Explore Opera will engage students in an in-depth study of opera through activities that integrate language arts, music, drama, and performance skills. Students gain a rich understanding of a selected work, its history and context, and important themes. Working in collaboration, a Lyric Opera Teaching Artist guides students through a creative process to reinterpret select operatic scenes with their own words and music.
November 2017, Chicago Lyric Opera’s Explore Opera with Lyric Unlimited exposed students to the French opera, Les Pêcheurs de perles by Georges Bizet. Lyric Opera teaching artist, Elise LaBarge, prepared the students for experiencing the opera by adapting its scenes, context and important themes into relatable, student friendly terminology. Students attended the dress rehearsal to experience it “up close and in person”. Ms. LaBarge hosted a debrief session to unpack the student’s experiences and assist them in reinterpreting the opera into their own life experiences.
“I thought this was going to be boring, but I comprehended a lot of what we learned from the session we had when Ms. LaBarge came to the school. Thanks for providing us this experience” – Participating Student
Partnering with business owners and management level individuals; we provide students exposures to opportunities that may not normally see or hear about. It is an opportunity to learn about various occupations and their “fit” with a student’s unique preferences, interests, and values.
This activity is designed to encourage students to begin thinking about their futures. Students will research careers from among the 580 occupations listed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH).
After time spent at the various companies, students select one or more occupations and prepare a presentation addressing the following questions:
- How does the occupation fit your skills and interests?
- What will you be doing in the occupation?
- What is the necessary education and/or training?
- How many jobs are there in the occupation currently?
- Is the occupation projected to grow, decline, or remain unchanged? Why?
- How much does this occupation pay? What do the top 10 percent earn? The bottom 10 percent?
- Find someone with a job in the occupation you are interested in, and interview him or her. The interviewer should uncover:
o What kind of work the person does.
o What education is needed
o What’s the person’s story that lead them to this career
o What the person likes and dislikes about the job.
o What advice the person would give to someone interested in a career in this field.
The ultimate goal is for the students make connections that lead to internships.