President Eyring

Our Hearts Knit as One was an amazing talk, and reminded me why I love President Eyring! I liked how he started out with talking about how we each come from different circumstances. I think as teachers we need to be aware of that from our students, not that we judge them or expect more or less from them based on that information, but that we know where they have come from in their life. It also stood out to me when he talked about unity that he said "The need for that gift and the challenge to maintain it." I want to remember to maintain the unity that we have, so it's something I am constantly working on and building with my students. He mentioned praying and working for unity in the Lord's way, I wonder what that means specifically. How can I work for unity in the Lord's way? There was a promised blessing that when we are blessed with unity we will have joy, I want joy in my classroom and to feel joy when I work with students to accomplish tasks.

Our Hearts Knit as One

This was a very interesting article. I love the way that president Eyring addresses the congregation. He has such power in his words. As I read these words again, I was thinking about how our religion and how our faith really plays into our teaching. Even though we know that we can not preach what we know to be true, we can still live it. We can be an example of it everyday of our lives. We can be that shinning light that president Eyring described. It can be the litericy used in our classrooms. Much of our beliefs are based in moral life principals. If we live in the way we know to be right, we will be blessed as people. We will see how our decisions influence us around us and people will take notice. This is important for teachers to remember. We are working with very influentail kids. They need that role model that will teach them how to be a good person, a good adult. This comes not from the words you use, but from the way that you treat the people around you.
I also really enjoyed the part that talked about judgement. It reminded us not to judge to quickly. As teachers, we will be constiantly judging the situation of our students and the classroom. We need to look at the situations that arise with love, compasion, and justice. My favorite concept is that God loves us with justice and mercy. We also need to find that balance in us as we teach our students. If we live it, they will see that, and hopefully apply it to their lives.

kristy #13

I really liked reading this talk and relating it to my future classroom. Elder Eyring says, "We are moving toward becoming one. The miracle of unity is being granted to us as we pray for it in the Lords way." I think that in the classroom unity really is a miracle sometimes. and something that we individually will have to hope and pray for. because "joy comes when we are blessed with unity". It really is a joyful and exciting thing then there is unity among students, more is accomplished and a greater level of success is achieved. In his talk Elder Eyring speaks about gathering together so we can seek and qualify unity with others, because it cannot happen alone. I think that in the classroom as well its not about groups or cliques either, but the class as a whole. This has started me thinking about ways that I can "gather together" my students to help them create this unity within our classroom. The talk also points out that everything that Alma and his people did was inspired to help people choose to have their hearts changed so that they could be one. That is something that I need to be able to do as a teacher. Help others choose. It is the students choice - yet I can assist the class in the way that I direct them and teach them and am an example to them to put away differences and be one, unified as a classroom. I remember In Jr. High and High School drama classes that were not as unified and didn't work as well together and other classes that were together and unified and the support and encouragement and strength that was found there. What an amazing difference it makes!
Even though this is an educational setting where we cannot talk about the gospel which is the main source of people being knit together- I believe that there are basic principles of human truth that can be brought up and discusses and discovered in our classrooms- respect, love, tolerance, service, etc. As these important things are discovered, discussed and implemented into our classrooms the students will be knit together as one! And even though its not a gospel based situation a great blessing is we always have the Holy Ghost to guide us and help us to achieve this.

Spiritual Literacies

Understanding that "literacies" is the "how to" access a text, I think there are a couple of literacies to teach our theatre students. The other day, I was actually reading about spirituality from Elder Oaks and I think the things he discussed can be found in a theatre space. As a result, I think one thing that I can teach my students is following through with their impulses. Theatre is the one time that you don't need science or logic or rationale. Instead you just have your emotions or your "gut feeling" to go by. However, if my students are not use following through with those impulses, much of their progress could be stiffled. Therefore, in addition to teaching them things of the text book, I can teach them how to "listen" to themselves as theatre instruments.
As far as teaching spiritual princples without over proselytizing, I think it's actually very possible to do. I first think that Heavenly Father's princples are eternal, therefore they are intended and designed for all of his children to access - not just His Saints. Therefore, with humble prayer asking for guidance in how to make spiritual principles more palletable for the nonmember, I'm confident He will answer. Also, when you think about it, the Gospel is really basic. (e.g. Love one another, strive to do your best, serve each other, develop talents and abilities). All these things can easily be taught in a classroom; there just might have to have slight semantic adjustments.

Krystle's 18th and final post

Spiritual literacies are a part of theatre. I believe this because I think we use theatre to present values and ideas that we believe in. It's important to have beliefs and to be able to support them but it's important to remember not to make it about who's right. We need to find our commonailites rather than our disagreements. I really enjoyed reading President Eyring's talk. I even read it to my husband and one of the first things he said after was something to the effect of "well that's good. Usually we are being told what we are lacking". I would agree that it is encouraging that President Eyring is telling us "...that we are doing better" and we then telling us how we can do even more. We are often bombarded with what we need to do better and what we are doing well isn't as acknowledged. I think this is really important to remember in the classroom as well. Improvement is good but it's also important to recognize what is being done well. We need to be unified in a cause. This will effect everything from our personal lives to our classrooms. When our classes are unified and in agreement of what they are working for they will work harder. It's like President Eyring's example of how the church is always the first to serve and take care of others. It is because "their hearts were knit, they were magnified in their power." I believe that honesty is a part of this. When we are honest in our dealings it shows. I think that teaching our students to be unified and honest will help them become better people as well. It's not enough to just have the beliefs but we have to life them and encourage our students to do the same. I believe that a way to show this is by service. There are so many way for students to serve one another and the community and providing those opportunities for them is our responsibility.

Briana's Response #16

The past few days we've really been talking about different ways to make our classrooms unified. Unity can come from finding a safe space for students where religious, culture and sexual backgrounds are not a deciding factor for friendship and love. These safe spaces are a new community we create for our students and have spiritual literacies inherent in them. I think a major part of being spiritually literate comes from the talk by Pres. Eyring when he said "We become disciples who are meek, loving, easy to be entreated, and at the same time fearless and faithful in all things. We still live in different countries, but we come into the Church through a process that changes us." Being meek, loving and fearles are the qualities that are required to be an active member of that safe and open community in a theatre classroom. I think those qualities should be present in a teacher, and therefore present in any type of classroom. Learning is a universal thing and therefore should be open to all. These qualities can be further be applied in a theatre classroom because of the self-sacrifice that can sometimes be required in theatre. In order to perform and to delve into theatre, one sometimes has to place one's self in a vulnerable situation. If others present in the classroom have these qualities and practice them, the vulnerability does not have to be felt more than necessary. A trust can be placed within the community and further strengthen that community.

