2 01 4ATIATI ON A L CO NRE N CE
N N ON A L CO N FE FE RE NCE
Shifting with the Common Core: Adapting and Adopting for the 21st
Century
Chair: Jamie Simpson Steele, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Location: Atrium 2nd-Grays Peak B
The Common Core is focused on helping students prepare for college,
careers, community and the many unknown challenges to success they will face
in life. The new standards tell us what students should know and be able to do,
but not how teachers must teach. To that end, educational drama strategies
are valuable tools for helping students to draw concrete detail from text,
making the abstract visual. They provide vehicles for inferring meaning in order
to understand deeper messages and meanings behind words. They evoke
emotion, incite debate, and problematize easy answers in the classroom.
In this session, participants will experience educational drama strategies in
tandem with Common Core Language Arts standards, and will be challenged
to make connections, unpack implications, and contemplate shifting with the
Core.
Education Directors-Past Lives, Current Demands, Future Envisioning
Chair: Christine Smith Tanner, Eastern Michigan University
Presenters: Daniel Renner, Director of Education of the Theatre Development
Fund (TDF), Kiyoko Motoyama Sims, Director of Community Engagement
and teaching artist at The Children’s Theatre, Meriah Sage, Eastern Michigan
University
Location: Denver 3rd – Mt. Wilson
What have education directors accomplished in the past? What are they
doing now? How do they impact their organizations and communities today?
What roles will education directors play in the future? Education directors
take a leading role in connecting their organizations with their communities.
Current and former education directors will chronicle their past and ongoing
experiences at varying organizations and provide a vision for the future of the
field. Guidelines for training and personal development for this career will also
be shared.
CREATIVE SPARK: How to Fire the Imagination in a Standardized
Classroom
Chair: Doug Cooney
Location: Atrium 2nd – Grays Peak A
Classroom teachers are well-acquainted with the blank faces of students
challenged to use their imaginations. In a standardized classroom, students
are accustomed to prompted responses, filling in the blanks with the correct
answers. Even when encouraged to write or draw “whatever they want,”
students often resort to commercial brands, cartoon characters known from
toys and games. Those of us who work with children have witnessed the
decline of playfulness and wonder during this digital age. Doug Cooney,
playwright, novelist and educa ѽȁ