Educate-Theatre on the Horizon

Posted on October 22, 2011 by tiffdem

Educate-theatre has great new features on the horizon. Educational theatre is a fundamental tool not only for the typical theatre teacher, but also for the academic teacher to use in the classroom to increase student development. As you learned through my Moodle course of theatre games, students are able to express their creativity and become more open with their fellow classmates, as well as help to develop communication skills in the classroom. By setting the foundation of a general introduction to theatre, I plan to take the next step in theatre education to dig deep into how both drama teachers and students can benefit from learning about their craft. The importance of teaching drama correctly in the classroom is imperative to the drama students career “the broad term ‘drama’ covers a wide area of techniques incorporating physical movement, vocal action, and mental concentration which traditional classrooms have lacked in quantity and combination in the past” (Fairchild, 2007).

Over the next 6 months, I would like to continue to develop my educational PLE by highlighting more advanced theatre concepts. By the end of next month (November), I would like to continue with my idea to create a history of theatre page and tie in the important of Shakespeare to theatre. Shakespeare played an importance role of theatre history through the beginning of the 16th century. The Globe theatre in London, which Shakespeare was a play of, houses his best work in the early 1600s. The Globe theatre’s structure, audience, and actors are a vital part of understanding theatrical history. Many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays continue to be adapted for the stage today. Since many actors use Shakespeare monologues for auditions, I would like to create a sub page entitled ‘understanding Shakespeare’ to help students learn how to speak his language. I will use the following article, Performing Shakespeare Monologues from http://www.theatrefolk.com/spotlights/performing-shakespeare-monologues to aid students in correct Shakespeare preparation.

By the end of December, I will create a page with a collection of monologues for teens/adults, both male and female. There are so many great monologues out there that people can not find because they are not looking in the right places. Teachers go to my PLE to find monologues for their students to use for auditions and in class assignments.

Within the next year, I will expand my theatre horizon by attaching theatre lessons plans for an entire theatre course to my PLE for other teachers to get ideas from, and use in their classroom.  I would also like to create a blog where teachers and students can discuss how my PLE has helped them find new ideas what they have learned. I would also like to create a sub page for my monologue section and create videos on how to breakdown monologues to help with rehearsal and how to create the back-story of the character in the monologue.

Being able to incorporate all aspects of theatre will help teachers and students become proficient in the theatre world, and become more prepared for the future in perfecting their craft. I hope my PLE can influence students and teachers to love theatre more than they already do, and be able to teach others about theatre as an education tool.

Educate-theatre has lots of new creations being developed over the course of the next year! Stay tuned for future updates!

 

References

Fairchild, Richard. (3 July, 2007). Why drama? Retrieved from http://www.angelfire.com/ego/edp303/why.htm

NewMediaConsortium. (14 Feb, 2011). The 2011 horizon report. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHUufQm_gdA&feature=player_embedded#!

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A Productive Theatre Classroom

Posted on September 23, 2011 by tiffdem

 

Helping teachers achieve the best in their classroom

The first key to any productive theatre classroom is to have a motive. As a teacher, it is your job to begin to introduce theatre to your students as a new exciting journey. The main objective of theatre education is to have students find their inner character. Not all students have been exposed to what theatre really is. Instead, they’re only able to associate the word “theatre” with “performance”.

Introducing the idea of Theatre

  • Ask students if they have ever seen a live theatre production
    • Sometimes students don’t understand the idea of live theatre. Explain to the students live theatre is a performance you go to see with actors acting on stage, which can be a play or a musical.
    • Although a concert is a live performance, it isn’t live theatre. Make sure your students know this difference.
    • If you have students who have never seen live theatre, after explaining what it is, ask them to imagine what it would be like if they went to see a show.
    • Ask students how live theatre acts on their emotions. How do shows make you feel happy? Or how do they make you feel sad?
    • Encourage your students to go see shows. You can also incorporate this as a great (if you are working with students grades 6-12) writing assignment. After they see a show, you can have them write a reflection paper on what they experienced during the show and how does it differ from anything they have ever seen.

 

  • Students need to strive for a goal
    • Students age 12 and up: As soon as your students’ walk through your classroom doors, they are stepping on stage. No matter what has happened to them throughout their day, they need to leave it at the door. Theatre students need to come in with a positive and open mind ready for anything. If you have this understanding with your students, you will gain the respect needed for a productive classroom.
    • Students under the age of 12: you need to make their theatre experience a learning playground. You need to map out direction for them and make it a magical experience. This will keep the students engaged in activity and want to “pretend’.
    • Throughout the classroom experience, you need to keep reminding students of how important performing is. Sometimes students don’t even realize they are performing. No matter if you are performing on stage, or performing in the classroom they have the same unique qualities; you are learning from your actions as an actor, and being able to trust each other to perform at the best level you can.

 

  • The Broadway classroom
    • At the end of the class if you have the funding, you should take your class to see a performance; this is what you have been learning and striving for throughout your entire classroom experience.
    • Ideally you want to take them to see a Broadway show, but any show you can find will do. Current Broadway shows for educating students are: The Lion King, and Mary Poppins. These two musicals incorporate the excellence of theatre while engaging the imagination.
    • There is a workshop called “The Broadway Classroom” that teachers can sign up for after their class sees a show in New York City. The class has Broadway actors as teachers. This will take everything they have learned in your acting class and flourish in a professional setting. Even if some of your students have never performed before, this is an award winning opportunity for them. This will help boost their self- confidence not only in the theatrical world, but will encourage them in their everyday life. After this class, students will be so ecstatic they were able to have this real life Broadway experience, they will want to go back to the classroom and learn more.

 

Below is a video of what the Broadway Classroom is all about.


References

Broadwaycom (2011, February 22). Broadway Classroom. Retrieved September 20, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7DOHkUxjT8

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