| Siegel's William Mann named TPAC teacher of year |
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Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 10:53 am
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William Mann, a Spanish language teacher from Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, has been named the “Teacher of the Year” by the education program of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
Mann will receive the award on March 11 prior to a concert from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, one of eleven offerings presented by TPAC Education through its statewide program “Humanities Outreach in Tennessee” (HOT).
Mann teaches Spanish Honors I and II, chairs the school’s foreign language department, and serves as Spanish language department chair for Rutherford County Schools. The diverse programming on the HOT Season provides Mann with opportunities to enhance his creative learning approaches in the classroom.
“Although speaking and writing Spanish is a key part of the curriculum, learning about the people and the history of those who already speak this language is equally important,” said Mann. “We use song to not only memorize vocabulary and grammar, but also to learn about the culture and communities of the countries that speak Spanish. TPAC guidebooks have proven beneficial in that they provide an excellent source of useful knowledge for my students. These resources provide an intellectual compass to guide my students and simultaneously help keep them intrigued and enthused about eventually going to the actual TPAC performance.”
In recent years, Mann has brought students to productions by Hispanic artists such as Luna Negra Dance Theater and Sones de México Ensemble.
“I bring students to HOT performances so that they can experience culture firsthand,” said Mann. “This is an opportunity for them to witness song, dance, music, and all forms of art. Many of my students have never been to a theater, so not only is this a great cultural experience, but it is also a great life experience, too.”
For over 25 years, teachers and students across the state of Tennessee have experienced the performing arts through TPAC Education’s HOT Season for Young People. The program has reached more than one million kindergarten through twelfth-grade students and serves over 30,000 students annually. Performances are selected to complement curriculum objectives and to introduce students to a rich variety of artistic and cultural experiences. Mann was selected from a season that included over 27 counties and 268 different school groups.
“One philosophy that I live by is ‘don't talk about it, be about it.’ The arts enhance education in that way,” said Mann. “The arts breathe life into education. The arts help students become more creative thinkers [and] broaden their knowledge base as well as make cross-curricular comparisons. The arts bring life to the classroom. Whether it is through learning about an indigenous tradition of dance during a wedding ceremony or by learning how instruments were made from animal skin, students are made privy to worlds that they may never have known all because of the arts.”
For the 16th consecutive year, the Teacher of the Year Award is sponsored by Richard and Rhonda Small, which includes a $500 grant for the recipient’s school.
The Tennessee Performing Arts Center is a private, non-profit corporation dedicated to providing and supporting the presentation of the performing arts to the citizens of Tennessee. Its four stages are home to Broadway in Nashville at TPAC, Nashville Ballet, Nashville Opera, Tennessee Repertory Theatre and a variety of special engagements. TPAC administers one of the largest and most comprehensive arts-in-education programs in the United States, offering learning opportunities for children and adults. The organization has served more than 1.5 million students from pre-school to high school over the past two decades. For more information, visit the web site, www.tpac.org.
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