Spiritual Unity

In this article President Eyring talks about unity: unifying the family and the church in order to be able to be more prepared and be able to accomplish more. Both of those things are a necessity for the theatre classroom. The class has to be working together and united for a common goal in order to get work done and do the projects assigned. All the projects should be leading up to a show, and if everyone working on that show is doing their own thing without any regard to the group as a whole, the show will be a mishmash of things that don't fit together. In directing that's one of the director's key jobs: creating unity for a show so it makes sense. I loved the example that President Eyring gave about the church members who are always first to arrive on the scene of a disaster. They are organized and able to accomplish more than anybody else, quicker than anybody else. This is because they are united in their common goal and everybody focuses on that goal. As they do their part, they recognize how important their individual work is and how it contributes to the group as a whole. They feel the satisfaction in this and work harder to accomplish more. If the students in a class or cast are able to accomplish this same feeling of unity, the show they put on, and the environment in the classroom, will be amazing. So much can be done when everyone is focused on the same goal and objective. I think by promoting how much more can be done, and the importance of trusting your peers to do their part, will bring about that spiritual unity without having to ever explicitly talk about it. Promote from day one the absolute necessity for people in groups to work together, or else the show will be a disaster.

Spiritual Literacies-Elisabeh

Theatre is by nature a collaborative art. This allows us to teach "spiritual principles," in a way that connects to humanity in general, rather then any specific religion. It allows us to learn how to work together. In creating art as a group, we learn to see others' strengths, and to value their differences in perspective. We can focus on this learning in a classroom by putting people in groups with people that they do not know well, but asking students to point out others' successes and strengths, and by accepting and drawing on multiple perspectives and backgrounds in the classroom. If we create an environment of respect and trust, we can show students how to work with and respect others who are not like them. The theatre we teach can focus on different perspectives, cultures and ideas then ones commonly held in the classroom, and explore what is valuable in these ideas. There will always be differences of opinion, but if we focus on what is held in common, and what makes the other ideas unique and interesting and beautiful, we can teach unity and respect.

Another topic theatre can teach is humility. This is an area we need to be careful with as teachers, because we do not want students feeling like they have nothing to offer or that they or their work is useless, because that is never true. But learning to listen to constructive criticism improves art and improves ability to function in a world that constantly has something to say about us and what we do. Teaching students how to make useful comments, making sure they see the good as well as what needs to be improved, and teaching struggles as opportunities to create great art can help students learn to listen to others, as well as see the value in what they do and in what others do.

Heather- "Hearts Knit as One"

Reading this message in light of the theatre classroom was so great. I felt the spirit so strongly, and I know that theatre is something the Lord loves. I think the idea of unity is so inherent in theatre situations. Theatre only works (or only works well) when the cast and crew are united; when their hearts are ‘knit as one.’ I had never thought of this unity as spiritual before, but it totally is. When we come together and form bonds among people who without the theatre would have never been friends we are forming the unity that our Heavenly Father wants all of his children to be working towards. I just loved this part of the message and thought it applied perfectly to a high school theatre program: “That same principle applies as we build unity with people who are from vastly different backgrounds. The children of God have more in common than they have differences. And even the differences can be seen as an opportunity. God will help us see a difference in someone else not as a source of irritation but as a contribution. The Lord can help you see and value what another person brings which you lack. More than once the Lord has helped me see His kindness in giving me association with someone whose difference from me was just the help I needed. That has been the Lord’s way of adding something I lacked to serve Him better.” We need to make sure that we are letting ourselves and our students embrace and love the differences found in each and every one of them. As we embrace and love those differences we will find so many things to be grateful for, our production and class projects will be better as we find what everyone has to offer and we enjoy those things in unity. President Eyring also stated: “We know from experience that joy comes when we are blessed with unity.” This is SO true within the theatre. The times that I have enjoyed myself the most in a production is when I’ve been in a cast that feels so united. Where everyone has each other’s back. Where there is so much love and support. That is when joy comes in theatre. That is what I always want to create in my classroom; a feeling of love and unity, and therefore, joy.

Megan's Spiritual Literacies Response

First of all I love President Erying and his wise words of wisdom from the Lord. He has spoken of truths that can be applied to teaching in a theatre classroom. There will be many different kinds of people in the classroom from different race, culture, gender, or religion. My job in the classroom is to create unity with everyone. I need to help everyone work together. When I am doing productions pushing those principles of working hard and lifting one another up will help with unity. Everyone has to work together in a production or it won’t succeed. I think also a theatre classroom should be a positive one. A place where talents are discovered and students are actively learning and becoming better people from the ideas discussed. Feedback is also given in a theatre classroom and a system can be set up where it is constructive and positive building and will help them improve and not tear them down. I can encourage spiritual literacies in my classroom by emphasize principles instead of values. I can teach my students to become better people, welcome differences, to not judge others and help them support their classmates. This is better than saying things about certain religions or trying to preach my religion in the classroom. Everyone can agree on principles like treat others as you want to be treated or aim high or be positive. Things like that are easier to understand and are more welcome than preaching my religion. I want my classroom to be a positive one and knowing the basic principles of my religion will really help with that. I don’t have to say that I am Mormon but I can try to act as a disciple of Christ and be an example to my students. I want my students to feel better when they leave than when they came in.

Chelsea's Article Reading

This article reminded me of my high school experience and how we transitioned from an english teacher who taught drama to an actually trained drama teacher. It was refreshing to have an actual drama teacher because there was a difference in even how they conducted class. I appreciated how the article discussed the characteristics of a drama classroom. It reminded me of all the differences that there are between a general class and a drama class. Talking in my education classes the other students training to be teachers talk about their class in completely different ways then I do. I want my students most of all to be comfortable enough to take risks. I want our productions to be educational for those who are involved and to those who come to see the productions. I want it to be educational so that they can use their critical thinking skills.

Kristy#13

This is an interesting article that is important to this of. The

I liked the examples that were given of a few reasons that yes we all know theatre as an education art is important, yet it is still a good reminder. Some of the examples included: focusing on social benefits that are received by students as they participate in the theatre arts. Which also includes participating in cooperative group work, positive self-esteem, fluency in oral communication, and practice in use of imagination. Another important point included the fact that the theatre can serve as an outreach to the community. and I love how the article also states that theatre in an educational setting is a prosocial force that has the ability to reach young people in a way that traditional education cannot. This is so true and etereemly vital in these students lives because theatre really does reach students in new and different ways that their other classes cannot off to them. Which is why, as the article points out, we need to make sure that when budgets get cut, the theatre programs are not cut with it.
I though it was quite the proposal that was being made about the steps that need to be taken to change the way we talk about theatre education. to turn the focus for and about young people rather than adults. and creating narratives and places there they can find hope, discussions of meaningful differences (which is where last classes lecture comes in handy with the list of "hard topics" that will come up in our classes). I like that the author said our filter should be the lived experiences of our young people, and asking what can theatre help young people discover about their own lives. this is a question that I want to keep in mind as I continue to try to help the students, and also adults, parents, and administrators, but most importantly the students learn in a theatre educational setting.

