ED 669- Drama Pedagogy

Contact instructor Laura Braibish

Syllabus Winter 2010

ED 669 is designed as an introductory overview of the instructional techniques and management strategies that are effective in meeting various educational aims in the theatre arts classroom.  Course objectives and goals relate to two different sets of standards, ODE arts content standards and the national drama/theater teacher education standards.

This course is designed to balance practical, hands-on strategies with reflective, critical examination of our own and other’s teaching philosophies and practices.  The primary learning intent of this course is to explore effective methods and strategies for teaching dramatic theory and criticism, theatre history, tech theatre and acting techniques in the secondary classroom.  

Respond to the following scenario with what you would do and your rationale for your actions/response. (Student profiles aren't based on any one individual student, but are created using information from multiple published accounts of students and personal experience)

You have a student in your 1st period Intro to Theatre class with the following demographic and personal information;

Grade- 12th

Primary extra-curricular activity- Football (Quarterback of high school team)

Theatre Experience- None

Attendence Record- 12 absences out of 30 classes (days absent include all days that scenes were due resulting in no class performance grades for the student)

Character journal entries completed-   1 out of 10 assigned

Current points earned for class and scene work- 158 out of 500 possible

Current overall GPA- 3.5

College scholarship offers- 1 (University of Southern California)

Extra information- If student does not maintain a 3.5 GPA for his senior year he will lose his scholarship offer.  A grade of less than a B in the theatre class will result in a lowering of his GPA.  His family is not in the position to pay the tuition at USC.  If he does not get the scholarship he will have to attend a state school or join the military, both of which are options that the boy is willing to do, though they are not preferable. He and his parents have made it very clear that he needs a B in the class and they fully expect that he will receive it.  When contacted about their son's poor performance in the class the opinion was expressed that they were unconcerned as the class was extra-curricular and unimportant.  Furthermore, when told about his excessive absences they called the school to excuse them all saying that their son frequently chose to sleep through the class since football practices and games often went late and that was a choice that his parents endorsed.

Question- what grade do you give the student and why?  Also, what response do you give to the parents regarding their opinions about his attendance and class work?

Week three assignment- (Submit lesson plans via e-mail to entire class.  Comment on the lesson plan of at least one colleague also via email to the whole group.)

ED 677- Integrated and Differentiating Instruction

Contact instructor Laura Braibish

ED 677- Effective teaching is instruction and curricula designed around individual student need, be they cognitive, psychmotor, attitudinal, social, or cultural in nature.  In order to design instruction for diverse poplulations, teacher candidates must be able to analyze and synthesize a host of learning issues for students and adapt their teaching.  Accordingly, this class consists of two simultaneous parts.  As differentiated instruction is rooted in assessment, one part of this course will cover measurement and assessment conepts vital to instructional decision-making.  the second, concurrent part of the course applies those concepts in classroom settings using differentiated instruction principles.

Week 1 Assignment (Submit via e-mail to entire class.) 

Write a detailed philosophy for warm ups in a theatre class and include the instructions for one warm up including why or when you would use the activity.

Week 2 Discussion Question (Submit answers via e-mail to entire class.  Respond to the answer of at least one colleague also via email to the whole group.)

Respond to the following scenario with what you would do and your rationale for your actions/response. (Student profiles aren't based on any one individual student, but are created using information from multiple published accounts of students and personal experience)

You have a student in your 1st period Intro to Theatre class with the following demographic and personal information;

Grade- 9th

Extra-curricular activities- None

Theatre Experience- None

Medical Conditions- Asperger's syndrome (high functioning autism)

Attendence Record- 5 absences out of 22 classes (all are excused for doctor's appointments or illness)

Written Assignments completed- All

Written Assignments completed according to instructions and published grading rubrics- None

Scenes Completed- All (5 out of 5)

Scenes Completed according to instructions and published grading rubrics- 3 out of 5

Written examinations given- 2

Written examinations completed or passed- None

Current points earned for class and scene work- 97 out of 300

Extra Information-Before the class began the student's mother sent a letter explaining her son's medical condition and asking that he be allowed to "wander" around the room during lecture, discussion or scene work as sitting is very difficult for him.  While he is relatively quiet, his travels sometimes bother the other students because he will walk behind them and make a low humming noise. The boy is very enthusiastic about the class and material, but the other student's are reluctant to work with him in graded scene work because he is very unpredictable in actions etc and is not always able to memorize lines or 'pull his weight' in terms of completing necessary elements like remembering to bring in costumes or props, establishing or maintaining rehearsal schedules and participating in standard rehearsals.  Furthermore, while student is a willing participant, he is not able to recall very much specific information on written tests or in written assignments.  The first grading period and parent conference is coming up and you are trying to fairly assess the student.

Question- Discuss your plan for assessment of this student in terms of written work, scene work and participation. Include a rationale for your assessment of the student and a sample assignment you might give him. Finally, discuss a plan for assessment in the second half of the term including how it might or might not differ from the first half.  Be sure to include full justification for your decisions.

Week three assignment- (Submit lesson plans via e-mail to entire class.  Comment on the lesson plan of at least one colleague also via email to the whole group.)

Week Four-

There is no formal assignment for this week

Week five assignment-(Submit via e-mail to entire class.  Comment on the strategyof at least one colleague also via email to the whole group.)

Please respond to the following scenario; You are teaching a fundamentals of acting class and you have one student who does not speak or understand English well.  Your planned assignment is for partner scenes.  Write a strategy capitalizing on the unique strengths this student has.  Include your ideas for how to fully integrate the student in the unit.  

Weeks six on...

Come up with ways to include students from special populations in your paper play production.  Explain how you would modify line loads or rehearsal schedules to accommodate both ESOL and SPED students.