Pedagogies for Student-Centered Learning

Online and On-Gound

Cari Crumly

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781451489453
• eBook ISBN: 9781451489538
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

What comes to mind when you hear student-centered learning? Do you immediately see a classroom without a teacher? Do you see students teaching other students? How do you know which pedagogies to use when designing the best learning environment? The question of determining what pedagogies to use within the classroom (on-ground or virtual) can often plague teachers given today's student. This book will help you to identify the difference between teacher-centered and student-centered learning and the various pedagogies commonly associated with each. This book will draw upon the research and experience of three different educators and their pedagogical variations and uses within the classroom and online. Crumly's synopsis of student-centered learning and suggested action is followed by a collaborative dialogue with Pamela Dietz and Sarah d'Angelo. Dietz and d'Angelo provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Crumly's proposed approaches. As a group, Crumly, Dietz, and d'Angelo create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways.

3

Teaching Theatre Acting: A Case for Student-Centered Learning

Sarah d’Angelo, MFA

The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves. ^[1]

—Paulo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change

In chapter 2, Cari Crumly introduces the use of theatre and creative pedagogies as highly effective methods for fostering a student-centered teaching and learning environment. Indeed, current teaching trends are seeing a rise in arts-based educational approaches, which hold promising applications to virtually all subjects. This is because the creative process is intrinsically student-centered and engages students in a way that fosters and develops “soft skills” necessary for every career path.

My aim in this discussion is to describe theatre acting pedagogies,^[2] teaching actor training, and student-centered learning amidst the landscape of university actor training in the United States. Any art form is a reflection of the culture from which it springs. Theatre acting in particular is multi- and interdisciplinary both in its practice and context. Acting is dependent on multiple skill sets, each involving different modes of thought and brain function. Therefore, it is impossible not to include in the discussion the range of acting pedagogies intrinsically influenced by culture, religion, science, other art forms, and history.

I will begin with some observations on the prehistoric origins of theatre, the human impulse for performative storytelling, and the development of theatre where its roots can be found universally in rituals and ceremony. This section will conclude with a quick layover in Greece and Egypt, as no discussion on acting would be complete without acknowledging the contributions made by the Egyptians, followed by the Greeks, to theatre and acting. This section not only lays the foundation for the development of theatre acting and training but also reveals the groundlings of student-centered learning through performance. Next, we will examine the components of theatre actor training in general terms within the teaching and learning context of the academy. Finally, we’ll survey one of the most prevalent acting pedagogies used to train actors pioneered by Constantine Stanislavksi. In this section, we will explore some of the basic Stanislavski acting principles introduced in a beginning university acting class and relate these principles to character creation and scene study. Throughout this section, I apply Kolb’s model of experiential learning to demonstrate its parallels to methods used in teaching acting. It will be clear to readers that the interdisciplinary nature of theatre acting, the dynamic hands-on pedagogies, and the “whole-person” nature of teaching theatre acting can only occur in a student-centered learning environment. Perhaps teachers of all disciplines can find some of these methods and techniques inspiring to their own teaching and useful to their students and classrooms.

An overview of “The Stanislavski System” can be found here.^[3]

Ritual and Ceremony: The Origins of Theatre

I think very few people are interested in the craft of acting, which is actually to reveal what is to be human. ^[4]

—Cate Blanchett, actor

How many of us have sat in a darkened movie theatre and found ourselves taken in by the actor on screen portraying a southern belle in anguish as she watches her family plantation burn to the ground, or a smart lawyer who outwits a big corporation, or an action hero jumping rooftop to rooftop, and thought, “Acting is so easy—I could do that.” Even if we have not had these secret thoughts ourselves, many of us have had the experience at one time or another of overhearing a faceless, nearby audience member speak the same sentiment out loud, just above a whisper.

What causes us during these moments to suspend our disbelief irrationally, give ourselves over to the imaginary lives and circumstances of the movie characters, and be inspired—at least some of us—to want to act, too? Usually, twenty-first-century spectators of movies, plays, and other types of live performance go in with a conscious desire for entertainment grounded in a harmless escapism from our ordinary lives and routines. Yet, most don’t recognize that our need and ability to give ourselves over to actors portraying characters overcoming great odds is subconscious and serves a basic and primal brain function.

When we gather to bear witness to actors performing story, we identify with patterns of human behavior symbolized by types of characters known as archetypes, which appear universally in movies, television, plays, and other forms of performance. When we as audience members allow ourselves to be drawn in, we locate ourselves in these archetypes and we are changed. The transformation lies in the primal need to remind and reaffirm what it means to be human. The impulse to perform and witness stories has occurred since the dawn of time and stems from our ancestral blood: it is a collective, intergenerational memory encoded into our DNA.

Evidence of prehistoric performative storytelling is found worldwide in other art-form mediums such as cave paintings, decorated pottery, artifacts, and hieroglyphics. These markings from ancient human hands document the stories, necessities, and triumphs of human survival: successful hunts, seasonal changes, life cycles, social relationships, and lessons from the gods. Early humankind learned by doing. They experienced firsthand that certain actions performed by the group or by an appointed spiritual leader within the group resulted in positive outcomes for the whole society. The successful results became associated with survival, which lead to habit, then to traditional stories and myths, and eventually formalized ceremony and ritual based on the stories and myths.

