Marianne & Jen's Demo

Oh, The Drama!

Marianne DeSario, Teacher Consultant: marianne.desario@7VWP.com

Jen Liddy, Teacher Consultant: jen.liddy@7VWP.com

The Big Idea

People make assumptions about the truth of any given situation based on their own perspectives, experiences, and baggage. To teach people to explore issues in a multi-perspective way, Brian Edmiston, the author of “Ethical Imagination: Choosing an Ethical Self in Drama” uses dramas & dialogic inquiry to engage students into looking beyond a ‘what happened’ moment. He strives to immerse students in a historical or cultural scenario & allowing them to examine what is beyond the ‘what happened’ moment. Today, we will explore drama as a way to challenge our own perceptions and gain understanding of an event through multiple perspectives.

Classroom Goal

Help students re-examine a drama, issue, or problem from a multi-lensed perspective, examining the validity of a situation and navigating the issue from a place of dialogic inquiry vs. from a place of a power claim.

The Method

1. Write: 1.5 minutes

Introduce a ‘Drama’: We have all experienced drama in some form. Create a Facebook post, Tweet, or text that easily relays the “What Happened” in a  ‘dramatic’ experience

2. Share: 1 minute

In a whiparound format, share your post, tweet, or text.

3. Write: 4 minutes

Exploding your drama: Engage with dialogic inquiry with yourself by focusing on what’s beyond the “What happened?” in your drama. What’s underneath your drama? Expand on your post, tweet, or text (perhaps in a paragraph?) by expanding your drama to address the following:

o   What was your reaction to this drama?

o   Why did this drama occur?

o   Who else did it affect & how did it affect them?

o   How did others involved react? Why?

4. Close Reading: 6.5 minutes

Close Reading: Annotate the four paragraphs on page 63 & 64, starting with “I believe…”. As you read, focus on ‘hotspots’ for you. Annotate ideas that make you think, connect to your experience, make you question, or that you could use in your classroom.

5. Share: 2 minutes

Identify one hotspot and give a one-sentence explanation of why that was a hotspot for you.  

6. Write: 4 minutes

Choose a New Perspective: Think of your “exploded drama” as your initial view of the situation, as Edmiston describes it. Release yourself from your “single opinion” and create an “alternative possibility” in your drama. Revise & retell your story, post, tweet, or text from the perspective of another affected person. How can your perspective on this drama be expanded, complicated, or revised? Some questions to help you think are:

• How do others react?

• Why do they react that way?

• How did it affect them, emotionally/physically/etc.?
• What are the outcomes – long and short term?
• What could’ve been done differently?
• How can this be transformed into a positive experience?

7. Share: 6 minutes

Closing Synthesis of Ideas: Examine the dramatic piece you revised and notice the places where you now see an “inequitable view” that you held before and any “fresh perspectives” you uncovered. What did you notice? Share how, if at all, your lens has been changed?

The Wrap

1. In this teaching demonstration, we used a model of writing, sharing, and close reading to think through ideas presented in an article. We collaborated to allow participants to examine their viewpoints and practice seeing a problem from another perspective.

2. How can you use this idea of drama as a way to dig underneath the ‘what happens’ in your classroom and in your life?

Thank you for your time and willingness to write, share, think, speak, and listen. If you have any questions about this teaching demonstration, please contact us by email at marianne.desario@7vwp.com  or jen.liddy@7vwp.com.

Kathryn's Critical Literacy

Unmappable

I am from meatballs

simmering on Grandma Kate’s stove.

From octopus, fried,

and artichokes, steamed

The sizzle of garlic accompaniment

to Scap’s silly songs.

From walks in the woods

and hours in Grumpy’s workshop.

From moving vans,

and pulled up roots,

a baloon adrift on the wind.

I am from

everywhere and nowhere.

I am from my people:

my family,

my friends,

my love,

I am home.

