Vocabulary words in theatre can be weird. There are lots of slang terms, technical terms, and typical vocabulary words. Theatre has many visual, hands on components, as well as textual, analysis components. It is interesting because often times, these two types of vocabulary words are presented in different ways.
A typical lesson having to do with script analysis often looks like a list of vocab words and definitions. What is plot? Where is the climax? Who is the antagonist? Very boring and typical. I have seen this happen in both my high school and college experiences. I think because this is the typical way these words are taught, this is just how teachers do it. However, I would love to learn and experiment with different methods to presenting this information to students. I would love to see them identify these words in connection with something.
The visual, hands-on vocab words are often presented in a much different way. To be honest, I think there are flaws with this method as well. For example, when teaching parts of a lighting instument, I was taught in this manner, "This is the shutter. This is the bulb. This is the tail. This is where you put the gobo." Seeing the working parts and putting a name with them does help you remember, however we never wrote them down. What was missing here was often the clarification method as talked about in the Harmon, Wood and Hendricks article. So if a student is a visual learner, this might be an excellent method. But if they need to see the words on a paper, or look at a diagram in a book, this needs to be added to the instruction.
My ideal method would be a blending of these two ideas. I think students need to connect visually, kinesthetically, and intellectually. From the reading I really liked the list-group-label-and write method. The idea behind this was to have students brainstorm words that might belong in a certian group. Since theatre deals with many "groups" (costumes, props, lighting, playscripts) and each group has distinct vocab words, this method made a lot of sense to me.
P.S. If you want a definition of those fancy words above, keep reading. They might surprise you.
Leg: The long curtains on a stage that touch the floor. NOT the front curtains.
Quick-rig: When an actor needs to make a quick costume change, a costume may have alterations to make it easier to get out of. For example a button
up shirt would have the buttons taken off, sewn on top
of the button hole, and velcro added to the placket.
Downstage: The portion of the stage closest to the audience.
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Green Room: A room near the stage where actors wait in between scenes or before a show begins. Not actually colored green. (Fun fact: They
used to be painted green because before modern
technology the type of lighting instruments were
amber colored and actors needed to give their eyes
a break so they didn't go blind.)
DMX: A cable used in lighting.
Shank Button: A button with no holes in it. Rather it is
attached to things through a small loop attached to the back of it.
I think was strong point you made about teaching is connecting different points together to learn the words and terms. I think that is one of the best ways to learn. If you can connect a term with another term then it helps create understanding and retention. In history, I love seeing how one core word or key word relates to a time, and then another term connects a different point in history, and then I learn so much better. That is the way I am going to try to teach my students.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you want to make connections to explain the definitions of your vocabulary words. In all honesty I don't know a lot about the theatre So I learned a lot of new vocabulary words by just reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is best to use the two types in conjunction with each other. I always have done really well with picture diagrams with captions. I remember those better because I can remember where they are on the page. That helps me to know the context. I appreciated the pictures at the end of the post. It was a cool idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat application of list/group/label/write! There is a principle about vocabulary instruction that is counter-intuitive but true: it is easier to teach three or four words at once, than it is to teach ONE word. That is because students have opportunities to see how words are connected to each other and to their background knowledge. So, it might be easier to teach downstage at the same time that you taught upstage. List-group-label write is great for this, because it teaches students how core words are related to each other, as you noted.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another great posting!
You provided a fantastic example of what you discussed. I love that you clarified the words in the beginning of your post with a definition and a visual representation. You will also have an added bonus with many of your theater terms- many terms that you will use can and will be acted out by your students. The bonus here is that your students will actually want to act them out! This is not always the case in the math and English classes that I will be teaching. Great post, I love that I learned something about your discipline from it!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you provided examples for your vocabulary words. I knew a few of them from taking drama (back in 8th grade) but this was much better. You have some great ideas for connecting both visually and kinesthetically.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and the examples that you provided. I think that you are going to make a great theater teacher and had some great ideas to help the students learn vocabulary words in your discipline.
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