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Your rehearsal questions and challenges addressed!

Hosted by DTA instructors Matt Webster and Lindsay Price, and special guest - DTA member and teacher Jeremy Bishop.

Recorded on October 20, 2015 at 8pm.

Learn about the most important things for the first week of school - from ice breaker games, to classroom procedures, to setting the tone from Day 1. Watch this replay to learn tips and tricks to start your school year off on the right foot!

Hosted by DTA instructors Karen Loftus, Lindsay Price, Jennine Profeta, and Matt Webster.

Recorded on August 14th, 2015 at 2pm.

The latest tools for assessment in the drama classroom.

Do you sometimes feel like Goldilocks? This class is too big! This class is too small! How do you make your class feel just right? Join us to talk about how to zero in on adapting and adjusting your curriculum based on the size of your class.

Getting lesson plans is easy. Adapting them can be challenging.

Join us for a conversation on modifying and shaping existing lesson plans to meet the needs of your classroom.

Reflection is a fundamental component of teaching. It is also a cornerstone of running a successful program or production. It can be hard to ask the tough questions once the year is over and all you want to do is just forget it all and move on. But that post-mortem is where the real learning happens! When you reflect on the successes and failures of the previous season or year, you bypass future mistakes before they have a chance to take root, and sow the seeds of a successful new year. So join us for the Year End Post-Mortem: What did you try, what did you skip, what worked, what didn’t. It’s time to build the foundations of the new year on the ashes of the old.

Summer is in full swing and we would all like to recharge our batteries for the coming school year. Everyone could use some inspiration to prepare for a successful new year, but where do we look? Conferences? The library? Broadway? The possibilities are as varied as our free time and budget, so put on your summer yoga pants and jump into this conversation about finding inspiration, both artistic and academic, that will propel you into a new year.

You have worked hard to build a quality program that excites students and benefits the community. But somehow, your great accomplishments are hardly ever noticed by your administration. Why does that happen? And what can you do to change it?! In this PLC we tackle the question: "How do advocate for your program and be as visible as possible to your admin?" Join us, and finally be noticed!

We are heading deep into rehearsal season and you can already feel the monotony starting to build: Rehearse, Review, Repeat. Rehearse, Review, Repeat. You are falling into a Rehearsal Rut. Never fear! We have just the conversation to shake up your routine and give your rehearsals a much needed shot in the arm. Get on board and get out of that rut!

Assessing students is always a challenge, but in the Drama classroom it's a challenge on top of a challenge! We assess knowledge, of course, but we also assess commitment, skill and performance. Assessment is fundamental to education, but the how and why of assessment differs from classroom to classroom, and lesson to lesson. Join us as we navigate the twists and turns of Assessment in the Drama Classroom.

We are halfway through the school year and it is time to assess which classroom management strategies are working, and which ones should be left in the rear view mirror. When classroom discipline has been less than ideal, the new year is a great time to hit the reset button. With a new semester comes new opportunities to fine tune your classroom management and get your classes ship shape. If your students are driving you crazy, this is the PLC for you!

The days of putting up a poster in the hallway and expecting people to see it are long gone. People aren't looking at posters, they are looking at social media! Students are looking at their phones, parents are checking the theatre program Facebook page, and the public is looking for show information on the school website. No doubt about it: If you are going to reach people in the 21st century, you are going to have to do it electronically! So join us as we put together a panel of social media savvy theatre types and discuss Social Media as the number one communication tool.

Theatre is an art form designed to bring people together. But what do you do when you can’t teach your students face-to-face? Whether it is a family vacation, unexpected emergency or natural disaster, there will be times when you will need to teach your students from a distance. You will need to engage your students in Distance Learning.

But distance learning comes with its own set of challenges: Do you have the right materials? Do you have the right technology? Do your students? Join us for a crash course discussion about the strategies and challenges associated with Distance Learning.

Playwriting is an easy to adapt activity for distance learning. But there are still some obstacles: how do you deal with writing insecurity? How do you handle peer feedback? How do you present work digitally? Playwright Lindsay Price will take you through exercises and a game plan for incorporating playwriting into your distance learning framework.

As many teachers take on a new and unexpected challenge of teaching remotely, we will take this PLC to check in, share tips and tricks, and offer support to each other.

Monologue writing is an activity that is easily adaptable for distance learning. It’s also something that students can do without technology. Join us for a walk through a "no internet necessary" monologue writing project with added video conferencing options.

As many teachers take on a new and unexpected challenge of teaching remotely, we will take this PLC to check in, share tips and tricks, and offer support to each other.

As we face the prospect of not seeing our students again for the rest of the year, it is time to start thinking about how to retool traditional lessons for distance learning classrooms. For this PLC we'll be talking to Steven Stack, author of the DTA course The Empathetic Classroom to answer the question: How do you adapt something that was made for classroom instruction, into something suitable for distance learning? Check in for our tips and ideas!

Right now teachers are being stretched thin. In this crisis they are expected to be counsellors, curriculum developers, IT specialists, cheerleaders and everything else their students need. Not to mention all the hats they wear at home for their own families. Teachers are taking care of everyone, but who is taking care of them! When you talk about caring for teachers, you need to start with self care. Because you can't take care of everyone else unless you first take care of yourself. So take a break, put on your favorite yoga pants, and join us for an energizing discussion on Self Care and Wellness.