The power of words

"Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustable source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it."
-J.K. Rowling

So many things happening all at once. Organized Chaos is the word used as students continue to sharpen their skills and devise two new plays. I am lucky enough to observe their learning, participate and learn new things as well.
When I started digitizing and organizing my notes I really started to see just how much I've absorbed in such a short amount of time. The two lessons that have stuck with me are seeking objectives and thoughtfulness.

I've realized that objective is important in all aspects of the theatre. I've studied, acting, directing, and playwriting and I knew this to be true but I don't think I conceptualized it into the art of theatre as a whole. As a teaching artist, it's good to take a step back to see where the students are and where you would like them to be by the end of an activity, by the end of the day, end of the week and end of class. It's easy to get caught up playing the game because there are 15 minutes to kill however, it's most beneficial to have students aware of the objectives of the game and the skills they should take from it. There is always something, even if it's simply having the class aknowledge the fundamentals.

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Thoughtfulness- one of the characteristics at KIPP that I never gave much thought to. I first thought it was simply, think before speak or don't be a jerk. I've now seen that it's also important to teach students a constructive and thoughtful way to give feedback. Push students to go beyond, "that was good." Or, "I didn't like that."As a teacher, you have to give specificity and ask for it as well. Having students think about why they like or dislike things can encourage critical thinking and strengthen their problem solving abilities.

This goes beyond the theatre. It's important in every day life especially as people choose accusations and screaming over articulating thoughtful replies. Can we get past, insults, one word replies and emojis and better teach students to consider every word that comes out of their mouth as Shakespeare considered every word before committing it to paper? I think so but we have to teach it early.

Performances for this years Conservatory are this Friday July 28th and Saturday, July 29th at 7 pm. You can reserve tickets at alleytheatre.org/conservatory.