234282 Resource 203097 210601 1 1244150240532 1251905262160 Controlled Another Theatrical Year Almost Over

Letter to parents

As you are winding down your year one thing you need to think about is keeping your drama department growing.  In this time of drastic educational cuts, the arts are taking a beating.  We know how important they are and most of our students would agree as well, but the general public is not always aware of their importance.  I have to honestly admit that during my years of teaching I never truly appreciated the support I received from my administration as well as my parents.  I guess I just expected the drama department to remain strong year after year and the parents to support our school mill levies as well. As I was reviewing my last 15 years of teaching I came across a letter I wrote to my Drama 2 parents in the mid 90s, see <a title="Sample Letter" href="item/234281" target="_blank">Letter to Students' Parents</a>. I had had an exceptionally great advanced drama class and wanted the parents to know how much I appreciated their kids. This got me to thinking — wasn’t each year’s classes exceptional in some way? Why didn’t I write the parents each year?  Yes, of course, it takes time, but time well spent.  If I may, I would suggest to all of you drama teachers/directors out there to take the time right now and write a letter to your parents thanking them for their support. In this age of computers the trick is to make it personal. Take the time to print it out, sign it and send it by mail, not email.  Please. Every parent loves to hear how special their child is and this is just another way of enforcing that strong positive bond between school and home.  I mentioned in my last blog about performing in Richard III — it is up in the air right now but if I do I would love to relate my experience in further blogs. I will be taking a summer break but do know that next fall I have lots of things to share such as commercials, critiques, and mimes, to mention just a few. So be sure to tune in!             10 application/xml false advice class advice drama class advice end of the school year sample letter thanking parents theater theater class advice theatre theatre class advice Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Zune 3.0; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 $Admin 67.172.146.66 false true false false true 218193 false false true false false false true 235975 Resource 218193 173239 210601 1247284604405 1247505705045 Controlled RE: Another Theatrical Year Almost Over

Great advice, Margaret and thank you. I get frustrated with parents sometimes when they don't get what their kids are doing and some don't even show up for a performance. Maybe a note of praise would help grease the palm. 10 application/xml false Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 71.165.54.217 false true false false true 203097 blog blogsite/ContemporaryDrama/web