Students will engage in Read A Louds of cultural books around art making and imagination, theater games (Viola Spolin), hands-on activities, and video. By ‘READ’, I mean, ‘How do the students/we digest and absorb’ (Timothy Rey, from CAPE Planning Form).

TENETS OF THEATER THAT WERE EXPLORED:

Listening, theater-making, playmaking, set destiny, costume, improv, working as a group/ ensemble, and sharing our work in a respectable. The unit is being built to inform and utilize student agency as well as their social ‘soft skills.’

THE INCLUSION OF 7-8 SOFT SKILLS AND THE 6 'C'S:

Lessons were arranged to constantly address the '7 Soft Skills' as well as the 6 'C's of creativity making in the classroom:

7 to 8 SOFT SKILLS WE EXPLORED AND REINFORCED WITH THE STUDENTS:

Sharing, listening, cooperation, following directions, patience, empathy, respecting boundaries, and using manners.

The 6 'C's of CREATIVITY MAKING ARE:

Communication, Collaboration, Content, Critical Thinking, Confidence, and Creativity in Motion.

Semester 1

How has your Planning Form (Big Idea/ Inquiry Question) [embedded above] changed in the classroom so far this year? What have students added to the inquiry?

We started off strong with many read-a-loud and short drama exercises and activities, including daily time to move via dance videos, theater games, and then hands-on art making. I imagined keeping to this schedule, but it was evident that the students did not 'take' to some of the physical/ movement activities, and eventually these were dropped as we noticed the students really enjoyed the writing portion of the classes and then the presentation of that writing in front of the class with constructive feedback session immediately following. Here, Olga and I followed their lead and provided more opportunities for writing. This was clearly what they wanted to investigate.

What are the specific school needs identified by your group in the December PD? How will you use the class’ Big Idea/ Inquiry Question/ Artmaking Practice to address them? Please be as specific as possible.

SEL and soft skills as you see described above. Again, Olga and I attempted to begin classes with meditative breathing, and this was introduced but abandoned after the Fall semester, as the students were not engaged. We found they were most engaged in writing, and that also can be a meditative practice that (when working in groups) the students could work through some of the 'soft skill' challenges that arise when making art collaboratively. Each feedback session of student work or share-out time was a perfect chance to reinforce the SEL components of this project.

Below, share photos and/or videos of select class activities. Specify what students are engaging with and learning (artistically, academically, and/or SEL), in reference to your Big Idea/ Inquiry Question. You may add different blocks from the right-hand side menu.

STUDENTS WORKED COLLABORATIVELY TO CREATE PUPPETS AND PUPPET SHOWS WITH THEIR CLASSMATES. STUDENTS ENGAGED IN WRITING, EDITING, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING IN ORDER TO PRESENT THEIR GROUP'S SHORT PUPPET SHOW TO THE CLASS.

USING SOUND IN THEATER: students used listening skills to hear sounds played and then IMAGINE how that sound might be represented by a doodle they drew while listening BY MAKING A 'SOUND QUILT' -SHOWN ABOVE

DREAM CRENELATED FANS!

Students played around with the Big Idea of DREAMS by creating these individualized word art pieces to be displayed on the walls of the school.

Students make their own plays and costumes

Students engaged in problem-solving when they wrote, edited, blocked, and staged their short plays in class and for adult guests at the end of the year.

Cape cross-class visits

Students engaged in listening skills, using manners, and respecting boundaries when they visited other CAPE classes at Waters to learn what they were doing. Here younger students in the drama program ask older students in stop motion class about the process of creation.

SEMESTER 2

How did students respond to their involvement in the Perspective(s) exhibition? This may include artmaking, curation, visiting CAPE Family Days or Teen Night, discussing their experience, or other activities. Students really enjoyed seeing their work displayed at CAPE and interacting with other kids around the city who were involved in the CAPE programs.

“Getting the concept that there’s no right or wrong to this [creation], that it's about the process not the product, that art is wonderful no matter what it looks like because whatever the child creates or says about the creation is correct…can often be a new concept, especially in a formal education setting.” from Your Brain on Art, How The Arts Transform Us, 2023, Ross and Magsamen

What skills did students leave your class with?

Collaboration, listening, body awareness, problem-solving, working through disappointments, the joy of creation, and critical thinking.

Show evidence of this learning through photos and/or videos of select class activities. Specify what students are engaging with and learning (artistically, academically, and/or SEL), in reference to your Big Idea/ Inquiry Question. You may add different blocks from the right-hand side menu.

Students ENGAGED IN USING THEIR OWN AGENCY TO WRITE FICTIONAL letters to DR. MLK about his dream and...their own. here STUDENTS CREATE PERSONALIZED STATONARY UPON WHICH their letter will sit.

completed student 'dream' fans! students engaged with patience to get these multi-step projects designed, colored and constructed.

Students devise/ sketch their 'dream animal' after a read-a-loud that featured similar creatures. to do this, THEY ENGAGED IN PLANNING, EDITING, AND EXECUTING one task to completion and for the intention of display.

Students use critical thinking as they plan, draft, and write in their journals to come up with a story they would like to stage.

Students collaborate to present their ORIGINAL short plays to the class.

Listening and critical thinking, are used as students learn about the civil rights movement in preparation to write their own letters to Dr. King.

TOP: STUDENTS COLLABORATE AND PROBLEM-SOLVE TO CREATE THEIR OWN DANCES AROUND AN EMOTION AND (BELOW) A NOTE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF LETTERS IN AMERICA and a play composed of all LETTERS BY E. Merritt.

STUDENTS engaged in theater games to reinforce cooperation, listening, body AWARENESS, etc. here they work together to form the letter 'B'.

, younger students in the drama program ask older students in stop-motion

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