Good Stuff!

Friends! The Glass Menagerie was really good! acting is great! and I loved the concept of the show! If you know the show by having seen it before or read it you will know that it is not the happiest of plays- yet it is a classic and well worth seeing! especially being produced by the Mortal Fools Company! it is playing thru March 27th. check out their website! Mortalfools.org

A New Way to Think About Media

The idea of looking at media and then translating it to different mediums is really interesting. I think that teaching students to look at media forms in this way can really help them to open their minds to what the media is really telling them.
I think that it could be a really fun project to take a play, and have the students take a photograph/make a six-word-memoir type project expressing what they think the theme of that play is, or what they think the design of that play is, etc. in one image. Or to take a photograph and write a scene/10-Minute Play, etc. from the story they see in the image. There is so much to learn when we take something we are familiar with and we look at it in a new and interesting way. Translating through various media forms is just one way to get started, and I think it is a really cool way that I want to start looking at media in my life.

The Glass Menagerie...PTC!!!

FRIENDS!!!

So this weekends I am going to see The Glass Menagerie!! at Provo Theatre Company!
I am really excited about this for a number of reasons...

1- The Mortal Fools Theatre Project is who is putting it on- this is a group that includes very talented people and it is exciting to see such high quality theatre! I have never been dissapointed by one of their shows!

2- I actually get to see the show for FREE! Why? - because I am posting some blogs about them! double bonus eh?!
check out their website!!!

http://www.mortalfools.org

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.