Peter Hawley

A really big two-part episode this week on Teaching in the Arts.  First up is Jeff McCarter from Free Spirit Media, followed by my main guest is James Warda who teaches with me at Loyola University in Chicago.  We have a really great conversation about being a first time college teacher, about what we are passionate about, and especially bringing a human approach to the work place.

I am not sure it is fair to call James a renaissance man, but here’s a sampling of his work:  He’s the author of the book, Where Are We Going So Fast: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Moments, he writes the Chicago Now Blog by the same name, he plays guitar and sings in The Groove Band and, oh yeah, he is a first time college teacher.  We have a lot to talk about, and it is a great chat.

But before James, at the start of the show, Jeff McCarter from Free Spirit Media returns to share some exciting news.  Jeff was on Teaching in the Arts way back in March, and you can hear that episode here.  Jeff continues his great work at Free Spirit Media, and the organization continues to grow and thrive, and help young people.  A sampling of Free Spirit Media’s recent work is below.

You can listen to Jeff and James here:

Teacher Man

Tweets by FreeSpiritChi

Tweets by TheRealChiFSM

https://freespiritmedia.org/inpathways

Tweets by Inpathways

This week on Teaching in the Arts I have a great conversation with Tremaine Williams.  Tremaine is a cameraman for WGN-TV in Chicago, and has also been an on-air reporter for KWQC-TV in Davenport, IA and a “one man band” in Rockford, IL.  I first met Tremaine when I hired him to teach entry level broadcast classes at Tribeca Flashpoint College.

We have a great talk.  Tremaine shares how he got into the business, how he worked hard, and in my opinion mastered the art of getting jobs, and the role mentors played on him.  He also talks about learning from mistakes, and how being a professional makes him a better teacher.

Among other topics, we also discuss some of his favorite (and scariest) stories to cover as a newsman, hint: The Stanley Cup was not one of the scariest stories.

We also talk about being a drone pilot, and his freelance career as a filmmaker outside of WGN.

See some of that work here:

Drug Addiction Unit at Loretto Hospital from Tremaine Williams on Vimeo.

drone work 10-15 from Tremaine Williams on Vimeo.

And listen to the podcast here:

Teacher Man

This week I have a great conversation with film editor and teacher in the arts, Alaric Martin.  I’ve known Alaric for a decade, but until we got on the mics I never really knew him.  Sure, I knew he had a long, successful career as a TV commercial editor, and I knew he was editing more long form projects including my former student, Kirby Ashley’s documentary Sideline: The History of Chess From a Black Point of View but I didn’t know how he got here.

Right off the start of our conversation Alaric talks about the influence his father, a postman by profession, aspiring painter by night, had on him, and how it got Alaric to think beyond the five blocks of his Southside of Chicago neighborhood.  In our chat Alaric mentions a couple of his father’s paintings and I asked him to send me the pictures you see here.  Listen to the podcast to hear the story behind the paintings.

This is Chicago Lake Michigan and was reproduced from a black and white photograph Alaric’s father saw.

And this is The Baptizing Pond,also done from a black and white photograph.  Alaric tells me he believes this was the pond where his father was baptized.  Each painting is more than 55 years old.

In the podcast we talk a lot about the TV Commercial business, the influence Tom Burrell and the Burrell advertising agency had on his career, and of course we get around to talking about teaching in the arts.

If this isn’t enough, Alaric also did the voice over for Iron Five the documentary about Loyola’s 1963 NCAA men’s basketball champions, and he just opened up his own editing shop, Epilog Design Media Group.

It’s a great conversation, and just goes to show that you can work with someone for years and not really know them.  I am glad I had the chance to get to know Alaric a little better.

Listen here:

Teacher Man

We are back with the second and concluding part of the Teaching in the Arts Special Documentary as we follow Andrew Shabat teaching his first college course.

This week I talk with Andrew after his first week of classes,he has a class observation by faculty member Jeff Kliment, we hear Andrew in action as a teacher, the course ends, and we reveal Andrew’s student evaluations “live” on the  Teaching in the Art mics.

If you missed part one, you should review and listen here.

I also want to thank Andrew for allowing me to even try this, it could have been a disaster.  Also, thanks to Jeff Kliment and Yuri Lysoiavanov for participating.

As I said last week, in many ways, this is what this Podcast is all about- how teachers in the arts do what they do.

Teacher Man

In 2014 President Obama named Joseph Lento a National Teacher of Arts and Humanities, and today Joseph is my guest on Teaching in the Arts. I still haven’t met Joseph, I interviewed him via Skype, but we hit it off immediately.

We have a wide-ranging conversation about his upbringing in the Bronx, and his goal of being a musician, to his work as a teacher.  Joseph has devoted his teaching career to working with students with special needs and disadvantaged students.  As we were talking I kept thinking about Welcome Back Kotter – Joseph taught at his former school for a time.  I also couldn’t get Jimmy Stewart and It’s a Wonderful Life out of my head.  I expect Joseph has had as much impact on his students lives as George Bailey did on the townsfolk of Bedford Falls.

