Ten things performing arts teachers wish parents would understand

In the every growing popularity of Mama Roses and Stage Moms, parents and teachers are bound to have conflicts.  As our stage parents become more involved, there needs to become a better understanding between parents and teachers. First let me say that I think it is very important for parents to be involved in their children's life and Fine Arts experiences. I also think that it is very important for you to advocate for your child. Sometimes things are genuinely not fair and you need to make sure you are doing what is best for your child. I also think that having wonderful relationships between parents and teachers benefits the whole program and makes everything run smother. The better relationship you have with your parents, the more help and support you get in your productions. I think it is very important for parents and teachers to "play nice" Now here are a few things that Performing Arts Teachers wish that parents knew.

1. We want what is best for your child.  I have one son, but I realistically have 500 children. When your child is with me, they are my kid. I love them and I want what is best for them. I am there cheering them up before tests, encouraging them before they go onstage, and celebrating with them when they succeed. Even when something doesn't go your child's way, we are still pushing for them to succeed. 

2. We are trying to be fair to all children. I once had a parent yell at me because I would not let their child redo their audition three times, because they didn't do well the first time. I tried to explain that it wasn't fair to let one child repeat their audition numerous times if we weren't going to let everyone else repeat their audition. We try our best not to play favorites. That being said, we have to try to teat everyone as equally as possible and sometimes that means setting a hard line.

3. We wish we could let everyone in the production. This year I had over 150 elementary students audition for the play. If I could, I would have had everyone in the show. But for the quality of the shows we have to put a cap on our numbers. Our stage just can't handle that many kids dancing at once, and my patience can't handle that many kids in the gym for rehearsal. Most teachers try to offer many different opportunities to perform, there will always another way for your child to be involved.

4. Tech is very important. Tech is a wonderful way for children's to develop leadership skills and independence, It is also a great place for students to contribute who aren't quiet ready to be onstage. I love tech crew. It was where I found my "Place" in the theatre world.  It always breaks my heart when parents down tech theatre because their kids won't be the "star". Without tech, the actors would be standing silent in the dark. 

5. We spend more time with your child then we do with our own. If you break down the amount of time I am at school (roughly 8 hours) and then add that to the amount of time we have rehearsal (usually about 2 hours) that is almost 10 hours when I'm away from home. Given that my child goes to sleep at 8PM. That really only leaves me 2 hours if I am lucky. I spend so much more time with your child on any given week. I do it because I love and care about your child. But please be respectful of my time, nothing hurts worse then when you are 2 hours late picking up your child from a rehearsal and I miss my 2 hour window to see my child.  

6. We have a family and sometimes emergencies happen. I know that it is a huge inconvenience when a rehearsal gets canceled. No director cancels rehearsals "just because" but sometimes emergencies come up. My husband and I both work, sometimes when my child gets sick I have to stay home from work to take care of him. Most of my students' parents understand this, but occasionally I will have a parent who goes and complains to the principal when an emergency happens. I know that if the situation was reversed they would want understanding. That is all we want as well.

7. We love pushing your child artistically. Directors love to see what their students can do. Often these kids amaze even us with their talents and abilities. All we ask is that parents trust the process. Just because a kid comes home and says their part is too hard, don't automatically go to the director and try to get them to make it easier.  We know what our students can do.  No director will put an unprepared child onstage, we will get your child ready. They might just have to work harder than usual to achieve this goal.

8. We try our best not to play favorites. I do my very best not to put the same students in lead roles every show. I know students think that directors always choose the same kids but that is rarely the case. For example, I have a student who played a very minor role in the musical last year. It was a very very small role but she did a wonderful job with it. She did so well that she was one of the main characters everyone remembered.  So when she was cast as a main character in the next play everyone complained that we were playing favorites.  It wasn't the case, but that is how people viewed our casting because they all remembered her from the last play. 

9. Your child feeds off your reactions. It happens every year. We announce the cast of every child is thrilled with their parts. Even if they have a small role in the chorus they are so excited to be a part of the production. Then they go home and their parent makes a comment about how that role is not that great. The student starts to question their part and aren't as excited when they arrive to the first rehearsal. Please remember if you are excited about a small part, they will be too. The kids just want to make you proud, show them that you are proud of their accomplishments (even if you do think they should have been the star). 

10. We love what we do. Must fine arts teachers become directors because we grew up in school fine arts programs. As students, this is where we found our place and our extended family. We do our best to provide this same experience to your child. All Fine Arts students form a bond that you don't usually find in the regular classrooms (very few people talk about how their math class is their home away from home). We want to provide a place for your child where they feel safe, loved, and accepted. We want your child to feel like they are needed at school. That is why you child loves their fine arts classes so much, we help create a home away from home while your child is at school. 

Bonus: We need parents' help! Being a parent of a fine arts child is rough. We know that we demand a ton from the student and family. Rehearsals after school require extra transportation requests and time away from family. Depending on the school, sometimes you need you even have to pay to rent the instrument or be in the play. We recognize your sacrifices you are making for you child and we really really appreciate it. We also really appreciate all the times parents volunteer. I cannot tell you how amazing my parents are. So many of them have come in on Saturdays to help me build sets or stayed late after plays to help load up cars and take down back drops. They have helped sell tickets and concessions, and even applied makeup and costumes. Our parents are amazing and we could not do what we do with out them. 

So what did I miss? What do you wish you could tell your parents as a Fine Arts teacher?

Fine Arts Teachers and Finding the Balance

How to find the balance between friend and teacher.  Fine Arts teachers have the difficult task of creating a class where students feel free to express their creativity while still maintaining order. How do teachers create that balance? theworldisurstage.blogspot.com

One of the most common pieces of advice that veteran teachers give newbies is "don't smile until Christmas" I can't tell you how many people told me this when I first began teaching High School English. The Theory behind the no smiling rule is that you want to students know that you mean business.

A friend of mine from college recently began her own blog. In the blog she talks about how she has become ok with being "the mean teacher". She talks about how she demands respect from her students and she doesn't mind calling students out for the way they are behaving. She doesn't let anything fly in her class. She is a firm believer that students don't need to like you, they just need to respect you. You can check out her post here.

Her post got me thinking about my own teaching style when it comes to how I relate to students. In some ways I completely agree. I hold my students accountable for their behavior and I try very hard to improve student behavior throughout the building. And yes that sometimes means calling them out in the hallway or sending them out of class. I have a reputation for kicking students out of plays if they get written up for serious misbehavior in any class. My students think that I am "hard teacher" but my students don't typically think I am mean. So this got me thinking. How is my approach different from the typical "mean teacher".

