Pedagogy

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is that I am teaching students how to be good humans first and good actors and technicians second, and that one doesn’t have to come at the expense of the other.  Throughout the year, I strive to create a class culture of excellence, support and inclusion. I believe in a backwards design model-starting with the end goal in mind and then coming up with a plan to support that. Whether it be designing lesson plans, rehearsal calendars, or units of study, I find that when both the students and I have a clear understanding of what the target is, we know better how to reach it. 

We often do class bonding activities, using acting exercises that encourage trust, openness and vulnerability to help create a supportive environment where students feel safe to take risks, step outside their comfort zone and consider varying ideas and opinions. Students often find a home away from home in the theatre department and develop lasting and life-long friendships as a result of these experiences. 

In my theatre history class, I ask the students to consider different cultural practices and viewpoints as we study theatre from around the world.  Students often remark at the end of the semester how they now think about the world differently and are excited to take the information they have learned and go out into the world to try to make it a better and more inclusive place. 

I help students understand how theatre applies to life outside of school and the performing arts.  Students conduct research projects about the subjects and themes in the plays we are performing and how they connect to the outside world.  Students in my advanced tech class specialize in a specific area of technical theatre and devise their own plans and designs for how their vision will be realized in our performances, while receiving support and guidance from me on how best to implement their ideas. 

I find that when students can understand how what they are doing applies to their futures and how they can make a difference in the world rather than just doing an assignment for a grade, the more engaged they are with the learning process and can discover strengths and passions they didn’t know they had.  Each year, I take my students on tour with the rest of the performing arts department to take master classes with professional actors and artists.  This experience helps open their eyes to what working in theatre professionally is like and how the skills they are learning in the classroom can apply to areas outside of theatre as well.  Some of my students may go on to be professional actors and technicians, but they will all grow up to be adult members of society. It is my job to teach them how to be kind, collaborative and instill a life-long love of learning. 

Sample Lesson Plans and Units:

• Elements of Design Unit Lesson plans: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RMM_4J88ew12AmM2lZpUT4Q2JkaFfNS4bRrdG_BY8xw/edit?usp=sharing

• Scene Work Unit Lesson Plans:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1onYyp30bZa1yvqZQNLw-JHlEE7VS8cUGrXXuws8wPp4/edit?usp=sharing 

• Script Writing Unit Lesson Plans: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZNnPboItT1jIQ1XVfYklVJ_VVnQcyegDIg0iWeQSzwg/edit?usp=sharing 

• Beginning Tech Class Curriculum Map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vVYGy9rePSd49u4DGQOjohatCW2G7OCeL2urxryONAo/edit?usp=sharing 

• Beginning Theatre Syllabus: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19_b1uNhBYiZiw9YEPy7TsDWXaYN4fT70js_iu0LTmD4/edit?usp=sharing 

• Shakespeare Monologue Rubric: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aQjGZeL2pRR6BhnAwbtoKV7kJbujOibkVUOcNbSKHxA/edit?usp=sharing 

Additional samples and related documents available upon request.