South Carolina schools are looking for arts teachers! Most of the arts areas, including dance, music, theatre and visual arts are listed as critical needs areas in the State.
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So, what does that mean for those of us who went through our undergraduate years without taking even one course in teacher education? Perhaps we thought as undergraduates that a teaching career would never interest us, or we became so involved in our arts majors that we didn’t have any time to take teacher preparation courses.

Now, we may have a different mindset. After a successful career as an artist, perhaps, we want to give back to the field that helped us so much to be the successful creative entrepreneurs that we are, or perhaps, we have had a change of heart and really want to contribute to the artistic wellbeing and growth of young people, or perhaps we want to ensure that there is a future audience for the arts, or perhaps we understand that the arts are necessary for a happy and well-balanced life.

So what should we do now? Is it too late? Has a life as a classroom teacher passed us by? By all means, no.  
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There are at least two routes to obtain teacher certification after receiving a bachelor’s degree in an arts discipline without taking the requisite education courses as an undergraduate.

One route is through a process called PACE (Program of Alternative Certification for Educators). This is a three year program for degreed individuals who otherwise do not meet certification requirements. Details on this program can be obtained by contacting [email protected].

The other route is to obtain the Master of Arts in Teaching, offered by several of our South Carolina institutions of higher education. Since I’m at the College of Charleston, I’ll use our MAT programs as examples. We offer the MAT in Performing Arts with two concentration areas, Choral Music and Theatre. Successfully finishing the MAT with the concentration in choral music will qualify you to be recommended to the SC Department of Education for South Carolina certification in general and choral music at grades P-12. Following the concentration in theatre will qualify you to be recommended to the SC Department of Education for certification in theatre at grades P-12. The MAT in Performing Arts requires 45 hours of coursework and takes at least two years.  Twenty-four hours will cover core requirements (such as basic education courses) with twenty-one hours in the specific arts concentration. You’ll spend one year on fieldwork and one semester on clinical practice (I think this used to be called student teaching!) Once you receive the MAT and pass the PRAXIS exam, you are recommended to the SC Department of Education for certification to teach.  And there are lots of jobs available in critical needs areas in the arts.
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South Carolina desperately needs teachers who specialize in the arts! If you feel the calling, why not give it a try? Through PACE or the MAT route, you can positively change your life and the lives of South Carolina young people.

I remember reading an online article from the Washington Post (11/27/17) on teacher retention. It stated that more than 40% of all teachers leave the profession within their first five years with even higher rates for high-poverty, high-minority public schools. This should be a major concern. Losing our teachers is a serious matter. As educators, we need to be relentlessly proactive in our efforts to maintain qualified professionals in the classroom.

In my opinion, a critical first step to retain our teachers is to find out why they are leaving. Candid conversations need to take place to uncover what is “pulling” them away from the profession and what can be done for them to “stick and stay.” If we continue to lose teachers, we are putting the quality of instruction that our children receive at risk. In my district, I witness the challenges that administrators face each year in trying to ensure that there are highly qualified teachers in front of students. 

As the district’s Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator, I encounter the same challenges with maintaining qualified fine arts faculty. I know that the best-qualified arts educators are looking for environments where the arts are an equal part of CORE-curricula and not just the “icing on the cake.” They want state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, materials and resources. They also want district-level administrators to understand the arts aren’t just a reprieve for students from the day-to-day routine of the “ordinary classroom,” but that students will leave with skills they will use throughout their lives.  In talking with arts teachers, they say that they don’t feel that their principals understand that arts classes are standard-driven and provide rigor – that they don’t understand how fine arts instruction ignites higher order thinking skills and gives students opportunities to have “real life” experiences. If school leaders do not acknowledge the power of the arts and the positive impact they have on student learning and support these teachers, fine arts teachers will continue to become harder to find with the ones who are still in the field looking to other more supportive school cultures.

One of my closest friends and colleagues is Mr. James A. Stroman, Sr., the district’s elementary band consultant. Mr. Stroman is my “go to” person for good, solid advice. With his years of experience and expertise, I often pick his brain for best practices he has learned over the years. So I asked him, “What can I do to prevent teachers from leaving our district after only one or two years?”  He shared the following insights.