Fair and Firm

One thing that I pride myself on is that I am both fair but firm. When we create the classrules. We hold everyone to the same standards. Students know that I do not tolerate rudeness or disrespect in class. Any student caught doing so will recieve a consequence. Student know that I do not play favorites. It doesn't matter if a student is the lead in the play or "tree number 2" they are all held to the same rules and standards. I think that students appreciate this approach and it helps them understand the rules to a better degree.

Demand Excellence but Earn Respect

This is a huge teaching point for me. I make sure that the students know that I believe in them. I want them to know that no matter how difficult of an assignment I give the kids, I do not give them any assignment that they cannot accomplish. Students are used to being challenged in my class. The most exciting part of this is that students begin demanding more and more challenging assignments. For example, my 4th grade students are very very talented. I have been assigning them plays several grades above them for a few years now. At the beginning of this year, they asked me if they could start doing 8th-9th grade assignments. We had a to have a discussion about how they were talented enough to handle the material, a lot of the material was not appropriate for an elementary student :)

Demanding excellence helps students reach their full potential.  How do teachers find the balance? theworldisurstage.blogspot.com

Be Silly

Students must be able to relate to you. I firmly believe that it is ok to smile once in awhile. Let them get to know your personality.  Students are actually people (I know shocking) and they want to be able to relate to the people that they spend 8 hours a day with. Sometimes you are the only adult that pays any attention to them throughout the day.  Don't make it so the only attention they get is you yelling at them. I love being silly.  Especially when we are rehearsing. Laugh, make jokes, put on a silly costume. Do what you can to make learning fun... Just don't use sarcasm. They don't understand it and you can end up hurting someone's feelings. 

Learn Together

One of the most effective strategies I have found for relating to students is learning together. Students need to know that we are not perfect. That we are constantly striving to do better as well. This can be small things, like Googling an answer to a question you don't know. It can be helping them do research for the play you are working on together. it can also be working together to help complete a task. My kids know that I cannot sing roar dance. When we put on musicals they know that I rely heavily on my music and dance teacher to get the job done. They also will see me sitting in on these rehearsals learning from the teachers. They see me working alongside them to learn new techniques. Sometimes they even become my teacher experts when they conquer a skill before I do. I think that letting students see you as not perfect helps them to relate to you.

Get to know the kids
Make sure you know your students. Not just their name. Now I have over 500 students. Do I know every single students name? absolutely NOT! I have found several ways of politely asking for names again and again.  My kids probably think I am a memory spaz. My most common phrase is "oh no your name just ran out of my brain help me out!" I know that it is hard enough to learn everyone's name let alone any facts about them. I will tell though, if you can get to know your students. What they like, what is going on in their life, what they are good at. It goes a long way towards classroom management and how you can relate to students. If kids think that you are interested in them... not just how well they do on a performance or test... they will do better overall. Kids spend so much time with their teachers. They want their teachers to be proud of them. I will never forget one of my top students (he is a great actor) running into the room one morning because his baseball team had won the world series for his division! He was so proud! It was great to be able to share some excitement for something not related to school! And because he knows that I care about how he does overall, he definitely tries even harder parts in my class now! 

As a Fine Arts teacher we have the distinct challenge of finding the balance between friend and teacher. Students have to be able to relate to us and trust us or they will not be willing to try different, challenging, or unusually plays. They won't be able to give us their best artistically if they don't trust us. But we are also their teacher not their friend. We cannot simply laugh with them and have a good time. It is our job to teach them. It is our job to enforce the rules and keep the peace.  How do we find that balance? How to you create an environment where students feel free enough to be themselves and try new things, while still understanding that you are their teacher not their friend? What balance do you find as a Fine Arts teacher? Are you more of a "mean teacher" "cool teacher" or somewhere in between?

Tips and Tricks for a Great Kindergarten Showcase

Well the year is very quickly winding down. Last week we were very busy preparing for our first ever Kindergarten only showcase. We combined all 7 (yes we have seven K classes) to create this wonderful performance. Each class learned two songs and either a short dance or play performance. It turned out so well. In addition to the kindergarten show, we also hosted a school-wide art show. All 1,000+ students had an art piece displayed. We used a wonderful company called Artome that shipped us custom paper, students create their art then we ship the paper back. The night of the show, they show up with all the artwork framed, they set up the show, run the show then take it down. It is such an easy /awesome show.

Well after the kindergarten show/art show here are a few things I learned.

1. Practice the little things.

Kindergarteners know very little about performance routines. They need to practice walking on and off stage, sitting, standing, transitions to their speaking places and such. I know as directors we sometimes try to skip these simple things to focus on the bigger picture. Don't do it. Kindergarteners need this practice.

2. Use older siblings as ringers

As mentioned before, Kindergartners do not adapt well to change. When someone doesn't show up it, really makes it hard for them to perform. I enlisted a couple of my older theatre students to help fill in for kids who were no show. They followed the script and when someone wasn't there they said the line. This totally lead to the show's success! 

3. Your homeroom teachers are your biggest helpers

We only had a half an hour each day to rehearse the show. We had to rely on our homeroom teachers to help out. My teachers were awesome! They rehearsed in the classroom, helped during our rehearsal and communicated with parents about the show. We could not have done it without them!

4. Help teach the parents.

 Part of your job is to help teach the parents about your job and arts integration. Parents often don't realize the work and effort that goes into seemingly simple shows. I like to talk about how students work on memorization, blocking, and body control. I also like to point out any core integration that might be occurring. For example one of the plays focused on types of clouds and what they meant. This was a great integration piece to point out.

5. Sit back and enjoy.

The best part of a Kindergarten play is that they are Kindergarteners. No one expects the kids to be perfect. If they mess up crazy bad, it doesn't matter because they are so cute!  Simply enjoy the show, this is the one show with no pressure! Parents are always happy when they see their babies perform in their first school play. Enjoy it. They are soooo cute!

What successes have you had in getting Kindergartners to perform? What other tips would you add?

A funny Thing Happened on the Way to Rehearsal

As a director you need to be able to have a sense of humor. Today is not a day to give advice or great insights today is a day to celebrate the silly. Last week we wrapped our final performances of the year. It was a whirlwind week of rehearsals and performances for everyone. (this is also why there was no blog post last week.) Performing every night in a week is just too hard. As my final show of the year wrapped I looked back and remembered all of the fun my students and I had. Some of the things were crazy, some were huge mistakes, but all were well worth the effort. I love the rehearsal process and I am always amazed at what my students come up with.

Jasmine and the microphone

For our major musical we produced Aladdin Jr. My students did an amazing job, but it was a huge adjustment learning how to be on a big stage. One of the funniest things that happened was watching the kids learn how to use la-viler mics. My kids love to help, and often if someone didn't know a line they would try to whisper the lines to each other. This does not work with a microphone on. We always heard. Jasmine was great, she knew all of her lines and everyone else's. I was always "reminding" her not to whisper lines with a mic on. Well one night she was trying to whisper lines to Aladdin so she proceeded to try and be slick and cover up her microphone. I then told her that i could hear her through Aladdin's mic. So the smart girl she was grabbed the mics and took them both off and then whispered the line. I couldn't hear her whisper then! Success! except for the fact that we then had to break and spend five minutes repositioning the microphones and explaining why that might not be the best solution for not knowing lines.

