
Click here to listen to the podcast and the song!
or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Teaching Artist Amanda Cantrell Roche is leading this audio project to gather and honor, through the arts, stories of resilient public school educators in Nashville during the Pandemic. SORE will bring six Metro Nashville Public School teachers together for a virtual Narrative 4 Story Exchange, in which they share true personal stories of challenges, resilience, and triumph as educators. These stories will be transformed into art through music, poetry, and narrative by teaching artists Alison Brazil, Jon Royal, and Amanda Cantrell Roche. The end result will be an artful podcast featuring a song, an underscore, and a spoken narrative that celebrates the individual and collective stories of educators, as well as offering hope for teachers who are burnt out and considering leaving the profession. The podcast will be distributed widely to the Nashville community and beyond to honor and uplift teachers, and offer a glimpse into their world.
Brazil, Royal, and Cantrell Roche are all lead TPAC Teaching Artists and professional artists, with decades experience collaborating with teachers in school arts integration residencies, as well as arts integration professional development. This project is sponsored by TPAC.
Thank you to all teachers who applied! Thank you for all your insightful comments. It was a tough choice. ALL of your comments will help inform this project. These are the six educators chosen for the Story Exchange:
Dr. Nikki Hughes, Warner Arts Magnet
Paige La Grone Babcock, Apollo Middle
Tania Mejia, Park Ave. Elementary
Thema Guzman, Hume Fogg High School
Dr. Shauntazia Shorter, Cane Ridge High School
Aaron Litvack, Maplewood High School
Unfortunately, the pandemic has reduced grant funding, and though our grant advanced to a community panel, it was not funded. WE NEED COMMUNITY SUPPORT TO GET THESE TEACHERS’ STORIES TOLD! Please consider donating $40 if you can, or supporting a teacher stipend at the $100 level. We encourage you to name a resilient educator from any school system or setting in the comment with your donation, and we’ll post those here. Thank you!
Donation Link: https://gofund.me/9ea4dac5
Here are some RESILIENT EDUCATORS honored by donors so far:
Michaela Adcock, Special Education Instructor at Wilson County Schools
Anne Zuberer
Caroline Sharp, Oliver Middle School
Gretchen Martuch, Glencliff Elementary
Cindy Pride, Elkton School and Martin Methodist College
Josh Naples
Dr. Nicole Glaze, Warner Arts Magnet Elementary
Zerlinda Jessee, Apollo Middle School
Sponsored by:

Thank you to everyone who donated, and made this project possible:
Anonymous
Anna Frazier
Ashlyn Cianciolo
Beth Anne Musiker
Blue Moves Modern Dance Company
Carolyn German
Chris and Maryanna Clark
Daniel Jones
Deanie French
Diana Johnson
Diana Morningstar
Doris Wasserman
Dr. Ron Messier
Ellen Gilbert
Emily Waltenbaugh
Jamison Sevits
Jennifer Hill
Jill Massie
Jori Martinez Woods
Julie Shavers
Kelsey Roberts
Ken and Sam Rippetoe
Laine Cantrell
Lattie Brown
Lee Anne Carmack
Leigh Ann Roberts
Leigh Jones
Leisa Hammett
Lynne Bachleda
Mallory Mapescoture
Marcela Pinilla
Marie Crowley
Michelle Sipes
Molly Breen
Paige La Grone Babcock
Pat Halper
Robin Wolfenden
Randy Tatel
Samantha Cantrell
Sara Sharpe
Sean and Carole Harrah-Siple
Umit Gunebir
Valerie Hackworth