For a recent project in which I'm participating, I was asked to write up a statement of my teaching philosophy. Regular readers will know I have a lot to say on the subject of teaching, so I thought, "piece of cake." Wow, was I wrong!

Developing a concise, one page statement about how I approach teaching was difficult, mostly because I see teaching as a complicated endeavor. Trying to distill a plethora of theories about cognitive development, instructional design, and the…

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I am a high school TV Productions and Drama teacher and I am also working on my doctorate of computer science in emerging media with a concentration in theater technology. I chose this concentration because it only makes sense with what I do. Now I am trying to work on research and a dissertation topic.

I have become fascinated with projection designs while researching the tech theater world. I did not know much about it until recently when I decided to make my theater and studio…

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There's nothing quite like teaching theater, especially to kids. It's such an amazing experience, and super-rewarding and exciting to see the kids grow in confidence and ability over such short amounts of time. Plus, it's mostly super fun and hilarious.

I still remember the first summer I worked as the head teacher and director for a theater…

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This year, I'm teaching the Institute Improv class at CalArts. I'm very excited; improv is something I kinda like just-a-wee-bit-…

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So...hopefully I won't get into huge trouble for this, but I'm going to share something that I tell all of the students in all of my upper-level classes on the first day: I don't believe in grades, and I find they disrupt the learning process.

"Egad!" you say? "Blasphemy!" Yes, I know. You're probably making the same face as some of my students the first time they hear me tell them how I feel about grades. Many react with panic, frankly, as the only measure of success they've…

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Dear Actors: please don't ever teach as a survival job.



First, a story:



This week, I was reminded why I love what I do. I'm at the O'Neill theater in Connecticut as a fellow attending the Cabaret Conference and it's been an amazing experience so far. The list of incredible Broadway and West End performers who are here performing, teaching and developing work, and the caliber of the technicians and designers, as well as the brilliance of the music directors who literally… Continue

This past weekend, I taught several sound sessions at the Alabama Thespian convention - an organization for high school students and teachers that put on a conference once a year do workshops, put on performances, do improv sessions, network,…

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Another week, another blog on the performance side of theater. This week: the importance of teaching.

I think every person, regardless of discipline, should at some point have to teach.

I don't mean to say that every person has to be a great (or even good) teacher. I'm not trying to say everyone must teach for their career, or even that they must teach in a formal setting. But even if it's as simple as teaching a small group within an exercise for a…

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I recently stumbled upon a fantastic animation illuminating a lecture given by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert. In his lecture, Robinson discusses the modern model of education, its roots in the industrial revolution, and his belief that for our students to be successful, this model must be overturned. There are a number of key sections in this lecture that I think have a great bearing on what we do in theatre, what we do as teachers, and what we do as…

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I woke up this morning and headed to work early to finish preparing for ASF's first techie summer day camp - "Behind the Curtain." We've done acting for various ages, stage combat, singing/dance camps for quite awhile, and this summer, the curriculum has been expanded to offering a camp catering to the kids interested in back stage. Our tech staff divided up the first day into chunks to introduce the kids to our various specialties, and met at the end of the day to touch base at where to go…

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Every couple of weeks or so, I like to read through Jean Burch’s blog, “Technical Direction Tidbits.” She often posts links to interesting new products or materials, and will just as often include thought-provoking posts on the nature of technical direction, project management, and teaching. (You should really check it out—it’s quite good!) One such post (“…

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