In order to maintain and sustain your teachers, you as the fine arts coordinator need to implement a plan that includes the following:

• Providing support for teachers, ranging from ways such as mentoring and coaching, professional development, sufficient financial resources, to being the “loud” voice for arts advocacy at all levels.
• Cultivating collaborative efforts for the arts by encouraging your teachers join and participate in local, state and national arts foundations, task forces, arts commissions, local universities and city and county government.
• Creating the best possible working conditions by ensuring that their facilities are appropriate for their specific art form. This means working with school level administrators to make sure that arts classrooms meet the minimum state requirements for each area and that schedules are made that provide ample instructional time and manageable class sizes.
• Empowering teachers to succeed by keeping them informed of “what’s new” in the arts on the state and national levels as well as helping them to grow and become a part of local, state and national leadership teams.
• Recognizing your teachers publicly. Celebrate both their personal successes as working artists and their achievements as demonstrated through their students. Be sincere with the praise, and do it with consistency.
• Treating your teachers as if they are irreplaceable; make them a part of decision-making, fight for their rights and place in education and don’t be afraid to plead for their compensation. Most importantly, show them how much they are needed to convince them to stay on your team.
• And finally, establishing high expectations early on by providing them with clear definitions of the goals and objectives.  Poor teaching is not acceptable; in other words, make it plain.

His good advice made me realize how critical it is to have a plan in place. It needs to be a support system for both new and veteran fine arts educators, and one that reduces any barriers to open communication.  Mr. Stroman’s advice also serves as a reminder that just as our students love to hear when they have done a good job, my fine arts teachers need that also. Too often upper level administrators focus on how important students are to our success but they repeatedly forget to recognize how crucial teachers are to the success of those students.   
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In conclusion, rather than have teachers leave our district in pursuit of a better opportunities, we need to work to become the BEST option for those teachers.

Ms. Donnan’s 7th grade drama class changed my life. I know that sounds dramatic, and it is. But it is also true. In drama class, I found my people. I found a creative outlet. I found a place where it was okay to be, well, dramatic. I also found a path to where I am now, the arts education director at the SC Arts Commission. 

From Ms. Donnan’s drama class I went on to be involved in every aspect of theatre life at the South Carolina Children’s Theatre. As a teenager at SCCT I could be found on stage, back stage, and assisting classes – I had the unique opportunity to explore all areas of my chosen craft. This led to a BA in Theatre from Winthrop University, a career as a theatre artist and administrator at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, and several years as a drama teacher at Stone Academy of Communication Arts. After receiving my MFA in Theatre Management from Florida State University and spending two years working as the education manager for Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State, I journeyed back to South Carolina to join the team at the South Carolina Arts Commission. I can trace the path from Ms. Donnan’s 7th grade drama class directly to where I sit now, writing this blog post. 

​I grew up on one of the Finger Lakes about forty miles east of Rochester, New York where summers were spent in a carefree existence of riding bikes and playing tag.  Our concerns were the color popsicle we’d get at the end of the day (hopefully cherry) and if the fireflies would be out that night.  I can remember so many specific details from my childhood summers, almost forty-five years ago, as if they happened yesterday.  Yet, I don’t remember the capitols of all fifty states (even though I memorized them in 5th grade) and I can recite less than ten presidents in order (even though at one time I could rattle off Washington to Ford in less than two minutes).  Why is it that we remember some things, while others fade away almost immediately?  I’ve learned through the years that what we remember is connected to experiences that were fun, engaging and interesting.  The things that get us excited and that spark our curiosity are the things that keep us motivated and inspired to the point we often lose track of time. 
 
When I was teaching first grade, I would start virtually every lesson or book by tapping into my students’ past experiences.  “Who has seen a bird’s nest,” “Have you ever slipped on a wet rock?”  Inevitably, the high achievers in my class were always the students who had a wide range of experiences and opportunities, especially over the summer.  From horseback riding to playing guitar, swimming in the lake or playing Kick the Can, those experiences provided the platform for future learning.  It’s important to point out here that incidental learning is just as important, and sometimes more important, than intentional teaching.  My summer experiences provided opportunities such as learning about plants by creating my own terrarium or reinforcing geometry and engineering when we were building a tree fort.  Play is a child’s job.

National Summer Learning Day is a national advocacy day aimed at elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the year. Your participation sends a powerful message across the nation that summers matter and offers an opportunity to showcase how summers can make a life-changing difference in the lives of young people.