1. LITERACY-BASED DISTRICT-WIDE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Aiken County Public School District January 15, 2016 LEADERS IN LITERACY CONFERENCE

2. Theatre and Literacy Christian Sturgis-Edwards Theatre Arts East Aiken School of the Arts csturgis@acpsd.net LEADERS IN LITERACY CONFERENCE

3. Essential Questions How can theatre be used to improve student achievement in literacy? How can the lesson examples in this presentation be translated and adapted to what I teach?

4. Learning Outcomes Develop a common understand of arts integration. Develop and discuss theatre integrated lessons to implement into multiple subjects.

5. Who are you? I graduated with a B.A. in Theatre education from Winthrop University. I began teaching middle school in Rock Hill, then high school in Beaufort and Summerville, and now elementary in Aiken! I am the grants manager for East Aiken School of the Arts. I am an advocate for arts integration. Who are you? What do you teach? What do wish to gain from this presentation?

6. A quote…. John Keating: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. John Keating: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. Dead Poets Society (1989)

7. Arts Integration Arts integration is an approach to teaching that integrates the fine and performing arts as primary pathways to learning. Arts integration is using higher level thinking. Arts integration is about connecting ideas and subjects. Arts integration is creating.

8. Some examples…. Using visual art to aid in organizing sequence of events in a story. Using music/rhythm to teach equivalent fractions through musical notations. Using dance to understand the movement of the solar system. Using theatre to understand the science of light reflecting and refracting.

9. Theatre Theatre teaches: Communication – both oral and written Understanding/ Empathy Speech Creative thinking and problem solving Collaboration and teamwork Self confidence

10. Using theatre to teach literacy Theatre is a great tool to aid in teaching the following components of literacy: Reading Comprehension Fluency Composition

11. Using theatre to teach comprehension Story Dramatization – Student actors enact scenes or a simple scene from a story using their own words. If all else fails…. Act it out!! When studying literature or reading passages, assign roles/characters to students and have them re-create the scene in their own words. This activity is great for student engagement!

12. Comprehension continued Character interviews – Role dramas in which student actors portray characters from a book and answer a series of interview questions. Character Walk – A free roaming, individual “walk” that is guided by the teacher to enhance character motivations.

13. Tableaus Tableau – A silent frozen picture made by student actors striking poses to represent a significant moment in a story. Human Slide Show – A sequence of tableau presented in chronological order

14. Tableaus The Vacation by Wendell Berry

15. Using theatre to teach fluency Reader’s Theatre - A style of theatre in which the actors do or do not memorize their lines. Actors use only vocal expression to help the audience understand the story rather than visual storytelling such as sets, costumes, intricate blocking, and movement. Cold Reads – A type of audition in which actors have very little or no time to prepare for a reading. Puppets – Using puppets can be a great tool for working on fluency

16. Using theatre to teach composition Monologues – A long speech by one actor in a play or a movie. You can have students write and perform monologues as a composition teaching tool or even an assessment. One Word Story – An activity in which each member of class contributes a word to create a story. Variations of this activity include one sentence story and one word story using grammar.

17. In closing…. How can you modify any of the lessons to be used in your classroom? Have the lesson ideas in this presentation inspired you to incorporate theatre in your classroom? Questions?

18. Thank you for joining me today. Christian Sturgis-Edwards Theatre Teacher East Aiken School of the Arts csturgis@acpsd.net