One of the most wonderful things about teaching theatre – at least teaching here – is the freedom from a set timeline. I love to be able to gauge the pace and subject matter not by some arbitrary deadline but by the faces and wins in my class. I pity the poor teacher who is mandated to teach this unit and teach it only for a set amount of days- -then give a set test on a set date and begin the next set unit on a set day. How in the world does that solve the challenge of matching the teaching methods to the students that are in your charge? I love to have to have handful of goals in mind – then I love to have the opportunity to get inside my class and figure out the pace and the twists and turns of the materials and methods. I mean, after all, isn’t that my charge as a professional teacher (wasn’t I the one who went to school all those years and accrued all of that student debt?)– to take the material and figure out how best to serve it to my students. How would it be possible for someone outside of my class to determine the methods, much less the pace of the work IN the class?
I am grateful that at this school, I am treated as a PROFESSIONAL educator. If I am quiet and do more listening then talking, the lesson plan for the week and even for the day becomes clear. The lesson plan is in their eyes. Trust eyes.