Over the next few weeks, we at Arclight Repertory Education Outreach are going to be bringing you a number of different takes on the role of the arts in education. We’ll be hearing from many different voices in the community, from our own teaching artists, to parents and college students. We invite you to join in the conversation and share your thoughts with us at education@arclightrep.org.
To start things off though, as both Education Director for Arclight and a middle school teacher for the last eleven years, I wanted to focus on a benefit of arts education that I hold very dear personally.
Today, I want to talk about confidence.
Growing up, I was the shy kid. You all know the kid I’m talking about. The quiet kid in the class who’ll raise their hand, but then hesitate to answer, wondering what the other students will think of his response. The kid who sits with his friends and listens to their stories and laughs, but never quite volunteers his own contribution. Through elementary and middle school, that was me.
Shy, quiet, and deep down, maybe even a little afraid.
In high school, the shy kid became a ghost. I played football, but I wasn’t very good. I joined clubs, but I faded into the background. I did well in class, but I never pushed myself as far as I knew I could go.
Shy, quiet, and deep down, maybe even a little afraid.
When I went away to college, I decided that enough was enough. I was tired of being a ghost. I was tired of being the shy kid. I was tired of being afraid to really be me.
So, on the advice of a friend, I auditioned for a group of student-directed plays. I had never been on stage before in my life. The director handed me a few pages of the script, paired me with an actress, and told me to begin. I looked at her and told her that this was all a bit new to me. I’ll never forget her response. She smiled this amazing smile and said “All you have to do is pretend.”
So I did. And it was a blast. I wasn’t the shy kid anymore. I was a Greek sea captain, falling in love with a beautiful girl promised to another.
And just like that, it happened.
Not so shy, not so quiet, and maybe still a little afraid, but in a totally different way.
I got that first role, and that started me in the world of theatre. I found I could make people laugh. I found that I could make people afraid of me or sympathize with my pain. I discovered just how much fun it could be to stand in front of an audience and make magic. And all you have to do is pretend.
And as I found this freedom in these various roles, I began to find myself. I began to find my voice and my gifts. I began to truly love having an audience respond to me.
I have taught seventh grade English for the last eleven years, and I love what I do. My students are my audience, and when I read them Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” and watch their eyes grow wide in suspense, or see them thinking over a poem, I think back to that twenty-two year old director, and I know that I owe her a debt beyond description.
And then I see that shy kid. You all know the kid I’m talking about. The quiet kid in the class who’ll raise their hand and then hesitate.
Shy, quiet, and maybe even a little afraid.
And I know that if I can do something that makes sure that the shy kid doesn’t have to wait till college to discover the same confidence that theatre gave me, then I need to do it.
For me, that is why the arts are so crucial to education. It changes lives.
I know it changed mine.
That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing. The role of the arts cannot be quantified in tests and reports. Not because it is not of value, but because it's value goes beyond what we can put in a graph or a chart.
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