Literacies-Elisabeth

This article discussed how theatre is used as a teaching tool, and the things that it can be used to teach. The literacies, or the concepts the article encourages teaching seem to be responsibility, critical thinking about themselves, the world they live in, and theatre in general, and how to actively create theatre. Theatre can be used to help students explore who they are and who they want to be, by exploring their opinions on social issues, exploration of different characters and concepts, and by taking on responsibility in theatre. One way to teach many of these literacies is to hand production work over to students. Allow them to create work, and determine how it is performed. They learn how to produce theatre, take responsibility for what happens, and in the process of creation learn about themselves and their world.

Another way to combine these literacies is to create art specifically about themselves and their world. Understanding youth culture and mentality can allow a teacher to guide students, but still let them explore themselves.

Heather's Response-December 7th.

I really loved this article. It gave me so many things to think about, and confirmed that some of the ideas I’ve had for my future classroom, and my ideas about what educational theatre should do, are valid! I really loved the focus on literacies that directly deal with the students. The need to be very involved in all aspects of theatre production. They gave the idea of having an appointed artistic director and a cabinet of students who are able to decide on the productions that will be done. I think this is a great idea. My drama teacher in high school let our drama cabinet in on all of the planning and prep and cost, etc, that goes into producing a play, and let the club give their vote on shows they wanted to see us do. It was a wonderful learning experience for me. I look back now and realize how much I was able to learn about theatre production, just from her letting us be in on the planning. By treating us as her confidants in picking the shows, and dealing with budget and ticket sales, and all the ‘behind the scenes’ things that go into creating a piece of theatre, I feel so much more knowledgeable, I feel like I know so much more about theatre and it’s processes that I would have if she had just chosen the shows and let us perform in them. This is the atmosphere I want in my theatre program. I want my students to be able to learn valuable lessons by understanding and being a part of everything it takes to produce a theatrical production. I want my theatre program to be a student centered program, where they have the ownership, and therefore care even more about what happens, and have the opportunity to learn all that they can.

Krystle's 17th post

As I was reading one of the things that really stood out to me was the 5 characteristics a theatre program should have. I really liked them because they are reminders that the theatre needs to be about the people, particularly the young ones. This is one of the things that really draws me to theatre is possibility it has to reach people. It's important to have literacies from a number of different sources. They need to be things that teach the students multiple aspects of theatre. You can engage students through multiple literacies by making sure they each take an active part. A quote from the reading that I really liked was, " 'Being an artist is a way of life, not a
career.' But part of being an artist is the ability to look beyond the surface to analyze the work critically." I think that a key component to this is multiple literacies. It's teaching the students actively with written and non-written texts. A literacy that can benefit the students is putting them in charge of their learning and creation. This allows them to use their bodies to create and explore.

Briana's Response #15

I'm always interested to find out what kinds of arguments can be placed forth when an attack on an arts program is made. I'm sure I will have to defend my own program at some point or another, or defend the program at my children's school. I, of course, have my own responses and defenses, but it's always good to see others fighting as well. I thought this article was extremely interesting because it didn't look at theatre in the sense that it just simply needs to stay in our programs, but it gave good solid reasons and products that theatre creates in an education setting. I think this case, the article discussed many different literacies. Such as "teaching students to be active and not passive, teach them to explore big issues, social, celebrates and uses popular culture, promotoes caring kinship." In term of theatre, it teaches form of confidence in students, teaches them about other types of life and culture, and helps build relationships between the students and others in their lives.

Student Influence

Teaching theatre to high school students is more than finding kids who have a skill and putting them onstage over and over again. Learning all aspects of theatre, everything from acting to set construction to directing, gives students skill that can be used in any field and in their daily life. The most important thing we can and need to teach our students is how to take and use the theatre as a tool to explore their lives. Every show ever written is about someone. It's about a particular person going through a specific situation that is unique to them at that moment in their lives. They should be given more freedom in choosing what productions they do and how they do it so they can apply it to their lives, and apply their lives to it. This gives them the best learning experience and teaches them through the process of their creating that they can have an influence in the world around them and that their opinions and lives are important. Because they are. They are the future, as cliché as that might sound, it's the truth, and they need to understand it. They need to learn to analyze critically the world in which they live and the part they do and can play in it. Our job as their teacher is to help them learn how to critically analyze and find solutions to problems, and give them the confidence and desire to do this. They have to have control and say over what they do and learn in order for it to become important to them. Along with this, it means we also must take an active role in discovering the lives of our students and tailor what we teach to what is important to them.

Megan's Critical Literacies

I think that we need to change the way we talk about theatre as theatre educators, as suggested in the article we need to not say it’s so “special” but that the students in theatre are special and have real evidence as to its value in society. I need to focus on theatre helping my students and not their parents. I am responsible of helping them find a narrative of hope and meaningful discussions of differences, among other things. I think I have a huge responsibility to create high expectations for the youth, but also be understanding to their culture and their needs. I really liked the five points she gave about an outstanding teacher. I think it is my responsibility to expose the students to other authors along with Shakespeare. Also I should create a program that is not afraid to explore and ask big questions. I can help my students engage with these critical literacies by being active participants and not passive. The students make their own decisions. I will help them along the way, but they become agents for their actions. The students can also become engaged when they understand the social interactions around them. We can help build relationships and analyze those in society. Also I like the idea of including talk back sessions about performances or other art forms in theatre. That way the students are able to express their opinion fully and become advocates of the situation. I liked when the article stated that “young people have and create a culture” I think that as a theatre educator I have the opportunity to celebrate and find out that culture and get my students involved with each other. I have a goal to work towards this in my classroom and I am excited!

Cultural and Contextual Literacies

I appreciate anything that talks about diversity and the appreciation we should have for it. I think there are definite things we should be aware of as teachers, and these were addressed in this article. I want my students to know that I at least try to relate to them on. Literacies are important because it invites critical thinking. I want my students and myself to always be thinking critically about our surroundings and what effects us. I am taking my multicultural education class right now and the teacher made a good point that all of us are multicultural sites, where we grew up, experiences we've had, people we've met. Also, this article made me so very grateful for the contact I have had with other cultures and contexts. I grew up LDS, went to a private catholic middle school, did study abroad in London, went on a mission, grew up in the south, have close friends from many different races and backgrounds. Culture matters, and it can be understood.

Cultural and Textual Literacies

I've always found articles like this interesting, and slightly paradoxical. They ridicule school systems for only catering to white, middle/upper class students, and suggest that the solution is to cater to the minorities in the class. If you do that completely, that just means that a different part of the class is alienated. This article discussed ways of teaching Hispanic students, but did not discuss how to reach students of all cultures at the same time; at least not explicitly.

The goal is to teach in a way that makes all of your students feel included and valued. Many of the activities that were suggested could do that, like creating a community and exploring different cultures and social issues present in the community. I am a great advocate of TIE, and having students explore issues in their lives and create art and motivate change through that exploration. One way to try to make sure that students of all ethnic and economic backgrounds feel represented is to allow them to come up with what they want to explore, instead of imposing an issue onto them. TIE calls upon life experiences and storytelling, and creates and community, all things that the article mentioned would be helpful to Hispanic students. But these practices would be useful to many other students as well. So instead of simply doing something in the classroom because it would work for a certain group of students, choose something becuase it would work for multiple groups.

