First Hand Fieldwork, Being a Teaching Artist and a Parent
Amanda Grundy
If
you’d have told me 20 years ago when I was an undergraduate student getting my
BFA in Musical Theatre, that one day I’d be a teaching artist, I never would
have believed you. First of all, I had
not heard of a job called a “teaching artist” and secondly, although I’ve
always loved working with children, I saw myself strictly as a performer. But 20 years ago if you had told me I’d be
married and raising two going on three children in while living and working as
an artist in New York City, I would have been thrilled. Although, I never could have imagined what
that would have looked like and what challenges that would bring, thankfully,
that is what I’m currently doing.
At
present, I am a teaching artist for Disney Theatrical Group, Covenant House
Crossing Bridges Project, Trinity Baptist Church, and my husband and I have
started our own company to promote creativity in adults and children called Eli
Draws. I am slowly and persistently
pursuing my Masters Degree in Educational Theatre at CCNY. My husband is a working actor. He and I are raising two amazing children,
Eli, aged 7 and Ava, age 2 and we are expecting our 3rd child in
February. Although not easy, I love what
I do and I have found that being a teaching artist/ Ed Theatre graduate student
and being a parent can actually go hand in hand.
Eli
goes to Broadway shows on a regular basis and gets the full effect of the magic
by often having backstage tour with friends we once worked with in our
professional theatre jobs.
I
love that I get to enjoy these shows with my kids from the point of view of a
teaching artist and a parent. I am watchinghow my own children react to the
shows and pre-show workshops which gives me true feedback from their
experience. I get to ask them questions
I want to know as a teaching artist and a parent, which helps me to further
develop my skills as an arts educator and as a mom.
Being
a teaching artist also helps me to be a more informed parent with my children’s
education. Because I work at many
schools as a guest, I know how to quickly assess the culture of that
school. This proved to be incredibly
helpful when we were looking for elementary schools for our son to attend. As we toured many public charter schools and
zoned elementary schools prior to my son’s kindergarten enrollment, I was able
to know which school we felt was the best fit for Eli. After a few months on the waiting list Eli
got in to a wonderful charter school which is perfect for his giant imagination
and learning style.
Because
Eli is in such a great school, I also get to learn from his teachers. At Eli’s school as a parent you are allowed
to stay for the first 45 minutes of the school day which they call morning
meeting. Every morning of Eli’s
kindergarten year, I stayed for that 45 minutes not only to help Eli adjust to
his new school, but also to learn from his amazing teachers! I noticed their classroom management
strategies, the scaffolding of their morning meeting and how it would fit into
the rest of their instruction for the day, and their joy in teaching. I would then take these techniques and fold
them into my own teaching whenever possible.
As
many benefits as there are to being a teaching artist, graduate student, and a
parent, of course there are also challenges.
Truthfully, I have written many papers and lesson plans while my
children watch Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer episodes. Artist careers are not the most lucrative
careers. It can be difficult and
expensive to figure out childcare with a freelance teaching schedule and
evening and weekend show schedule.
Despite
these challenges, I will continue on my teaching artist career path. The lesson my husband and I want to teach our
children is that there are creative ways to manage challenges and it is worth
it to manage these challenges. Working
in the arts has an important, lasting impact on people. Our hope is that our children see that we
both get to do what we love to do and one day they will follow that
example.
