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Dear Parents and Caregivers, Performing Arts Workshop is proud to have been working in your child’s school since the start of this school year. We launched Project ARISE in 5 different San Francisco elementary schools including Starr King, Stevenson, Ulloa, Cesar Chavez, and Edward Robeson Taylor. ARISE stands for Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education and is a 4-year project with the U.S. Department of Education and the San Francisco Unified School District. This project explores the links between arts learning and the academic progress of both general and Special Education students. What does this mean for your student? Once a week since the start of the year, a professional artist has taught theater or creative movement to your child’s class. This artist-in-residency program will continue through the rest of the year, and will continue through 2010. We are very pleased to share your student’s work with you. In this newsletter, you will find stories from each of our teaching artists that describe their classes with your student. I hope you enjoy hearing these reflections- our artists have certainly enjoyed working with your children! Please let me know if I can answer any questions about the project, or if you have any feedback to share. Thank you for contributing to a wonderful partnership! Performing Arts Workshop |
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Theater at Stevenson: The Art of Focus |
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Theater at Ulloa: The Art of Learning |
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Theater at Starr King: The Art of Action by Suraya Keating Leadership is part of Theater. How do you trust others and get others to trust you? Students at Starr King explored this with movement – learning the shapes and movements of their own bodies, and working as a team to create their own human sculptures. They created environments, vehicles, and objects. At first, students seemed shy, but they have become comfortable on stage and show an amazing ability to take creative risks and to volunteer to go on stage. Starr King students have shown their healthy self-esteem and willingness to take on new challenges. Their next challenge will be role playing and storytelling using simple pictures and props. I am excited to see what they develop next! |
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Theater at ER Taylor: The Art of Choice  At ER Taylor, students are learning the importance of an actor’s choices. In one improvisation, a student volunteered to perform a simple scene in which he was trying to get his foot free from under a root. Unfortunately, he got a mean case of the giggles. It was infectious and soon we were all laughing. After he performed the scene I asked the class, “What was his objective?” “How could he have showed us that he really wanted to get free?” Students responded by saying, “He could have really concentrated on where he wanted to go and kept a serious face,” “He could have talked about how he was late for dinner and was really hungry,” “He could have worked really hard to get free.” The student had to make another choice so that the audience could understand what he wanted. The student performed a second time, and his focus was exciting to watch. Your students are learning to think critically about the choices they make on stage. And I am learning how to ask the right questions to help them reflect! |
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Theater at Cesar Chavez: The Art of Reflection by Eric Hoffman At Cesar Chavez, students have learned how to create imaginary objects using pantomime. They have explored how to communicate mood and ideas with body language. They have also discovered how to create engaging still scenes by forming tableaus. While teaching all of these subjects, I have asked my students to reflect on their own work and the work of others. This reflection has allowed them to express many unique and delightful ideas, and I am looking forward to seeing what else they will create! |
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The ARISE project is made possible by the following partners. For more information, please contact the Workshop.
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“Remember what Noah said. The way you broke up the stories in drama class will be helpful in your reading comprehension test…” – a Ulloa Teacher. This teacher made an important point: the storytelling I teach in theater class will help students answer questions on the standardized reading comprehension exam. This is the difference between the work of Performing Arts Workshop and the “school play.” In our class, we don’t have a performance at the end with sets, costumes, and lights. What we do have is a lasting impact on student learning beyond theater, and the discoveries that they make when engaged in drama. I have enjoyed teaching the artist in each of your students! 