This article mentioned that schools use the theatre canon, like Shakespeare, too much and that minority students don't connect with it. But the canon contains incredible theatre that, if taught correctly, can pull out themes and characters that can be connected with. So if you combine the canon with writings from other cultures as well as student created work, you can create a setting where students can connect with different cultures, with each other, as well as with the canon, which is still studied for a reason. You don't have to throw thousands of years of theatre out to teach minorities; that is almost racist to assume they can't connect or understand theatre that has been studied for generations. The issue is to find a balance, not swing from one extreme to the other. Don't cater to a group, find ways for everyone to connect.

Contextual/Cultural Literacies

As I was reading this assignment, I felt the author was treating “cultures” as—what TMA 377B would define as—“text”. For students to be able to access these texts though, I think the literacies that need to be taught/established are more conceptual. Specifically, I think tolerance and open-mindedness are the actual literacies—especially in a theatre classroom. As the author discusses, the minority culture is significantly different than the Caucasian majority – I know from personal experience. However, if I want my students to explore and even celebrate these differences through theatre techniques and processes, they must first have a willingness to learn more and then a easiness to accept it.
I think the key to tolerance and open-mindedness is exposure so I would like to expose my students to an array of cultures, places, peoples, and backgrounds. I would also like to subtly implement through the entire class learning methods that minorities learn best with. If they are conditioned to learn that way, they would be more receptive to when I implement such methods. I would also like to teach them a respectful way of “questioning”. Because they would probably be exploring ideas, traditions, and values foreign to them, I would want their confusions, doubts, or worries to be addressed, but I want to make sure that they are always sensitive toward the culture being examined.

Contextual and Cultural Literacies

I really liked this reading. It is very applicable to our lives and what we will be facing in the near future. The nice thing is that theatre is a catalyst for diaologue. Using drama and activities to express yourself can really be very impactful and helpful. In the reading it discusses how they understand the importance of games, Stories, proverbs. All of these are used when interacting with theatre. By using them and helping the students undertand the importance of theatre, they may be inclined to really start exploring issues that they not have approached before. I want to be able to find that crossroad between the two cultures. It is difficult to do. Growing up in a prodominetly white community can be a benifit but also can be a hinderence to me if I dont search for a good balance. I want my students to succeed and I want to be the adult who is willing to help them achieve that goal. Having the passion for the student can be half the battle. If there is differences in language or understanding, we can take time and work with eachother to understand. Sometimes these students just needs an advocate for them so that they can start to become their own advocates.

contextual/ cultural literacies

It is important for us to realize that everyone that we teach, whether they look different or not, have come from different backgrounds that can be chalanging and lead to a better experiance for the whole class. Because of the different ways that we are raised and places we come from we all have different experiances and can learn form eachother. If we involve our students in the learning and creating process they will help eachother learn and create new literacies and texts. I plan on having my students create texts with their bodies and also through writing scripts to allow them to express themselves and also creating literacies and texts that they realate to. I am also learning spanish and planning on getting a endorcment in spanish to better help my students that speak spanish be able to understand the requirements of the class. They will also have a chance to ask questions in their own language if need be. It is importaint to reach the students through every literacy possable. I plan on engaging voice, body, text, and explination to help my students understand and acheve all of the tasks I am expecting them to compleat.

student centered learning

Student centered learning is very important in my future classroom, because the students are why I am there. I remember many classes that I have taken that have either moved to fast or to slow for us students. It is so frustrating as a class to be sitting around trying to figure out the assignment before we could even start it. Through my experiences in the classroom I have realized some things that are necessary to do to help the learning be centered around the students. First, it is important that the teacher pays attention to how the students are doing and not what the they are saying. Many times they say that they need more time or a little extra help starting the assignment when all they really need is some encouragement and help starting an idea. However, we need to also be careful that when they do need some extra time to complete an assignment we allow them to have it. Usually you can tell the difference between them needing help or not because it is the whole class not being able to do it or it is only one group that says they can’t. I will also take the time to give proper feedback so the students can continue learning even after they have completed the assignment. It is also very important to let the students know what is expected of them and let them take control of their learning by asking questions and making sure you answer their questions.

Kristy #12

I though it VERY interesting how this article talked about border culture differences between students and teachers. The article states, “Being a crossroads does not imply a denial of difference; rather it promotes an articulation of difference. It means living without borders, but it also means living as an intersection of all the border spaces that define: race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity.” I believe that this is a very important consideration and thing to be aware of and discuss.
It reminds me of a teacher that I knew that taught for a number of years here in Utah and then moved out to Western New York. When it came down to it the biggest cultural difference was religion. And when other teachers even (not just students) found out that she was Mormon, there was a lot of tension and friction to have to deal with. W will probably all face this in some way or another- it may not be us but as the reading talks about, our students on the other side of the border, and we need to be able to understand that so we can support them and help them to succeed. The reading also focuses a lot on the education of Hispanic children, which I think is a prevalent topic, concerning the high amount of Hispanic students. I also liked the 5 key factors that are gone over in this paper about the educational practice of drama which will especially benefit Hispanic children. I also really like that the reading talked about Theatre as a Catalyst for Dialogue, I think that is so important and I believe that even further theatre as a catalyst for success. Because as this dialogue develops, and there are those personal interactions with students and relationships built creating a home within the program there will be more success within our students.

Kristy #11

Last day teaching...
Today we went back for one last class with the students at Springville High School. The students had their quiz today. HA! you learn something new everyday! To the question: "Name one of Becket's most famous plays" one student answered:Pirates of the Caribbean. Another student wrote down a scripture...they sure do make you laugh sometimes! I don't think that the students did very well on the quiz. Which makes me wonder if that is our fault as teachers. But then again at the same time we let them make up their own questions and give eachother the answers. I really want to help my students succeed, but I cant just hand them all good grades without them doing any work for it. So sometimes maybe it is a good thing for them to not do as well so they can see that they really DO have to do work and put some time and effort into it! and that this really IS a class!
After the quiz we gave the students some time to group up and get ready for their scenes. Today, as our final assessment, the students did their 1st previews of the scenes they have been working on. Most were not memorized like we told them they needed to be, so they lost those points. But most of the points came from them just doing it, and participating. We gave each group feedback on their scenes, writing down the feedback as they were performing, including good things and things to work on. Linze will take over from here with the rest of their performances and finish off the unit.

