Dorota Stanałowska, an experienced teacher who has worked at the school for many years, has long been looking for new ideas and inspiration to enrich her lessons for children in the early primary grades. She happened upon workshops organised by the Centrum Edukacji Artystycznej Muzylek Moni from Kraków, led by Monika Kluza and Gabi Mrozicka . She took advantage of the training offered by the instructors from Kraków and decided that it would greatly enrich her teaching practice. She decided to present the training in Bolesławiec so that her colleagues could also benefit from the rich repertoire of ideas created by these talented women. The response was incredible. Nearly one hundred female teachers signed up, not only from Bolesławiec, but also from Lwówek, Nowogrodziec, Tomaszów Bolesławiecki, Trzebień, Szczytnica, Kowary, Raciborowice, Gościszów, Kruszyn, Jawor, Ocice, Nowa Wieś, Zgorzelec, Leśna, Lubań, Warta Bolesławiecka, Lubin and Wrocław.
“I return from the workshops uplifted and full of enthusiasm for work,” says Dorota Stanałowska. “They give me the energy to act and not stand still. I want to continue learning. The workshops give me ideas and inspire me throughout the entire school year. The instructors conduct the training at a very high level; they are perfectionists, organised, and full of innovative ideas and solutions. They can convey knowledge in an engaging way. They radiate positive energy; they are warm, joyful and smiling, motivating people and inspiring creative activity. They know how to share their passion with teachers,” the teacher adds.
During the training in Bolesławiec, Dorota Stanałowska presented a dance routine that she taught the children after the “Winter Melodies” workshops. Children from classes 2c, 3a and 3b sang the song “Sledging”, written by Monika Kluza (lyrics) and Mateusz Kluza (music).
At Monika Kluza’s music workshops, the teachers learned excellent ideas for introducing children to the world of music. Children love the songs that Monika writes together with her husband, a multi-instrumentalist and composer. Ideas from the training can be used throughout the year. In addition to songs, the teachers learned dance and movement routines using unusual aids: satin ribbons on a hoop, rainbow scarves on a hoop, scarves and gymnastics ribbons. The instructor also teaches children to play modern, “rainbow” instruments. The method underlying Monika’s music-enrichment classes is based on the American Chroma Notes musical notation system, which encodes music through colours—specifically, by assigning the colours of the rainbow to individual notes. This colourful invention was developed by Craig Ramsell, the inventor of Boomboomwhackers musical tubes.
Dorota Stanałowska’s students play bumbum tubes, pressed diatonic bells, bells on tubes and chromatic bells, as well as percussion instruments such as colourful musical eggs and colourful claves. Monika Kluza and Gabi Mrozicka gave these instruments to the children who prepared a performance during the training. As a result, Primary School No. 5 gained a set of innovative rainbow instruments.
The music training was combined with Gabi Mrozicka’s visual-arts workshops. The workshop author uses simple, readily available materials—often waste items—including toilet-paper rolls, bottles, small glass and plastic bottles, stones, paints, tissue paper, cotton pads, modelling clay, cotton swabs, pumpkin seeds, popcorn, toothpicks and kebab sticks, from which children create highly interesting artworks. Gabi’s art projects are like music—there are ideas for every season. The proposals are exceptionally creative, original and unique, and suited to the child’s age so that both a three-year-old and an eight-year-old can complete the work, as they include varying levels of difficulty.
It should be emphasised that these exceptional workshops were initiated by the teachers themselves. No one forced them to pursue this form of professional development; they invested their time and money in it. They did it for themselves and for the children. We thank and admire them.