THEATRE ARTS
THEATRE ARTS THEATRE ARTS
Purpose of Theatre Arts
Theatre arts in the public schools teaches the basic life skills, thinking skills and personal qualities which:
- develop an understanding of the ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and
feelings of diverse people in different times throughout history as
communicated through literature and theatre.
- employ techniques for teaching and learning through
developmental processes and activity-oriented methods.
- promote higher level critical and creative thinking skills,
problem recognition and problem solving, intuition, examination and
implementation of conflict resolution, and the learning of reading,
writing, math and other areas of the curriculum.
- assist in focusing the emotions for controlled use,
strengthening the imagination for creative self-expression,
disciplining the voice and body for purposeful use, expanding
intellectual horizons to include aesthetic awareness, developing
self-discipline, and providing a basic understanding and critical
appreciation of all the theatre arts.
- involve making connections between theatre arts and other art
forms, other curriculum areas, dramatic media, and the related use
of technology including numbers and data.
- provide an intense study of what playwrights seek to convey and
how this is intensified through theatrical production, thus giving
students insights into countless aspects of the diverse and
changing world.
- include the reading, viewing, listening, researching, writing,
speaking, preparing to perform, performing, and directing of
traditional and experimental theatrical forms, as well as, the
accompanying aspects of technical production.
- engage students in the creative process and the practical
application of theatre techniques (such as observing, considering
possibility, and communicating) which students can use in studying
other areas of the curriculum and for life-long learning.
- and enable students to function and communicate more
proficiently, work independently as a member of a team, to value
the individual contributions of others, and to learn virtually any
subject matter in a more dynamic way.
Strands
The following strands run throughout the theatre arts program and are guiding concepts for theatre arts study at every grade level and in each high school course. For the purposes of this study, they are listed and defined as follows:
- Perceiving - To become aware directly through any of the
senses.
- Thinking - The act or practice of formulating in the
brain; a way of reasoning, reflecting or judging.
- Comprehending - To mentally take in the meaning, nature
or importance.
- Applying - To put into action or to adapt for a special
use.
- Integrating - The process of combining or coordinating
separate and diverse understandings, perceptions or information
into a more complete understanding of something.
- Communicating - The art and technique of using
effectively words, physical gestures or various types of technology
to impart ideas, information or messages.
- Creating - To produce through artistic or imaginative
effort.
- Analyzing - To separate into parts or basic principles
so as to determine the nature of the whole.
- Critiquing - To review or discuss critically.
- Imitating (Kindergarten - grade 2) - To use or follow as
a model the actions, appearance, mannerisms or speech of
others.
- Presenting (grades 3 - 5) - To offer or share, usually
in a classroom or informal theatre setting, a portrayal or other
theatre work for consideration or display.
- Performing (grades 6 - 12) - To portray a role or skill
before an audience in a formal or informal setting.
Basis for Theatre Arts
Theatre, the imagined and enacted world of human beings, is one of the primary ways children at an early age learn about life - about actions and consequences, about customs and beliefs, about others and themselves. They learn through their social pretend play and from hours of viewing television and film. Children use pretend play as a means of making sense of the world; they create situations to play and assume roles; they interact with peers and arrange environments to bring their stories to life; they direct one another to bring order to their drama, and they respond to one another's dramas. In other words, children arrive at school with rudimentary skills as playwrights, actors, designers, directors, and audience members; theatre arts education should build on this foundation. The theatre arts program in the early years starts with and has a strong emphasis on improvisation, which is the basis of social pretend play.
Sequence of Theatre Arts
In an effort to create a seamless transition from the natural skills of pretend play to the study of theatre, this SCS integrates the several aspects of the art form: script writing, acting, designing, directing, researching, comparing art forms, analyzing and critiquing, and understanding context. Because of the broad base of knowledge and skills involved in creating, responding to, and performing in theatre arts, experiences and learning must evolve in a sequential manner. Every area of study in theatre arts must be developed in this logical way for students to be able to understand and participate to the best of their ability at each ensuing level of comprehension and refinement. Furthermore, this SCS is designed and organized so that teachers of students arriving at a grade level for which they lack prior training may incorporate developmentally appropriate learning sequences from an earlier level.
Program Continuity
Throughout the curriculum objectives progress from one grade level to the next K-12. Some objectives may recur at more than one grade level; however, the content, instruction, student outcomes, and evaluation methods should increase in sophistication at each grade level, or whenever differentiation is appropriate. Teachers should modify objectives appropriately to meet the instructional and developmental needs of each student.
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