Do you collaborate with other Turnaround Arts schools? If so,
what do you learn from those meetings?
Not as much as you might think. Turnaround Arts is administered by all
sorts of organizations, and that means there is a lot of differences in
the barriers we face. To be sure, we get great ideas and conversations
during our conference calls, but the opportunity to collaborate is not
always a good fit.
How has your role as a visual arts coordinator evolved now that
you are also the program director for this effort in Des Moines?
To be honest, my role has not changed, I just have less time to devote
to both of them. I would love to say I took a few things off my plate to
focus on the Turnaround Arts efforts, but that isn’t the reality. It is easy
to fantasize about what could be accomplished if I could only focus on
one or the other. That just isn’t how things are structured right now, so I
push ahead and try to maximize every moment and every interaction to
try to reach goals in both areas.
If you could give people one piece of advice about Arts
Integration, what would it be?
You must, must, must be actively reflective. Be brave enough to nix
things that don’t work after investigating why, and be critical about
deepening what is working. Every day should involve action research.
After all is said and done, make sure that student learning is the center
of every action you choose.
**As told to editor Susan Riley on September 22, 2015
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Photo Credit: Des Moines Public Schools