Episode 54, ACT 1: Melissa Parke - Walk in Truth

Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie

Hello, TA PODience. We hope you’re staying safe, healthy and cool during these extremely hot days. We’re back with a brand new episode that we think you’re going to love! What drives you creatively and personally? Can you name it or are you still trying to place it? These questions, and so many more, fuel this two-episode arc. Episode 54: “Walk In Truth,” features an inspiring conversation between Courtney and Melissa Parke, Founder of Black Teaching Artist Lab, LLC and a creative that focuses her work and impact in the arts education world. Courtney’s conversation with Melissa hits on so many touchpoints that we’re certain will resonate with anyone listening like growing up in a time of COVID, what it means to belong and what our perceived placement is in society and our ever-fluctuating relationship with time, process and deadlines as a measurement of success. All of this leads into a discussion about Parke’s passion project—creating an Afro-centric social emotional learning (SEL) framework that is inspired in part by a combination of the Casel framework and the White Racial Identity Model, which was developed in 1990 by psychologist Janet Helms. So how exactly did Parke come to shape and mold this new framework? How did she conduct the necessary research and what questions did she ask? In what ways does Parke hope this work will affect Teaching Artistry as a field? You’ll just have to listen to find out!