Staff Development Workshops

Emphasis will be on working with teachers to offer suggestions for using fine arts as a vehicle

Using Fine Arts in the Classroom: Suggestions for integrating ARTS and STEM

The Core Values of Theatre and Dramatic Expression incorporates

(1) Four basic strands--perception, creative expression/performance, historical and cultural heritage, and critical evaluation--provide broad, unifying structures for organizing knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire. Through perceptual studies, students increase their understanding of self and others and develop clear ideas about the world. Through a variety of theatrical experiences, students communicate in a dramatic form, make artistic choices, solve problems, build positive self-concepts, and relate interpersonally.

(2) Students increase their understanding of heritage and traditions through historical and cultural studies in theatre. Student response and evaluation promote thinking and further discriminating judgment, developing students who are appreciative and evaluative consumers of live theatre, film, television, and other technologies.

Using illustrations, graphic arts, computer clip art, charts and graphs to enhance understanding. Emphasis is on technology and computer aided design for making projects more interesting and interactive.

Student Workshops

WRITING

Dynamics of Playwriting
Emphasis is on computer aided research. Included are basic instructions for developing story lines, characterization, monologue and dialogue. Genres of literature, time period, props and artifacts, costumes and makeup are given attention.

Writing Workshop: The Art of Rap, Writing and Rhyme

Emphasis will be on writing, penmanship, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. While the students will be asked to compose original poetry, applying the conventions of written language such as capitalization, punctuation, there will be discussions on handwriting, penmanship and spelling to communicate clearly. The importance of writing as a tool required for further education and in the workplace will be stressed.

MUSIC

Integrated workshops that requires several kinds of thinking, gross and fine motor skills

The Voice and the Drum as Basic instruments show how West African Music influenced the Music of the Western Hemisphere. Students will sing songs and play drum rhythms while learning the history of cultural transformations.

All that Jazz includes a study of the history of the music, musicians, time periods, and lots of listening and identifying chords, riffs, bass lines, rhythms and melodies.

ART

Students will make a tie-dyed T-shirt and discuss/experience how art and chemistry are related, helping to make connections of arts and technology to real life.

The Art and Chemistry of Tie-Dye

Tools Workshop introduces students to the basic tools needed in our daily environments: hammer and nails; screws and screw drivers; saws; building materials

THEATRE

Our theatre workshops emphasize the use of theatre in the classroom as a vehicle for understanding cultural and historical contexts, increasing student awareness of their own and others' heritage and traditions, thus helping them to participate in a diverse society.

Historical Interpretations that illustrate some important personalities, dates and events in Texas history based on the fifteen plays in Carrier’s book, Go Down, Old Hannah (University of Texas Press, 2010)

Theatre workshops that include plays for youth based on the Motown Years; the music, the artists, and career opportunities in the entertainment and communications industries

Custom theatre pieces written by your students, based on ideas shared decisions generated in your classes, i.e., “Hitsville, U.S. A.: A day in the life of the Motown studios” “Fingertips: The Boyhood of Stevie Wonder”

Literature Classics & Newberry Award Winners

DANCE

All cultures organize movement and rhythm into one or more forms of dance. Dance can be a powerful artistic medium for communication values and beliefs about the human experience.

PVArts dance workshops are pre-planned with the staff and culminate in programs that illustrate cohesiveness while helping to build bridges for communication among diverse cultures. All workshops incorporate Modern Dance & Basic Skills for Contemporary Performances.