Category Archives: Amy Way

Creative Processes

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The Frosh Creation course has a complex layering of goals. One that the TMS team has struggled with it to teach teaming.

At a recent TMS team meeting, we were discussing this struggle and I realized how each of us occupy distinctive roles in that team. I began to notice how differently we were each looking at the problem. During the conversation, I started to wonder (One aspect of my specific role is to drift off into possibilities mid-discussion. They all know that and accept me.) could Amy, Joan, Victoria and I be archetypes for a teaming model. I began to come up with descriptions for each of us. Another realization come at that time. We somewhat align with a sequence I use in class, The Evolution of Tasks. This sequence (conceptualize-actualize-realize-display) is a guideline for a creative process.

I merged my realizations together and developed these job descriptions. I will be proposing to my team that we create teams of four students and run four team challenges in the first semester.  The members rotate role in each project.  Each challenge will include a self-reflection survey to help clarify the various experiences.  

My hope that this job training helps students discover strengths and contributions, confirms their individuality and produces synergistic results for the challenges.   

  1. Administrator
         Primary function:                  To CONCEPTUALIZE



  • Studies the problem
  • Re-explains to crew
  • Helps assign tasks
  • Guides brainstorming
  • Confirms uploads
  • Supports other crew
  1. Facilitator
         Primary function:           
         To ACTUALIZE



  • Fine tunes the plan (balancing the dream and the possible)
  • Gathers supplies/leads clean-up
  • Establishes timetable/manages work -flow
  • Quality Control
  • Supports other crew
  1. Producer
         Primary function: 
         To REALIZE



  • Develops the how behind the what
  • Creates practical instructions
  • Lead maker
  • Supports other crew
  1. Documentarian
         Primary function:                      To DISPLAY



  • Photographer
  • Editor
  • Ensures upload/submission of docs
  • Reporter of tasks
  • Supports other crew

“Ask the expert”

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I love the ideas that come from a great conversation with a colleague! 


The other day I was chatting with Christina Ditzel and we found ourselves discussing the best ways to help students who need more guidance when learning specific techniques and skills in a studio-like setting without overly “hand holding.” 


While I would love to sit down and give all my students one-on-one lessons, that’s just not possible (nor would it be healthy.) So, what can you do when multiple students need a bit more assistance? Well, I’m trying something new…it’s called “ask the expert.” 


Here’s how it works: 

  • I identify a student(s) who is doing something really well in class, and have them write their name on the board as an expert for that particular technique or skill.
  • When a student is struggling, instead of asking me for help they call on the help of the expert.
  • When that student has mastered the technique or skill, they become the new expert.
  • The cycle continues…
I just started this in my Frosh Creation: Think, Make, Share course and it is working well! 

Also, a note: Christina just posted an awesome blog about the benefits of Screencasting which is also a great suggestion!

My word for the year: ABANDONMENT

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Last fall, a colleague asked me to choose a word that I would use as my focus for the year. A million words swirled around in my head, but then one just kept coming back to me…so I chose it. My word is “abandonment.”

Let me explain…

I love to be busy and I feel joyful when I’m doing my work because I’m doing what I love. However, there are those moments when I feel overwhelmed. During those times I read this quote that I have posted in my office. It’s from a stack of CSJ Maxim Meditation Cards that I received when I was first hired and attended a CSJ retreat down in San Diego. The cards take quotes from the writings of Jean Pierre Medaille, and some clever person made a 26 card stack of them and gave them to each of the new hires. When I got them, I used to shuffle them up and read/reflect on one word each day. Something different happened the day I read “abandonment.” That day I was particularly overwhelmed with work that I wanted to do, and was trying to multi-task and switch-task to get things done. I realized that I was losing focus, so I stopped and read my card of the day:

Abandonment-
“Never think of the future unless it is somehow necessarily related to your present work: abandon everything to the Providence of God your Father.” And another quote, “Recognize and tenderly love the presence of God in all the events of your life, however trying they may be.” 


I stopped shuffling the cards that day and have kept that quote posted. In this day and age where we are talking more and more about focus, the importance of boredom, multi-tasking, and switch-tasking…it is this quote that keeps me grounded.

Boredom in the Classroom

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I just read an interesting article about the positive effects of incorporating boredom in your classroom. Last fall I wrote a post where I suggested a link between creative thought and movement (one of the reasons why you may have seen me and the Concert Choir students taking a brisk 5 minute power walk yesterday afternoon!) Others have also written posts this year that discuss these same observations about boredom. I think the author of this article says it better than I can, so read on…

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec18/vol76/num04/The-Gift-of-Boredom.aspx?utm_source=ascdexpress&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Express%2014-15

So now I’m curious…what do you do to encourage creative thought?

Music Makes a Difference!

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Last week we inducted 18 students into the National Honor Society for Music (aka Tri-M.) At our induction ceremony, I asked student Katherine Blobner to share a reflection on a musical topic of her choice. Here’s an excerpt of what she shared:



“What about music is able to unify people? I got to thinking about all of the subjects we study in school (math, science, language, art, history) and how frequently we assume these subjects to be independent of each other, but I realized that in reality all these subjects are just different ways of looking at and interpreting the same world. As individuals we tend to understand the world better through certain lenses—I, for example, don’t understand physics or math all that well, so when I hear the number “262.2 Hz” I have no idea what that means. Anyone know what that number means? Ok, what about this (plays middle C on piano)? They’re the same thing! 262.2 Hz is the frequency of middle C—look we’ve just made a connection between physics and music! I could go on and on with examples of how music connects to different areas of study, but my point is, music is something we can all understand because it is the culmination of all these different subjects we often assume to be different. Music provides an opportunity to bridge the gap between math and art or history and language, and by extension an opportunity to connect with people. That’s why we’re here: to take our understanding and help other people to make those connections. To show people the value of music, not just as a form of art or entertainment, but as a means to better understand each other.”

