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We share evidence-based K-12 learning strategies that empower you to improve education.

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More School Time, Well Spent, Boosts Academic Achievement and Engagement at Edwards Middle School

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Five Keys to Successful Social and Emotional Learning

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A Parent's Guide to 21st-Century Learning

Blogs on Drama

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The Impact of Shakespeare on Teachers and Students

Heather Wolpert-GawronApril 29, 2013

Tags Literacy, Middle (6-8), Drama, High (9-12), English Language Arts

William Shakespeare was the R-rated writer of his time. His plays were potentially more sexy than any E.L. James novel and oft-times more violent than any Quentin Tarantino film. The words of the Bard make up a universal language, one that can unite cultures with their themes and conflicts. And, more importantly to this blogger, William Shakespeare changed my life.

Mixed-Ability Dance: Helping Students with Special Needs Grow and Learn

Karen PetersonApril 22, 2013

Tags Arts Education, Special Education, Drama, Physical Education

I founded Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD) in Miami in 1990. We are recognized as the leading mixed-ability dance company in the U.S. Southeast. As a not-for-profit dance organization, KPD commissions and produces the work of dance artists with and without disabilities -- presenting excellence in dance through our quality-based programs, community performances and educational workshops.

Project-Based Learning as a Context for Arts Integration

Andrew MillerApril 9, 2013

Tags Arts Education, Project-Based Learning, Drama, Music, Visual Arts

Project-based learning can provide an intentional and effective opportunity to integrate the arts across disciplines and curriculum. While valuable as a stand-alone discipline, arts education can be given further power and value when used in a PBL project as part of the core curriculum.

The Best of 2012: My Favorite Films for Parents and Educators

Mark PhillipsDecember 10, 2012

Tags Drama, All Grades, Visual Arts

As a film and book lover, I always look forward to the end-of-the-year critics' picks. I also prepare my own, just to share with friends and family. But this blog gives me an audience (you!) to share my personal favorite films and books for educators and parents for 2012. This time I'm focusing on films. My book picks will follow shortly.

The Assassin Strikes and Other Hoaxes for Teaching Social Studies

Mark PhillipsSeptember 19, 2012

Tags Lesson Plans, Student Engagement, Drama, High (9-12), History

Act One, Scene One

It's the first day of the sophomore World History class. The teacher is standing in the front of the class and has just gotten their attention. A short squat man with a nylon stocking over his face, a dark fedora on his head and wearing a dark trench coat, rushes through the door, screams "Sic semper tyrannis," and "stabs" the teacher twice. The teacher crumples to the ground while some students shriek, and the "assassin" rushes back out the door.

Telling Isn't Teaching: The Fine Art of Coaching

Dr. Richard CurwinApril 4, 2012

Tags Lesson Plans, Professional Learning Network (PLN), Student Engagement, Teacher Development, Drama, All Grades, Math, Music, Physical Education, World Language Learning

I have the greatest respect for coaches; not every coach of course, but those who care more about their players than about winning. I include those who coach drama, choir, band and all those who spend so much of their time and energy on helping children far beyond the confines of the classroom. Good coaches make great teachers.

The Cinema of Educational Despair: A Bad Narrative Reinforced

Mark PhillipsMarch 29, 2012

Tags Education Reform, Mental Health, Professional Learning Network (PLN), , Teacher Development, Middle (6-8), Drama, High (9-12), All Grades

The least productive current narrative about public education goes something like this. Our schools, especially high schools, are failing. There is a predominance of ineffective teachers. Short of closing bad schools, firing bad teachers and sending kids to charter schools, there is little we can do to change this. Most good teachers, buried alive in the testing mania, are impotent to deal with the system. For the general public this narrative, partially reinforced by films like Waiting for Superman, provides a misguided message of total failure. For teachers struggling in underfunded schools, it encourages anger and self-pity rather than productive action.

The Creativity Index: No Artist Left Behind

Mark PhillipsMarch 20, 2012

Tags Arts Education, Comprehensive Assessment, Formative Assessment, Primary (K-2), Student Engagement, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), Drama, High (9-12), English Language Arts, Music, Visual Arts

Some of you may remember the scene in The Dead Poets Society in which Robin Williams' Mr. Keating mocks the approach to poetry of Dr. J. Evans Pritchard. In a nutshell, Pritchard has a method for mathematically calculating the measure of a poem's greatness. "If the poem's score for perfection is plotted along the horizontal of a graph, and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness." Keating has students rip the pages out of their books, sardonically exclaiming, " . . . we're not laying pipe, we're talking about poetry . . . I like Byron, I give him a 42 . . . "

Some of you may remember the scene in The Dead Poets Society in which Robin Williams' Mr. Keating mocks the approach to poetry of Dr. J. Evans Pritchard. In a nutshell, Pritchard has a method for mathematically calculating the measure of a poem's greatness. "If the poem's score for perfection is plotted along the horizontal of a graph, and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness." Keating has students rip the pages out of their books, sardonically exclaiming, " . . . we're not laying pipe, we're talking about poetry . . . I like Byron, I give him a 42 . . . " Read More

Executive Function, Arts Integration and Joyful Learning (Part 6 of 7)

Judy Willis MDMarch 14, 2012

Tags Arts Education, Brain Research, Comprehensive Assessment, Integrated Studies, Primary (K-2), Project-Based Learning, Student Engagement, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), Drama, High (9-12), Music, Visual Arts

This post is part of a series on executive function. Here I will cover the arts and the neuroscience of joyful learning.

Promising Starts

Children's brains need to acquire memory associations that link pleasure with learning. The creative arts can provide this link through associations with the pleasures of creative experiences enjoyed during early childhood.

Social and Emotional Curriculum: Self-Reflection

Randy TaranJanuary 30, 2012

Tags Health, Mental Health, , Student Engagement, Drama, All Grades, Physical Education, Science

This is part three of the seven-part series, from the Project Happiness curriculum. It explores the many facets of happiness and provides practical techniques to generate greater happiness and a more meaningful life -- from the inside. By reclaiming the happiness you were born with, you influence those around you to tap into the best within themselves, too.

This is part three of the seven-part series, from the Project Happiness curriculum. It explores the many facets of happiness and provides practical techniques to generate greater happiness and a more meaningful life -- from the inside. By reclaiming the happiness you were born with, you influence those around you to tap into the best within themselves, too. Read More