many children may not pick up on certain phrases and double-entendres -- they definitely get "truth." They get sincerity. They get when an actor is successfully portraying a character, when a photograph captures a powerful or beautiful image. They get when an artists sincerely shares the joy and wonder of their craft. Sometimes, it eludes them until near the very end. Process is a word that works best with adults. Many children want a speed track between first day of work and the finished product. All of the steps in between can be tedious. They might say, "Why do I need to learn this and that?" "Why doesn't mine look as good as such and such?"
But in the end, they get it.
When an actor tries to "phone in" their performance, he loses the kids. When an artist tries to bluff her way through a workshop, she loses the students. I learned this many moons ago, and it has always ... always, applied.
So, my first rule -- never cheat an audience -- and that especially goes for teaching what we do. Go in with the best you have to offer. If you do that, you get somewhere with someone. Maybe not all, but you were honest with them, and most of them will know that.
Technique, disciplines, lingo, style, curriculums and lesson plans -- all of these follow the first rule. See, if you're not cheating them, then you're not cheating yourself. In a deal like that, everybody wins.
See ya, next time.
- Name:
- Alex Simmons
- Subject:
- The Art of Teaching Art
- Date:
- 06 Oct 2005
- Time:
- 08:20:22 AM -0400
BlogGreetings to all.
Blogging ... Not sure where this terminology came from, but it seems a good title for allowing one to mentally doodle into the ether.
My name is Alex Simmons, and I have been many things during my adventurous, creative arts life time. I've been an actor in plays, voice over commercials, videos and films (extra work predominantly).
For over 30 years I have ridden the wild ride of the freelance writer. That started with small magazine articles, slipped into script writing for documentary video, electronic games and radio plays, then finally bounced on to the rickety tracks of children's novels and comic books.
During much of this experience, I have shared my love of acting, writing, and drawing with others. I've taught workshops in theater, creative writing, journalism, and creating comics -- from the streets of my beloved home town of New York City, to rural country roads of New Hampshire, to universities in the Midwest, to convention halls on the West coast.
And through out all of this I kept telling myself I was simply sharing what I know with a few good folks -- mostly kids.
But I found it took a certain shift in my thinking to help me embrace the true scope of what happens when we go forth into schools, community centers, and such. One day, I had to admit I was a creative arts TEACHER.
Now a teacher to me was always someone who dedicated (kicking and screaming or not) 8 hours a day, five days a week, to more than 20 some odd students per class. This remarkable person took on the challenge of educating young minds by the hordes, and often understaffed and unsupported.
Certainly my few hours a day did not come up to that at all!
Well, guess what ... what we lack in time, we make up for in intensity. Where our classes MAY be 1/10 the size, we often face 100% the challenges. I have often felt much like the lone adventurer, who is parachuted into some dense woods with only a compass and some beef jerky.
We teaching artists are often thrust into depressed areas, and makeshift rooms. Working equipment is often absent, if not simply a legend whispered by the "villager." Supplies? Well, ... I'm sure we all have our tales for that one.
Often I meet school teachers and administrators who are eager to see my programs work. They see the arts as a support system, or as a tool they have yet to be taught how to use. They see it as something good for the kids, and they are totally dedicated to that. Still, there are the ones who see me -- us -- as a coffee break, or an intrusion. Oh how joyous are those residencies, especially when they are weeks or months long.
Yet, to paraphrase words of Mya Angelou -- And still we rise.
We go in and do the best we can for the children because that is what we do. Because we love our art form. Because we are IN LOVE with it, excited by it, nurtured and kept sane (in a not-so-easy-to-see-way) by the purity of the craft. We love the almost limitless possibilities it offers us for self expression. Think how it helps us exorcise the demons of the world from our daily psyche. Or how it helps us to challenge them -- head on -- in an effort to bring about some positive social change.
Yes, we do TEACH what we do. We teach our students to find little hidden and precious bits of themselves. We aid them in reflecting life, and we even support them in their academic pursuits. More on that one in another blog.
At the point I accepted that I am a teacher, I accepted some of the responsibilities that go with it. One of those was to try and become a better teacher. Some of us reach children who love life and are making the most of everyday. And some of us reach children who have crawled into the darkest corners imaginable -- believing that the light will never reach them.
Given these opportunities, we must be the best we can be, and recognize what we have to offer. And if we are really lucky, our students will teach us resiliency, faith, and joy. Certainly, these are some of the things I have seen, and over the next few weeks, I'll share more of -- pro and con -- in detail.
Until next time, as I often say to my students ... Go forth and be brilliant.
|
Alex
Simmons is a creator/writer/publisher. Over the past 20 years he has written
(and in some cases also created) a number of juvenile mysteries under a variety
of pseudonyms for many well-known publishers. He has also penned two educational
documentaries, and several stage plays. One of his plays, SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE
HANDS OF OTHELLO, received critical praise and was published in an anthology by
Signet/Mentor Books. Simmons has written three movie novelizations for Disney;
and three biographies for Steck-Vaughn, including one on Denzel Washington.
Simmons has also created/written and independently published a critically
acclaimed adventure comic book series, BLACKJACK, about an African-American
soldier of fortune in the 1930s. Simmons co-created an African-American hero
for DC Comics in their BATMAN books; authored several SCOOBY-DOO comic book
stories; 12 interactive mysteries for the Tiger Toys electronic game, WHO DONE
IT, (which received three educational awards). He is currently writing a middle
grade mystery series, THE RAVEN LEAGUE (Penguin Books); and consulting on
several exciting entertainment projects. 