Cultural Settings

When going to teach at a school it's really important to learn about the society of the area and the community that lives there. By this I mean learning what social and ethnic groups are prevalent, because those are the types of kids that will be in your class. If the teacher doesn't know the students, doesn't know anything about who they are, what they go through, their history, then the students will shut off because they feel like you don't care about them. Why would they care about you and what you're teaching them? If you take the time to learn about their heritage and where they're coming from, you can reach them in deeper ways and make the learning process more important to them. They will learn more and they will enjoy the experience more. Specifically learning about the student's culture is extremely important. Not only will you have a better idea in how to approach them on the subject so they have something in common with it, but you can also know how to adjust the type of performances being done so it is more beneficial to the students participating and to the people of the community coming to watch. For example if you have students that are mostly Hispanic, and perhaps you know there is a gang problem, shows like West Side Story could be beneficial because they can find something in common with the characters. An inner city class might have trouble relating to a play about a country boy and vice verse. These things should still be explored so the student's horizons are being opened, but perhaps that is an action for the future after you've created a connection with the students and the community.

Krystle 16th Post

As I was doing the reading it made me think about my minor and the classes I have taken for that. I am a TESOL minor and so we talk about cultural implications all of the time. When reading the McCammon article I felt the need to really make sure that what I am teaching applies to the students culturally as well as socially. We often let cultural things stand in our way of reaching others either because we don't realize or understand the culture or we are just ignorant to it. I believe that contextual and cultural literacies that are necessary in the class room are scripts that apply to more than one culture. It comes from discussing the differences and similarities and the admirable qualities. It's important to teach the students about the literacies that they possess but also about the literacies around them. Cultural literacies that are beneficial in the classroom are scripts in other languages or that are about other culturals rather than just the main stream american. When I think of cultural differences I also think about social differences. I recently just took a class about the family life and structure of those who are culturally different and one of the things that we talked about was the social implications. We discussed the generic ideals of those from upper class, middle class, and poverty. Each level values different things for different reasons. It's important to not only understand your students culturally but in other aspects as well. It is the best way to reach their needs. It's about not just catering to one type of student but reaching to them all. In the reading from Signs of Change the very first little bit talks about a person who knew the potential they had and then acted on it to try to help others. I saw this man as each of us as teachers. We need to recognize our responsibility to our students and how we can reach them. And then we need to act on it.

Briana's Response #14

I really loved this reading. Racism is something that I really think is interesting to look at more closely and begin to understand why. I especially like the application of racism and teaching and how we address those issues we may have inherently built into our up-bringing. One quote I thought was awesome was "The teacher must create a new community with the stduents drawing from the student culture." I saw this as being what we try to do in our classrooms. When is comes to racism, we don't want that to be a part of our everyday classroom. We must create an environment where all are safe and welcome and feel equal to one another. This comes about by making a new community or culture together, with bits and pieces of everyone included, not just what the teacher is comfortable with in the first place. When finding culture literacies to teach in a theatre classroom, I think it can begin with culture itself. Theatre is different from culture to culture and we can build the literacy of our students by introducing them to the differnt cultures of theatre. Theatre history is one thing, but the culture is another. A textbook can obviously explain how theatre is practiced in a different culture, but acting on that and practicing and experiencing theatre in a different culture can broaden their likes and dislikes of theatre and help them better understand the practice of theatre in the broad term. Students of other cultures in the classroom could give presentations and explain how their culture incorporates theatre. That is how we learn, from others.

Megan Contextual/Cultural Literacies

In the reading it talked a lot about being socially responsible and being a socially responsible theatre teacher. This basically means to recognize a need of some kind in the school, classroom or community and you take action to make a positive change. I think that no matter where you are teaching there will be students that are culturally different. I think one of the most necessary cultural literacies in a classroom is helping students understand each other and be able to work together. This can be accomplished in many ways, and include some of the literacies I want to employ in my own classroom. A teacher has to be careful about the material they select. They should choose material that pertains to the youth and has a connection with personal experiences from various different cultures. They should also choose things that will help students gain a greater understanding for their fellow students and community. They should also choose material that is critically stimulating. One teacher employed literacy well in a rehearsal she said, “Anybody need to carpool?” The need was recognized and some students were able to realize that some other kids may need help in this area. Another literacy is to learn how to respond to individual difference, whether it be race, gender, religion or even poverty. Students always have a chose to act a certain way when sensitive matters are brought up, but I can create an environment where they are safe and empathetic in their choices. Creating that understanding in the work I do in theatre will make the greatest difference.

Heather-Contextual/Cultural Literacies

Since I took my multicultural education class, and now with the reading, I have been thinking about how to incorporate other cultures into my classroom. I’m planning to teach in California and there is so much diversity in the schools there. There are very high numbers of Hispanic students and I don’t want them to feel left out in my theatre classroom or program. What I’ve thought is that it is important to study many cultures and many different types of theatre pieces. Not just American, not just Hispanic, not just African American, but a good mixture of all of them. I think that in schools, and diverse schools especially, it is so important to study tons of types of theatre, not just western traditions that we are used to. I really loved this quote from the supplemental reading: “[The teacher] must create a new community with her students drawing from the student culture—“their interests, needs, speech and perceptions—while creating a negotiable openness in class where the student’s input jointly creates the learning process” Rather than only study the plays I love, and the ones I know and have studied, I want to draw from my students’ experiences, their cultures, their passions, and then choose texts and apply literacies that they will be able to connect to, that they will be able to learn from without feeling separated. I think that there will always be times when the student feels they are the minority, but in my classroom I want to let every type of student have the chance to study something where they are the majority. I want each student to have the chance to explore what it’s like to feel on the outside of things, but also what it’s like to feel on the inside of things. With a diverse student population, I want to create a diverse curriculum, where we all have new things to learn and enjoy.

Briana's Response #13

Last day of teaching finally completed! I'll admit it was kind of nice to be able to have a little more thinking time between lessons, but it would've been nice to finish before thanksgiving break as well. We had them take a quiz first thing when we got to class today, one that we'd put together from questions they'd submitted themselves in their presentations. And yet, none of them did that well on the quiz. I think the highest score was a 14/20. We continuously reminded them about it, but none of them really seemed to take us seriously. It made me think about whether it was really our teaching that they didn't take seriously or if there was something already there that the teacher has established and the students are used to. I wish there were something we had done that would've made the students learning more effective. Maybe if we'd given them a short review right before the break and a review sheet to do over break, it would've helped them with their learning. I think a lot of what we were used to saying to them was, well who's fault is that? When really we should be taking some of the blame for not following through on our teaching. At what point does it become their responsibility and not ours for their learning though? I don't know where to draw the line. And how do you help a student succeed and learn in your class if they're not willing to put in the effort and take the class seriously?

Kristy #10

I think that my favorite word when it comes to Student Centered Learning is OWNERSHIP. I think that the word ownership perfectly encompasses what student centered learning is all about. Ownership is handing it over to the students giving them charge and responsibility. YET I love that there was focus in this reading about how even though the students do have this ownership in the classroom the role of the teacher is not a peer or a friend, but the teacher still acts as the responsible adult in the classroom, its not student-lead or child –driven, but learner-centered, and this is understood by all, and that is what ownership encompasses, the actual investment of the student. This is what kind of classroom I would like to have, implementing a student centered learning classroom where the students can have ownership in the things that they do and not think its “dumb” or a “waste of time” or “something that they HAVE to do”.