Pecos bill and the lion

My fourth graders recently finished producing a show on Tall Tales. In the play about Pecos Bill, Bill is attacked by a lion and decides to try and ride him like a horse. Now I often let students help me block their shows. They are allowed to try what they like and then we modify as needed. As we were working on this show Pecos Bill and the Lion were working through the scene. At the end Bill jumped on the Lion's back and rode him off stage. It was the most random yet perfect blocking to end the scene. We ended up keeping it in the show and the audience loved it. This definitely reconfirmed my desire to let students help block. I would never have thought of it any other way. 

5th graders meet Shakespeare 

My 5th grade students performed Macbeth for their showcase. We had a wonderful adaptation that kept a lot of Shakespeare's traditional language in the play. The first day I had students try and guess what different words meant. They had such fun with the thees and thou's. Their favorite part though was reenacting the witches scenes. They loved to "double double boil and trouble" It was great watching them learn how to speak the language. But We did have several mispronounced words and misunderstandings, "What Ho" means something very different today then it did back then!

How old is 60 year old

So I made the "mistake" of allowing my third grade students complete character analysis on their characters. They learned a ton about their character and their play through this experience. The problem, i learned a lot about how they view "old" people. One of the characters in the play was 60 years old. As soon as the little girl found this out she immediately started playing her like she was a 90 year old women. The girl developed a limp and hunchback over night. When I asked her why she was so old the girl responded Well my character is 60 so I have to make her seem really old... Gee thanks kid

I love the rehearsal process. I love the chaos and experimentation that comes with working with young students and trying to create theatre. Directors of adults would not believe the number of times I simply practice lining up on stage and walking to microphones. Rehearsing for live theatre is always a fun creative event that keeps me loving my job. I hope that a few of these stories put a smile on your face. What crazy events have you ever had rehearsing? Do you think mistakes add to the process or hinder it?

How to Gain Administrative Supprt for your Fine Arts Program

Fine Arts Teachers are in a precarious position.  Every year as contracts come out, FA teachers worry about if their contract will be renewed. It is a sad state of affairs when budget cuts at the school often mean cutting the Fine Arts Department. Sometimes these cuts come in form of a non-renewal but more often these cuts come from the FA budget being decimated. As a Fine Arts teacher, you must advocate for your program and ensure that your students have the program and supplies they need to succeed. This is often a difficult task. To help make this task easier you must gain the support of your administration. A supportive administration will do wonders to help your children succeed. I have a wonderful working relationship with my administrators that I have worked very hard to create. Now this doesn't mean that we always agree or that I get an unlimited budget (oh man do I not get an unlimited budget) but it does mean that I have a working dialog with my administrators that helps make my job easier. Read on to see what I did to gain support.

Fundraising

It is the sad truth that money makes the world go round. Schools that are strapped for cash will often cut the fine arts programs first. This is especially true if your program is constantly needing money and never contributing to the general fund. Your department needs to become financially independent. If you are constantly going to your administration for money they are going to start thinking that you aren't adding value to the school. Your first goal is to simply raise enough money to run your own program. You should be able to cover your supplies, travel expenses and rights to performances. Check out my five creative fundraiser ideas if you need ideas on raising money. After you are able to raise enough money to maintain your own expenses you then need to start making a. "Profit" for the school. We contribute to our school through out major musical. This year we produced Aladdin jr. We made several thousand dollars for the school! If you are making money for the school, the principal will not want to cut your program!

Community performance

With the new leadership evaluation system that most principals are on, community outreach plays a large in the principals overall score. Going and doing community outreach is great for you and your principals' evaluation scores but it is also great for the students. Kids learn so much when they go and perform in their community. They learn how to adjust to different performance venues. They learn the importance of preparation and also being able to adjust on the fly. Most importantly, student learn about giving back to the community. I will never forget when out students went and sang for a nursing home. They came back talking about how happy the people were that we came and visited. They wanted to go back and see them again!

Be flexible but firm

As we all know in schools, things happen. You can't always avoid the last minute things that pop up throughout the school year. Being flexible with your administration can come in very handy. Principal asks you to put together a performance for a principals meeting "sure I would love to" is a great response. I once knew a theatre teacher who refused to be flexible ever. Her administration had accidentally scheduled the Winter Showcase over one of her early blocking rehearsals (meaning she had several months to make this rehearsal up). She refused to cancel/reschedule her rehearsal and threatened to not excuse students who wanted to perform in the showcase. This caused a lot of animosity between her and administration. Administration still made her cancel her rehearsal and both her and the principal were upset over the exchange. All of this could have been avoided with a little flexibility. If it all possible be flexible when your principal asks for something. If it is reasonable and you can reasonably accommodate them, always say yes.

Not only will flexibility help you create good will with your administration, it will also help you have good standing with your Principal when you need to say NO. My principal and I have a very good working relationship and she trusts me. She knows I will not say No to her unless I have a very good reason. Once we had a disagreement about how many students to put in a dance class. She wanted to let every student who had a desire to take dance on a grade level, take dance. I disagreed. I wanted to cap the class so that the teacher would not be overwhelmed (45 first graders in one classroom is just too many). She and I had a discussion, but I was firm. She could not put that many students in the class. It would hurt the program and that teacher's performances. She finally agreed and we were able to move on. I firmly believe that you need to be firm in your beliefs on what is best for the children. Say yes when you can, but when you feel like you must say no, do so firmly and have very good reasons ("I don't want to" is often not a great reason).

Get parent support

Parents can be your most valuable asset when it comes to gaining support from your administration. Keep your parents happy, and you will keep your administration happy.  Parents love to see their students perform and succeed. They love the opportunities you provide their child. Lets be honest, very core teachers have students performing and competing as much as Fine Arts Teachers do. Use this to your advantage. Give students the opportunity to perform. It always amazes me that no matter how many performance opportunities we give our students to perform (4+ a year), parents still want more. Parents will love you and it will create good good will with your administration.

Parents can also be your biggest support if your position is ever cut. I know of so many stories of Fine Arts teachers being re-instated at schools because parents went to the school board and complained. Parents hate it when the Arts get cut from a school. They really hate it when a fabulous arts teacher gets cut from a school. Sometimes going to the school board often enough will actually help save your job. Keeping parents happy is well worth the effort.

