Since returning from Haiti, we’ve been meeting regularly as a group to reflect on the past and dream for the future; we’ve also started putting the infrastructure necessary to continue our workshops in place during these meetings.
One of the results of these meetings was the decision to be more intentional with our community, and one of the ways we’re going to accomplish this is through new weekly updates. Each week one of us (or a special guest!) will update this page with insights, fun memories, pedagogy tricks, etc. – all so we can be in better touch with YOU! It’s more than a New Year’s Resolution, but we’re taking advantage of the energy and anticipatory vibes the new year brings to kickstart this project.
You’ll hear from each of us eventually, but I’ll start us off! It’s so hard to pick a favorite memory, so I’ll probably sprinkle a few in here and there throughout the course of my blog posts.
During our summer project of 2017, we were working 2 separate residencies: one at The People’s Music School (Albany Park location) and one at RefugeeOne. On that first day we had no idea what to expect from our new students but went in with a general outline of what we would be working on for the day. We did accomplish what we planned to accomplish, but we were so overwhelmed with just how different the needs of our students were at the end of the day! We sat down around some food and some drinks and re-hashed our entire plans. We restructured our curriculum into 2 different and flexible tracks that were specialized for each of the communities. It was my first day working with Trade Winds and I remember feeling honored to be part of a teaching group that put its students’ development first.
