Open Forum

Hi all. First year teacher here. I was initially hired as a Communications/Language Arts teacher, but was given all Intro to Theatre courses on my schedule before school started. We have only had our first two days of school so far, and I still haven't planned anything in depth because I have no background in theatre. My ELA certification allows me to teach it, but I never had any classes in college for it. I've tried to find curriculum maps/pacing guides with included materials, but to no avail. I really need help. I appreciate any advice or pointers you can give me! 

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Caleb Williamson
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Hey Caleb, 

There are a couple of wonderful resources on the EdTA learning center to help.  First, don't miss the webinar on building middle school content called "Creating a Theatre Curriculum for the Middle Level Grades" - the presenter offers several great tips for teaching this age and walks you through an entire curriculum complete with a map and lesson suggestions.  You can find it here:  https://learn.schooltheatre.org/products/creating-a-theatre-curriculum-for-the-middle-level-grades

There are also wonderful resources for those new to teaching on the "New Theatre Teacher" web page- including more webinars, curriclum maps and lesson plans.  https://learn.schooltheatre.org/resources-for-new-theatre-teachers

And there are easy to use "Click to Teach" units for middle school and down load and go lesson plans all sorted out for you here:  https://learn.schooltheatre.org/middle-grades-theatre-materials

All a part of your membership at EdTA.  You got this, and we are here to help!

Cory Wilkerson 

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Cory Wilkerson
EdTA chief Learning Officer
Educational Theatre Association
OH
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Some great suggestions on here. Check out Theatrefolk.com if you haven't yet. Tons of resources. You'll be fine. One day at a time. 

Best, 
Garry

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Garry Tiller
Theatre Arts Teaching Artist
Sidwell Friends
Washington, DC
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-05-2023 16:45
From: Cory Wilkerson
Subject: New Middle School Teacher Help

Hey Caleb, 

There are a couple of wonderful resources on the EdTA learning center to help.  First, don't miss the webinar on building middle school content called "Creating a Theatre Curriculum for the Middle Level Grades" - the presenter offers several great tips for teaching this age and walks you through an entire curriculum complete with a map and lesson suggestions.  You can find it here:  https://learn.schooltheatre.org/products/creating-a-theatre-curriculum-for-the-middle-level-grades

There are also wonderful resources for those new to teaching on the "New Theatre Teacher" web page- including more webinars, curriclum maps and lesson plans.  https://learn.schooltheatre.org/resources-for-new-theatre-teachers

And there are easy to use "Click to Teach" units for middle school and down load and go lesson plans all sorted out for you here:  https://learn.schooltheatre.org/middle-grades-theatre-materials

All a part of your membership at EdTA.  You got this, and we are here to help!

Cory Wilkerson 

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Cory Wilkerson
EdTA chief Learning Officer
Educational Theatre Association
OH
------------------------------

Pioneer Drama Service has all sorts of resources for middle school in the textbook section (and more middle school plays and musicals than any other publisher). I especially suggest you take a look at Introduction to Theatre Arts, Vol 1 to get you started. Hopefully you have the budget for individual workbooks for each student ($16 each), but even if you don't, I suggest you get the teacher's guide, which gives you a year-long curriculum structure to follow. If your class is only a semester long, you can obviously pick and choose!

Good luck! 

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Debra Fendrich
Publisher
Pioneer Drama Service
debra@pioneerdrama.com
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FIRST, get this book for a detailed guide, month by month through the school year, with forms and templates for the notes you will send home, notices to print out, and checklists.

Real-World Theatre Education: A Teacher's Guide to Growing a Theatre Education Program  Paperback – September 15, 2015

by  Chip Rome (Author), Zoë Dillard (Author)   

NEXT, dive into learning the technical side of theatre. You can "wing it" on some warm-up games and exercises, and find plenty of lessons online, but you really need to study the mechanics of set-building, lighting, sound systems and microphones to put on a show, and it takes more time than you can imagine.

No need to go broke-- see if the books are in your classroom or library, or search for used copies.  Search the archives of this online chat for specifics, and see if nearby schools have resources or teachers who can help.

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[Eve] [Sutton]
[Curriculum Designer]
[Mortgage Meltdown: The Musical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54v8JiG42uU&t=16s]
[Eve@mortmelt.com]
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Excellent suggestion, Eve! Here is a link to the book you recommended: Real-World Theatre Education

Like all our textbooks, Pioneer Drama sells it at a discount, so it's lower here than on Amazon. 

