2021 UTC-Wolf Trap Call for Applications<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe sheer size of a 4\u00bd-foot instrument is pretty impressive to kids about four years old.<\/p>\n
The name is pretty funny, too. Bassoon.<\/p>\n
But what does it sound like?<\/p>\n
A professional bassoonist by trade, Staci Spring knows what it sounds like and lets kids know, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can play different pieces for them that might relate to an animal or something like that, like a squirrel or a duck,\u201d says Spring. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of creative ways to bring it in, and they definitely get a kick out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 2019, An adjunct professor of music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Spring has found many creative ways to impress kids as an instructor in the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts. Earlier this year, she collaborated\u2014both in-class and virtually\u2014with teachers in kindergarten\/first-grade classes at Battle Academy and pre-K classes at the Avondale location of Head Start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot from each teacher about how they work with their kids, and that’s what I’m there to do,\u201d Spring says. \u201cI’m not there to be the expert. I’m there to help them use more tools in their classroom. That’s always fun for me. What can I bring out in those teachers that they haven’t used before and help them?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wolf Trap program\u2014funded at UTC by the Lyndhurst Foundation\u2014is produced by the world-famous nonprofit that promotes performing arts for both education and enjoyment. Through its Early Learning Through the Arts program, it shows professional artists in music, dancing, puppetry, acting and other areas how to bring their skills into classrooms and blend them with teachers\u2019 lesson plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge strength that artists bring to the table,\u201d says Laurie Melnik-Allen, executive director of the Arts-Based Collaborative at UTC, which brought the Wolf Trap early learning program to UTC in 2019, marking its first university partnership. \u201cYou can develop literacy and also social, emotional and learning skills such as confidence, self-regulation, being patient, being willing to waiting your turn, to develop empathy, understanding different people and being accepting of other people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The Wolf Trap program now is working with Hamilton, Dade and Marion County schools, Little Miss Mag Early Learning Center, the Siskin Institute and Head Start.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we know from research is that when students are set up for success in early learning, that’s a huge determinant for school readiness,\u201d Melnik-Allen said.<\/p>\n
Once the performing artists get into the classroom, they\u2019re not just standing at the front, lecturing to the kids, says Angela Dittmar, director of Teaching Artist Residencies at the Arts-Based Collaborative. When a musician leads the class, the kids are clapping and singing along. When it\u2019s a dancer, the kids are up and moving around. When it\u2019s an actor, the kids are playing parts themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re usually not just watching. They are participating in storytelling, in rhythmic patterns with their body in dance, and these are being integrated into with curricular goals,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Spring incorporates music with wider classroom lessons. For instance, when the teacher\u2019s lesson focused on recycling, she brought in empty containers for cottage cheese, yogurt and other foods and turned them into handheld shakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I had them guess: What do you think is in here? Does this feel heavy or does this feel light? What does it sound like? Then they could open it up and they could discover what was inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wolf Trap program works both ways, too. While the kids learn, so do the teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always enjoy learning from the kids,\u201d Spring says. \u201cIt\u2019s so it’s exciting for me to rediscover music through the eyes of four-year-olds. And then try to come up with creative ways to connect that with whatever they’re studying. It’s a fun challenge for me because there’s so many ways to connect music with anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
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