“Students have worked closely with Metro’s visiting teaching artists to gain a deeper understanding of the complicated themes in works of literature they have read in their language arts classes. These classes have epitomized research-based, best practices in education. Students are developing their communication and presentation skills. They are actively engaged in learning.”
– Deborah DaLay, Principal, St. Joan of Arc School
“Through our partnership with Metro Theater Company, we are providing our students with a new way to develop crucial academic and social vocabulary. We are also providing students with an opportunity to move and interact with literature in a new way.”
– Vicki M. Reulecke, Principal, Kreitner Elementary School
If you’re interested in developing a residency with us, contact Emily Kohring (education director/artistic associate) at emily@metrotheatercompany.org or 314-997-6777 x 106.
Unsure about how much time you can make for this in your classroom? Our residencies can be as few as three (60-minute) visits, or can be weekly visits made throughout an entire school year.
In our school residency programs, skilled teaching artists work in support of classroom learning goals in schools throughout the region. We design and conduct our residencies in partnership with teachers, so each residency can look very different! For example:
- Fourth-grade students at Jefferson Elementary School in St. Louis learned about life on the Mississippi during the mid 1800s by creating characters on a steamboat voyage down the mighty river. Stepping onto the boat for the imagined journey were Southern belles, gamblers, and escaped slaves. These student-generated characters inspired the class to research and learn about William Wells Brown, a slave from St. Louis who actually escaped on a riverboat.
- Eighth-grade students in Jamie Kelley’s social studies classroom at Maplewood-Richmond Heights Middle School went way beyond learning names and dates in their study of exploration and colonization. After weeks of research, these students participated in a mock trial in which Christopher Columbus and his men were charged with the deaths of the indigenous people of Hispanola. Stepping into roles deepened the students’ understanding of the complexities of the discovery of the so-called “New World.”
- Students for whom English is a second language often face several obstacles to learning. Our arts-based teaching strategies offer the power to overcome those obstacles. First- and second-grade ESOL students at Kreitner Elementary School in Collinsville were able to join fully in the learning when they used pantomime and action-based improvisation to expand their vocabulary.
- When Metro Theater Company started its year-long residency with the eighth-graders at St. Sabina School in Florissant, the students had little experience with drama. After reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, the students embraced drama as a learning tool as they improvised a town hall meeting about whether a community garden should be saved. Invested in the characters and ideas from the book, students became passionate advocates for community renewal and engaged in a hearty debate about the fate of the garden.
- Third-grade students at Maplewood-Richmond Heights Elementary School saw a performance of Delilah’s Wish by Mariah Richardson. Our teaching artists used the play as a springboard for a writer’s workshop, where students used drama activities to support the use of vivid language, action verbs and imagery in their own narrative writing. On the final day of the workshop, students shared their writing with Mariah Richardson when she paid a special visit to their classrooms.
Unforgettable experiences with drama and creative movement such as these reinforce classroom learning goals. But don’t take our word for it.
What could a school residency look like in your classroom?
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