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Debra Fendrich
Publisher
Pioneer Drama Service
debra@pioneerdrama.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-06-2023 13:09
From: Eve Sutton
Subject: New Middle School Teacher Help

FIRST, get this book for a detailed guide, month by month through the school year, with forms and templates for the notes you will send home, notices to print out, and checklists.

Real-World Theatre Education: A Teacher's Guide to Growing a Theatre Education Program  Paperback – September 15, 2015

by  Chip Rome (Author), Zoë Dillard (Author)   

NEXT, dive into learning the technical side of theatre. You can "wing it" on some warm-up games and exercises, and find plenty of lessons online, but you really need to study the mechanics of set-building, lighting, sound systems and microphones to put on a show, and it takes more time than you can imagine.

No need to go broke-- see if the books are in your classroom or library, or search for used copies.  Search the archives of this online chat for specifics, and see if nearby schools have resources or teachers who can help.

------------------------------
[Eve] [Sutton]
[Curriculum Designer]
[Mortgage Meltdown: The Musical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54v8JiG42uU&t=16s]
[Eve@mortmelt.com]
------------------------------

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Beth Rand, EBMS

NEW!! A TMT tutorial just for your admin!

And, lots of FREE RESOURCES to help you level up your admin's support and funding of your school theatre operations
www.PRESETT.org

JOIN OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT THEATRE OPERATIONS https://www.facebook.com/groups/presett

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
https://www.amazon.com/author/elizabeth-rand

beth@PRESETT.org
Westminster, CO
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Lots of great lessons right here on EdTA! Also, check out BYU Theatre Education, and ask your admin if they can subscribe to Drama Teacher Academy from Theatrefolk for you. 

If you want to find some lessons on the Tech side of Theatre (much safer in student's minds post COVID) check out the Teach Tech Theatre website.

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Julie Benitez
Theatre Teacher
Granite Hills High School
CA
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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, but just pick it up and go with lessons, games, activities, tests and answer keys.  Once you feel like you are in the swing of things, you can adjust, change things up, add new material, etc.  This complete curriculum is tried and true as I developed it and used it in my own middle and high school classrooms for over 20 years.  I put it together in a book specifically to help teachers in your predicament.  

As you go through the year, post your questions here.  As you can see it is a very supportive community.  Best wishes for a great year!

Jeana

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Jeana Whitaker
Retired Theatre Teacher
EdTA Alumni
www.jeanawhitaker.com
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May I humbly suggest that my book might be of help to you?  It's call Teaching Improv: A Practical Guide for Theatre Educators.  Although it's based in improvisation, it's the foundation for a beginning curriculum (I use it that way), and includes sequential lesson plans. Many folks have had success with it, and if you're a new theatre teacher it might be especially useful.

It's available through Youth Plays (slightly cheaper) or Amazon.

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James Thomas Bailey
Director of Theatre Arts
Justin-Siena HS, Napa CA
Artistic Director, CSz Los Angeles
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In addition to Real-World Theatre Education, suggested above (which is about all the OTHER stuff beyond lesson plans that you're gonna have to deal with), there are a few cyber resources available to you. 26 Drama Hacks is the items in the RWTE appendix as a .zip file that opens to MSWord .docx files, so you can easily customize them.

LIVE advice/venting/etc. is available each 1st Sunday & 3rd Wednesday at 9pmET when you enroll at Theatre Educators Network

If you're teaching basic tech (cuz, after all, theatre is not just acting and history, right?!), check out Teaching Tech You Never Learned and its companion volume Theatre Safety Guide. Both include lesson plans.

Best of luck!!

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Douglas "Chip" Rome
Theatre Consultant
Educational Stages
Burke VA
http://EducationalStages.com
https://bit.ly/RWTEOview
https://bit.ly/eTeachTech
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Thank you all so much:) Your advice and recommendations have been helpful! I'm still making things up as I go, but I'm going to ask my admin if I can get a subscription to TheatreFolk. It's burning me out pretty badly by having to scrounge for resources and make up everything I do.

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Caleb Williamson
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I highly recommend the book Theatre Games for Young Performers by Maria Novelly. The title is a bit misleading. There are "games" in the book, but there are also a lot of great performing projects/assignments as well. You could probably do an entire semester following that book.

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Jennifer Bennett
Markham Woods Middle School
FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2023 19:30
From: Caleb Williamson
Subject: New Middle School Teacher Help

Thank you all so much:) Your advice and recommendations have been helpful! I'm still making things up as I go, but I'm going to ask my admin if I can get a subscription to TheatreFolk. It's burning me out pretty badly by having to scrounge for resources and make up everything I do.

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Caleb Williamson
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