Erica Gottschalk: Educator reflects on 20 years of arts integration through OnStage

Bringing music and theater to young kids, OnStage Student Field Trips have been a part of Overture from the beginning. Through the program, Overture offers an opportunity for students in preschool through high school to experience live performances from its wide variety of show offerings. Additionally, the program provides arts integration resources for teachers to incorporate into their in-class education.

The OnStage field trips and resources were an especially significant part of educator Erica Gottschalk’s teaching methodology.

“I became obsessed with making sure sixth graders could see as many shows as possible at Overture Center,” she said.

Gottschalk taught sixth and eighth grade math and history at Cherokee Heights Middle School in Madison for 28 years. Recently retired, she fondly recalls her experience with OnStage and its impact on her students.

Arts integration in the classroom

Over the years, Gottschalk attended teacher training workshops led by professional artists who showed the teachers how to integrate arts techniques in the classroom. Those techniques made her lessons even more engaging and powerful for her students.

In her history lessons about the Persian wars, Gottschalk recalls one arts integration technique to bring her lesson to life: "The students worked in small groups and made shadow puppet plays, created the puppets, the scene, the script, to tell the story.”

The resources also helped students more fully engage with the arts when they visited Overture on their field trips.

“Bringing my sixth graders to an opera taught the kids about costuming, music and all parts of the production,” she said.

Overture provided background information about the show and what to expect—like a mini-lesson plan—asking students about the background and context of the performance. Educating the students ahead of their field trip helped them to appreciate the performance in a different way.

“These trips were very transformative and made teaching a lot of fun,” Gottschalk said.

Relevant programming

With the variety of OnStage performances, Gottschalk could select shows for her students' field trips that would connect back to the material they were learning in school.

In 20 years of bringing students to Overture, Gottschalk said one show was especially meaningful as a teaching resource: “The Peking Acrobats connected back to math and history. We studied ancient China, studied balance—what does it mean to balance?”

Additionally, she enjoyed bringing students to see this show because it was a powerful experience for them to “see people push themselves to the edge and see what humans can do.”

Continued engagement

After so many years of engaging with Overture and its OnStage program, Gottschalk wanted to stay involved after retirement.

“I enjoyed it so much that now I’m a volunteer usher, so I can work bus shows and watch the energy and excitement of the kids who come to Overture,” she said.

Gottschalk continues, "It’s lovely to watch the young kids come in for their field trips and to see their wonder and amazement as they enter the space and experience the show.”

Alanna Medearis, Overture’s director of education and community engagement, had Gottschalk as her sixth-grade teacher, and she enjoys seeing Gottschalk continue to engage with students.

“Teachers are a gift, and seeing my former sixth-grade teacher now volunteering for our student matinee shows is a beautiful reminder of that,” said Medearis. “Her dedication to inspiring students continues in the most generous way.”

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