
{"id":10149,"date":"2010-04-22T12:39:07","date_gmt":"2010-04-22T20:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=10149"},"modified":"2010-04-22T12:42:45","modified_gmt":"2010-04-22T20:42:45","slug":"ready-set-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/04\/22\/ready-set-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready, set, life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>RECENTLY . . . <\/p>\n<p>BY VALARIE SCHWARTZ<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat would entice high school students to sign up for something called Scene &#038; Heard, requiring them to meet for workshops led by an English teacher every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.? <\/p>\n<p>The answer: Michael Irwin. <\/p>\n<p>Irwin, in his 12th year of teaching, has earned a reputation, not only at Chapel Hill High School, but through his participation with young people around town, as a free-thinker who helps teens use their minds and creative expression in pursuit of answers to life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dilemmas. A show demonstrating the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Roots of Reflection\u00e2\u20ac\u009d will be performed in three scenes that incorporate puppetry, acting, poetry, music, dance, visual art and filmmaking on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. on the Southern Village green. In between scenes, the stunning Sacrificial Poets (pioneered in Irwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s classroom) will perform. Starting at 6:30 p.m., a ukulele orchestra will delight the arriving audience members settling into their seating on the lawn. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a variety show,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Irwin said. <\/p>\n<p>And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s open experimentation. The students will perform with no script having been written. <\/p>\n<p>In a rehearsal two weeks ago, the 17 teens of Scene &#038; Heard were instructed to play for five minutes. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all been children before,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Irwin began the exercise. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all been free to play. Where did you used to play? What did you do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>The answers gave some suggestions. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Play for five minutes. No; play for three total minutes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no playing after three minutes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Someone protested, saying she wanted to play more. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How long?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Irwin inquired. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Five minutes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was the answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay; play for five minutes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Irwin had demonstrated how to get what one wants by suggesting, then removing the suggestion. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Whatever you do, keep moving, keep playing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and he jumped right in with them and played along as they used the squishy, fat, long, fabric \u00e2\u20ac\u0153roots\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they had made as jump ropes, among other forms of play, that spread their faces with smiles, while a student offered up drumming as musical energy. <\/p>\n<p>Even in the classroom, Irwin, 35, has never been traditional in his teaching style. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I decided that I wanted to spend my life interacting with youth and trying to provide some creative outlets for them\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. In his classroom, reading a book is the beginning of learning. Students then use their choice of creative form to present the book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essence. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Being an English major is not at the core of it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>In 2002, seeking more community engagement and spiritual fulfillment, Irwin and Charlie Butchart began Wilderness Excursions, taking students on backpack trips on long weekends through the school year and 10-day or two-week trips over the summer. He started Scene &#038; Heard four years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Lizzy Orton, a senior at Carrboro High School, has known Irwin since she was 8 and a student at Community Independent School. She often saw Irwin visiting Butchart, now education director at a private school in northern Chatham County. Lizzy took a Wilderness Excursion her freshman year (the only year she was at CHHS), and after learning on that trip how to exercise her creativity in the ways Irwin stimulates, she eagerly dedicated her Saturdays for the next three years to Scene &#038; Heard. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For me, it is something that is simply 100 percent worth it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lizzy said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I always came home with all these different subjects like nonviolence and human rights on my mind.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She said she learned a new vocabulary. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In my history and social studies classes, I could offer things that weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the textbook. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t teaching us; it was group discussion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Soon, her friends were intrigued. <\/p>\n<p>Hannah Miller, also a senior at Carrboro High School, gave it a try. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It sounded like an interesting group of people with a creative energy I like to be around,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. As for the show, she finds it equally exciting and terrifying. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It can be challenging when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two weeks before the show and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really sure what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be doing yet. Everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of the storyboarding process. The ideas kind of fuse and form something really cool. But it can be terrifying to realize you have no concrete plan,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think what he really strives to do is to provide kids with a really real and authentic experience within the public school system,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butchart said of his longtime friend. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easily one of the most dedicated educators I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met in my life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say how many hundreds of students or parents give the same answer when asked who had been their favorite teacher, who had brought out the most in themselves or their child. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consistently him. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an amazing big-ideas person. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen anyone give so much to make his ideas happen with youth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butchart said.<\/p>\n<p>A $5 donation is suggested for this free show. The rain date is April 30. <\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746  or valariekays@mac.com<\/em><figure id=\"attachment_10151\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10151\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2010\/04\/22\/ready-set-life\/recently042210\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10151\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/recently042210.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"recently042210\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/recently042210.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/recently042210-113x75.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/recently042210-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/recently042210-360x239.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/recently042210-120x80.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10151\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY AVA BARLOW.  These Scene & Heard members are pretending to be from different planets, each with a unique sound and movement of expression. Their director, Chapel Hill High School English teacher Michael Irwin, gave them 20 seconds to evolve into commonality.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What would entice high school students to sign up for something called Scene &#038; Heard, requiring them to meet for workshops led by an English teacher every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.?  The answer: Michael Irwin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10149"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10154,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10149\/revisions\/10154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}