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Jeana Whitaker

Educational Theatre Consultant

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Educational Theatre Consultant
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RE: New Middle School Teacher Help

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 09-07-2023 13:23
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Hi Caleb! You've gotten some really great suggestions so far and I have one more resource for you to check out: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Drama-101-A-Complete-Curriculum-for-Beginning-Drama-4279950 It's a complete 1-year curriculum for beginning drama. You won't have to plan anything, ...

RE: Food and Drink

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 06-11-2023 06:20
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The outside groups probably feel that since they paid for the facility, they can do what they want, so my suggestion is to stop fighting them. Add an additional cleaning fee to pay for an outside service to clean after rentals. It will save you a lot of headaches and might make the vendors more aware ...

Wednesday Wisdom - End-of-the-year Ceremonies

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 05-10-2023 12:20
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I’ve always loved the end-of-year celebrations so I thought I’d talk about some of my favorite ways to do so with students. Royal Court – My students loved playing with the term “drama queen,” so they created a royal court of a drama queen, king, prince, princess, and court jester. They loved making ...

RE: Preparing/Supporting Student Directors

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 01-19-2023 09:35
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Hey Blake! To prepare student directors I would do the following: 1. A whole class unit on directing so students would know what they were getting into. 2. I would require students to prepare a Prompt book to submit for consideration to direct a one-act. I found that students who put so much time and ...

RE: Theatre History

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 11-22-2022 07:32
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One technique that worked really well for me was to provide short scene scripts for rehearsal and class performance work for each historical era. For example, when we studied The Greek theatre period, I did a short 3 page cutting of Medea, including the chorus. We would spend a few days on it with blocking ...

RE: Classroom Management

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 10-02-2022 07:59
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Hi Amanda! You've gotten some wonderful advice so far, so I will just add a few more ideas for you: 1. Turn off the lights - IF you can turn off or down lighting (so it's not completely dark of course), it's actually very calming. We used this technique a lot when I taught in a juvenile detention center ...

Wednesday Wisdom

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 09-20-2022 15:00
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Gai's amazing post a couple of weeks ago where she shared her elevator speech got me thinking back to all of the parent conversations I had where they were grateful that I was occupying their child's extra time, but didn't see any actual career paths in theatre. I would remind them, kindly, that theatre ...

RE: short scripts for kids

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 08-19-2022 13:40
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Hi Angie! You might want to try teacherspayteachers.com. Do a search for short scripts for elementary students. Products are created by teachers and for teachers for classroom use, plus you can download, copy and use without the extra expenses of purchasing multiple scripts and/or paying royalties. ...

RE: Costume Source for Dark Road (concentration camp, guards)?

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 08-17-2022 05:29
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Just a thought here: You could try a local military supply store. They often have old uniforms from all time periods and colors. I have used them before for M*A*S*H and for Letters to Sala. Sometimes they will let you borrow them for your production in exchange for a program ad. If you can find the right ...

RE: Favorite Theatre Tradition?

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 07-02-2022 09:54
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Here are a few of my favorites from over the years: Gypsy Robe - modeled after the Broadway tradition. It is a robe. The current student who possess the robe, passes it on to another actor that they felt exemplified the spirit of the production through hard-work, dedication and spirit. The actor sews ...

RE: How to Set Up New Drama Class or Classes

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 07-02-2022 09:36
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Wow, Amy - what a great dilemma! Congratulations on building something so positive for the students at your school! So, a couple of thoughts for you as you ponder what to do with the classes: 1. Having one large class with students at different levels does allow for a lot of collaborative opportunities. ...

Feed Your Soul - Wednesday Wisdom

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 05-24-2022 12:10
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As the school year comes to a close and summer is upon us my sage advice is very simple – Feed Your Soul! Take some time this summer that is very selfishly just for YOU. You give so much of yourself to others and it has been a pretty tumultuous couple of years, so give yourself permission to do something ...

RE: Rethinking Theatre 1

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 05-23-2022 04:04
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Hello Blake! I am retired from classroom teaching now, but when I was about 10 years in I went through the same thing you are. It's often challenging to teach theatre, especially a multi-year program, because there isn't a built-in curriculum, like math courses. But that's also the beauty of teaching ...

Wednesday Wisdom

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 03-08-2022 13:58
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"Our doubts are traitors, and makes us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." ---William Shakespeare Measure for Measure. Act I, scene iv. Teenagers have so much self-doubt and fear, it pretty much fuels every decision they make. This can make it challenging to try to get them ...

Wednesday Wisdom - Student Ownership

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 02-15-2022 07:25
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Why do we spend so many hours each week, trying to make everything perfect in multiple classes, afterschool productions and attending festivals?  We do it for the kids, of course!  We love our students and will do almost anything for them, sometimes to the detriment of our own personal lives and families.  ...

RE: Two questions

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 01-15-2022 05:41
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Theatre Avenue is a great company for projections. https://theatreave.com/ ------------------------------ Jeana Whitaker Retired Theatre Teacher EdTA Alumni www.jeanawhitaker.com ------------------------------

RE: Scenes for Middle School Students

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 01-05-2022 06:45
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Check out www.teacherspayteachers.com and do a search for "scripts" and choose middle school grades.  You might find some interesting things.  Also- scripts on this site don't usually have the added expense of royalties for use. Also - playscripts.com has a lot of great options for middle school plays. ...

RE: Thespian troupe - how to excite students!

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 11-11-2021 11:18
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You might try something like: To find out how you can apply to be a part of a prestigious international honor society for actors and technicians, please attend our first meeting at __________________. ------------------------------ Jeana Whitaker Retired Theatre Teacher EdTA Alumni www.jeanawhitaker.com ...

RE: CTE Costuming Framework - seeking examples, any state!

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 10-16-2021 05:41
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Hi Benjamin! Are you looking for costuming for an entire CTE course or as part of the CTE Technical Theatre framework?  At LVA we used the CTE standards for Fashion Design as a basis for the 3 year course of study in costuming.  Here is a link.  I hope that helps. https://doe.nv.gov/uploadedFi ...

RE: Middle School - 10 Minute Plays?

Posted By Jeana Whitaker 10-16-2021 05:30
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You might want to check out www.teacherpayteachers.com There are many teacher-authors on this site and some offer short scripts for only a few dollars without any royalties. I've also used Check Please by Jonathan Rand.  Each scene is of varying length, probably not quite 10 minutes and centers around ...