N.L. music teachers want a shot at holding creative classes come September
Return-to-classroom plan skimps on details for music classes
In the wake of the province releasing its return-to-school plans, some music teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador have been left wondering where their place will be in September.
Kathy Conway-Ward, a music teacher in St. John's, said she was surprised to see a lack of details for music classes in the lengthy document. The lone mention was that choir and band practices "may pose a higher risk" and should be postponed for the time being.
"It was pretty devastating, to be honest," she told The St. John's Morning Show.
Conway-Ward, like many other music teachers, has been busy looking at ways to reinvent classes in the age of COVID-19.
They've looked up preliminary studies on the potential spread of COVID-19 due to singing and playing wind instruments. They've come up with other ways of teaching music in the event of a return to class, at-home learning or a hybrid.
We need to have the data to support our decisions of how we are going to go back into our classrooms.- Catherine Hoven
She said it would have been nice for the education department consult with them before releasing the plan.
"It seems we weren't even provided an opportunity to share that with government. It was just struck without any acknowledgement to what we had researched."
Creative opportunities
Catherine Hoven, a music teacher on Fogo Island, was also part of discussions among music teachers about alternatives to wind instruments and choirs.
"Music teachers as a whole are very creative people. So the opportunity for us to figure out how to make this work, we have taken very, very, very heavily and run with it," Hoven told Newfoundland Morning.
"The collaboration of music teachers throughout the province has been phenomenal."
Percussion groups, outdoor choir practices and virtual performances were some of the things discussed.
Hoven said before they return to classrooms with choirs and bands, they need to see the final results of some scientific studies being done on the potential for virus transmission.
In that regard, she understands the province's decision to halt bands and choirs for the time being.
"We need to have the data to support our decisions of how we are going to go back into our classrooms," she said.
She hopes to see music return in full force as soon as possible, however, for the students who rely on the programs and benefit the most.
"I've had students who struggled through school in their core subjects, we'll say, and flourished in the music room. This is where they got to be creative. This is where they got to feel successful. This is where they got to be part of a team that they'd never felt before. And that translates into all the other areas of their school work."
With files from Newfoundland Morning and The St. John's Morning Show