Open Forum

WOW! I glad to know that I'm not the only one starting a new theatre program for grades 6th-8th. What I looking for are a curriculum map of some sort, lesson ideas, play ideas etc. Whatever you can share is  greatly appreciated. 

Thanks. 

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Curtis Tention
Middle School Theatre Arts Teacher
Cobb County School District
Atlanta GA
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Are you going to the conference in October? That's a great place to network and get some of the ideas you might need. I teach high school but have several lessons that would work in the middle school arena. Shoot an email to me and I'd be happy to send some fun ideas your way when I get back to work.

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Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
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Hey Curtis, 

i am in Augusta at Davidson Fine Arts School and teach middle school drama and musical theatre for 18 years now. We need to hook up! Were you at the Jr Thespian conference this past year? I have lots I can share with you. Send me your e mail and we can hook up somehow by phone!

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Heather Davidson
Augusta GA
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I like to think that I have a pretty succesful program running at our middle school which is also 6-8. Ours has been all extracurricular until the upcoming year when we will be adding a media component to it. In eight years, our program has grown from eight students on stage to our last performance having over forty cast and crew. I would be willing to field any questions you might have, just send me an email @ ldparks@k12.wv.us

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Douglas Parks
Parkersburg WV
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-------------------------------------------I would
Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 09:42
From: Heather Davidson
Subject: New Middle School Drama Program

Hey Curtis, 

i am in Augusta at Davidson Fine Arts School and teach middle school drama and musical theatre for 18 years now. We need to hook up! Were you at the Jr Thespian conference this past year? I have lots I can share with you. Send me your e mail and we can hook up somehow by phone!

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Heather Davidson
Augusta GA
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E-mail me at mickeystone@ssas.org.  I have tons of stuff I can send.

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Mickey Stone
Theatre Director
Sarasota School of Arts + Sciences
Sarasota FL
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Our junior troupe had a lot of help from the high school thespians. If you're interested, getting your high schoolers to mentor the young ones is one of the best experiences I can advocate for.

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Adriana Medina
Placitas NM
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Hi,

I have been teaching middle school drama for 14 years now and have a number of ideas for you.  We have a pretty successful troupe.  We have been on mainstage twice for Jr. Festival in the past few years.  We just did The Addams Family in March there.  I teach all the 6-8 grade in district, but 150 students at our gifted school.  This can be a challenge, since theatre is not everyone's cup of tea, but I make it work. Contact me if you are interested in more.

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Karen Pionke
Theatre Teacher
Gurnee District 56
Grayslake IL
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Hi Curtis,

You'll be happy to hear that GA has a very active Junior Thespians organization with several strong leaders willing to help you. The Georgia Junior Thespian Conference is usually toward the end of February in Columbus, GA (It's a one day event that draws 400- 500 participants). 

I was a Cobb County employee before I returned a few years ago but am familiar with the system. 

Feel free to email me at frankpruet@yahoo.com and I can help get you in touch with other teachers nearby.

FP

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Frank Pruet
EdTA Vice President
Atlanta GA
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Thanks for all the responses. This is really a powerful community. 

Curtis

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Curtis Tention
Middle School Theatre Arts Teacher
Cobb County School District
Atlanta GA
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I am new to this group, but I have been teaching MS theater in California for 28 years.  I teach a 6th grade quarter class as part of an elective wheel, a 7th/8th grade stagecraft class, a 7th/8th grade musical theater class, and I have also taught a 7th/8th grade drama performance class, and all the variations of the above that you can imagine.  What is your schedule and class description?  Let's get more specific here.  Email is great, but if we share info here and attach documents and ideas, we can all share it!

Pat

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patricia banning
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Thanks Pat. I work at a Tittle 1 school with a semester long course.  I teach 6th, 7th and 8th general theatre arts classes. Many of my students have little drama experience. However, they are a great bunch of young people. I want to build a solid middle school program that is relevant for my student population. 

Thanks for your feedback.

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Curtis Tention
Middle School Theatre Arts Teacher
Cobb County School District
Austell GA
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