Theatre Arts Class example essay topic

2-27-03 Chairman Kelly and respected Senators, It is a privilege to talk to you today on behalf of theatre education. My name is Kirsten Pardon-Johansen. I teach theatre arts to first through fifth grades in the Orono Public School district and I teach future elementary teachers at Bethel College in Roseville, MN. I moved from the regular classroom where I taught third and fourth grade to the theatre specialist classroom when the standards dictated a need for such education. There, I created a comprehensive theatre and creative drama curriculum.

Prior to that time, the school districts in which I taught offered elementary children only visual art and sometimes music class. Because the standards required that schools address at least three arts learning areas, my district made the move to add the theatre program. Many schools however did not have that luxury and so, as a member of the Arts Best Practice Network, I spent a considerable amount of time working with my regular classroom colleagues across the state teaching them how to embed theatre into their existing curriculum. Many teachers were pleasantly surprised at how easily theatre could be added to various social studies, reading and language arts lessons. This proved, in most cases to be a very rewarding experience for both parties and produced incredibly beneficial results for students across the state. In an address on education, Ernest Boyer, the late President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching said, "Why do we need arts education?

First we need the arts to express feelings words cannot convey. Second, we need the arts to stir creativity and enrich a students' way of knowing, third we need the arts to integrate fragments of academic life. Fourth, we need the arts to empower the disabled and give hope to the disenchanted. Above all, we need the arts to create community and to build connections across the generations" This quote hangs above my desk in my classroom, on the wall in my study at home and A very worn copy remains in my wallet to remind me, on those days when I feel like throwing in the towel, that the work my students and I do together is life changing.

When the proposed core learning areas were announced and the arts were excluded I was not only outraged but dumbfounded. How could Minnesota, a leader in arts education, disregard such a vital component of the educational whole? A friend in the business sector asked me to try to explain, beyond the fact that my job was in jeopardy, why I was so upset. Why, he asked me, is it so important that the state has those particular standards in place. And so I began...

~I told him of my quiet shy students who would mumble their way through simple dialogues who now readily volunteer to perform scenes at school assemblies ~ I told him of Parker, a brilliant actor who wowed his peers each time he performed but who still, at the age of twelve cannot read above a first grade level. Parker who told me one day In your class I ' the smart one. I never got to be the smart one before you came. I was always dumb^i.

~I spoke of Maya, a child with severe anxiety who only comes into her mainstream class during art, music and theatre arts. There Maya joins her peers because she is ABLE. SHE has something to share. ~I spoke of the students who easily excel at anything they try in the academic classroom who learn in theatre arts class what it is to struggle and struggle and struggle and eventually succeed. I told him of the worth of experiencing something that is difficult and the life lessons those students learned because of it. ~I spoke of the bossy kids, the quiet kids, the kids who tend to blend into the woodwork and the misfits who all learn the pain and joy of working together, as a team to create and perform scenes about flying sailboats and make-believe lands.

~I spoke of Tommy, a student with severe autism who learned to speak by watching Disney movies. Tommy joined his class only for Theatre Arts. At first his peers balked- Tommy does appear to be a little strange. But eventually they saw how gifted he was at acting and what a wonderful imagination he had. By the end of the year, student groups competed to have him join their groups. Tommy told his mother", I love theatre because there I am a star!

None of the people understand me but in theatre I have friends. I like to be liked". ~ I told him that unless we have the arts we lose a great deal of the space where such LIFE learning can occur. I am just completing my doctorate in education and so I have become a bit of a research junky however I think it very important for you to know a few interesting facts: research shows that children learn best in an interdisciplinary setting; that is, when they study the Hopi Indians through music, theatre, literature and math.

Brain research shows that learning in the sciences and math is far more substantial when applied through music, theatre and art. Students who have theatre education in cooperation with reading instruction have far greater reading comprehension and fluency scores. Students who use movement in dance while learning spelling words and math facts will see a significant increase in memory recall of those words and facts. Multiple Intelligence research shows that all of us have different ways of being smart- many of us are smart through the arts.

My own doctoral research has shown that by teaching the students to explore various social issues such as bullying, teasing, and peer pressure through dramatic scenes they have a significant increase in their ability to feel empathy and that that empathy transfers into their own social interactions on the playground, in the lunchroom and on the school bus. In preparing to speak to you today I decided to ask the real experts, my students -- asked some them current students and those who have moved on to middle and high school -- to tell me what theatre arts and the arts in general has meant to them. I asked them to tell me if, and how, they felt art education had helped them. Their responses speak volumes: ~"Theatre has given me courage- not just to be in front of people but that I have a lot to share and give to the world" ~"Theatre has taught me to express myself. I have learned that it is cool to be creative and unique. I don't have to hide that part of me".

~"Theatre has taught me that life is full of weird people and I am going to have to work with them all. Teamwork is the name of the game". ~"I think theatre has helped me be a better reader because I have more pictures in my head and them I remember them when I have to take my tests". ~"Theatre has helped me to become an awesome writer.

I imagine I am in theatre class creating a scene and then I write a story. My grades have gone way up and that's cool because my parents are happy". ~"Theatre has taught me that even though I am scared I can do anything I want to do -- always and forever. It might be scary and it might be hard but -I CAN! " A colleague added that in thirty years of teaching she has never seen students so eager and prepared to speak in front of others, whether it be presenting book reports, giving a power point presentation or making a speech, since the addition of the theatre arts program. Along with my colleagues on the Arts Best Practice Network I have worked tirelessly because the work I have seen my students do, the growth I have seen them master, tells me beyond a shadow of a doubt, that ALL kids must have arts experiences.

In a utopian world this would happen without state mandate, but this is not a utopian world and teachers are tired. They are overworked and underpaid. They have to teach math and reading but the arts can be put off until the schedule allows or things slow down. As a classroom teacher I can tell you that the schedule rarely allows, and things certainly don't slow down and before you know it, June has arrived and you stumble out the door vowing that next fall will be different. God bless those teachers, they are doing the job of three, but the state must provide the safety net that guarantees that ALL students have the chance to experience the arts. In a world that is continually plagued by discord we, as educators, need to focus on developing the WHOLE student.

Arts education does just this. It guarantees that when all is said and done we have nurtured individuals who can think, communicate, feel and share. We have empowered individuals to give of themselves to leave this world a little better than before. We look to you to support us in this worthy endeavor.

Thank you very much for your time.