Put on awesome performances

The most important way to gain support is to put on quality performances. Do not throw a performance together at the last minute. Do not put on a performance that you are not proud of. Yes there is always more you can do to  improve your shows, but you need to first put in the effort. Choose quality material that is appropriately challenging. Encourage the students to go beyond their limits and then throw in a small amount of flash. Students love to perform. This is why you became a Fine Arts teacher in the first place. To teach students to love the arts and performance. Enjoy the process and do what you do best. For more tips on how to direct an awesome performance visit my Director's Corner. 

How do you gain support for your administration? Did I leave off any ideas? Do you think it is important to have support of your administration? What do you do if you don't have the support you need? 

Five Ways to Recover from a Bad Rehearsal

Well it is the month of the Middle School Production. I have discovered that blogging and tech week don't mix. I think for the month of the show I am only going to be able to write one post a week, so I will try to make it a good one.

We all have had it happen. You go to in to rehearse and everything goes wrong. The kids haven't memorized their lines, half the group has forgotten their choreography, the prop crew forgets a scene change, and the lights crew misses several cues. Everything seems to go wrong. How do you recover and refocus your cast? How do you ensure that this rehearsal doesn't affect your final performance?

1. Have a "Come to Theatre" meeting

I am from the South. In the South the little old church ladies will often have a "Come to Jesus" meeting. At this meeting, the ladies find a group and tell them all the things they are doing wrong and how they can solve all their problems by coming to Jesus. 

The come to theatre meeting is very similar. Call your cast together and talk about your goals for the show. This is not a time to yell cry or make a scene, but this is a time to be brutally honest. Let the students know exactly what they are doing wrong and what they can do to fix it. I would be careful about who you call out by name but if you think it would be effective you can. Make sure you talk about how you all want the show to be successful and how they should take pride in their performance. I also like to throw in a bit about ensemble and how we are only as good as our weakest player. I once had a director tell us to go home and think about their performance and if they would have a job if this was a professional theatre. I also like to give the students concrete things to work on. Go memorize lines with a friend, sing to the cd three times. Etc.

2. Team Huddle

After you are done with your meeting, it is often a good idea to huddle the team. The kids are going to feel a little downtrodden and unsure about their upcoming show. You want to leave on a positive note. You want them to know that you believe in them and know they can succeed. If you have a group or class cheer you might want to do that. Team huddle is all about being positive and re-energizing the cast.

3. Student Leaders

On every cast there are a few students who are your leaders. Hopefully you have a good relationship with a few of these leaders. Pull these leaders aside individually and talk to them about they can help the success of the show. Maybe they can mentor some of then lead roles to help prepare. Maybe they can help the students focus backstage. Maybe they can reteach some choreography or songs. Use your student leaders to your advantage. If you can get them refocused and re-enrgized the battle will be so much easier.

4. Set the Kids up for Success.

At the start of the next rehearsal you want to start off on a really good note. You want the kids to get their confidence back. Pick a scene song or dance that you know your kids can nail and have them start off with that. You want to up the students' confidence level before you start working on the hard stuff. When you are done with the scene. Praise the kids, let them know how great they did. You want their confidence up for the start of the rehearsal. 

5. Trust the Process

Bad rehearsals happen. Our school has a superstition that if you don't have a bad rehearsal at least once the week before the show, the show will fail. You and your students have worked so hard for the production. You all have done everything you can to prepare for the show. The kids want to do well. The audience wants to see the kids succeed. The show will be great. No one will know if students miss a few lines or misstep on a dance. Most kids are "show kids" they drive us crazy in the rehearsal process but pull it out for the show. If you have all done the work the show will be great. Be positive and try not to worry.

I hope these tips help you when you are faced with a bad rehearsal right before a show. What else have you done to recover from a bad rehearsal? How to do you refocus your kids? Do bad rehearsals happen to anyone else or is it just me :)

Director's Corner: Top Ten Tips for a Great Musical Theatre Rehearsal

Every director wants their rehearsals to run as smoothly as possible. However whenever you bring 50+ students together after school, with one tired teacher and try to get them all to focus on creating a production chaos ensues. Trust me I have been there. I can still remember about half way through my first major production, just sitting  in a rehearsal and thinking "this will never work" kids were running everywhere, no one was focused and we were not accomplishing anything. Something had to change. Luckily I have learned a lot since those first disastrous rehearsals. Read on to see my ten tips for a great rehearsal.

Have a plan- then over plan

If you missed last weeks post on creating a rehearsal schedule, go back and read it. Having a completed rehearsal schedule will definitely help your rehearsals. Not only does it help you plan your daily rehearsal, it also lets the kids know what to expect. There is nothing worse than kids showing up without a script to a read through or worse kids showing up in binding clothes for a dance rehearsal. Having a plan already sets you up for success (I could quote the ever popular saying "if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail" but who needs that in their life). Once you have a plan, you can also know what needs to be done. For example if you learn one dance you will know exactly which dance you need to teach next without searching through the script. This is even more valuable with blocking and singing rehearsals. Having a plan and letting everyone know the plan will definitely set you up for success.

Create a sign-in procedure

This is a simple tip but has saved me so many headaches. From the first rehearsal on have a sign-in procedure for all actors and tech. There are two reasons for this. One, it allows you to very quickly see who is here and who isn't (especially great for runthroughs and performances). Two it keeps the kids accountable. All of my students must sign a rehearsal contract. (More on that next). Part of the rehearsal contract is that if you miss too many rehearsals you can't be in the play. Students are responsible for signing into rehearsal, if they forget it could count as a strike against them. This helps teach responsibility. 

Have all student actors and tech sign rehearsal contracts

As I mentioned above a rehearsal contract is a must. This contract outlines exactly what is expected for the students in the rehearsal. I include parts about attendance, tardiness, late pick ups, grades, backstage behavior, and costume requirements. This contract has saved me many times. It gave me a way to address parents who were picking their children up two hours late. It gave me a way to talk to students who would constantly talk backstage. It also gave me easy answers when students ask if they can skip rehearsal. If you want an easy contract download from my teacherspayteachers store.

Allow the group to self manage

It is very rare that I have to raise my voice in rehearsal (at least because of discipline). My students know that I will not continue rehearsal until they focus. This can be a huge problem for them. We typically have over 1,000 audience members every night of a show. That is a lot of pressure. My students know what they risk of they don't focus. They know that I am doing all in my power to to make them look good. If they are talking, I can't make them look good. That is a huge issue for them, when things start getting out of hand all I have to do is stop talking and look at my watch. This lets them know that they are wasting time. Usually after a minute of this kids start whispering shhhh and such and they refocus themselves. While this approach takes a little more time, I like it because it keeps me from yelling, and it helps create a since of ensemble. We are all working together to succeed.

