Knowing and Using Theatre Materials and Resources

Vocal Empowerment Workshop Lesson Plan

The Vocal Empowerment program has been a focal point of my academic and professional evolution in the field of applied theatre. Because of its central role in my education, I have included a sample of the 12-session curriculum that Dr. Beth Osnes and I created. This has truly been a collaborative project between Beth, Starfish, and myself. However, Beth and I were mainly responsible for the creation of the 12-session plan, which we will be taking to Tanzania in May of 2016 to disseminate to a partnering organization known as Maji Safi.  In order to show the growth and changes that we have made over the course of the past 1.5 years, I have included both an original lesson plan created in 2015, as well as an updated lesson plan, finalized earlier this year in February of 2016. You may note that there is a distinct difference in the length of the lesson plans, as we found that we had unrealistic expectations of what might be completed during the course of time allotted during Starfish mentorship sessions. We took this feedback and adjusted the lesson plans to be more time-appropriate and achievable by the Starfish mentors.

Starfish Art Curriculum

My experience working as a teaching artist in NYC for 5 years, coupled with the procedural knowledge I obtained during my time at CUNY both prepared me to use theatrical materials and resources in educational and developmental settings.  In order to demonstrate this, I have included a segment of the art curriculum that I created in 2016 for the upcoming Starfish School.  This curriculum will be used for the incoming 7th grade class. I was charged with the task of creating a participatory and cross-disciplinary curriculum that addressed all of the national curriculum standards set down by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, known as the CNB. I worked collaboratively with my Guatemalan partners to ensure that the curriculum was both culturally appropriate and utilized the skills of the teachers as well as the general interests of the students. I surveyed both the teacher and former Starfish students to gather this information. I found this task extremely challenging, as this was my first time creating a curriculum map instead of individual lesson plans. However, through consistent communication with my partners, I was able to create a map that Starfish is excited to use and that I am proud to see put into action in 2017.  Due to the length of the plan, I have chosen to include only one segment.  This segment outlines a mask-making project that the students will undertake. I drew inspiration and information for this segment from my work with Professor Ralph Lee in NYC at NYU, as well as Deborah Hunt during my study abroad in Puerto Rico with the Educational Theatre program. Hunt graciously donated Spanish language versions of her textbooks, which will be used by the Starfish staff. After seeing how the incoming Starfish students receive this curriculum, I will write the remaining curriculum plans for grades 8-12 for the Starfish school.