If you are a teacher, you are not only teaching your subject matter: you are teaching your behavior, your attitude, your presentation. More importantly, you are teaching your whole field. So, if you are teaching a science, then you are teaching the whole scientific method. In my case, I am not only teaching language, but I am also teaching culture, diversity, and the humanities.
With this excuse, the Philosophy faculty and I recently arranged a field trip to the Palm Beach Opera’s Marriage of Figaro. It was fantastic. For most of the students (if not all), this was their first time at the opera, and they were pleasantly surprised. The key takeaway is that the students appreciate a new art form for them, understanding the beauty of art. Especially an art where the artist is the instrument, so no two can ever be the same!
Unlike, say, The Magic Flute, Mozart does not have any blockbuster songs in this opera, but the whole thing is very melodious and easy to enjoy. The story is funny but moralistic -this is the Enlightenment after all! So the students were never bored; they were able to enjoy the story and the music. Coincidentally, we had just studied the Enlightenment in class, reading Benito Jeronimo Feijoo, so to see the students making connections is extremely rewarding. Mission accomplished.
If you have a chance to have your students make connections outside the classroom, across different fields, let them rip! You are welcome.
Here are two of my favorites, Cecilia Bartoli and Renée Fleming, doing one of the more famous duets:
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