On December 17th, at 1:00 PM, all the world’s a stage as 10 courageous PA Distance performers take the limelight. Be there, or be square.
Okay…so maybe our Winter Concert isn’t that dramatic, but it is one of the coolest events of the year! Think about it: our students, our classmates, or we ourselves, perform for the whole school. This is something special. Elisa Carpenter, our lovely music teacher, has put together an extracurricular concert featuring students from grades 2-12.
“Some of these kids have a black belt in recorder!” she told me with a grin. She went on to tell me that the concert will also include piano selections and vocal solos. She’s held three rehearsals for this, and the final was a sort of “dress rehearsal,” where they worked out all of the microphone and sound kinks, and went through the entire order. It’s just like any traditional concert, except you can attend through a WizIQ link. Mrs. Carpenter’s excitement is contagious – I found myself wishing I was her student!
During the past few years, Mrs. Carpenter worked with an organization whose goal was to serve with a community, rather than serve in a community. She is very comfortable working with kids from all types of backgrounds in a personalized way, meeting them where they are and helping them find their kind of success. Strikingly, when she first started to research PA Distance as an employer, she found their mission was very much the same.
Mrs. Carpenter is trained as a classical pianist, but since she’s a certified K-12 music teacher, there isn’t much she can’t play. From brass to woodwinds, she can play and teach it all. This is her first year as a teacher at PA Distance Learning, and in a lot of ways, it’s been different than she was accustomed to – she had been prepared mostly for a “brick and mortar school” in college. But even though the physical surrounding looks a little different, PA Distance has offered her another kind of familiarity.
This similarity has made her transition into our school easier. She had to master new tools and skills in teaching music virtually, but she has been able to do it with a community who shares many of her fundamental ideas for teaching. As she strives to serve with this community, she is able to dive into the stories of kids from a diverse array of backgrounds, to come alongside them and make a real difference.
“There’s no greater effort than helping each kid to be successful in their own way,” she told me.
I think many of Mrs. Carpenter’s efforts will pay off tomorrow at 1:00. There will be all kinds of kids, from 2nd grade to 12th grade, being successful in their own way.
Whether you’re there or square, you have to admit, that’s something worth seeing!