Week One...

Well...I realize that I haven't written all week. The schedule for this trip is so beyond packed. I leave at 7am, I return at 12am, and begin again the next day. I'm finally squeezing in some time to blog...

That being said, this is the most amazing academic experience of my entire life. I've learned so much in just one week. I am completely absorbed in everything I'm doing, and I feel like a completely saturated sponge already. Rather than babble, I will try to recap the week in highlights:

1. TUTOR WORKSHOPS: The tutors on the program each led fantastic opening workshops on Monday. We went through community/ensemble building workshops, process dramas, and dramatic activity lessons. They are incredible teachers to observe, and I feel that there is so much I can already apply to my own teaching practice.

2. SCHOOL VISITS: I'm working in a Primary School (British Elementary School) called Cypress Juniors School in Croydon. The school is completely incredible, the teacher I'm shadowing is amazing, and the children are so bright and insightful. The drama work being done in the school embodies everything I strive for at the New Victory, and represents the new frontier in cross-curricular active learning. The drama specialist is also the AP, which is incredible because he works across the school and the curriculum to empower teachers to use drama in their classrooms. We observed and participated in a two-day drama unit, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, we teach an entire unit plan that we will be developing over the weekend based on THE LORD OF THE FLIES. I'm so excited about it. The school actually has an amazing IT Department, and their website documents everything going on at school in an interactive way that engages parents, kids, and teachers in an online dialogue in and out of school. They are documenting our work with the students! You can follow it at http://www.cypressjuniors.co.uk/year6/nyudrama. During one activity, we took the students outside into nature to write haikus about the story they were reading, gaining inspiration from the landscape (the story we were working with is a japanese folktale). One student turned to me after I worked with him on his haiku a bit and said, "You know...writing a haiku is a bit like painting a picture, don't you think?...The first line is a bit like the outline, and you use your words instead of a brush to color it in." They are amazing. I'm so impressed with the depth of our work with them over two days. 

3. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS: Today, we worked with the National Theatre's Education Department and learned about their NEW CONNECTIONS Festival. It is an amazingly extensive program that commissions well-known writers to write plays for teen performers. NT then works with 177 schools and organizations who produce the new work, transfer it to regional theatres and the National. All the work is performed by teens. We will be seeing 10 of the festival plays next week. They then send an anthology of the plays to EVERY secondary school in the country. I can't wait to see the shows and debrief the festival. We also did a language workshop with Shakespeare's Globe today.

4. SHOWS: We have already seen 4 shows, and by the end of the weekend, it will be 7. The highlight so far has been WAR HORSE, a show in the West End that is one of the most moving, well staged, innovative theatre pieces I've ever seen. I wept at the end of it, as did everyone on the program (and much of the theatre for that matter). PHEDRE starring Helen Mirren was pretty amazing as well.

I cannot believe after writing all of that out that this is just the first week! I feel so academically and professionally stimulated, and I'm buzzing with ideas to bring back to my work in New York. This work in just one week has been thrilling.

In less heavy news, my roommates are a lot of fun, our residence is cute, and the group is getting along well. I have a lot of responsibilities as the GA, but it adds a really exciting layer to my experience here. 

That is all I can keep my eyes open for tonight, but I will do my best to write more frequently. Off to the Unicorn and the Royal Court Theatres tomorrow! Missing everyone back in the US a lot...Thanks for following the blog and I'll write more soon.