Open Forum

 View Only

  • 1.  advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-09-2015 10:12

    Despite the fact that I have a very successful theatre program and over 100 students in the club, I am the only theatre teacher/director in our school of over 1400 students.  Each year I ask for help, and some years it is promised but it never happens.  This year I plan to submit a formal request with documentation to support my request.

    I do not need to prove the importance of theatre, they know that and believe it is great.  What I need to show them are the advantages available by investing in another theatre teacher.  So, I am coming here for your help....

     What reasons can you think of that justifies having more than one theatre teacher??


    ------------------------------
    Darleen Totten
    TX
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-09-2015 11:08

    This is such a double edged sword. I too am a 1-person department. A sister school in our district has 3 teachers. While I personally prefer to do it myself I can definitely see advantages to having multiple teachers. Some ideas:

    Helps prevent teacher burn-out due to number of rehearsal, building, and performance hours required.

    Different teachers have different types of theatrical training. 

    More chances of contacts outside of the school to help bring professionals into contact with students.

    Greater variety of professional associations and performance/teching experience outside of the school.

    Allows for a greater number of performance opportunities for students because it is possible to rehearse different shows at the same time.

    Greater possibility in training that is "additional" to theatre (music, dance, art, etc).

    Just some quick thoughts while my kids are rehearsing for their class performances right now. :)

    ------------------------------
    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-09-2015 11:36
    Collaboration is an essential part of Theatre, and one of the greatest lessons we can teach our students is how to work cooperatively with another peer. Though I am the only Theatre teacher in my school, I enlist the services of as many others as I can because I have no interest in being a one-man-department. I think you should first take a look at your department and what it really needs. Where do you think your department lacks? Do you offer as many students as many different educational experiences in Theatre as you can? That's where an addition teacher will be beneficial. A good partnership is both complementary and supplementary. Of course the main factor that justifies supply is demand. So if you can show where there are more students interested in taking classes than there are classes or space available, that would be your strongest argument. 

    ------------------------------
    Hugh Fletcher
    Performing Arts Coordinator
    IS 229 Dr. Roland Patterson Middle School
    Bronx NY
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-09-2015 12:13

    Shira has some excellent points, and Hugh too. All I would add to supplement is experience, that I have made sure I teach Stage Management thoroughly at the beginning of the year, and ensure that I have an excellent one for my productions. As I continue my second year, I am ensuring that my absolutely amazing senior Stage Manager is training up a sophomore with promise. The goal is to have a little army of Stage Managers. They rock.

     I am also blessed with an amazing wife, who is amazingly well organized. I think the theatre department is definitely a multi-person job. Currently I have managed to secure the free services of a vocal coach for West Side Story, which will be a tremendous boon to our production.

    One thought is that a second teacher might be tricky...Would you be an equal partnership? Would you be in seniority? Would there be kids who start tensions/camps? I've seen that happen to one of my colleagues, and it was pretty ugly, having started out very positively. It doesn't have to get to that point, but it could be getting more than you bargain for....the ideal is having people who work, urgh, I hate this term, work 'under you,' for want of a better term. That way everybody's clear that you have the final say and no-one gets ruffled. Just an opinion, of course.

    ------------------------------
    Phillip Goodchild
    Valrico FL
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-10-2015 08:23
    Depends in part on the class offerings. Counselors hate singletons. If this means you will now have multiple sections of introductory level courses, then that is a great argument. If your district has funding to staff performing arts teachers based in numbers that could Ba counterargument you will deal with. Denver East High School in Denver has 2.5 theatre teachers with 7 section of a semester intro course. Lots of kids try it to get their required arts credit. Still enough classes for advanced kids too. ------------------------------ Scott Hasbrouck George Washington High Scool ------------------------------
    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-10-2015 08:55

    You say that your school understands the importance of theatre, so is the issue that the school is unable to hire more theatre staff because of budget constraints, or unwilling to hire more because they feel that they are unneeded?  (Possibly the ultimate back-handed compliment... they think you are doing such a great job yourself, you don't need anyone else!)  Also, would these new folks be full-time theatre teachers, meaning that they are adding teachers to the payroll that would only teach theatre?  Or would these be supplemental positions where, say, an existing Spanish teacher with a dance background would receive a supplemental to be your choreographer?  

