Project Return

December, 01 2009

In 2008, Professor Amanda Gulla, Faculty Liaison at Lehman College Division of Education, noted that there was a demand among Lehman alumni for professional development opportunities or Lincoln Center Institute "reminder" courses. They wanted to renew their understanding of imaginative teaching and learning and develop their facilitation skills further.

Professor Gulla, who had begun teaching at Lehman in 2004 and became involved with the Institute in 2005, wanted to find out how her erstwhile students were using the strategies she'd taught them in their work. How deep was their immersion in it? Holly Fairbank, LCI's Assistant Director of Educational Partnerships, was curious about the impact of the Teacher Education program in the graduates' first years' teaching. What kind of support do the graduates need in the field?

So began "Project Return." The first informal workshop took place in April 2008. 

"The workshop became a mini-seminar," remembers Holly. "It became a think tank of sorts, a space for exchange. The goal was to develop strategies to bring the arts into the participants' classrooms, as well as practices that would enhance imaginative teaching and learning. That first event encouraged us to offer a seminar once each semester. We've had a steady flow of participants ever since."

Amanda, too, was happy with the results. Her students were applying with their own students the Lincoln Center Institute approach they had studied at Lehman, but, she felt, they needed continuity.

"We want to formalize the courses," she says, "set them up at Lehman not only for the alumni but for all those interested in education programs, in order to fill in the gaps in the understanding of the process. LCI's approach to imaginative teaching and learning is multilayered so it is crucial that those who have only scratched the surface be able to come back for more. One semester is not enough. Generally, the most important missing element is the ability to use inquiry as the primary tool that propels exploration farther and farther. Having researched this, I have shifted my teaching to focus on the skillful use of inquiry."

The exploration of imaginative teaching and learning is a continuous process for educators. Being able to return to it in the framework of a workshop is invaluable. Not only on a scholastic level, but as a reminder of the basics of LCI's approach: to teach students to examine a work of art in an environment in which they feel empowered to bring it into their own lives; in which their ideas and ingenuity are nurtured. Lincoln Center Institute also offers advanced-level workshops to its tri-state New York participants as well as the LCI International Educator Workshop participants. More information about these workshops will be sent out in the winter.

In an article she recently wrote, Amanda quotes Jeanette Del Valle, a Lehman graduate who took three courses with her and now teaches at the School for Community Research and Learning in the Bronx.

"One of the most important functions I serve is making the arts accessible to my students. More often than not, they view the arts as an indulgence. Convincing them that the fine arts are for everyone is sometimes a hard sell, which is why their work in aesthetic education is so critical. Not only do we expose them to the arts, they get to spend time discussing, thinking about, and actually making art. By the end of the experience, a whole new world has been opened to them."*

* Perspectives on Urban Education vol. 6 issue 2. "Changing Things as they Are: Promoting Social Justice through Encounters with the Arts."

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