As I looked around my classroom, I saw students hard at work at a variety of tasks. The actors and their coaches met in the corner going over lines, while the set designers built a castle out of cardboard boxes and butcher paper. At the same time, members of the media were floating around interviewing their peers about the production of the play while the drama critics took notes about how the production was coming together.
During the third quarter of this year, my class of 6th grade students put on a student-run production of a play adaption of The Emperor's New Clothes, and it was one of the greatest teaching experiences of my life. After reading the play and analyzing its admittedly thin literary merits, I helped define the roles of the student run production, to let the students know where they might be headed. I did my best to differentiate the roles, so that my silent student could work one on one with an actor as an actor coach, and my student with dysgraphia could spend his time building a set. We had a student director, members of the media, drama critics and costume designers as well. The students had to write a persuasive letter (using persuasive strategies learned earlier in the year) to convince me (the producer) what role they should be in the production. After their letters, they were assigned roles in the production based on their desires and the quality of their argumentation.
A couple of things surprised me, though they should not have. First of all, the diversity of student interests was incredible. I rarely had to give anyone their second choice, and almost everyone got the exact role they wanted. We spend all day as teachers trying to fit our students into a certain shaped (too often a standardized test shaped) box that we forget just how diverse their interests and abilities are. We should look at the world around us and realize that the diversity of careers must have resulted in a diversity of interests and abilities, I hope not to forget that as a teacher. This brings me to my second point. The work of the students was of such high quality, I saw futures for many of them in theater production if they so chose. When motivated, they could create some incredibly high quality work. I always preach on giving students choices in their learning, and teaching standards while allowing them to do something that really matters to them, and this was just more fuel to the fire.
The students worked without much prodding or cajoling by the teacher. The student director kept them on task, and the students wanted the play to be well done because they were in charge of something that interested them. I saw students become empowered to lead, to create, to try out new ideas, and throughout the process it was a beautiful thing to see.
Of course their were writing components of the play (persuasive letter arguing for a role, reflective piece analyzing their own contributions to the production) and reading components (character analysis of different characters, historical context analysis of the setting), but the most important skills taught were those of critical thinking, working in teams (they were given self and peer evaluations), time management (the show must go on!) and the ability to be proactive. I hope these are the skills with which my students leave the classroom, these are the skills they will really need in the real world.
This might sound like a nightmare for many teachers. The teacher was not the center of attention and the teacher was making decisions about the production. It took some planning and scaffolding on the front end, but once I set the machine in motion, it was incredible how student sustained it was. I was in essence along for the ride, facilitating their planning, answering questions as they came up. It might not have looked like teaching in the traditional sense, but after reading their reflections, I know they may have just learned more with me in the backseat rather than me driving the bus.