Train you tech separately

I am a huge advocate for having a student tech crew. I think that tech is one area of theatre that is hugely underrepresented as a whole. Tech is fun and gives students who aren't "stars" a chance to shine and participate. This is also where you are going to build your leadership skills. Let students take control of their area, let them have some hand in the creation of props, costumes, lights, and sound. Give the some responsibility. That being said, you need to teach them what needs to be done on each tech job. The time to teach this is not when you have 60 actors who are also demanding your attention. Your first meeting with tech should be without the actors, and if possible your first tech through should be with only tech. You can also work with them on days when your music director or choreographer is working with the actors. You want your tech to know what to do enough so that once you start runthroughs they know what to do and you don't have to worry about them. A good tech crew will make or break your show, train them well! If you need some help, my rehearsal packet also includes a tech packet to help prepare them.

Allow collaboration

Theatre is a collaborative art form. You cannot create theatre without collaboration. This collaboration comes in many forms. First trust your other teachers. I can't dance. No one wants to see me dance. Really I am that bad. My choreographer for the show is an amazing dancer, and she is even better at choreography. She creates so many things that I could never think of. I just have to give her my very general idea and she makes magic. (I can tell her I want something's flow-y and cloud like and she creates beautiful ballets). If I didn't collaborate with her, my play would not be nearly as awesome as it was. I have to trust the other adults to do what they do. I could give you so many examples of this. If there is someone on your team who has a talent, let them be responsible for that part. It allows for magic to happen and you don't have to worry as much about it getting done. Teachers can also collaborate with students. I know this sounds crazy but our students are so creative and have so many great ideas. I was once blocking a scene where Pecos Bill tamed a mountain lion and made him into a horse. When the two students exited, bill jumped piggy-back on the lion's back. It was unscripted but wonderful. We ended up keeping it in the play and the audience loved it. Allow the kids to try some of their ideas. You can always adapt or say no to them if they don't work. Students have a great ability to think outside the box. Use their creativity to your advantage and collaborate with them.

Celebrate small wins

A big production can seem overwhelming. Break the play down and celebrate the small successes. The first time students learn a dance: celebrate. The first time students go off book:  celebrate. The first  time you make it all the way through the play: celebrate a lot! These celebrations don't have to be big. Sometimes just a big cheer or a mini dance break is all you need. Just something fun to let them know you are proud of them and they are doing a great job!

Use remind.com

I mentioned this service the other day. This is a FREE text service that allows you to text your parents while still keeping your phone number private. It is a great service for drama. You can text rehearsal changes, costume reminders, time of performances etc. Really I cannot recommend this service enough, you need to go and sign up. It really will change your life.

Create a safe space

This is very very important in any class but especially in a rehearsal setting. You are asking students to show raw emotion on stage. They will only give you their best performance, if they feel safe. Do not let kids mock each other. Nip any of that silliness in the bud. I realize that a lot of this happens behind your back where it is hard to hear, let the kids know that if they are caught being mean to one another, they will be kicked out of the show. Typically if you can catch a couple of main offenders and talk to their parents, this will usually nip it in the bud. You might also want to consider blocking sensitive scenes with as few students as possible. This is very very true for any love scenes or kissing scenes. You do not want kids trying to figure out how to kiss in front of the whole company. Make sure students feel safe and do whatever you can to encourage them to show those true emotions,

Have fun!

This is an after school production. Students are here because they want to be. They love being in shows and they like learning about theater and the love performing. Have fun, try not to stress so much about the final product that you forget how much fun the process is, enjoy the experience. You and the students will miss it when the final curtain falls. Enjoy this production and have fun with your students as you create!

Purchase my Rehearsal Packet at my TPT store

These are some of my best tips for having a rehearsal. What tips did I leave off? What would you suggest directors do to have a successful rehearsal?

Director's Corner: Rehearsal Scheduling aka How to Create an Awesome Rehearsal Schedule for your Students!

Planning out a rehearsal schedule is perhaps one of the hardest parts of preparing a play. There is no one size fits all for  planning a rehearsal schedule. A simple but detailed plan is vital to the success of the play. You want to make sure you plan on when you will rehearse every part of the play. You also want to make sure that your schedule is flexible enough to handle any craziness that might come up (we had a freak snow storm the week before our show a few years ago, we had to condense tech week into two days.) you never know what can happen with schools and after school rehearsals, you want enough flexibility to be able to handle any surprises.

There are several things to take into consideration when planning your schedule. First you want to block off any dates that are already booked for your school or any school holidays that you are unable to get into the school for. You also want to talk to your musical director and choreographer to see of they have any conflicts you need to take into consideration. Once you know the dates you can't rehearse, it is now time to figure out what days you can rehearse and what you are doing on those days.

Start with the end in mind.

Ideally I like to have two and a half weeks at minimum to run through the play from start to finish before tech week. This sometimes doesn't happen but if I have this as a goal in mind it helps set me up for the weeks before. Let's say that you have three months from the time you post the cast list to the time the curtain rises that means you have approximately 12 weeks to get your kids ready. You want to have taught the kids everything they need to know in 9 weeks so that they can review and add technical elements in the last 3 weeks.

For each of those 9 weeks I try to keep the weekly schedule about the same. Depending on your and your teams personal schedules the day of the week you choose for each section doesn't really matter. My team set up our weeks like this: 

Monday: choral rehearsals- this is for company numbers to learn the words to the song. You can typically get through 1 full song or 2-3 reprises.

Tuesday: solo/duet rehearsal- this is where you can focus on helping your soloist shine. These should be small rehearsals where you can focus on just a few students really learning the words and songs. You can typically get through 2 full songs or all reprises. 

Wednesday: blocking rehearsals- this is where you help students go over lines. You help students figure out where they will stand and how they should enter and exit the stage. This is the hardest to schedule. You could go quickly or slowly depending on your kids. I start off by dividing the scripts lines into 8 parts and saying that's what's we are going to try to get through that day. It gives us a good goal. Some days we get through that and more some days we don't get all the way through, it all evens out that way though.

Thursday: choreography. Teach the kids to dance. Most of your students will not be dancers so this will be the hardest part for many kids. Plan on learning only 1/2 to 1 song a rehearsal. Once they learn the dances, use this day to rehearse and prefect all the pieces.

Friday: DO NOT REHEARSE ON FRIDAY! It sucks to do, the kids don't want to be there, you don't want to be there. Seriously unless it is a true rehearsal emergency (freak snow storm stopped all the rehearsals) do not rehearse on this day. Your kids need a break and you do too!

Saturday: at most only rehearse one to two Saturdays a month. I like to do a four hour rehearsal  in the performance space if possible. I work mainly on choreography and blocking on these days. You do not have to do these but they are really very nice. 

Sunday: Do not rehearse on Sundays. I have found there are two many family and religous conflicts to make these rehearsals worth while. 

