Classes

BLOCK ONE (Ages 6-8) OVERVIEW
Up to 15 students, includes snack, please bring a bottle of water!

Exploring Creative Drama
The arts are the first languages of children. Children are naturally involved in the arts from an early age as they sing, pantomime, move, create, and communicate through their senses. Block one encourages students to explore themselves and their world through creative drama. Students will develop thinking and learning skills by imitating, speaking, moving, creating and sharing. The dramatic process, primarily teacher-guided, provides students with opportunities to express and understand themselves and others in a positive way. Because of the exploratory nature of creative drama, students of all learning styles find an outlet for self-expression. They also develop the skills associated with peer acceptance and personal discipline while working in a non-threatening learning environment.

Content Integration
Creative drama provides a natural vehicle for curriculum integration. As students role play and re-enact stories, they bring literature to life and develop reading expression and comprehension skills. By imitating animals, exploring playing areas and interacting with others, students explore science, math and social studies and other disciplines' concepts through the power of drama.

The teachers of this block have had at least 42 hours of drama pedagogy training for this age group over a 14 week period.

BLOCK TWO (Ages 9-12) OVERVIEW
Up to 15 students, includes snack, please bring a bottle of water!

Group Emphasis
In block two, students begin to develop theatre literacy. In theatre, the artist creates an imagined world; it is the role of theatre to lead the audience into this visual, aural, and oral world. It is important that students learn to see the created world of theatre through the eyes of the playwright, actor, designer, and director. Through active creation of theatre, students learn to understand artistic choices and to critique dramatic works. Middle school students play a larger role in the planning and evaluation of their work. They continue to use drama as a means of confidently expressing themselves, thus developing their "personal voice." With greater emphasis on reading, writing and performing scripts, students begin to create plays based on peer issues, concerns and interest using improvisation and collaboration. Likewise, they are introduced to plays and experiences that reach beyond their communities to national, international, and historically representative themes. The content, instruction, student outcomes and methods of evaluation should increase in sophistication at each grade level.

Individual Emphasis
Growing differences in abilities and interests characterize students at this age and, for this reason, provisions should be made for individual emphasis by assigning individual special projects or placing students in various leadership roles. The emphasis is on helping students use drama more discriminatingly and productively in daily living and, as a participant or viewer, to incorporate it into their lives. Students come to perceive theatre as a means of pleasure, communication and learning. Theatre becomes a part of the students' experience of life as a whole.

The teachers of this block have had at least 84 hours of drama pedagogy training, 42 of which were over a 14 week period and focused specifically for this age group.

BLOCK THREE (Ages 13+) OVERVIEW
Up to 15 students, includes snack, please bring a bottle of water!

What Students Do and Learn
Students in block three view and construct dramatic works as metaphorical visions of life that embrace connotative meanings, juxtaposition, ambiguity, and varied interpretations. By creating, performing, analyzing, and critiquing dramatic performances, they develop a deeper understanding and acceptance of personal issues and a broader world-view that includes international issues. Since theatre in all its forms reflects and affects life, students should learn about representative dramatic texts and performances, the places of that work and those events in history, as well as the impact of those events on the past and present. In addition, students should make connections between what they learn in theatre arts with other curricular areas.

Outcomes
Students in block three are encouraged to develop an appreciation and understanding of theatre in relationship to themselves, their community and other communication media; and as an art form, as a career possibility, as entertainment, and as a means to learn about, question, and celebrate life. Knowledge and skills in acting, performing, ensemble, directing, writing, theatre literature and history, and technical theatre are cultivated along with the resulting insight into using the knowledge and skills in everyday life situations.

The teachers of this block have had at least 126 hours of drama pedagogy training, 42 of which were over a 14 week period and focused specifically for this age group.