Updated 7.26.23
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE | 29
Stand Your Ground , Speak Your Truth : Spoken Word Poetry in Elementary Teacher Education Track : College / University Presenters : Jamie Simpson Steele & Rayna Fujii Location : Crowne Plaza – Yosemite – Third Floor
This work examines the application of spoken word poetry to address topics of race , class , gender , privilege , sexuality , and racial violence in an elementary teacher preparation program . During this workshop , we will experience an abbreviated exploration of the key components of our spoken word development process , including exemplar performances , vocal expression , poetic devices , and compelling questions . In addition , we will examine the choices and reflections of the teacher candidates who experienced this work , and how the topics they chose contribute to a society that embraces social justice both in and out of the classroom .
Using Skeleton Scripts to Create Equitable Student-Written Theatre Tracks : High School , PreK-8 , Youth Theatre Presenters : Mindy Curtis & Zac Curtis Location : The 5 th Avenue Theatre – Studio A
Leave this workshop with a short play that is all your own . We will devise in a small group using a skeleton script that provides you with dramatic " bones " and structure , then add your own creative characters , dialogue , and detail to fully " flesh " out a short play that is uniquely yours . A skeleton script is a short , pre-written script containing fully-written stage directions and dialogue that provide details of some elements while leaving other elements vague by design . Mindy Curtis has discovered that working with pre-written skeleton scripts provides simple differentiation and scaffolding strategies that allow all students in grades 6-12 access to skills and success in playwriting regardless of their prior theatre experience , academic level , or language ability . Teaching playwriting successfully can feel inaccessible or overwhelming to any theatre teacher in grades 6-12 with large class sizes and a short amount of time with their students . As you write , Mindy will share her process and curriculum for guiding all students in analyzing and writing a short play successfully using a skeleton script . The session will wrap up with a Q & A discussion about how using skeleton scripts to teach playwriting provides scaffolding and differentiation and encourages equity and access to all students regardless of theatrical experience , academic level , or language level .
Youth Participatory Action Research : Art for Climate Resilience Tracks : Applied Theatre , College / University , PreK-8 Presenters : Lara Dossett & Lily Odekirk Location : Crowne Plaza – San Juan – Fifth Floor
The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is-it ' s to imagine what is possible . - bell hooks , Outlaw Culture , Resisting Representations . Youth all over the world are leading movements to fight the climate crisis . The narratives that are most pervasive are doom and gloom , the impending end of life as we know it , and the degradation of the earth . Our home . What if we shined a light on counter-narratives with youth around the climate crisis by asking them to conduct research in their neighborhoods that would connect them to their communities and help develop climate resilience ? How do the arts serve as a multimodal language that broadens possibilities , are non-reductive , and can attend to both humanistic and natural concerns ? In this session , we will share an arts-based youth participatory action research ( YPAR ) project , Stories of Water , which was developed at the University of Texas at Austin with Drama for Schools and Planet Texas 2050 , a research hub striving to solve Texas ' most pressing climate challenges by 2050 . In this project , 150 7th-grade students , at a public school in Austin , participated in a seven-session STEAM arts-integrated curriculum in Fall 2022 . The students created their own questions about flooding in Austin and conducted interviews in their communities . They explored sustainability and resilience through experiential , art-based modalities that centered their understandings and experiences of the climate crisis . The project culminated in the students creating a wide variety of art to represent the oral stories they were told . The result was multimedia art installations , poems , short performance pieces , and TikTok videos which were shared at an interactive schoolwide event in November . In this interactive workshop participants should expect to : Experience how the YPAR