The Theatre Classroom — Beginning Drama’s Management and Content

In my last blog I talked about writing a letter home to your students’ parents.  I would like now to share the “rules and regs” I handed out to my beginning drama students on the first day of class.  Not only did it help me organize and give my students my expectations on what I required, but also it was mandated by our administration.  They kept a copy in their office, but who knows whoever looked at it? I know my students knew all the info — sometimes I even gave a little bonus quiz over the “good stuff”! 

The management part of the class I developed over many years of trial and error.  At one time I had two pages of policies and that was WAY TOO MUCH! I tried to make them simple, allowing for the school’s policies to be in effect as well as the points I thought were important. You will notice that several of them deal with common courtesy, a must in my classroom. The content was strictly my own. I was very lucky to be able to create my own curriculum for theatre. You may not be so lucky but I am sure you can present your course using the style that works best for you.  By requiring each student to have a notebook that included my “rules and regs” as well as sending a letter home to parents, I had informed everyone what Margaret Johnson’s drama department was all about.