Student Centered Learning

One the most memorable lessons that I have ever had in the McKay School of Education came in a class when the teacher said, "Some days, your lesson plan will simply be to make it through the damn day." Now, while that is a good sound observation and advice, it seems like there are definitely better ways to do things.
As a future teacher, it seems like there times when my desire for my own schooling is about the same as that for a struggle teacher-- just to make it through the darn day-- the thought of teaching my own class at 110% every lesson does seem to be a bit daunting, but then the thought of not giving my all seems even worse.
Given the ideas of student centered learning, it seems fit then, that my goal every day, despite personal struggles or challenges with teaching, should be to make sure that the students are the center of the teaching. All of us have been in classes where the teacher doesn't seem to be concerned with the students-- but instead has other things on their mind, or is distracted, or doesn't seem to care what goes on the classroom. For me, student centered learning means that I am doing my best to make sure that the students are not only understanding the concepts I am teaching but WHY I'm teaching them. Students know when they are the center of the classroom, when the teacher actually cares and the environment is one that is ready to cultivate education and real learning. Students also know when the teacher is passionate about what is being taught. My hope is that my students will be able to tell the difference between my classroom and others that they are in; they will will be able to recognize that my classroom is one where they are valued.

Briana's Response # 12

Student centered learning is something that seems like it should be inherent in all the teaching we do. What kind of teacher teaches for the benefit of themselves? In my opinion, that's just an excuse for not being able to do something the person wanted to do. Something I want to make sure I do when I'm teaching is not include myself and my own personal involvement in the activities too much. If I'm the one doing the activity and the kids are simply watching, then they're aren't the one's learning and it means I'm not teaching. The students need to be involved in everything, giving answers, participating and giving any kind of information they can. In my future classroom, I want to do continual assessments from the students in order to make sure their learning is actually happening and I don't just think it is. That's one of the biggest problems I see myself having. By checking the students, I can make sure their learning comes first.

Student Learning

One of the most important things in the classroom is that the students are in charge of their learning, they're motivated to learn, and the teacher has placed them first. I know sometimes I tend to think of myself when teaching. I'm the teacher. I have the lesson plan. I know where we're going in the unit. I know about theatre and what is good and what isn't. I learn this way so that's how we're all going to learn. But instead of thinking about me as the teacher, I should be thinking about the students and always monitoring whether they are learning and are excited about learning. Student-centered learning has to be a the forefront of everything that is done. Lessons should be changed to fit how the students are learning and at the pace they learn. When I learned about this concept I thought back to my drama teacher, and I have gained more and more respect for him because at how well he had planned his class. Everything we did was beneficial to us and we enjoyed what we were doing. Because we enjoyed it we were motivated to do more and learn more. Even the students who did nothing in other classes put forth effort in his class because they wanted to. Additionally, it was a teacher-student environment, it was a student-student environment. Students worked with each other on their work, on their projects, and if they didn't pull their own weight, other students learned really quick not to work with them. Everything was centered around the student and they're learning. To put this structure and environment in my classroom I want to really critically think about the work we do and if it is completely beneficial to the students. Also, making sure they are active, mentally and physically in the activities they do.

Kirsten--Student Centered Learning

I really like how in this chapter they called it Learner-Centered Practice. I thought it was great how they discussed that the teacher is there to be the responsible adult but the students are also there to ask questions, lead discussions, and shape the learning opportunities. Building that relationship with the students as a teacher is so important. It is so important because it "...creates an atmosphere of mutual trust, openness, risk-taking, and problem solving." In my classroom the relationship I have with my students will be so important. I want them to feel comfortable enough to take risks. I want them to feel that I am there for them. But also I want them to know that they need to work hard. THey need to be able to push themselves and find the inspiration they have inside. I am not going to be an easy teacher, I want my studetns to learn and to grow, knowing that I am there to aid them along the way. Going back to the idea that the students are the one that can also ask questions and inspire where the teaching goes. Each class is different and I want to be flexable enough that I can allow myself to listen and go where the students need me to go. Just by listening you will be inspired where to take the lesson to teach them the most valuable information.

Heather- Student Centered Learning

One of my favorite parts of the chapter; something that really just hit me, and sparked my thinking, was the quote that said “The best starting point for school is young people’s real interests; all across the curriculum, investigating students’ own questions should always take precedence over studying arbitrarily and distantly selected ‘content’”. I love this! This is the way I want to implement student centered learning. I have realized that I, as the teacher, should choose a course of study for my class to take, but what we end up learning from those different units of study is up to the questions my students have and the direction they are interested in taking. The example of the study of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ is perfect. I was thinking, there are so many different ways to go with the study of that play, but rather than the teacher choosing the way she wants to implement the play, why not see where the students’ interests and questions take it, and then mold the future lessons and activates around them? Student centered learning will be my future classroom. There is no question in my mind that I learned more fully when I was a participant in student centered learning. It’s wonderful for the teacher to love and feel passionate about the subject, but it means nothing in a classroom where the students feel nothing for what they are learning; it means nothing in a classroom where students’ questions are not being explored and answered. It will be my goal to always assess where the students are at, let them ask questions, and then let those question shape where our lessons go, and what the real goal of the units becomes.

Instruction and Activity

This is a very hard. In our 2ndth day there, our lessons was teaching them about how to select and cut a monologue. How do you do this without having the majority of our lesson be sitting down at the desk? But then again, does doing so many activities allow them to really understand what is neccessary in how to cut a monologue. It was a hard thing to rivel with. We decided on doing much of the lesson monologue cutting together as a group, leading it as a discussion rather than a teacher lecture. By doing it as a discussion, we were able to ask the students, "Why do you think its ok to cut this sentense?", "What is neccessary in a monologue? Why?", and "What is this characters motivations?" It was a really intersting discussion. On another day we discussed Objectives and Tactics. We again were frought with activities vs lecture. Which is most benificial. We felt it most important for our class to do the pb&j hook then have them create objectives for their monologue and to work on it with us there to help them individual if needed. In another lesson we discussed movement in a monologue and got intune with our bodies. That was another lesson but we had a different problem, did we have to much activity and not enough instruction. It turned out ok but I still wonder if that for each of these lessons there was something else we could have done to make it more meaningful and a better balance of the two.

Student -Centered Learning

Our first meeting with Bradley led to some interesting discoveries. He told us that we needed to push these students but also start with the basics. They needed to know how to cut a monologue, how to select one, and how to perform one. He also didnt know if they needed to be taught about resumes, which we discovered they did need to learn about. All of these little understandings allowed us to help each student understand what is needed to have a successful audition. It was also amazing that our class was only 8 students. Because of this, each of us was able to have the opportunity to work one on one with each of the students and help them make discoveries. It also was nice because we were able to give them each personalized feedback and take time with them on their presentation of their monologues. I felt I know each of them and know what I can do to help them create a good audition. I feel like this is so important to have because without know how to connect and teach to your sepecific students can be a real disadvantage for them.

