Kathy Chapman, Lower School Art
Pierce Elementary School, Philadelphia, PA

It’s over 90° at 9:00 a.m. Luckily for Kathy Chapman, she’ll be teaching in an air conditioned room today. Even so, all the shades are pulled down—it will get that hot. In other years, Chapman has not been as lucky: she has taught art to under-privileged elementary school age children in a classroom where the windows barely open, and air conditioning is the exception.

Welcome to Pierce Elementary School in North Philadelphia, home of the Bright Lights Program. The year-round enrichment program falls under the umbrella of the Department of Welfare’s Community in Schools program, providing a safe after-school haven to 62 students who participate in academic and recreational activities and go on cultural trips. The program also provides all-day activities during the summer, and for the last few years, Chapman has volunteered to teach art there.

The students love Chapman, and they love her art class. Because of under-funding, Pierce Elementary School students don’t get to take art class during the regular school year—there’s just not enough money to pay for supplies, let alone a teacher. Using grant money from the Professional Development program at Shipley, Chapman has bought supplies and provided her teaching talent to give the gift of art instruction to disadvantaged students. Chapman says that volunteering at Pierce Elementary School gives her balance, and considers the experience essential to her personal growth. She exemplifies Shipley’s spirit of compassionate participation in the world, and provides a living model of the School’s mission.

Coralie Moorhead, Lower School Music & Science
Villanova University, Villanova, PA

How can rhythm teach us about other cultures? What can other cultures teach us about rhythm? This summer, Coralie Moorhead learned some of the answers to those questions. With a grant she received from Shipley’s Professional Development Committee, she took a class in Multicultural Techniques for Teaching Rhythm. Using music and dance traditions from Cuba, Brazil, Ghana, and other countries, the course provided alternative methods to mainstream rhythm pedagogy. It also provided Coralie with lessons she didn’t expect in multicultural understanding.

The course instructor used much of his experience of living in Ghana as a platform for teaching about African percussion traditions. “What was most striking to me, as a music teacher,” she said, “was that singing, dancing, and drumming are an integral part of Ghanaian life. Ghanaian people teach their children through singing, dancing, and drumming. They don’t consider these the ‘arts.’ They are communal activities, such as fishing or farming. Everybody participates—young and old. They are so much a part of life.”

Moorehead was also struck by the importance of movement in African drumming. She found that when she moved her whole body while drumming, she improved her sense of rhythm. It is for this reason that the course instructor also taught different dances from around the globe. The course also covered technique, tips for teaching rhythm to children, and the different influences that have shaped the percussive tradition in the various cultures investigated.

Not a percussionist by training, Moorhead learned a great deal about teaching the skill to her students. She also learned valuable lessons about the role of music and musical traditions in other cultures. “The course put things in a different perspective for us,” said Moorhead.

*Listen to a piece of traditional African music called Adzohu Ago.
  (*Please note, this is a large file size MP3)
   Courtesy of http://www.alokli.com/

Kareem Smith, Kindergarten 2nd Teacher
Pudong Bilingual School, Nanjing, China

Kareem Smith always wanted to go to China. When plans to visit the country after she graduated from college fell through, she knew that she wouldn’t give up her quest to travel to the Far East. Before June, she had never visited a country outside of the U.S. She hadn’t even flown on an airplane. This summer, all of that changed. “I was very adventurous,” she said. Smith visited China for almost five weeks, teaching English to children ages two to five—thanks to a grant from Shipley’s Professional Development Committee.

Nanjing, a city about four hours from Shanghai, is home to roughly 3.4 million people. “It was pretty much a 24/7 rush hour there,” explained Smith. Luckily, her commute to work each day was a short one—the pre-school where she taught was housed in the same building as her apartment. Adapting to life in China wasn’t easy, but Smith eventually got used to the washing machine in the shower, learned to accept the superstitious habits of her neighbors, and made do with the lack of supplies available to her as a teacher. “Every time I wanted to do a project, I’d go to the director of the school and she’d say, ‘No, we don’t have that.’ I learned to be very resourceful,” she said. “If I wanted to do a lesson with paint, I had to go to the supermarket and buy yogurt so I could have containers.”

Smith also learned how serious the Chinese are about education. “I can’t say this for everyone in China, but the teachers and parents I met really emphasized the importance of education—even to two-year-olds,” relayed Smith. She was amazed that, without having mastered the Chinese language, her youngest students showed a lot of patience during their English lessons.

Shipley students will also learn from Smith’s experiences in China. She plans on teaching students some basic Chinese characters and using Chinese books and music in her Later Gator Club. “I want to do something really cool,” she said, “and teach students about Chinese culture.” This is an important lesson for kids growing up in a world where China will play an increasingly larger role in world affairs.