History for 7-15-13

A Day Unlike Any Other Day

members greeting

breakfast eating

Danielle singing

super-power revealing
learning and thinking

partners meeting

article deconstructing

demo1 starting

writers munching

Visitors sharing
experts declaring

demo:planning
old demos shadowing

groups dispersing
demo2 scaffolding

partners collaborating

multi-tasking

aha!

deep pondering

everyone gathering

daily wrapping

one-word summarizing:

Jenn leaping

Kellie triumphing

Christine knowing

Marianne smiling

Haley focusing

Bird floundering

Marissa clicking

Ellie musing

Kathryn planning

guinea pig seizing

everyone leaving

Bold text indicates specific assignments and or goals from the day

7VWP Summer Institute History of Monday, July 15, 2013 in 3 Acts

7VWP Summer Institute History of Monday, July 15, 2013 in  3 Acts

Act 1:  Monologue

The morning started out like every other morning has.  Quiet start, people trickling in with computers being powered on, plugged in, searching for the power squid nearest you.  The slight hum of strong coffee brewing in the background.  Christine brought in lots and lots of natural sugar for us to consume.  Bananas, berries, yogurt and granola with no clothes on it lined the back table.  Slowly we got up to consume plates of sugar and ease into the morning.  We start, as we always do, with writing.  Kathryn read from “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg encouraging us to go for the jugular, and expose our souls.  Which, we did.  Thinking and reflecting on the weekend, our tired fingers began to type.  We stopped to share, once, and then twice in a form that was not rigid, but fluid.  Most of us shared poetry, there was an advertisement and one commercial thrown in.  The intensity of ideas splattered across pages, and we needed an additional 15 minutes just to decompress.  Well, Danielle did at least.  We also learned, and may rush to buy T-shirts of, BTFU.  

Act 2:  UBD Demo, a short play, performed by one person

Danielle:  Hi everyone, I would like to present this really great demo, and have you write about a bunch of stuff.

(everyone looks at her puzzled)

Kathryn:  What Danielle is trying to say, is that you will write these amazing things, and you will understand and answer all of the world’s questions, today!

(collective, ahhhhhh)

Danielle:  Write and share, write and share, three steps, blah blah blah

Kelley:  This is pretty cool, although I’m not sure I understand it.

Christine:  I love that I’m getting a chance to tease out problems in my classroom

Ellie:  I’m really frustrated and want to improve the relationship with my co-teacher

Bird:  I have so much to think about, this is magical

Haley:  What the hell is she talking about, I will try to write something down

Marissa:  So many ideas, what to choose

Kathryn:  I have my idea, how can I make it better?

Danielle: I have no idea where to start, my brain is filled to the brim

(everyone was really great and participated)

Danielle:  How is the notebook passing going?

Kelley: I love it!  Let’s keep going!

Danielle:  No one wants to shoot themselves in the face yet?

(Haley looks up, about to agree, then just smiles and goes back to writing)

Marissa: I loved that notebook share, thanks for the great ideas.

Kathryn: It was great, and long, and wonderful, and long

Act 3: Song, to the tune of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”  Cyndy Lauper

Afternoon, demo time

Kathryn says wait till I finish in the bathroom

It’s demo time, and we are going to write

Cause writing, it’s really fun

Oh writing, it’s really fun!

You looked at your writing and read

You found hot spots that jumped out in your hread

You used your writing to meet in groups

Cause writing, it’s really fun

Oh writing, it’s really fun

Then we met and shared

Some writing

We wrote, and talked, and wrote and talked

Cause writing, it’s really fun

Oh writing it’s really fun!

After that, we got into groups

Made teaching posters that looked pretty

Together we learn, together we teach

Writing, it’s really fun

Oh writing, it’s really fun!

Empowerment leads to application

We’re all in it together

Zombie chickens and sleepy dogs

Oh Writing, it’s really fun

Oh writing it’s really fun!

Writing, writing,

It’s so fun

Writing Writing

It’s so fun!

Kathryn’s manicure looks amazing on the elmo

Writing is so fun!

Demo: Close Reading Our Own Identities

Demo: Close Reading Our Own Identities

Big Idea: We all come to learning with our own experiences that have shaped us. These experiences make up our identities, which influence our teaching both consciously and unconsciously. By examining our own experiences, and reflecting on how those experiences can influence the classroom, we can create a more culturally sensitive experience for all of our learners.  

And here are our posters...