Lesson Planning

The first thing to discuss is how frustrating lesson planning can be but also how great it can be. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with a couple of great women and we have made some great lessons that have gone on without a hitch. It was nice to feel confindent with them and to know that our lessons were productive and effective. What I have learned most about lesson plans is that it is great to plan out the lesson and know it well enough that you can flow from one section to the next. THe other great thing is that if you know your lesson well enough then you can ad lib and play with it a bit. Its nice to see that a suggested topic by one of the students may be more benifical for them to discover and that can lead to a very impactful lesson. SO you can take the opportunity to see the different options you have and flow with it. I see it like surfing on a wave. You need the skills, background, and plan to get up on top, but just allowing it to push you ahead is the way to manover around it. On our first day and even into our second, we didnt know how long it would take for each lesson. We found ourselves running short but we were able to ad lib and catch ourselves. We recovered with another activity that supported our topic and lesson plan. It was great

Student Centered Learning

I want my classroom to be student centered in every way. Not that the students feel like they can run everything and walk all over me. But in the sense that they know that I know them, and that they know they will stretch and grow in my class room. I want them to interact with each other and have a sense of trust and understanding with each other as students. I want them to take ownership of their education. As a teacher I want to know the needs of all of my students and have the constant goal for each one to reach a measure of success. I wonder about how I am supposed to not focus on the administration and just the students. I know that there will be quotas I have to reach and parents who think that they know better. So I think that keeping students in mind will be easy in theory and I don't want to get distracted by what outside people are saying. I will implement student teaching moments where they are able to share their knowledge with each other and group learning so that they are able to learn collaboration with each other.

Assessing Theatre Students

This is an interesting topic. We are doing a monologue unit and their final assessment is the preformance of their monologues. It is hard because we have had little assignments aiding the students overall performance and many of them have not done those assignments. Its hard because we had 1 person turn in a paper we assignmed but she was the only one. Do we just discontinue the assignment because it wasnt clear, or do we give everyone a zero. We have to decide as a group but we untimatly said they need a zero on that assignment. It hopefully will get them to think about it. It is intersteing to with this experience because it is not your classroom you have to work with the teacher because his system may be different and it is hard to think about how you want it to work in their classroom. But it all works out in the end.

We will be going to do our final assessment of their monologues this next friday and we hope that they do a good job with their monologues. We are choosing to assess them on each of the items we discussed in class. Giving them the rubric will hopefully help them to know exactly what to work on to have a great performance. It is also great to see them work on something that they will be using in the future as they get ready to audition for different colleges.

Teaching Day Six

This final day of teaching was very interesting. The assignment for each group was to write a 10 minute play, which would roughly be 10 typed pages. We wanted them to be finished with enough time to hear each group read their play. When we saw they needed more time we gave it to them. But at the end of the class three of the four groups were done with their scripts and one even had time to read theirs for the class. The one group that didn't finish only had 3 pages to their script. And it was frustrating to me as the teacher because I kept thinking 'why didn't think group succeed?' We went and talked to them at different times to give them ideas to move the plot along and we had them act out plot points to give them dialogue. But they still only had three pages. I would like to know what to do in those situations when you see that it was obviously possible for the other groups to finish the task, but for some reason one group couldn't finish it. For it to be student centered I need to be aware of all the students, but I don't know what this group needed different to be able to complete the task.

Contextual factors

The first day we went to teach at Maple Mountain, we were not astonished to see all caucasian students. The difference was that you could tell each student had their own story and their own life. In our 2nd day of teaching we were talking about objectives and tactics in a monologue. We started by having someone tell a story from their own life with a strong emotion. They told and embarissing story. After that we had each of them write a personal monologue with a strong emotion. They were to talk to that person in the audience. Each student came up and had a touching experience to express. IT was increadable to hear their stories. It made me realise that some of these students were dealing with sucide of a parent, a father leaving, hatred for a sibling, love for a good friend, etc. Once they all expressed these impactful moments, I had a new insite on them and what each person was dealing with. Numbers from the website didnt help me, but taking what I learned from each student did. I was able to talk with them differently, and knew how to apporach them with different topics about assignments, performances, etc. It changed me a lot.

Teaching Day Five

Today we had a warmup activity and then let the students use the rest of the time typing on laptops their script. We were able to check out four lap tops from the BYU library for the students to use! It was such a good idea because they worked harder having a computer to use and they were able to collaborate more. I think it was a good use of technology that furthered their progress in writing their play. For student centered learning there was one student who said he was able to think better when he had his ipod earphones in and so I let him keep one in one ear. And he did work better and was able to come up with more ideas. I think that as a teacher to be aware of the students needs is important and know that the same thing won't work for every student. I wondered what activities we could have done to give them more energy back so that they didn't feel drained from writing and thinking at the end of the period. That's something I'll add to this unit in the future.

Teaching Day Four

We discussed dialogue today and talked about the format of scripts and what makes dialogue interesting to read. We did a good activity with them on the board that got them all engaged in what the discussion was about. They thought about the contextual factors of plays and what makes them different from novels. They also realized the audience only knows what you choose to tell them. We talked about word choice and I think they were surprised by themselves at what they already knew. I think sometimes we don't know how much we know until we're asked to explain it. We asked them to start writing their scripts in their groups and they were off to a good start. Mrs. Foster had said that the students hate playwrighting but I think it was because they felt so much pressure to make a play. Since they were in groups of three to four people they were each able to contribute ideas and be able to forward the process along. Today was a good balance between instruction and activity because some of our beginning activities were also instructing them how to write for the latter part of the class. They are starting to treat us like teachers, which is a very odd feeling for me, but I'll get used to it!

Teaching Day Three

I loved teaching today! We talked about characters and how they can build characters and today I felt like the lesson plan just built perfectly off each point. We had them write a monologue at the end of class as their character. The monologue also served as an assessment to make sure they did it. But when they did their monologues some of them were stumped and wondering what to write. So I reminded them of the activity that we did of tablos for their new perspective of their story and it went awesome. I told them to think of a tablo that their character was a big part of and then write how they felt about it. I was thinking, man, I would like to feel this was after every lesson plan. I think one thing we are getting better at is gaging how long an activity will actually take. One thing I'd like to keep in mind for all my lesson plans is what activities to do if there is extra time. Like games or discussions that will build on the lesson so they don't just sit around the last 5 minutes of class. I think that will help students know that as the teacher I value their time in my class and want them to always be learning and exploring. Today we didn't need the extra activities because they all stayed on task and we were able to accomplish all that we wanted them to do. And the monologues will later be put in their full length script so they already have a starting point for most of the characters!

Texts and Literacy

We were planning on teaching the students about Resumes. I wanted them to look at resumes and headshots. From this they were to discuss what makes a good resume and a bad resume. It opened a great discussion and lead to some really interesting insites. It was also good because that day we did performances. We used those as the text that day and gave oral feedback to the students. It was great because we were able to use the text and create meaning more than just text book answers.

