The Magic Carpet…No Joy Ride

We cannot design, create, produce and stage an original opera without collaboration, without teamwork. We must acquire these skills in order to apply them FOR REAL.

Working to accomplish a collective goal with twenty-four students is no easy feat, especially when the teacher steps away, leaving the kids to work through the trials and tribulations that accompany a group challenge.

A large plastic tarp lay on the floor, a magic carpet. The company has been flying for quite some time on this filthy, reeking, germ infested rug and can stand it no longer. The company challenge . . . to turn the carpet over, revealing its clean, fragrant side, without stepping off. If someone steps off or touches the floor in any way, the company must start the challenge again.

Imagine twenty-four kids at one time, talking over one another with ideas, suggestions and strategies to put into practice. No one is listening, everyone is moving, some take it seriously, others play around. Occasionally, there is a saboteur or two. Then, someone falls off. Most are frustrated, angry and want to blame someone for their mutual errors.

We stop, sit in a circle around the carpet and discuss what is happening. At this time, students share honest, heartfelt comments that make us all think about who we are, why we are here together and what we are doing. In this way, we build trust in one another and realize we must share our feelings in order to move forward. These circle conversations also produce concrete, viable strategies and observations that ultimately lead to accomplishing current and future challenges.

Creating a culture that encourages students to express and process their emotions in a healthy manner is essential to problem solving and building personal relationships. A critical component to processing emotions is recording our thoughts and feelings in writing immediately following a common experience. After an intense emotional session, students cannot contain what’s inside of them. It has to come out. As a result, an authentic purpose for writing emerges. Once students discover this outlet, that they can say and write whatever they think and feel without judgment, the floodgate opens.

Life lessons learned through group challenges:

It’s not about ME. It’s about WE.
Blame is counterproductive.
Getting frustrated and angry is okay.
Working together is not easy, but necessary.
Sometimes we must let go of our own ideas.
Making mistakes is part of the learning process.
There’s no giving up. Others are depending on us.
Our thoughts and feelings have value.

With two attempts to accomplish the challenge, the company has yet to be successful on The Magic Carpet. But we persevere.

About Mary Ruth McGinn

As a teacher with 32 years of experience, Mary Ruth McGinn has always sought innovative ways to meet the needs of each of her students. She has spent her entire career in schools where a majority of students speak English as a second language and where poverty significantly impacts the learning experiences and opportunities of students and their families. Nineteen years ago she had an experience that changed her life and altered her professional path in a profound way. She attended training sessions at The Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York City, spent nine intense days living the process of creating an original opera and learned how to replicate the experience with her students. She then began creating opera with her students and using the process of creating the opera as a vehicle to teach curriculum and life skills. The authentic purpose for learning coupled with the arts provided the perfect stage on which to construct a love for life-long learning. The profundity of the work, the transformation of the students and a desire to “bring to light” new ideas in education, inspired Mary Ruth to share this way of thinking and learning. In 2006 she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship, sponsored and funded by Teatro Real and Fundación SaludArte in Madrid, and a sabbatical from Montgomery County, to travel to Spain to develop and implement a similar program there. She lived there two years training teachers and working side by side with teachers and students in their classrooms. The reception of the project was overwhelming. Mary Ruth returns to Madrid every summer to train a new team of educators and artists in the process. In the summer of 2018, she joined forces with The Kennedy Center to offer the opera training for teachers in the Washington Metro area. She currently teaches third grade at Stedwick Elementary School in Montgomery Village, Maryland where she is implementing a classroom curriculum based on the principles of authentic learning. Read more of Mary Ruth's blog Learning for Real.

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