Discussing the Importance of Arts in Schools with W. H. Morden Public School’s Prologue Club
The Prologue Club at W. H. Morden Public School was particularly special. The school is very engaged in the arts and they used the Prologue Club opportunity to create a student committee to help push out all of the arts opportunities that they have available. The students on this committee went above and beyond this school year to ensure that the student body got the very most out of the arts experiences that they helped make happen.
This incredible group of students and their teacher Shelli Fisico agreed to chat with us for The Prologue Blog about their experience and to share their thoughts on the importance of arts in schools.
What made you decide to join your school’s Prologue Club? Or in this case, your school’s arts committee?
Ryan: I felt like it was a great opportunity, especially for leadership and the arts. I felt like it was a really great opportunity to benefit the school in different ways. And I thought it was a very great way to help out.
Kate (Prologue): Awesome. We love that you all want to help your school. That’s so important.
What has been your favorite experience in The Prologue Club this year? What have you each enjoyed most?
Ms. Fisico: Does someone want to share how we’ve come together and what we do? Maybe the steps and procedures that we’ve done?
Tito: So basically, once we pick the person that we want to come to the school, we then start the planning, like the date we’re gonna get the gym ready. We organize, for example, a slideshow beforehand just to give the classes a sort of understanding of the person before they perform. And we just make it a really enjoyable experience; they have knowledge going in so they can really enjoy the full experience.
Sreeja: So, like Tito said, a few weeks before, we go around the school and we give presentations to the classes. And that is one of my favorite parts because it’s really interactive and the students have fun with it because we also have a trivia at the end to make sure they’re listening. And I think it really helps the students understand who’s coming and what’s going to happen so that they enjoy the performance more.
And it’s also a good exercise in leadership and communication skills to go around the school and give all these presentations. So I really enjoy that.
Ms. Fisico: And I should add the students went into every single class from kindergarten all the way to grade eight with the slideshow, showing videos, and as was mentioned, having questions and trivia at the end. So this model seems to be really effective. When the students come, they’re really excited and engaged and really good listeners.
Kate (Prologue): So basically the students in this committee are preparing the entire school for the performance, which is something that a lot of teachers actually do. We have some resources that we send out beforehand that can be used to prepare the students. And your committee has taken on that role and taught the entire student body. So that is amazing.
Ms. Fisico: And we come at it from a bilingual perspective. So I’m the French teacher and the other French teachers collaborate and allow the students to come in during French time. So everything that’s presented is presented bilingually. So it’s an arts, bilingual focus. Not just arts with leadership.
Kate (Prologue): I love it so much. So, your club selected Dr. Accordion to perform this year, which is amazing. I would like to know how you selected this program.
Do you have a selection process? Is the decision made in your little committee or do you involve the school?
Sreeja: Okay, so Dr. Accordion, we thought he would be a very versatile performer. So he would kind of cater to the younger audiences, but also the older audiences. And also there’s that kind of cultural aspect with different types of music through the digital accordion. That was definitely [a part] of our decision.
We also chose Dr. Accordion because we thought that he seemed to be a great fit [to show how] language arts can be so involved in your life. Dr. Accordion started playing the accordion at a very young age and then he went to university and got degrees for it. And he uses his French language skills a lot in his career.
Ryan: So we collectively thought that Dr. Accordion was a very good fit. By having a bilingual aspect and having an accordion performance, which is more unusual. It’s not very commonly seen. It’s a great inspiration for all students that starting young, playing music, and learning different languages is great.
Kate (Prologue): Yeah, for sure. You don’t see digital accordion players every day. But, yeah, you’re right. It is great to start music when you’re young, if you can. That actually sort of ties into my last question…
Why do you feel it’s important to bring performances into your school?
Kate (Prologue): I LOVE that answer.
Sreeja: As you know our school is very involved in the arts and a lot of us are probably going to watch music, or listen to music. But as Dr. Accordion talks about, there’s that aspect of human connection when it’s a live performance. So I think it’s really important to give students the opportunity to watch a live performance because it’s very different from watching a video or listening to music on your headphones.
It can help them to realize that French is a lot more interesting. It’s a really rich culture and it can help bring a lot of joy into the school environment. Also the arts – maybe not in our school but in other schools – it’s very overlooked and maybe a lot of funding is cut from it.
Kate (Prologue): Wow, such good points. Yes.
Ms. Fisico: And honestly I just watch them run with it and they make the schedules and they make sure it happens. And what makes me happy is we need these student leaders because they’re the ones that will continue to promote the arts. It’s about their future. Right?
Kate (Prologue): That is kind of the whole point.
Emma (Prologue’s Special Projects Manager): Thank you so much everyone. All your answers were so thoughtful and it’s so amazing to see how dedicated you are and in bringing the arts and language to your school community. So thank you so much.
We were thrilled to have Ms. Fisico and members of this Prologue Club join us at our annual Spotlight Prologue showcase at the end of May.
We were especially thrilled and grateful to have Ryan, who is also a member of Prologue’s Student Programming Committee, as one of the amazing student co-hosts of the event. He did a fabulous job!
Thank you to Ms. Fisico for inspiring students to be passionate about the arts. And thank you to the members of this Prologue Club for your leadership, for teaching your fellow students, and for keeping the arts alive.