Abstract
From 1993 until 1999, I worked with my colleagues at Florida State University to develop a series of workshops and presentations to advance some new approaches to teacher training for graduate teaching assistants. In these workshops, we used methods of instruction from theatre performance training, such as those of Keith Johnstone, Patsy Rodenburg, Moishe Feldenkrais, and theories and methodologies from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (1979, originally published in 1974). The goals of our performance-oriented program were to develop critically reflective teaching and model pedagogical strategies that teachers can use to foster embodied, engaged, student-centered learning in their classrooms. This dissertation documents the evolution of our program, by describing these workshops, examining them critically in theoretical terms, evaluating their effectiveness, and imagining future directions for the work.
The dissertation is organized by the phases in which we developed at Florida State University the workshops that used performance as a training method for PIE (Program for Instructional Excellence).
The dissertation consists of six chapters, each examining a new phase of the work as an individual case study. In Chapter One, I outline the theoretical foundation on which the project rests. In Chapter Two, I describe our efforts to use performance to revise/rework the plenary session of the PIE’s Fall Teaching Conference. In Chapter Three, I discuss our efforts to begin training the conference participants themselves as performers. In Chapter Four, I explain the way we used Boal’s “Forum Theatre” exercise as a method to promote a pedagogical dialogue among conference participants. Chapter Five documents our use of Boal’s “Cops in the Head” exercise to sensitize graduate teaching assistants to some of their personal “oppressions.” Finally, in Chapter Six, I speculate on future directions for continued work in this area.
|