My takeaway quote from the conversation is, “The kids are teaching me so much.”  Joseph also explains why he continues to call his students “kids.”

This episode would not have happened had it not been for Kathy Biehl.  I mentioned Kathy and her podcast, Astroinsight’s. I emailed Kathy, who I have also never met, and she said that her future brother-in-law would make a great guest on Teaching in the Arts.  So, two weeks later, here’s Joseph Lento.  Thank you, Kathy!

From Joseph’s bio:

Joseph is a conservatory trained musician; New York State licensed teacher of orchestral music and school district administration; professional trumpeter; brass and woodwind instructional specialist; professional bandleader; public school music director and a licensed school district administrator whose career began in 1984.

Joseph appears regularly on Manhattan Cable Television (The Hart of New York), LMCTV and various radio programs in the Hudson Valley as an expert on pedagogy and special needs students.

Joseph has published many articles and appeared on numerous TV programs.  I have included some links here.

DistruptED TV Magazine 

Music Never Met a Brain It Couldn’t Help

Neurodiverse Empowerment Through Music

And right here on Teaching in the Arts.

Teacher Man

There are a few things that immediately come to mind when I think about Tom Blakemore.  1) Walter Murch, the sound designer and film editor, author of In the Blink of an Eye.  A few years ago we saw Murch speak at a Humanities Conference in Chicago.  2) The Drum and Bugle Corps.  Tom was a member of one as a teenager, and then later in life became a manager of a corps of adult drummers and buglers.  He and I had many discussions about following his group as they went to the nationals in Plymouth, MA.  3) An author.  Tom worked long and hard on his book, Recording Voice Over: The Spoken Word in Media.  We cover all of this and more on this week’s episode of Teaching in the Arts.

One of the things I really enjoy about hosting this podcast is getting to have conversations with folks I know (and many I have never met before) and diving deeper.  For example, I never knew Tom had a career in radio before being a sound designer.  When you hear his voice, it’s kind of obvious he should be behind the mic.  I was pretty certain we would cover the three issues I mention above, but I didn’t foresee discussions about Jean Shepherd, Leonard Bernstein, and Touch of Evil.

It it always good seeing Tom be it at the pet store, the farmer’s market, in the classroom, or behind the mic.  I hope you enjoy the chat.

AND, I need your help.  The Lesson of the Day is actually a request to my listeners to help me out with the reading assignments for one of my fall courses.  I begin teaching in a week, and in one of my courses I have eight chapters of reading I would like to assign.  I also want to make sure they read the material, but I don’t have a ton of class time to go over the readings.  So my solution is to have students write reading responses- critical, self-reflections to the reading, and turn those in.  Each one is work 25 points (on a 1000 point scale.)  Let me know your thoughts, and in the coming weeks I will let you know where I land.

Listen here:

Teacher Man

1. The learning process – Adults as students (post secondary education)  

2. Literacy – Reading and writing and how the two are connected; developing a writing process

3. Learning differences/special learning needs (I’m credentialed in working with these students)

4. Time Management and organizational skills (how they effect learning) – this is the focus of the private tutoring I do now

Teacher Man

Oy!  What a week!  I had three interviews scheduled.  On Tuesday I had to cancel (being rescheduled and will drop on August 20th), a Skype that canceled on me, and an interview that I wanted to do while I was on the road at the end of the week, that I decided to postpone.  All of that is classic Mercury Retrograde.  This is from the Farmer’s Almanac.

WHAT IS “MERCURY RETROGRADE”?

We are all influenced by the effect of Mercury in retrograde.

Due to the way our own orbit interacts with those of the other planets, they might sometimes appear to be traveling backward through the night sky with respect to the zodiac. This is, in fact, an illusion, which we call apparent retrograde motion.

Several times a year, it appears as if Mercury is going backwards. These times in particular were traditionally associated with confusions, delay, and frustration.

Perhaps Mercury’s retrograde periods can cause our plans to go awry. However, this is an excellent time to reflect on the past. It’s said that intuition is high during these periods, and coincidences can be extraordinary.

Better still check out the Astro Insight Podcast from Kathy Biehl.  She will fill you in on all things Mercury and Mars (and several other planets) currently in retrograde.

That said, I was scrambling to get something out first thing Monday morning.    So what you get this week is a Lesson of the Day, about over preparing to teach.  I read an article in the Chronicle this week that got me thinking.  It’s a great read by James Lang, and a reposting of a really fun interview with Jacob Sweet from the Old Town School of Folk Music.

Jacob and I talk about playing a gig in a chicken coop in Bermuda, drummer Kenny Aronoff, and the difference between conservatory music schools- Jacob went to DePaul University- and the Old Town School.

We really get into it about teaching styles, influences, and the “magic” of taking a class of beginning adult guitar players, and 80 minutes later having them play a song.

Listen here.  Back next week with a brand new episode.

Teacher Man