07/08 Kennedy Center Workshops

Download a copy of the 2007-08 Youth Program brochure (pdf).

Habits of Mind of Creative Engagement
Led by Eric Booth
Thursday, November 29, 4:30 - 7:30 pm
Teaching and Learning Center, WISD
1819 South Wagner Road, Ann Arbor
Grades K-12
Fee: $30
Sponsored by DTE Energy Foundation

Using hands-on techniques, Eric Booth explores with participants how the mind works when engaged creatively and delves into methods designed to enhance students’ flow of learning. Consider what this could mean to teaching and learning practices if educators focus on developing essential capacities like analogical thinking and brainstorming. Imagine teaching creative habits of mind instead of simply leading arts activities! In Habits of Mind and Creative Engagement, Eric unfolds this important educational innovation and reveals the key “habits” that invest students in their own learning. This approach invites fresh ways of thinking about the arts, learning, and creative vitality in the classroom and school.

Eric Booth brings four careers to his speeches and workshops about the arts and arts in education. As an actor for 20 years, he performed in many plays on Broadway and around the country. As a businessman, he started a company, Alert Publishing, that analyzes trends among American people (the largest of its kind). As a teacher, he has taught at more than 50 universities, 100 museums and cultural organizations, and led countless workshops for teachers and students (kindergarten through graduate school). Eric was also on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Institute, and Tanglewood, and a consultant to the Kennedy Center Education Department, The College Board, and other organizations across the country. As an author, he has had four books published and is the founding editor of the Teaching Artist Journal.

 

Classroom Management and Tolerance through Drama
Led by Stacey Coates
Tuesday, November 6, 4:30 - 7:30 pm
Teaching and Learning Center, WISD
1819 South Wagner Road, Ann Arbor
Grades 8 - 12
Fee: $30

Tolerance—the willingness to respect or accept the customs, beliefs, or opinions of others—has become a focus in schools determined toprotect students from bullying, taunting, and belittling. What is needed to help students learn to be accepting and respectful team playersand leaders? Stacey Coates addresses this question through drama strategies that build collaboration and respect in the classroom and result in teambuilding and the development of problem solving skills. This workshop also addresses a successful approach to basic classroom management using art as the captivating tool. At any grade level and with any population, teachers must first make sure their students are willing listen to them and to each other—only then can students be “taught.” Without such a behavior standard in place, it’s difficult for students to feel safe enough to share their ideas and skills.

Stacey Coates is an educational drama consultant who works with both the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Interacte Theatre in Washington, DC. She has a Master’s Degree in Drama for the Young from Eastern Michigan University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre from Oberlin College. She has taught students in grades K-12 for over thirty years in both public and private schools. Her students have included the elderly, gifted and talented, ESL, incarcerated adolescents, and deinstitutionalized mental patients. Stacey has worked extensively with international and national audiences of all ages on tolerance training.

…And Words Will Never Hurt Me:
Strategies for Equity and Dialogue
Facilitated by Stacey Coates
with participants from Neutral Zone’s Building Bridges, Zeitouna, and Ann Arbor Public Schools
Wednesday, November 7, 4:30 - 8 pm
Teaching and Learning Center, WISD
1819 South Wagner Road, Ann Arbor
Grades K - 6; Teachers of students with special needs
Fee: $30

This special workshop examines best practices for overcoming inequity in the classroom. As a complement to Classroom Management and Tolerance Through Drama, Kennedy Center educator Stacey Coates facilitates this workshop, discussing the latest research, ideal frameworks, and core principles for creating a learning environment safe for all students. With help from area programs such as Zeitouna, Neutral Zone’s Building Bridges, Huron High School’s former “US” Program (understanding and sharing diversity), and AAPS Equity Teams, Stacey shares successful strategies for dialogue in the classroom, school building, and community. This workshop will also include a showing of Zeitouna: Refusing to Be Enemies, a documentary about how six Jewish women and six Arab women use dialogue as a tool for understanding.