‘Guitars in the Classroom’ Take Over Antioch Campus

Those on campus over the past week likely noticed a much higher than normal number of guitars and other stringed instruments at Antioch University Santa Barbara.

That’s because the Graduate Education and Credentialing Program offered a free Guitars in the Classroom (GITC) workshop from July 13-17 for AUSB students and working teachers to learn how to bring music into their classrooms.

Participating teachers and students, some of whom had no previous music experience, learned to play the guitar and ukulele, sing, and write songs in order to bring these skills back to their classrooms and studies.

GITC’s Executive Director Jessica Baron was on hand to teach the workshop at AUSB. “They (the Antioch students) were hands-down brilliant. Their openness to learning and trying new things was way beyond my expectations,” Jessica said. “They passed through a full year of training in just one week.”

GITC is a national non-profit organization headquartered in San Diego, and it has conducted programs in 32 states and in parts of Canada. GITC’s mission is to provide free music classes for teachers to deepen students’ learning area in all subject areas.

“We were a real good fit because we share the Antioch philosophy,” Jessica said.

See more photos from the workshop on the AUSB Facebook page. And for more information, visit www.guitarsintheclassroom.org.