My students need to have an experience beyond the academics. Holding a guitar is something a lot of my students will never experience unless given the chance. This art would create another pathway to their success.
Our students come to our school after being removed from their previous school for disciplinary reasons. Whether they made one mistake or this is a trend, we approach each student with an open mind and the hope to inspire. With the environment created in the building our students realize they could make changes and accomplish goals that will allow them to not only graduate and get into college but to shape and change themselves beyond just academics. Our students are usually enrolled with us for a period of 90-180 days and come from all over Queens. We get students who are just shy of graduation, students who just started high school, and even students who are a few years behind and haven’t found their groove yet. Our hope at our school is to help each student find their way and overcome the mistake or mistakes that led them to come to us. Our students leave better than how they came to us. We cannot keep them beyond the assigned days they are enrolled but in most cases they wish they could stay.
My Project
My students do not usually get exposed to playing instruments. On the rare occasion we will have a student or two that does but most city schools don’t offer the opportunity due to the pressure of testing. Our students would gain in so many ways by just being able to hold a guitar and strum some chords. There is so much creation among our students yearning to be expressed. With these guitars and supplies, myself and another teacher would be able to teach select students basic guitar and help them experience the art of music. There are so many young poets and budding lyricists in our school. It would be such a huge growth experience for these students to be able to create music, jam out together, and eventually perform for the rest of our school.
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