About the Artist:
For 34 years, Mary Ruth McGinn has utilized the arts as a vehicle for learning in the classroom. As an elementary educator, Ms. McGinn has sought innovative ways to meet the needs of her diverse students. She is determined to make a difference in the lives of young people. Utilizing her talents, gifts and abilities to reach students is a primary objective. When creativity in classrooms ceases to exist as a result of the current testing culture, so do our students. Mary Ruth through her opera creation program centers instruction around the pillar of creation, the highest level of learning.
Mary Ruth believes that learning should be authentic, that all should be engaged in meaningful, real life experiences that connect us with the world beyond our immediate environment and inspire us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. And that the arts, coupled with an authentic purpose for learning, is a recipe for a healthy, productive life for students, teachers and the global community.
Category:
Type of Programs Offered
Description:
Residency:
Creating an Original Opera or Spoken Work Performance through Authentic Learning
Adapting content and instruction to meet the needs of individuals and the group occurs organically through the process of making art. Discovering each student’s particular strengths and needs occurs via observation as students work in partners, small group settings and whole group exercises and activities to meet the intended artistic and academic objectives. Through student-centered writing and reflecting the student artists explore their feelings about their joys, their fears, what moves them forward, and what holds them back. All students are included in the conversation and expected to share their voices. They do so in myriad ways because they feel heard, validated, understood.
This process of creation encourages students to speak their truth. And when we hear what they have to say, and they hear what each other has to say, they find purpose, pride and a sense of self worth. They break out of their shells. They contribute. And we all benefit from their heartfelt contributions. When we realize we are a part of something bigger than ourselves, we are transformed. We recognize that the individuals who comprise the greater whole help us become our best selves. The focus on the collective community via creation empowers students and adults alike to experience an awakening. After this, we cannot go back to ourselves as we were before.
Appropriate Grade Levels:
Curriculum Connections
ELA, Literacy, STEAM, Social Studies, History, Geography, Creative Writing, Math, Science, Character Development, World Culture
Specialties: ELL, Special Education
This program is offered as:
Program Costs:
Minimum Residency Sessions: 4 per class
$200 - $225 single workshops; $950/ for a day of 5 workshops back to back; $4750 for a full week of workshops
Planning and Evaluation Meetings: For Residencies = $200 per meeting (1 artist plus 1 staff member)
Curricula Planning Hours may be added at a rate of $150 per hour if deemed necessary.
Travel requirements or restrictions:
Mileage may be added if funding allows.
Additional Notes:
For those schools that need 100% financial support to afford a program, there are new financial opportunities that we can avail to serve those needs. NO school, NO child should be denied an artist at their school due to funding constraints
Artist's featured work:
Artist's videos:
Copyright 2023 Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. All Rights Reserved.