Position+Papers

Beth Huth I-group Position Paper //The Crucible// Unit Having taught //The Crucible// several times I am keenly aware of the challenges involved in conveying to my students the multiple conflicts within the drama and their affects upon characterization and ultimately themes. When presented with the assignment of this I-group project I quickly thought of this particular piece of work. Fortunately, I also quickly discovered two classmates that teach secondary English and they were not only receptive to the idea, but were enthusiastic about it as well. Jess, Stacy, and I immediately took on the first step of the project with shared interest, determining the best way to communicate and collaborate so that each member participates in and is responsible for the whole project. This is a refreshing change from other group projects I have been involved in. Stacy proposed the use of Wikispace and agreed to create our page. Jess and I took on different tasks and so far we have met with success in creating our project and developing cohesiveness. I am confident that as we work together to research and develop this project the three of us will produce quality work in a timely manner that is not stressful, but engaging for all. Arthur Miller's timeless drama The Crucible is a work that 11th graders have the maturity to read and comprehend as an allegory. Because the story is actually a parallel between the Salem witch trials of the 17th century and the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, some background information on Miller and world politics must be introduced to the students before proceeding with the reading. Examination of the essays included in the drama must be led by an informed instructor to help students find the underlying message that Miller is only inferring. The multiple characters and their various motivations are challenging at best for first time readers to keep straight. On top of this, add the multiple conflicts between characters and you have a possible quagmire of conflict for students to traverse. Yet, this quagmire is the spice of the drama so neglecting to engage students in an intellectual analysis of the conflicts and their contributions to the themes of the drama would be criminal. This is where process drama will help. By developing this project Stacy, Jessica, and I hope to create ways in which students will use process drama to fully understand the internal and external conflicts the various characters suffer and how these conflicts motivate their actions. By examining these adult issues in role-play, we hope to prepare our students for future conflicts of their own. We also plan to find ways to relate these conflicts to modern life, specifically issues that are relevant to teens. While the three of us are familiar with the drama and its important messages, we are still seeking ways to effectively use process drama to teach it. I am confident that with more research in process drama we will come up with creative and satisfying ways that students will gain our passion for this literature.

Stacy Biggs I-Group Position Paper //The Crucible// Unit I am working with Beth and Jessica to teach //The Crucible// through process and experimental drama. We all are familiar with and really like the play, so that sort of made it an easy choice, in terms of **what** to teach. We are all high school teachers and are really interested in ways that process drama can be incorporated into any number of genres and discussions to get kids more personally engaged. //The Crucible// seems to be a good choice because it’s one that students, (a) have a hard time getting into, I think, because of the language and setting, and (b) don’t always see the need for deep discussion. It’s almost as though they see the themes and conflicts as black and white, right and wrong, and that’s pretty much the end of it. I think that by using //The Crucible// for this project, we as teachers will gain different perspectives and ideas for opening up the can of worms that is //The Crucible.//

We decided to specifically focus our lesson on internal and external conflict, which I think is smart because conflict is what really carries this play. There are so many internal conflicts that stem directly from the external, and vice versa, that I think we’ll be hitting a lot of the major points of the play in general through this project. A good example of this is theme. It’s nearly impossible to discuss conflict without getting into theme, and I’m excited about how certain dramatic activities may help students to see themes in ways that perhaps they did not, prior to doing said exercise. I think that dramatic strategies, especially when dealing with conflict in a play, will crack open so many other facets of the work that the benefit will reach far beyond just the teaching of conflict.

Coming into this course, I have some background concerning use of dramatic strategies in the classroom, but continue to feel that my attempts have not been wholly successful thus far. I sort of feel like my enactments of drama in the classroom ended a bit like //Phineaus//, but maybe to a lesser extent. I am hoping that our research will give me even more concrete ideas and ways of implementing dramatic strategies when discussing conflict (and theme, characterization, etc.) in any work, not just //The Crucible//. I almost feel as though our choice of literature for the project is less crucial than the ideas we gain from doing it – i.e. teaching conflict in literature the secondary classroom can be challenging, and my hope is that our lesson and research will be applicable across other pieces and lessons, not just //The Crucible.// At first, I wasn’t completely sure what our research was going to yield, but I think I have a better grasp now that we’re looking for drama ideas and theories for use and support of what we’re teaching. My fixed opinion, not just about this project but about the use of dramatic strategies in general, is that they are such amazing supplements, but there is so little time for execution. Our class has already started to change that opinion some, but I also think that delving deeper into our group’s research will continue to change that opinion. I am starting to realize that my attitudes towards drama in the classroom are so positive, as I come from such a theater background personally, but lately I have been scared away from really diving into its use, so one of my goals for this project is to break that hesitancy and find ways to make the use of dramatic strategies successful for both myself and my students.

Jessica Oates I-Group Portfolio  Position Paper  As a secondary English teacher, I have had some experience with incorporating drama in the classroom, though I feel that many of the dramatic activities I facilitated did not reach the kind of depth and level of critical thinking that I’m now learning is possible. I have always been favorable about incorporating dramatic activities; however, like many teachers who have large classes and a scope and sequence to cover, I have passed up opportunities to include drama for the sake of keeping the class under control or covering content. Thus, I approach this project with much earnest and an open mind for learning about practical ways that I can incorporate drama to not only cover content, but to bring the content to life for my students. One of my main assumptions is that drama is a very useful tool for classroom instruction and that this will be a very purposeful and engaging project for me.  I have not had any experience teaching //The Crucible// to students, thus my knowledge and assumptions about what this would/could be like are limited. I have read the play, and can imagine ways that drama could really illuminate the conflicts that occur. I suppose I might have some subjective positions about some of the characters in the play. For example, I am more sympathetic to Elizabeth Proctor’s character and less sympathetic to Abigail William’s. I suppose this could come across in the way I lead discussions about these characters or the way I frame drama activities. I also am under the assumption that coming up with and incorporating dramatic activities into our lessons about The Crucible will be a fairly straight-forward process, as the play lends itself to drama in so many ways. My group members have both had experience teaching //The Crucible//, so I feel like I will learn a lot from them about the play’s content that will help me to come up with ideas for lessons and activities. 