    Try equating your theatre program to the football team.  Personally, I love football and am fortunate to have a great working relationship with our AD and coaching staff, but from what I hear, sometimes the football program is what some administrators best relate to.  Look at it this way... You have 100 kids in your Drama program.  There are usually around 100 kids in the Football program.  Most teams have around 7 coaches:  Head Coach, OC, DC, LBs, DBs, QB/Receivers, Secondary, etc. You aren't asking for 7 staff members!  Maybe you're asking for 3?  You're the Stage Director, and you need a TD, Vocal Director and Choreographer?  Just as the football team divides up for practice, and one coach can't coordinate all aspects of the game, you need to divide up your students for rehearsal / set building / painting, etc. and it's unrealistic to expect one person to coordinate all of those aspects, not to mention all the paperwork, fundraisers, ordering, tabulating, etc.

    Just a thought... best of luck!

    ------------------------------
    Mike Morris
    Technical Director / Business Manager
    Harrison OH

    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-10-2015 11:02

    When I directed the middle school program for Goshen Middle School, I wrote a proposal to prove a theatre program was in need of multiple coaches and mentors.  I was never granted the assistance, but was awarded $400/year payment for my leadership.  The argument was I was only a club sponsor.  It didn't matter that there were 169 in the cast and crew of my last production.

    I gave up the directing at Jay County High School and have remained the designer and builder.  My scenic design classes ( five of them this year with nearly 150 students total) are offered during the school day.  This way I can continue to have a voice in the program, teach the classes, and still get home at a decent hour.  (I now live an hour from the high school.)

    I would suggest giving the parallel to a similar sport of similar size.  How many coaches does that sport have and how many hours are they involved after school?  How much are those coaches paid compared to your hours and your pay.

    Include data of sports which are smaller that have multiple coaches.  You are a coach, not only a director.  Demand to have the same training as all coaches--first aid, CPR, etc.  Demand to be held to the same expectations of any coach. 

    The problem most schools have is that the drama program is a club, not a sport.  Therefore, there are different policies and expectations.  I wrote a proposal that termed Drama a competitive activity on campus.  (We do compete annually.) 

    The high school I presently direct for did not accept my last proposal for a paid assistant.  I now utilize a student teacher and have stepped down from most of the after school hours.  I could not juggle the drive, stepchildren, and an after school program AND expect others to be there as long as I was without pay.


    ------------------------------
    Carol Knarr Gebert
    Celina OH
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-11-2015 09:47

    Thank you for all the input.  I am positive that there will be enough kids signing up for courses, but just not sure how to convince them that they need to add someone else.  I know that budget is an issue, but we have more than a dozen band directors....

     I am going to send my request in to them on Monday.  Just wanted as many ideas as possible to help support my request.

    ------------------------------
    Darleen Totten
    TX
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-11-2015 14:57

    As stated in earlier comments, a lot depends on class offerings.  My former school had the same enrollment #s, and a working class demographic.  We started offering Techncal Theatre classes, and built the program to 2 1/2 full time theatre positions over a period of 4-5 years.  We had a full time performance person, a full time tech person (me), and a half time Speech/Intro person.  Due to the tech classes, we got to a point that we had to audition tech crews, since we would regularly have between 70-100 students sign up for tech crews.

    As a result, we had 3 people who were certified in theatre.   We took turns directing and teching shows, so the students got the experience of working with different directors, and different styles of directors and tech directors, which was really good for the students.  We would also bring in teachers from Music, Math, English, and Speech to direct and tech shows.  

     Be careful what you name a tech class, though.  We submitted a revised curriculum to the State Dept of Education for approval, and they wouldn't ok "Stagecraft" as a Fine Arts class, even though that had never been a problem before.  They said "Stagecraft" was an Industrial Technology class.  We had included units in Theatre History, Script Analysis, Theatre Hierarchy, and Set and Lighting Design in the course, but the state wouldn't budge.  Eventually, we replaced the name "Stagecraft" with "Stage Design and Theatre Technology", which actually was a more accurate name, and the state asked if they could use that as a model curriculum.

     If you'd like a copy of a handout I use in workshops called "Building your Tech Theatre Program", let me know an email address, and I'd be glad to send it to you.

    ------------------------------
    Robert Fowler
    Co-Developer
    Interactive Educational Video, LLC
    Chesterfield MO
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: advantages of having more than one director/teacher

    Posted 01-11-2015 15:16
    One additional reason to consider:  safety.  In the world of lawsuits, it is important that students are supervised.  If you have a ratio of 100 to 1, the district is placing you in an impossible supervision situation, and students left unsupervised are free to make poor choices and harmful mistakes. It wouldn't hurt to remind your district of your responsibility to take care of all of your students.

    ------------------------------
    Lynnae Lathrop
    MS Speech and Drama teacher
    Waukee Comm. School District
    Waukee IA
    ------------------------------


    Original Message


Related Content