Paul Price
Artifact for ISLLC Standard 3: An education leader promotes the success of every student by ensuring management of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Name of Artifact: Pictures of various music performance field trips to the Orlando-area theme parks.
Date: April 18, 2009
Course: EDU 695
Rationale: I have chosen our performance field trips to align with Standard 3. Each year I take 60 to 100 students to perform at one of the
We are fortunate to be in such an area that allows for such opportunities, and the students get a chance to see how things work in the parks as well as feel a part of the show. We choose songs from our spring musical each year and perform those wherever we are. There is always a great deal of rehearsal involved, but the logistics of ensuring everything is in place is the difficult part. I generally have many parents that help on the day of the performance, but the weeks and months leading to the performance are left up to me. There is no amount of work or inconvenience that would cause me to not do things like this. The look of joy on every face as we perform is worth everything. It is an incredible learning experience for everyone, and it really opens the eyes of the students to all of the opportunities for employment in the entertainment business in our area. I also delegate “jobs” to many of the students to help keep me organized throughout the process.
Reflection: Our yearly performance trip is a great impetus—yes, the “carrot on the stick”—for the students to put the effort into a program. During the process of getting ready, the reward becomes the goal, and the students take pride in reaching the goal. This has been my experience for 11 years now. Every year the students display a relentless will to achieve a certain standard for performance, and I am amazed each year how great they do at the parks. It is very easy to develop a theme during the rehearsals as a differentiation idea for learning. This year we are doing a rock and roll theme, and we are using that as a device to learn about other subjects as well as music. History, math, science, reading, art, and music all connect with the students as we take a program into performance mode. This is certainly one of my favorite parts of the year, and it really makes my job fun. We do usually spend the rest of the day in a theme park as a reward, but it is surprising how the students view the performance as the reward, and not the play time. Reaching the goal builds the character and confidence to very high levels, and the students never cease to amaze.
