Early Impressions

Author: Jonathan McClay

Service with ArtistCorps has me stepping outside of my comfort zone continually. Beginning my teaching of 6th and 7th grade brass students has been an interesting and rewarding experience so far and working with groups of English as a Second Language (ESL) students with incredibly varied backgrounds and histories is certainly humbling.

During introduction activities for an ESL group at R.J. Reynolds High School on a recent Thursday, we had the pleasure of experiencing routine fire and lockout drills. Initially the drills took me back to when I was a student in high school going through these drills. But also, I was faced with a new perspective: many of my students’ families moved away from certain dangers or hardships to a place where due to recent tragedies, safety practices like these have become increasingly important. I want these students to be able to learn and grow in an environment free of danger and threat. They are all interesting individuals with unique interests and personalities, and I am glad that I am here with as much of a goal for myself to grow with my service as for them to learn through art and music. As a motivational picture hanging in Ms. Jolly's classroom above the whiteboard states: "Excellent instruction in every class, every day, for EVERY student!"