Once you have a basic plan, simply plug in the songs and pages for your rehearsals each week. If you have done it correctly you should have taught your material in 9 weeks. This will give you two weeks to do runthroughs and one week to add in your technical elements. 

Tips and tricks

- try to teach the lyrics of the song before you teach the choreography. Most kids don't count their music they move based on the words.

-only give out one month rehearsal schedule at a time. Also make sure parents know that the schedule is flexible and can change at any point.

-keep rehearsals as short as possible, 2 hours max after school. Kids still have homework and jobs they have to do as well.

-if possible give kids fewer rehearsals or cancel rehearsals on really tough school weeks. Kids can get burned out if you rehearse too much. You want to keep the show fresh.

- feel free to look at my rehearsal schedule for Aladdin as an example . If you would like me to create a custom schedule visit my teacherspayteachers store.

Good luck if you have any questions or need any advice leave me a comment! I am more than happy to help!

Students as Directors: Parts of the Stage

"Sweetie can you move downstage some.... No move downstage..... No move downstage ... No move towards the audience." Most school directors have had a conversation similar to this several times in the course of a rehearsal. Teaching our students common theatre lingo, especially stage directions can be a huge lifesaver in making your rehearsals run smoothly. Teaching parts of the stage is a lesson that must be taught, it becomes very frustrating to assume that students will just "pick it up." If you consciously teach this skill students will take learning this skill much more seriously. It will also help students transfer to different directors much easier.

I like to teach the parts of the stage in several different ways but first a word on consistency. When working in class, after school, or in rehearsal always use the correct stage directions. It can be very easy to get lazy about this. I know I am very guilty of this. When you are trying to hurry and a kid doesn't remember which way stage right it, you really just want to tell them which way to move. But I have seen a great improvement in my students vocabulary and stage use since I have made a very conscious effort to only use stage directions.

Different ways to teach stage directions. 

Start off by using masking or spike tape to mark off a stage. If you are lucky enough to have access to a stage mark off that, if not simply tape down a big rectangle on the floor. Divide the stage into your 9 sections. Start off by simply standing in each box, naming it and having the students do basic call outs. Once they seem to have a basic understanding of the parts of the stage you can start to have some fun.

Simon Says

Put some kids on stage. Depending on your area you can either put the whole class, a 1/2 class or small group. Have everyone choose their own starting place. Start off easy. "Simon says move up stage" "Simon says move stage right" Any student who does not move to the correct place in the correct time frame is out. I like to give the kids 5 seconds to get to the correct side of the stage. Counting down on your fingers works really well as a management technique. After you have done a few easy directions to get the kids use to the stage get slightly more difficult. "Simon says boys move stage right, girls move stage left" "Simon says if you are wearing pants move downstage if you are not wearing pants move upstage" however you can easily divide up the kids so they have to work harder on remembering the parts of the stage. After you have eliminated more of the kids get even more specific. "Simon says if you are wearing red move down stage left" "if you are wearing blue move upstage center." This game is a great introduction and works well with your kinesthetic learners.

Army Men (or any other small toy/figurine)

This is a great lesson for teachers that don't have the space to move around. This is also great if you like a little more control and less chaos in your class. Give each student a piece of paper and a few of the old school green army men. Have the students draw out a basic rectangle and draw stick people on one side. Then have the students label the stage according to wear the audience is. After each stage is drawn call out different stage positions and have the students place army men at the correct spot. You can even have the students practice creating stage pictures by allowing them to place several army men at once. Or you can give groups of students a large sheet of paper and have them practice placing an entire company onstage for a major musical. This game is great for your visual learners.

Stage Pictures

This is a good game for students who need some differentiation. Allow your more advanced students to be the directors to this game. Have your directors create stage pictures with different groups of students. The directors can only use stage directions to move the groups around stage. For added interest, you can add a mini lesson on levels to this game and your directors can practice using stage directions and levels to create their pictures.

Pick a direction

Give each student an index card and have students write a series of stage directions in short hand on the paper. Enter USR X DSR, Exit DSL. (enter upstage right, cross downstage right, exit downstage left). Gather all the index cards together and spot check for correctness. Then have students pick a stage direction card and act out those directions on stage. This activity is a great assessment because each card will be slightly different. Students won't be able to simply copy what someone else has done.

However you choose to teach stage directions, make sure you are consistent in using stage directions when you direct students in class and rehearsals. You should also talk to any other Fine Arts teachers at your school (especially dance and chorus teachers) and make sure that they are using stage directions in their classes as well. If everyone comes together and learns the correct theatre lingo, all of the students will benefit.

These are just a couple of ways that I have taught stage directions. What are some ideas you have for teaching stage directions in class?

Director's Corner: Auditions

You have chosen your play. You are now ready to hold auditions! This is one of the most exciting, scary parts of the audition process. You want to make sure you are very clear on your expectations and requirements before you announce the audition dates. There are three major types of audition: cold read, improvisation, and monologue based. My recommendation is that you stay far away from from improvisation auditions for a school show. Parents like to feel in control and it is very hard to prepare kids for an improvisation auditions. They won't like that and will question your judgment the entire time.

I would recommend having the first round of auditions be a monologue based. This way kids can prepare for the piece at home and you can see which kids are good at memorizing lines. If you are holding an audition for a musical I would recommend having the students sing and possibly dance in their audition as well. Once you decide the on the type of auditions and your date you need to contact parents. This is where I made my first mistake in my first play. You need to remember that what you know about the audition process is very different from what your student's parents know. You need to send some sort of corespondence home letting parents and kids know what is expected. How long should their monologue be? Can they use any monologue they find or does it have to be from a play? Is it acceptable to memorize a poem instead of a monologue? These are items you will need to cover in your letter home. I like to keep a pile of monologues by my door, that way when students need a monologue for my play or any other play, they have access to acceptable monologues at all times.

If you are producing a musical I would highly recommend that you require students to prepare a song as well. This is another area where you want to be as specific as possible. This is the time to explain that pop songs are not appropriate for a musical. I would recommend that students learn either a musical song or a Disney song. (Be prepared to hear Let It Go until you are about to "let it go insane") Depending on the age of your students you might want to consider holding a dance audition too. Tell students that they will learn a short routine at the audition and then be scored on how well they perform it. This will also give you a chance to see how students function in a rehearsal setting.

On the day of auditions you want to make sure that everything is as organized as possible. I like to have three rooms: a parent room, a dance room, and a monologue room. The parent room is where students sign into the auditions and fill out their audition sheets. Feel free to use the provided audition sheets for your audition or you can download them for free at my teacherspayteachers store.This is also where parents stay while the audition is taking place. I always close my auditions to the parents. I find that this makes the students much less nervous (if there are 20 adults looking at you while you audition, the scarier the process is).

