Laura A. McCammon

Creative Teaching—Teaching Creativity

This paper explores the concept of creativity in education. Through a study of recent literature on creativity and creativity in education, we will identify various definitions of creativity, and then examine how the concept is discussed and concretized with reference to education. Later, we will consider how the literature describes the distinction between creative teaching and teaching creativity, and present some of the tensions and dilemmas that have been raised in relation to creativity in education. This paper represents the first step in what is planned to be a three-year journey into explorations about creativity and teaching creatively in drama/theatre classrooms internationally.

Lifelong Impact: Adult Perceptions of Their High School Speech and/or Theatre Participation

This study sought first to determine in what ways participation in high school theatre/speech classes and/or related extracurricular activities may have positively influenced and affected adults after graduation, and secondly, it sought to identify and advocate the potentially beneficial and “lifelong” impacts that speech/theatre participation during adolescence can contribute to adulthood. A mixed-methods survey was purposively distributed to North American adults who participated in these activities; 234 responses were received and analyzed. The key assertion of this study is: Quality high school theatre and speech experiences can not only influence but even accelerate adolescent development and provide residual, positive, lifelong impacts throughout adulthood.

Connecting With Their Inner Beings: An International Survey of Drama/ Theatre Teachers' Perceptions of Creative Teaching and Teaching for Creative Achievement

As the first phase of a multinational exploration of the nature of creativity and its relationship to drama/theatre education, a mixed methods survey was given to 100 classroom teachers in four countries: Canada (Ontario), the United States (Arizona), Jamaica and Norway. Teachers were both elementary generalist and secondary specialists; most had some drama education. This article documents the following: a brief review of the related literature; survey results with an emphasis on the qualitative data; and a brief overview of the next phases of the research. Survey results suggest that teachers of drama/theatre believe in the importance of teaching for both creative achievement in their students and in themselves as creative teachers—especially when solving teaching problems. Examples of their practice indicate that teachers implement a variety of student-centered drama/theatre approaches in their classrooms. However, teachers do not perceive support for their creative work from their schools or the school system, nor do they have confidence in their capacity to assess student achievement in creativity.

Research on Drama and Theater for Social Change

Brian, a drama facilitator, leads a group of Grade 9 students in Zambia in a series of drama activities designed to help them identify the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. Brian’s goal is to promote more HIV/AIDS competence among these students. While they work, Tony, an anthropologist, takes field notes. Brian has introduced the students to a fictitious 14 year old boy they name Steven Mubanga, who is represented by an empty jacket draped around a chair. Brian tells them that Steven, HIV positive at birth, was placed in an orphanage as a baby by his only surviving family member, his 12 year old brother. The students explore the older brother’s concerns as he first thinks about trying to care for a baby by himself, and then 14 years later, when he contemplates bringing Steven to live with his family. This exploration enables the students to confront their misconceptions and fears about HIV/AIDS. Later, Brian asks them if they would be a friend to Steven and write him a letter. One of the boys agrees to take on the role of Steven. He puts on the jacket and the students read him their letters and then stand by his side. “I want to become your friend,” one boy writes. “I know it was not your wish to become HIV positive. I know I cannot be infected if we are just friends.” The summary report of this drama activity noted the following: The pupils’ declarations of friendship for the HIV-positive boy portrayed in the drama were ritualized when they handed their written declarations to him, shook hands and stood in solidarity with him at the front of the class. This was an extremely moving moment, all the more so for the levels of belief, dignity, respect and truth with which the pupils imbued it. (Simpson & Heap, 2002, pp. 71‐83; see also Heap & Simpson, 2005)

“Our Children are Worth A Little Care”: Telling The Stories of Mexican American Young People

Drawing from an audience response study based on a production of Calabasas Street by José Cruz González and the literature on teaching Latino/Latina youth, this paper explores issues relating to preparing drama/theatre teachers to work successfully in Latino/Latina communities.

Cacophony and Fugue: pre‐service narratives create conversation about drama education

Abstract Teacher preparation seeks to develop reflective practitioners who examine and re‐examine teaching and learning, knowledge, beliefs and values. Articulation of teacher voice‐‐use of language to explain, describe, question, explore or challenge‐‐is vital. Teacher voice implies that a teacher can speak her or his own truth and be heard. Inherent barriers in teacher education, especially in drama education, impede reflection and teacher voice. These include: (a) isolation‐‐particularly problematic in drama education‐‐students feel marginalised in both theatre and education departments; and (b) student culture favouring practice over theory, a perception created when education departments ignore arts students and drama methods texts ignore education theory. Three drama educators, two Canadian and one American, use drama student teacher written cases to develop reflection and community in pre‐service secondary drama teachers. The cases are introduced during the methods class. While each case can be exp...

Debra Hundert McLauchlan, 1951–2016

The passing of Debra Hundert McLauchlan has left a giant space in the international educational world of drama and theatre. She was a force to be reckoned with, an advocate for arts education in the broadest sense—schools, universities, theatre groups, government—and always with the students front and center. She was a tireless worker for drama and theatre in and out of schools; a committed and dedicated teacher with both her secondary and university students; a respected, indeed cherished, colleague; and a special friend. As well, Debra played a significant role in different community-based partnerships, including the Carousel Players, the St. Catharines Museum, Shaw Festival, Theatre Ontario, and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Debra had taught drama in high school for almost fifteen years, directing and guiding more than sixty student productions, including several student-generated works. It was during her graduate courses at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto, beginning in 1993, that I began to notice her strengths in my courses in the arts in education and drama, and from those first days, I recognized her love of her subject and her belief in her students. She was extremely successful in her studies, and I then became her graduate advisor for her Ph.D. thesis. We met frequently during the next few years, Debra journeying by bus from St. Catharines to Toronto. Her thesis was based on her years of working with her drama students, supported by her studies and her readings. It was a pleasure working with her, developing her personal narrative, discussing new research and exploring different authors in her field, as well as in education in general. I learned so much from these Debra McLauchlan. Photo courtesy of Brock University.

The Reader's Theatre Script for “Lifelong Impact: Adult Perceptions of Their High School Speech and/or Theatre Participation”

This article includes a readers theatre script adapted from a full-length qualitative study, “Lifelong Impact: Adult Perceptions of Their High School Speech and/or Theatre Participation.” The report first reviews readers theatre as an arts-based form of research representation and presentation, then surveys key figures from qualitative inquiry and theatre education involved with interdisciplinary collaborations. The coauthors then discuss one of their key learnings from their experiences with performing the research, labeled “reinteracting the data”—a triple compound word of acting, reacting, and interacting with the dramatized text and our audiences.

“Creativity Really Comes by what’s Inside of You”

A secondary student in a Canadian performing arts school articulates one of the interesting dichotomies when it comes to promoting creative achievement in young people: For the individual student, it is likely that creativity is perceived as a form of self-expression, something that happens within themselves or in their group. While, for the teacher, promoting creative achievement depends on the structuring of the class and assignments and observing student growth as s/he masters an art form. This comment from an elementary teacher in Jamaica illustrates, “In teaching creativity, teachers need to provide opportunities where students are allowed to give their own idea and present what they are feeling which also will help to develop critical thinking skills” (, McCammon, O’Farrell, & Heap, 2008, p. 51).