Theatre is an intricate subject for a teacher to teach because there are so many tiny details to include into this subject. After interviewing Mrs. Bragdon, a Kindergarten teacher at a Title One school called Oka Elementary, I realized how much goes into implementing theater into the classroom. When done interviewing, Mrs. Bragdon I helped out in her classroom and took time to reflect upon teaching theater, teaching students, and what I learned about myself through this process.
Mrs. Bragdon started off by telling me that she has a minor in theater, and implementing theater into her classroom is a major part of her teaching philosophy. She believes her classroom should have a multi-sensory approach by using student learning preferences. As a teacher you should value the students' feelings, and meet their needs when it comes to teaching. She is always using positive reinforcement, allowing kids to be active, and always doing singing or hand motions in a lesson. Mrs. Bragdon gave me advice on what I should take away from this interview. That I should never stop learning and keep continuing my education. She suggested taking summer classes after becoming teachers or going to educational events. Along with, to never be afraid of trying new ideas or lessons in the classroom. Mrs. Bragdon also talked about some of her biggest challenges in the classroom. Implementing theater into the classroom can be tough for teachers who have no knowledge about it. So she suggested I should take a few theater classes that could benefit me and my students. She also explained to me about the English language learners in her class and how it can be complicated to communicate with the language barrier. Also, at this school, since it is low income, there is a lack of parent help or in the classroom, little parent involvement with their children due to working full time jobs, and insufficient money in resources and reading programs. When putting on plays at a school with insufficient resources, she said you may need to buy your own props and construct your own costumes for students. Interviewing Mrs. Bragdon and helping out in her classroom was an amazing experience for me.
When teaching theater, it includes a lot of singing, playing with objects, and musical components. You can use theater in many lessons that teachers teach in the classroom. For an example, when I was observing the class Mrs.Bragdon was reading a book, The Three Billy Goat Gruffs. She then made hand motions and rhymes to act out the storyline for the students. Storytelling is a standard for these students this year. So by using theater techniques it keeps the students entertained, and easier for them to remember how to retell a story. She then called on students to act out what they learned. While watching each subject she was teaching every lesson had either musical, acting, or hand motion components. By having these students act out their characters, it allows them to inference the characters' feelings and motives. Teaching theater is a dying art due to insufficient education that teachers have. I believe it is an effective learning tool a student can learn to express themselves.
Elementary students are antsy, crazy, and have short attention spans. While watching her teach her students she caught their attention by allowing them to dance to math songs and sing along to them. Then when it came to a math worksheet she allowed her students to make up stories while doing addition, and subtraction. This let their imagination run free but still have a structured guided lesson. Reading can turn into acting as I witnessed during my time here. A teacher must act out books, change voices, and even get up and act it out. I noticed how involved the student became and were more interested in learning. Teaching plays in younger grades can be challenging. They have a play coming up, and it will be short and sweet. They will be acting out in small groups, and few will have lines. I can only imagine how difficult this will be, but so rewarding on opening day for them. Students love to be active and theater is the perfect opportunity to have fun and learn simultaneously.
Reflecting back on what I witnessed, interviewed, and wrote in this paper, I have learned many new things. I saw many theater aspects I would also like to use in my future classroom. I realized that I will have to be animated, loud, and always making learning fun. That definitely sounds tiring, but at the end of the day when all the students were leaving to go home they were talking about how fun storytelling was. I would like to use many theater techniques in my classroom, allow my students to do plays, and help them use theater in their everyday learning.
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