Approximately 100 Chicago Public Schools K–3rd grade classroom teachers and Ravinia Teaching Artists will participate in interactive music workshops at Ravinia and virtually on August 18, August 21, and September 11 as part of the festival’s annual Teacher Institute. Participants will learn various teaching methods to incorporate music into their classroom curriculum with sessions such as “Musical Creativity in the Classroom,” “Connections to Classical Music,” “Music and Literature,” and “Owning Social Emotional Learning and Music in your Classroom.”
Educators that take part in these workshops have been inspired to bring fun and creativity into their music curriculum in many ways; for instance, the use of technology. Ravinia Teaching Artists such as Andrew Distel have used technology to bring music to life in children’s homes during the pandemic and beyond. Recently, he brought together K–3rd grade teachers and students from Burroughs Elementary in Brighton Park to sing “My Girl” by Donald White and Smokey Robinson as a culmination of a unit on Motown.
In addition, during the institute teachers will participate in a community sing session, with the understanding that singing brings a sense of unity and community building in a fun setting.
Reach Teach Play’s Music Discovery Program Teaching Artists and classroom teachers have put lessons like these into practice. For example, earlier in the year, 3rd grade Kanoon Elementary students learned basic musical concepts through interactive activities and integrated classroom curriculum, taught by their Ravinia Teaching Artist, Andrew Distel, and their classroom teacher. In several schools, students learned to sing “All Are Welcome Here” by Ravinia Teaching Artist Julian Harris, based on the book All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. The students, classroom teachers, and Ravinia Teaching Artists even combined to create a virtual performance of the song.
The goal of the institute is to provide support to educators so that they can continue to teach the foundations of music to Music Discovery Program students and to allow these children to express themselves creatively to the best of their ability.
“Our mission is to encourage these students to discover the joy of music and engage in music. Through the institute, we provide the best tools and resources to our educators so that they can help these students achieve just that,” says Christine Taylor Conda, Director of Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play Programs. “We hope this year’s institute will continue to inspire educators the way they’ve inspired me and many others.”