Last night’s Oscars telecast inspired some awards of our own. Without further ado, we present a few of our 2018 Fellows who designed learning experiences around the performing arts…

Most Creative Use of Funds
Diana D’Emeraude | Canyon Vista Middle School – Austin

To make the most of her 42-day stay across the pond, Diana found hostels with private rooms and pet-sat in three different homes — including one that had two cats and four chickens. Saving money on accommodations meant she could apply her $5,000 grant toward participating in a Shakespeare training program for teachers at the Globe Theatre in London, and attending 15 plays, ten classes, six tours, a conference, and multiple museums. Her goal was to create curricular units for middle and high school language arts/theatre teachers that help students develop critical thinking skills in the classroom and beyond.

“Taking classes on teaching Shakespeare with U.K. teachers helped me compare notes on their schools, how they taught, learn engaging activities, learn about and teach the plays and more about the English language,” said Diana. “Attending an International Theatre Teacher Conference helped me learn how theatre is taught in other countries and ways to improve my teaching, and classes at the Globe Theatre helped me learn more, not only of Shakespeare’s plays but also of other works written in that era.”

With her new knowledge, Diana started a Shakespeare Club where students explore the Bard’s plays, his style of writing, the importance of his works, the era, and how to perform monologues, scenes and the plays.

Best Sequel
Warren Pemsler, Ari Hauben and Chris Busch | McKinley South End Academy – Boston

In 2007, this teaching team was awarded a Fund for Teachers grant to tour art museums, theatres, stages and facilities in England, and then meet with outreach departments at museums in the Netherlands, to expand on their school’s partnerships with the Huntington Theatre and Institute of Contemporary Art. Eleven years later, these same teachers returned to London on their second FFT fellowship to explore London’s street art, contemporary art, and theatre communities to develop in-depth performing and visual arts units in collaboration with Boston Public School’s pilot Fab Lab.

Warren would like to thank his colleagues for their learning:

“Honestly, it was the collaboration with my colleagues that brought out new energy and ideas. By immersing ourselves in the content we teach and meeting with professionals who do similar things in London, we have planned new avenues to make our curriculum more vital to our students. After 28 years of teaching, I feel like I am embarking on a journey that will sustain me professionally and personally for years to come! I couldn’t be more thankful!”

This teaching team is working with students to create four large murals of the artists and playwrights they read and admire on exterior walls of the school building. This will lead to four “openings” for the school and neighborhood, as well as T-shirts so students can show off their work to the wider world.

Best Supporting Teacher
Christine Jamerson | Roseburg High School, Rosburg, OR

Christine designed her fellowship around information she learned from a previous workshop with Eric Jensen called “Teaching with Poverty in Mind.” There, she learned that the working memory of students who experience poverty is very limited. As a drama teacher, Christine knew how memorizing lines and stage directions helps build one’s working memory, in addition to self-efficacy and self-confidence. Therefore, she participated in the Broadway Teachers Workshop in New York City and learned strategies for using theatre to support brain and soft-skill development.

“I learned so much about technical design, directing, and running a smooth program in the few short days I was at the workshop, it just blows me away.” said Christine. “I feel like my world has been opened up to different approaches I can take with my plays and musicals, and it all benefits my program. I have also gained a lot of confidence – I’m not only bringing new approaches, but I’m implementing them well.”

In order to reach the largest number of students possible, Christine and her theatre department formed an improv troupe open to all. They perform at assemblies, football game halftimes, and local middle schools.

Best Transformation
John Matthiessen | Branford High School – Branford, CT

John arrived at the Globe Theatre’s “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance” workshop as a 58-year-old literature teacher and completed his fellowship as Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest. He explains:

“Our director told us he was going to cast us ‘against type,’ and consequently, I was cast as Ophelia. Playing a teenage girl was a stretch. To do this, I had to not only overcome a certain amount of self-consciousness and stage fright, but also try to imagine and portray the emotions experienced by this doomed young girl. I was very proud of my final performance!”

John’s English students now spend less time interpreting text and more time in creative activities to demonstrate their understanding. Although he still includes rigorous reading and writing activities, he now concludes some units with a final role-play presentation (like the one he did) as a major grade. He’s found this kind of active, student-centered assessment makes learning a more social activity alongside their peers than the typical summative assessments.

The BIG winners are the students, whose learning changes from text to technicolor after their teachers return from summer fellowships. In her Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech last night, Regina King called herself an example of “what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone.” We believe the students of our Fellows look (and feel) the same way.

Pictured above: David Williams (Bacon Academy – Colchester, CT) who attended the Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance course at the Globe Theatre in London to learn practical approaches for engaging students from a variety of backgrounds and academic levels.

Congratulations to Luis Gonzalez and his art teacher/FFT Fellow Ari Hauben for Luis’ selection as one of three young artists whose work now adorns LIFEWTR bottles. According to the company’s website:

“LIFEWTR Series 4 celebrates the long-lasting impact that art education has on our lives from youth into adulthood. The series features the work of three young artists who have discovered the empowerment that comes with creativity and demonstrated the importance of early art education in instilling the values necessary for a more inspired future.”

LIFEWTR also shared:

“Luis Gonzalez, a Boston native and high school senior, views the abstract art he creates as more than just a mode of self-expression—it’s “a lifesaver.” Growing up in an underserved community, art has kept him in school and has guided him down a safer path than the one he has witnessed many of his peers taking. Gonzalez plans to become a professional artist, following in the footsteps of his art teacher and mentor, Ari Hauben. He also aspires to teach other youth, and show them the possibilities that art can bring.”

Ari, along with colleagues Warren Pemsler and Chris Busch, designed their Fund for Teachers fellowship to experience art museums, theatres, stages and facilities in New York City, England and The Netherlands. They also met with outreach departments to learn best practices for expanding McKinley Preparatory High School‘s local partnerships with the Huntington Theatre and Institute of Contemporary Art Boston. Subsequently, the teaching team set about closing the achievement gap of emotionally-disturbed special education students who are predominantly children of color.

“One aspect of the achievement gap that seemed particularly pronounced among our students was their lack of cultural capital,” explained Warren. “To increase students’ exposure to dramatic and fine arts, we first developed our own cultural capital with our FFT grant and then formed collaborations with The Huntington and ICA to forge new paradigms that engage students in these areas of study.”

In recognition of his accomplishment, LIFEWTR sent Louis and Ari to the Teen Vogue Summit in Los Angeles last month. Soon Louis, Ari and Warren head to New York City for the formal introduction of the artful bottles.

“Fund for Teachers is the proverbial rock thrown in a pond, with its ripples spreading out in exciting and unexpected ways,” said Ari. “One perfect example is my student Luis Gonzalez. Luis has participated the past 3 ½ years in my art (and theater) collaboration with two other FFT recipients, spurred by our fellowship to New York London, and The Netherlands. Luis has participated in approximately thirty field trips to contemporary art museums and plays, many exploring cutting edge artists and playwrights. Through these experiences and others, Luis was inspired to create abstract and pop culture works of art. When the opportunity arose for students to enter a contest to be on LIFEWTR bottles, Luis was the perfect person for the task. Having seen his abstract art piece Daydreamin, LIFEWTR replicated the art on 15 million bottles with the hopethat it will inspire other teens to be creative.  Thank you FFT for the support and opportunity to connect our FFT experiences in the ‘real world’ with our students in the classroom, who then take this full circle and bring it back out to the world.”