Teaching Day Two

I learned so much from todays lesson about classroom management! And what to do when some students get done 10 minutes before other students on a project. It was a huge learning day. We took them to the library to pick out a fairy tale story for their script. When you get students in a new environment they act completely different. I feel like once we got them back to their class they were much more focused and willing to listen to us. I think I am learning the balance between instruction and activity. Many activities need to be explained before they get broken into groups. And I think because in so many classes I hear not to spend so much time lecturing I get worried that they are going to get bored. I think that as I teach more and more I will be able to know what the balance is between instruction and activities. I want them to put to use the knowledge that they have, but first I want to teach them to make sure they know it. Another thing I struggle with is knowing what they do know and what they don't, because I've only met them one time before this lesson. I just want them to benefit from being in my classroom, and for their knowledge to increase.

Teaching

Our first lesson we really wanted to get to know every students name in the class. We wanted them to learn plot structure, the terms and be able to identify them in a story. We used a lot of student centered learning where we were close to the students and they were all interacting in different groups. You could see them engaged, and when someone mentally checked out you were able to bring them back. One moment that stuck out to me was when we were in a circle on the floor and they were coming up with new definitions for exposition, rising action, etc. they were each working in their pairs and we were right there to answer their questions. I feel like they knew that their opinion mattered. Then the pairs taught the definition to the rest of the class so they were able to teach their concept. I feel like this activity also helped with their literacies in the classroom to know what we are refering to throughout the playwriting unit and that they knew they understood what was being asked of them. I really want them to be confident in their abilities in this whole process.

Krystle's 15th Post

I want student centered learning to be a large part of my future classroom. I feel that students learn so much more when they are taking an active role in it. Because I know that when I am participating and actually doing I remember better and I actually care. It's important to make sure that activities are various so that you can reach not only the students that work better in groups but also those that work best individually. I really liked the quote at the beginning of the reading by Lisa Delpit, "The teacher cannot be the only expert in the classroom. To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them." I think that this is so true even though I hadn't really thought of it that way before. I want a classroom full of experts not just me. I feel that to allow the students to be experts gives them a voice and a place to share it. In the reading there was the example of the teacher not having the student raise their hand to give feddback and rather just talking when no one else is talking. I think that this really does give the power back to the students because then the teacher isn't dictating who is and isn't speaking. When I think back I can remember that being what we did in drama but I hadn't thought about what it does for the students. I agree with it giving more freedom to the students and giving them a sense of control in their learning.

Post Teaching #1-Elisabeth

The concept of student-centered learning is something that we talked a lot about in 276 with George. But some things have occured to me as I've gotten further into the major. First, the abount of ownership that students are given needs to correspond with their abilities. That may seem obvious, but if students who are very new to theatre are given an assignment that an advanced class might be given without the literacy that advanced students have, they will either panic and not do it, or try to do it, but fail because they simply don't have the necessary literacy. The same is true of advanced students. I've seen teachers who refuse to allow very compitant students any type of ownership, and lose the respect and attention of their students. Ownership is not the same for each class, or even for each student. It is easy for teachers to set a cirriculum and keep it, instead of adapting it to students needs and capabilites.
The words student-centered learning also make me think of something else. Currently I am a TA for 114, I have a student who has missed a lot of class for family reasons, and is asking for extra credit options. On the one hand, some would say that others have been doing the work on time and have been in class, and so it is unfair to give this student extra help when he has not been doing what other students have been. But on the other hand, what does everyone else have to do with this one student. Student-centered learning also means, at least to me, working with the individaul student to make sure their needs are met. If that means special help, then that is what happens in many cases. Obviously there is a method to this, and you can't just give out good greades to everyone if they didn't earn them, but you can work with students who need extra help without it having a negative effect on the rest of the class.

Day 6 of Teaching - Krystle

Monday was our last day of teaching. Can I just say that I really enjoyed it. It made me super excited to have my own classroom and be teaching all of the time. The main goal of this post is to talk about assessing theatre students. *sigh Where to start? I'll start by talking about my assessing experience at Maple Mountain High. Monday was their first preview day. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it worked. You see the day that we were supposed to hand the rubrics out the class was cancelled and so we were left to hand them out the day of the preview. We figured that was better than not giving them at all. For me it was more of a memorization check than an actually preview considering that only one student was completely memorized. Granted we only had 8 students but it was a little sad that only one seemed to take what we were doing seriously. In the end rather than holding the students to what we had intended we gave scores based more on preparedness rather than audition ready. I think that when it comes to assessing theatre students we are a little more lenient than we are in other classes. I think that we care that the students learns but we care more about their growth than their abilities. I don't think this is a bad thing though. I think that it's good to hold a high standard but you have to know where to draw the line. Theatre shouldn't be just about fun and games. It needs to be about growth and knowledge. I think that it comes down to preparing your students for what you're assessing them for.

Day 5 - Krystle

Well we weren't able to go and teach today but I'm going to blog about applying texts and literacies in the theatre classroom. When I think about this I think about all of the possibilities that we have as theatre teachers. We have so much right at our fingertips but I don't think that we necessarily think of them as texts and literacies. At least I know that I didn't. I think that one of our greatest and most commonly used text is the body. It's the one that does everything, from moving to speaking. It has the ability to convey more meaning that just about anything because of how versatile it is. How we use it is the literacy. It's understanding the purpose and how we can use it. Thinking of texts in a theatre perspective is very different than just thinking of texts in general. My perspective on what I consider a text and literacy has changed because I now look at texts as a broader option rather than limiting to just books and printed texts.

Briana's Response #11

Contextual factors is never something I really thought about. Well, what I mean to say is that I thought about it but it was something that I did inherently without realizing that what I was thinking about were actually contextual factors. One of the biggest ones that I've come to make plans for in our teaching at Springville high school has been the fact that our students very much like to talk to one another. There are certain students who will continually chat if you let them be near one another. This is something I've had to think about and I've definitely used the teacher proximity to try and diminish the amount of talking that goes on while we're teaching. Another thing, and this may be because of the teacher's work environment or for some other reason, is we have many students who miss numerous days of class and are therefore behind in work and difficult to work with in groups. I never thought about having to deal with something like that. It's a big problem, especially for those students who are in groups with them. But this is something that needs to be taken into account when putting students in groups or doing assignements.

Briana's Response #10

For our unit at Springville high school we're doing a small overview of theatre history. The students were broken up into groups and then assigned a genre and playwright to do a group presentation on, and a scene from the playwright's most popular work. I thought these outcomes were a very good way of applying texts and literacies in different ways. We gave them each a packet with information on their genre and playwright and they were assigned to make an outline of that packet with specific categories for the playwright's life, style and works. This assignment helped us to gauge their understanding just from a reading and to see their literacy in reading a text book and looking for specific information. Then they had to find their own three sources on the internet for their research presentation. This was also a form of literacy they were accustomed to. Their performances, however, are a form of literacy that shows their understanding of their topic that they've researched and then put into a practical situation. That literacy is something that will continually be used in a theatre setting and is very important.