Opening Statement - London 2010

As this is my third time participating in the study abroad program in London, I am very familiar with what is in store for us in the coming weeks. However, this is the first time that I am attending the trip when I am about to embark on a new journey: supervising student teachers. As such, I am hoping to observe and participate in workshops through the lens of how pre-service teachers are trained, acknowledging that their prior experiences heavily influence their approach in the classroom; and looking to see what aspects of their training are interpolated into their teaching practice. As this is a severely truncated program, this experience will be ideal as there will be a limited number of experiences feeding into the student teaching experience, and I will be present every step along the way.

Pulling from the expertise of Dorothy Heathcote, Cecily O’Neill, and Philip Taylor, I expect the students to internalize three key elements: letting the school children guide their planning; using reflection in the activities they plan for the school children as well as in their lesson planning; and creating transformative encounters. As the students are to have done their reading before they arrive in London, they should arrive in London with some understanding of these tenets. Nonetheless, I am curious to see whether the practical work directly informs what the student teachers do in the classroom with the school children, and if it does, to what degree.

For my own personal benefit, I do look forward to Cecily O’Neill’s Henry IV workshops, as I’m hoping they may inform my work in the Creative Drama class in the fall and certainly my teaching of Shakespeare in the years to come. I am keen to see what elements from the plays that she chooses to focus on as well as how the material is received by the students. As I have worked on King Lear at great lengths at the Teaching Shakespeare Institute at the Folger two summers ago, I am also excited to hear Jonathan Heron’s introduction to the play and having discussions with students during and after the Stratford excursion about how the introduction and day in Stratford influences their view of the play.

The last thing I am hoping to get from the London program is some time to reflect on what my place in the world of Educational Theatre will be, and how I can most effectively work with others to expand knowledge in the field. Over the course of my first year of doctoral study, my interest has broadened from the narrow focus of Shakespeare education to the wider field of Drama across the curriculum, with particular interest in the English Language Arts classroom—a location where my professional career has been situated both as an educator and as a member of the professional community. I look forward to hearing about the diverse experiences of the students on the program and how they envision using the skills they attain in London as they move ahead in their professional careers. I expect that this will help me as I continue to navigate my professional preparation and coursework in the coming academic year.