The late American mythologist Joseph Campbell maintained that ancient rituals and ceremonies within any given society addressed three basic concerns: pleasure, power, and duty. Performed rituals and ceremonies could guarantee a successful crop or please the gods with the intention of influencing and controlling the natural and unseen realms related to power. Rituals and ceremonies that revered victories and heroes related to duty and formed a cultural history grounded in the oral tradition. Rituals and ceremonies practiced for the gods also brought entertainment and pleasure and were usually facilitated by a spiritual leader. These types of rituals and ceremonies often utilized costumes, paint, or masks to ensure the performers were visible to the gods they sought to appease.

Rituals and ceremonies informed by myths and long-held beliefs were the historical, social, and cultural guides for the generations to come. They defined and served as entertainment that reflected the cultural aesthetic of the society. But if we look deeper into these practices, we can see student-centered learning beginning to take root. These practices were the design for living and were learned by experience. It was the most effective way of ensuring the keys to longevity were passed down to future generations. Our ancestors learned by doing and retained that knowledge through story and performance. Performative practice and experiential learning through story was hands-on, communal, and expositional in its content and concepts. It was an ingenious way of ensuring survival.

When we consider the similarities between performative rituals and ceremonies that used participants (actors) wearing special attire (costumes, make-up, masks), using special or sacred objects (props), led by a spiritual leader (director), held in a special or sacred place (stage), and witnessed by the community (audience), one cannot overlook the obvious: the intergenerational practice of passing down stories and the repetition of ceremony and rituals broke the ground for theatre. When we consider the structure of ritual and ceremony—separation, liminality, and incorporation—the parallels to a theatre performance are once again clear.

The Greeks have long been given credit as the inventors of theatre. Certainly, they developed theatre into the art form we see in the present day. A majority of Western theatrical modalities and conventions used in modern times harken to their paradigm. The Greeks established the genres of tragedy and comedy. They also performed another style, called Satyr plays, which were bawdy parodies of mythological stories. We see the influence of the Satyr plays in burlesque performance, which is making a distinct comeback as late-night theatre in cities throughout the United States.

The Greeks also developed dramatic structure, acting practices, and architectural and scenic structures that are still used in modern Western theatres. We can even trace the influence of Greek theatre in mass-media programming such as television soap operas, situation comedies, hospital and police shows, news documentaries, and superhero movies. The Greeks loved theatre and its origins also sprang from rituals and ceremonies.

In the sixth century ce, the first known Greek performance, known as the dithyramb, began as a religious ritual that was performed annually to honor Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. It is thought a chorus of some fifty men sang a refrain to a story based in mythology, improvised by a chorus leader.^[5] They dressed in goat skins and wore large, protruding phalluses, portraying satyrs. According to Greek mythology, these half-human, half-animal beings were the companions of Dionysus. During one of these performances, a man named Thespis emerged from the dithyramb chorus enacting the role of the tragic hero. The Greek term for actor was hypocrites, or “answerer,” and likely described the call-and-response structure of the dithyramb chorus songs. Thespis’s innovation galvanized a new style of Greek performance known as tragedy and invented what we know as today’s actor. The word “tragedy” comes from the Greek words tragos and ode, which roughly translates as “goat song.” We will never know if Thespis’s artistic move occurred spontaneously or if it was planned prior to the performance. Nonetheless, he brought the story’s hero to life fully embodied. The story was no longer recounted from the third-person perspective of the chorus. Thespis became the hero.

While chorus members were not officially deemed as professionals, they were singled out as talented members of the Greek citizenry. They were given paid release time from their normal professions to serve in the eleven-month-long preparation of the dithyrambs. Chorus members were allocated to a dramatist who choreographed and taught the chorus. Later, professional dithyramb trainers were added to the process and most likely worked closely with the dramatist’s oversight. Training to perform in the dithyramb chorus was grueling. Performers were bound to a strict regime that included dietary restrictions, physical training, and long periods of rehearsals. Nonetheless, the chorus performers were said to have been catered to, lavished with favor, and enjoyed celebrity status throughout the country.

During the fifth century ce, theatre flourished in Greece, and competitions in comedy, tragedy, and Satyr plays were common. Prizes and coveted acclaim were awarded to dramatists and actors alike. The dramatists often performed as actors and coached their own plays. Inspired by Thespis, the dramatists Aeschylus and Sophocles introduced the second actor and third actor respectively to Greek dramatic structure. The speaking parts were shared among the actors, who often portrayed more than one character. Typically, the dramatist selected his own cast and, later, the lead actor was assigned to the dramatist by lot. The two remaining actors were cast by joint decision of the lead actor and the dramatist.^[6] Actors and dramatists alike were paid by the state.

While many Greek plays have survived the ages, the details of their acting style have not been well documented. We find a few descriptions of the acting in the historical writings of Greek rhetoric and oratory. Theatre historians speculate that the magnitude of the Greek theatre venues themselves most likely influenc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Additional Praise for Pedagogies for Student-Centered Learning
• Preface
• Introduction
• Student-Centered versus Teacher-Centered Learning
• Student-Centered Pedagogies and Tactics
• Teaching Theatre Acting: A Case for Student-Centered Learning
• Designing a Student-Centered Learning Environment
• Leadership and Research: Student-Centered Learning
• Epilogue
• Appendix
• Works Cited