Our students are so cool.

Carving out time for yourself + movement = creative thought?

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I’ve been inspired by the recent blog posts of my colleagues (Ashley, Jen, and Steph) which have focused on finding and establishing a healthy balance in our busy lives. I too have found myself a bit over committed recently, and often struggle to carve out time for myself on a daily basis. A once avid daydreamer, I crave having time to myself…time to think…time for creative thought.



But where is that time now? When I think about where/when my best ideas happen it is either in the car, the shower, or while rocking my kids to sleep. In other words: times when I don’t have a screen to distract me and I’m by myself. Hmmm…



A few times a week, I hop on the treadmill super early in the morning before the day gets going. This typically involves me dragging myself out of bed, sneaking downstairs without waking anyone up, grabbing my iPad to turn on Netflix, and starting my routine. When I started my workout yesterday, I thought “what would this be like if I didn’t watch something while I did it?” So, I gave it a try.



What did I find? First- as any new mom will tell you- time to be with yourself is a huge gift. It was rejuvenating to let my thoughts and ideas bounce around with no real agenda. As I walked, I started daydreaming. Some of my daydreams were work related, others not, but I found a sense of freedom in this experience. Gradually I felt that some of my daydreams became ideas so good that I didn’t want to “lose them” so I grabbed my phone, did some “speech to text” emails to myself, and kept on daydreaming. When the workout ended I felt centered, creative, and excited to start the day.



This experiment got me thinking more deeply about the correlation between physical movement and creative thought, something I’m now more curious about. Does carving out time for yourself + movement = creative thought? For me, I think so!

Singing Is Risky Business!

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I am nervous to write this blog. Nervous because I fear that what I am about to share will not be well received or (worse yet) that what I say won’t affect any change…


So here it is: from my perspective at mass today, I noticed that many faculty and staff members were choosing NOT to sing. 


I don’t understand why. Now, I know I’m biased because I’m a vocal music teacher and this is “my thing”, but if we are trying to embrace a culture of risk taking (and learning by failing) then shouldn’t we be prepared to model for our students some risk taking of our own? 


I know it can be scary, but let’s take a risk…let’s sing in mass! In the words of Sara Bareilles, “I wanna see you be brave.”



A Lesson in Design Thinking

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The new class “Frosh Creation: Think, Make, Share” more commonly known as “TMS” is off and running! This is the class all of our freshmen are taking that attempts to bridge the worlds of art, music, and computer science together. This year Christina Ditzel, Andrew Kjera, Joan Tracy, and Amy Way are team teaching the course. 


Today’s class was a lesson from Joan in Design Thinking. In the lesson students were tasked to physically build a prototype for a client, based on a specific need. Here’s how it worked: students were given a picture of their client and were asked to make observations about who their client is, and what their life might be like. Then they were given an item to design for this client. For some it was sportswear, for others it was a place to sleep. They had the remainder of class to physically design and build their prototype from the materials we had on hand. Our students found this exercise frustrating, fun, stressful (in a good way), and creative. In other words, everything we were hoping this lesson would be!

Students work to build their prototype




The lesson’s success got me thinking. While this was a great hands on lesson for those who want to get their hands dirty and use real materials, is there a way that I can design a lesson to solve a sonic problem? I’m brainstorming ideas now, but if you have any thoughts I’d love to ‘hear’ them (no pun intented.) 


Performance is over…now what?!

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In the fall we were prepared for the Christmas concert, after Christmas we prepared for the competition, and after the competition we prepared for the Spring Concert…the big performances are over. Now what?!


I imagine I’m not the only one trying to figure out how to keep the learning going at this point in the school year. But today I decided to try something new!

When I started rehearsal today, the students asked if they could nap, watch a movie, or work on other coursework. No way! I told my choral students that just because the concert is over doesn’t mean that learning should stop, and ultimately, my goal as a choral educator is to nurture my students’ love of singing so much so that they want to continue it beyond their years here at Carondelet. Their response was a nod or a shy smile, proof that I had a point.

Then I asked the choir leadership to go in the back of the room where our sheet music is stored and choose a piece- any piece- for us to sing today. They chose a simple two part arrangement of “Part of Your World” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Perfect. I told them they had 15 minutes to learn their part and then we would run the piece in its entirety. Chaos ensued as students whipped out their iPads to learn their parts…it was awesome.

What I’ve posted below is the run-through. It’s FAR from perfect, but the students were engaged and enjoyed the process. They are already talking about what challenge piece they want to work on this Friday! 

This made me curious: what do other teachers do when their final “performance” is complete? How do we keep students engaged up to the end?

Fear of Constructive Criticism

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The VPA Dept. has been discussing some observations we have in regards to how students critique art in their VPA classes…


In general, here’s what we see: when students are asked to give “positive praise” we often hear comments like, “good job,” “I like your song,” or “it makes me think of…” Essentially, nice words but nothing that provides the artist with true feedback on their artistic process and/or final piece.


So, to help our students provide more specific ways to offer praise, in both Digital Photography and Interactive Music Studio classes, we tried giving students a few note cards with artistic vocabulary terms (including the definition) and encouraged students to use them when sharing aloud in class. This was helpful and in general, we found the quality of what students offered improved.


However, we continued to notice that students struggled when giving and taking constructive critique. Students steered clear of offering anything that might be seen as constructive, probably because they fear that their comments will be seen as negative and fear any sort of backlash. So, how do we change this? How do we create an environment where students can offer constructive criticism? What tools do we give them to offer criticism? And then, how do we help students act upon the feedback and suggestions given?


I would love to hear what other teachers do in their classrooms. What works for you?