Literacy
Intervention
ECT's
professional actors (with degrees and training in classical
theatre and education methods) work in collaboration with
classroom teachers and teachers aids to offer 16 to 20-week
classroom-based programs to engage students in a variety
of complementary literacy and literary appreciation activities.
The methodology is built on a foundation of theatrical training,
including the practice and development of concentration,
relaxation, listening and speaking, visualization, emotional
sensitivity, imagination, and storytelling. At its core
lies Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, with students
applying "different ways of knowing" to classroom
activities and interpersonal relationships.
Twice
weekly, two-hour classes incorporate reading, writing, acting,
and directing into educational investigations, progressing
from emotional and sensory recall exercises and reflective
journal writing to play analysis, playwriting, and presentation.
Students' progress toward active, relevant engagement in
speech and language comprehension skills. Students develop
critical thinking as well as a host of active listening,
concentration, and analytical skills through creative dramatics,
cultural criticism, and dialogue.
Each
classroom teacher is teamed with two ECT actor/educators
(one female and one male), at least one being a minority
and/or bilingual in English/Spanish. The ratio of students
to ECT actor/educators is 10:1 to enable individualized,
in-depth, participatory instruction.
Classroom
teachers attend Training Intensives, receiving instruction
in Culturally Responsive Process Drama (CRPD) and other
language-rich program approaches. CRPD draws on students'
personal experiences (e.g., their diverse ethnic and cultural
backgrounds, immigrant or family experiences, adaptation
to American way of life, etc.) in writing assignments and
literacy exercises so that they become deeply engaged and
their work comes alive. As both a methodology and philosophy,
CRPD utilizes the tools, vocabulary, and processes of arts
practitioners to galvanize the attention and learning potential
of the students.
Each
semester culminates in presentations of student work for
families and fellow students. Student-written plays and
radio dramas as well as scenes or monologues from classical
plays are performed, directed, and stage-managed by students.
Parents are engaged in production activities well, gaining
understanding of their child's successes. The student playwrights
are interviewed after the productions and engage in a dialogue
with the audience to further amplify the meaning of the
theatrical piece and deepen students' analytical, public
speaking, and arts appreciation skills.