The dance room just needs to be an empty classroom or gym that has a CD player in it. If you can, get your choreographer to plan on leading this section of the audition. The other rooms needs to be for your song/monologue audition. This can just be a basic classroom with. CD player. You should try to have your musical director in this audition space with you. Depending on how many students you have auditioning (I had 194 this last play) you should plan on splitting the students into two groups one group can go to the dance audition while the other group goes to the monologue/singing audition, then switch half way through. Even if you don't have a choreographer or a musical director, I would recommend pulling in a kind teacher friend or two to help you with the auditions. This way you have someone to bounce ideas off of. You also have another opinion to help you defend your casting choices to parents (it sounds so much better to say the committee decided as opposed to I decided).

Your choreographer should know how to lead the dance audition, if they have a way to lead it let them to it that way. If you have no clue about dance (like I did at the beginning of this) here is a quick run down of how to do a dance audition. Before the day, create an 8-16 count piece based on a song from the play.  If you don't know a count is a count of four beats (1234,2234,3234,4234) as a large group teach the students the predetermined choreographer. Teach first very slowly in counts then add to music. Allow the students a little time to practice the choreography before you score them. I like to give them a few counts after the choreography to show off their own skills. This is great even if your kids don't have many skills, it's great to see what your kids will come up with.

The music and monologue portion of your audition is where the "important" decisions come in. As hard  as it is try not to precast your show before you begin. This is so hard but try to go in with no notion of who should be what person, this will free you up to make some daring choices. While you and the music director are listening to the auditions keep a copy of the character breakdown in front of you. I like to the names of any and all students I would consider for a role beside each character (you can also write a student name beside several characters if you think they would fit into several different roles) I would also recommend writing down in the comments the name of the monologue and song. This will help you remember what a certain student performed when you go back to talk after auditions (after 150 auditions it's hard to keep everyone straight). Make sure you make lots of comments for each student that you are considering so that you can cast them appropriately.

After you have heard all of the auditions it is now time to cast the play. If you are having trouble picking between two students for a role you might want to consider call backs. When I do call backs I only call back those students I'm deciding between. If I already know I'm casting Tommy as the lead I don't need to call him back. For call backs I like to do cold reads. this lets me see how each student sounds in the role I am considering them for. 

Once you are done with call backs it's time to make final casting decisions. I start by casting leads then working down to the company. Don't be scared to take some unique chances on your casting. No one wants to see the expected in every play. For casting the company, pick a cut off number for your company and stick to it. This is where your audition scoring will really come in handy. You can simply start at the highest scores and work your way down until you reach your number. Keep in mind, while casting is always very important, I have never had an experience where a student didn't rise to the occasion. Have fun with casting and try to take a chance on a kid, you never know when that kid is a "diamond in the rough"

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Director's Corner- How to Choose a Play

Every Thursday I am going to give tips and ideas to help teachers produce their school plays. Educational theater has a very special place in the world of community theatre. It is not without its own unique challenges and difficulties that most directors never encounter (very limited/no budget, all young actors, stage parents) When I first began directing plays I wish there had been a place I could go to get advice and tips to help me through the process. Hopefully I can be this place for someone else. If you have any questions about your play process, feel free to email me. I know how important it is to have a sounding board when trying to organize a massive production.

The first (and possibly most important) decision you must make when directing a play is what play are you going to direct. Before you decide on a title you first must consider what type of play you are interested in directing. Determining the type will help narrow your search. You also need to know your budget for the production as well as your ideal cast and audience size. All of this information will help you choose the perfect play.

Types of plays

Showcase- A showcase is a combination of short selections taken from several sources. These are usually produced from a sampling of what is happening in class.

One Act- A one act play only has one act, meaning this is usually shorter than traditional plays. If your group is interested in entering theater competition you typically enter with either a one act play or a full length play that has been condensed to one act. The most well know one act play competitions for education theater are at the Thespian Conferences (check your local/regional chapter for more specifics).

Straight Plays- Full length plays that do not contain music. Shakespeare is the most classic example of a straight play. August Wilson, Thorton Wilder, and Tom Stoppard are also well known for their straight plays. If you have very little music expertise and this is your first play you might want to consider this as a good option.

Elementary Musicals- these are musicals designed to be produced by the whole school. Often the students sing on risers as a whole group. Between each song small select groups of students will come to the microphone and say a few words. Think back to elementary school,you were probably in one of these plays :)

Musicals- My personal favorite type of play. These are the tradition plays that come from Broadway. They have singing, dancing and acting all at the same time. These are typically your largest cast and audiences are usually bigger for these performances. These are also your biggest money makers! Keep in mind these plays are often the most expensive to produce as well.

A word on copyright

When choosing a play, it is very important go keep in mind intellectual copyright. Playwrights work very hard writing these plays. They expect to be paid for their hard work. Just like you wouldn't go into a bookstore and steal a book, you cannot produce a play without paying for the rights. Make sure you read your production rights very carefully before producing the play. There is a difference between purchasing a play to read and purchasing the production rights. Make sure you are purchasing the correct play (buying a script from Barnes and Nobel is not buying the production rights). There are serious consequences for being caught breaking intellectual copyright. Do not do it!

Budget

If you have no budget you probably want to look for either a readers theatre script or a script from the public domain. Keep in mind though that if you price your tickets correctly you can make up the cost of purchasing production rights on the back end. (These prices are estimates and do not reflect any actual titles).

Reader's Theatre typically cost the price of a book at Barnes and Nobel $20.

One Act cost are more varied and can cost anywhere between $50-$300.

Straight plays typically cost between $150-$300.

Elementary Musicals typically cost around $25-$75.

Musicals cost between $550-$2000+.

Cast Size ( the bigger the cast the bigger the audience )

Small- under 20 if you are wanting to produce a play with a very small number of actors look at producing a showcase or one act. These are typically geared for this cast size.

Medium- 20-40 students For a lot of directors this is the ideal cast size. You have the most freedom in choosing a play with this number.

Large- 40+ you probably want to look at producing a musical with this number of students. You will be able to make a large company with this number.

Whole School- if you are producing a production with a whole school you should probably look at an Elementary style musical. There are also a few regular musicals that can be adapted for a whole school. (MTI has some great kids/jr versions that use the whole school).

Questions to ask yourself

Once you have made your decisions regarding cast size, cost and type you are ready to start searching for your play. When analyzing potential plays keep in mind the following questions:

-Is the script well written?

-Does the script have literary merit?

-Does the script contain a lesson that is important or relevant to your students?

-Is the script interesting and relevant to your students?

-Will this script challenge your gifted students?

-Are there parts available for students who struggle in class?

-Is the script age appropriate?

-Do you want to direct this play? Does it excite you?

Where to find plays

Public Domain- There are some plays that are in the public domain and free to produce for public use. Most popular in the public domain is Shakespeare. There are several other playwrights who are also listed in this category but make sure you check with the publisher before producing the play.

