Session title: Creative Chaos: Using Elementary Theatre to Teach Creative Problem Solving Skills

Session style: Workshop style presentation that provides hands on learning for participants to reinforce the concepts being presented. 

Presentation description: This is the first workshop in the Creative Chaos series. This series is designed to not only train arts educators and general education teachers in methods to integrate the arts into core curriculum, but also to provide ways for students to become creative problem solvers using elementary theatre techniques. In the workshop Using Elementary Theatre to Teach Creative Problem Solving Skills, teachers will participate in a series of hands on activities involving imaginative theatre games or scenarios that develop the art of collaboration and problem solving.  

Presentation Summary: 

Chaos. The very word can send a shiver down the back of even the most seasoned educator. But what if you could combine creativity and chaos together? What if you could provide your elementary students with learning experiences that were fun, educational, and had a dash of theatre, too? Then you’ve got all the elements of Creative Chaos. In this session, theatre and creative problem solving collide. Participants will learn how to lay the foundation for problem solving with a twist on the beloved game Rock, Paper, Scissors and then apply this method to group collaborations such as See Run Do Costumes (a fast costume building challenge) and Hot Lava (a cooperative learning activity involving imagination and team work). Take a walk into Shakespeare’s Life and Times and learn how to make your elementary students “experts” on the Bard or give your students the Props Building Challenge. Creative problem solving is a life skill and this session will teach educators how to integrate theatre into their lesson while capturing and building on the Creative Chaos in their classroom.

Presentation Level: Intermediate to Advanced

This workshop will appeal to elementary arts educators and elementary general education teachers who are interested in integrating theatre concepts into their lessons and who are ready to enrich the curriculum they already have in place. The lessons are geared for K-5 students.