The Art of Practice
Overview
Pre-service training for theatre education needs to be dynamic. Practitioners need to be confident in their artistry, advocate for themselves and know how to integrate drama into their pedagogical practice. It is important to be clear on a value system and a teaching philosophy built on strong guiding principles.
Practitioners should think about who they are, who they want to become and who they will want to know, and the kind of discipline needed to start which might also translate into what do you need to stop doing to be a stronger artist/educator.
Artist Educator
The Artist Educator is used in reference to those who consider themselves artists. It is not important to have a shared definition of what this means so long as the artist educator has a rationale for who they are as an artist. The Artist Educator are also known as the Teaching Artist or Workshop Leader.
Reflective Practice
An Artist can’t be an artist without acknowledging their own personal evolution. Theatre makers are magicians, taking nothing and creating something so spectacular with the children or communities in which they work. The arts do that. The magic of the arts can be memorable and can live beyond the product. It is incredible to think, for anyone who works in education, they are given such a gift. If you think about it, lives are made up of moments, and artist educators are allowed to impact moments, someone else’s moment, and are lucky to be invited in to share that moment and if they are lucky to have more than one moment, and if they are successful, that moment will live in the memory of those who these moments are shared with. It is important to always think like artists. In thinking back to that teacher who made an impact, did they make magic? Was a space created that had an experience so impactful not only did the learner absorb the content but also were there strong levels of engagement and joy. And while these moments may have been a blimp in ife, they are still so vivid. Now that’s magic.
Everyone has struggles in their lives; how we get past them and work through them is what sets us each apart. It is important to have reflection as part of your practice. A few questions to guide you as you begin:
What’s Your Why?
What inspired you to have a career in the arts?
What is your teaching philosophy?
What are your core values?
Ensemble Practice
Building community means building trust and it is important to remember you can only move at a pace where you can build that trust when working with others. You can’t teach what you don’t know, so in addition to learning from your experiences whether in school or at work, give yourself the gift of learning from those who you work with or those who are part of your classroom community. You can only be who you are in the ensemble when working with others and you can only be where you are as an individual. You can’t be anywhere else but where you are at.
Activation Ideas
Interview and Introduce
Prep | Ask participants what they would like to know about each other - what are some questions you would ask each other? Make a list. |
Divide Class | Have participants paired off. |
Discussion | In pairs decide who is A and B. First A’s will interview B’s. Then B’s will interview A’s. |
Share | Participants will then introduce their partner to the class. |
Mandala
Think | Ask participants to share qualities that make a good teacher. Ask each individual participant to select 4-6. |
Draw | Ask participants to create a symbol to match each quality. Creating patterns on a sheet of paper draw a mandala. |
Share | Share your mandala by placing it on a large table and looking at everyone’s together creating one large mandala. |
Write | On the back of the paper write the answer to this: What is your teaching philosophy? |
Share | Share your teaching philosophy with your partner. Share with class. Make a list of qualities class believes makes a strong teacher. |
Value Statement | With the class, create a value statement for qualities that make a strong teacher. |
Resources
Gaunt, Helena and Treacy, D.S. Ensemble practices in the arts: A reflective matrix to enhance teamwork and collaborative learning in higher education. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. Volume 19. (2020).
Gorelov, Lauren. Culturally Responsive Drama. (2022). Arts Praxis. Volume 9 Issue 2.
Additional Resources
Hooks, Bell. (2003). A Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Routledge.
Love, Beinna L. (2019). We Want to Do More Than Survive. Boston: Beacon Press.
Robinson, Ken. (2009). The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. New York: Penguin.