Reader's Theater- There are several reader's theater scripts available for use in the classroom. Look for scripts that say available for free for educational use. Most of these scripts grant limited production rights. Most of these script can be used in a production for parents but ONLY if you DO NOT CHARGE for the production. I often use Reader's Theatre scripts for my showcases. This works out well since the scripts are usually only a few pages long and I never charge my parents for showcases. If you are thinking about charging for a showcase you probably cannot use the Reader's Theatre scripts.

Licensing Companies: JW Pepper and MTI are my two favorite places for purchasing musical scripts. If you are looking for a classic elementary style musical (all the kids stand on risers to sing then a few students come down and speak in a microphone) you cannot go wrong with JW Pepper. They have a ton of scripts that are very affordable. Bonus they also offer unlimited production rights- meaning once you purchase the play you can perform it as often as you want without paying more money.

MTI is my favorite place ever to purchase musicals. They are so easy to work with and provide so many supplementary materials that it makes your plays turn out amazing. I also like them because they offer Jr. And kids versions of most of these musicals. These versions come in show kits that you can keep for forever (they offer one year unlimited production rights on their show kits, after one  year you can pay a reduced price to reproduce the show again.) The show kits contain accompaniment CDs, choreography DVDs and a director's packet that will help you though the process. They also offer discounts if you are using only middle/elementary school students in your production. These guys also hold the rights to all the Disney Musicals. These are huge audience draws.  Seriously check these guys out! (I get no money for recommending these guys they are just that good)!

MIT and most other licensing companies offer perusals of their plays. This is a great way to read a play in full to make sure you like it before committing to it. Most perusals cost under $10 and are well worth the investment if you are going to pay hundreds of dollars to produce the play.

Internet - obviously you can find scripts on the internet. Be careful when purchasing/getting scripts from the internet. There is a lot of plagiarism out there. You can still get in trouble even if you "didn't know" you had to pay for the rights.  There are a ton of great scripts out there but you really need to do your research and search out the best one for your class.

Final Step- Do not Skip!

Once you have found the perfect play for you, you must do two things. First get the play approved by your administration. No matter how appropriate you think a play is there is always a chance that a parent will take issue with your play choice. You want your principal to have your back if this happens. Also make sure you have the answers to the questions above. This will help you in defending your choice. After you have approval you are now ready to purchase the rights to the play. Once there rights and materials arrive you are ready to begin the production process!

Students as Playwrights and Directors Part 2 (The Director)

Last post I wrote about how to help students creatively write a story that they can use in this lesson. Part one is a great lesson for any drama/ ELA teacher. You can decided to skip part one or you can use another method for helping students create a story (you can also just pull short scripts if you would rather use something more authentic). Regardless of your method make sure you have a unique story available for every student.

In doing this project I did something I have never done before. I didn't let every play perform. Every group performed at least once, but every play was not performed on stage. Check out below for how I worked this system. As a theatre teacher, the idea that not everyone was going to perform their play killed me but there simply wasn't time. I mean can you imagine getting through 30 plays in 40 minutes, it just doesn't work. Not having every play performed was actually more freeing then I thought it would be. It gave me the freedom to choose which groups were clicking during rehearsal and allowed me to facilitate more class discussion. I will definitely be using this method again. 

Step 1- hand out stories to each student. These can either be the stories they wrote in part one, a creative story they wrote at another time or  a play you found. After every student has a story divide the students into groups. I made groups of four but feel free to adjust as need. I would recommend not having more than 5 in a group for time reasons. Once students are their groups assign a director order.(director 1, director 2, and so on). I did this randomly but you could assign an order as well.

Step 2- review the role of a director and actor. Director is in charge of casting, running rehearsals, and making final decisions. Actors are in charge of creating a character and practicing their parts. This is a great time to talk about how you need to show respect for everyone. I also point out that  the director gets to make the final call about all decisions and I will only step in for emergencies. I also point out that sometimes you don't like the part you are assigned (and sometimes boys play girl parts and girls play boy parts). Everyone had to do what the director said and they couldn't tattle if they didn't like their part. I did encourage the directors to be kind when casting, and if they had to change the gender of a character to make someone happy that was ok. 

Step 3- Model a rehearsal. This is a huge step. Do. Not Skip. Students need to learn how to lead. If possible choose a group with a weird number (there is always one with more than everyone else). Have one of those students be your model for this experience. I recommend giving the directors an exact order for what their rehearsals should look like, this will help you when grading later.

1. Read the story to the group.

2. Cast the play

3. Perform any rewrites or revisions that are needed (should not take very long)

4. Block the play (tell the actors where to stand and move)

5. Rehearse the play until time is called. Make any other revisions/ changes that are needed.

6. Director reads the play while the group performs.

For the modeling section I recommend you talk the students through each step. This way they know what to expect when it's their turn.

Step 4- director 1 rehearsal time. Now it is time to turn your directors loose in each group tell director one to begin reading their play and casting. Walk around and monitor groups but try your hardest to let the directors work their problems out with their team (after all that is what is being a director is all about). After the allotted time (5-10 minutes) have the groups sit back down and choose one or two groups to perform their plays. This is also a great time to have a class discussion about any issues that arose during rehearsal. We had a great talk about how it affects a play when one actor doesn't show up (after a kid had to go to the clinic during class). It really helped the kids to see how they affect each other in a performance.

Step 5- director 2 and so on rehearsal times. After a few groups perform director 1 plays allow the students to break back into their groups and rehearse director 2's play. Continue this process of rehearsal and performance until all directors have had an opportunity to direct. Make sure that every group has performed at least once by the end of assignment. Continue to have class discussions between the steps as problems arise. This is a great opportunity to highlight problems you have been having in rehearsal as well. ( I have a huge problem with kids talking to each other during rehearsal, I made sure to point out how frustrating it is when you are trying to direct and someone is talking to another group). These discussions are so helpful and I really saw an improvement in the acting and directing over the course of the lesson.

Step 6- exit slips. I had each student write about who they felt was the best director in their group. They had to give me a legitimate reason why they felt that way (he was good at giving directions, she was organized, he told me where to stand, etc.) This served two purposes, I was able to see who they thought was the best director and I was able to tell if the students could identify positive director traits. You could do this step on appear or verbally as you were summing up the lesson.

Grading- if you have the students perform both parts of this lesson you can easily get three grades out of this assignment: a writing grade, rehearsal grade, and director grade. I always use rubrics when grading this type of work. Here is a sample of the directing rubric I made for the class. Feel free to download and use in your class as well. You can purchase the full set of theatre rubrics on my teacherspayteachers site (follow the link at the bottom of the page).

This is a great assignment and the students really got into it. I have always struggled with hitting the directing standard in my lower grades. I will defiantly be using this again in my class.