The last 5 years….

The last 5 years….

Lisanne Shaffer

When I think back to my earliest moments in the program at City College, one class sticks out so vividly in my mind. I remember being in Drama in Education one night when Sobha invited alumni guests into the classroom to answer questions and give advice.  I had only one question, which I abruptly blurted out.  “Has your life changed since graduating from this program?”  As I asked this question I remember feeling such anxiety, it was like a pit in my stomach.  I had joined the program at a time in my life when I felt so discontented with my own choices and desperately needed some sort of a game changer.  I knew I loved theater, but I wasn’t happy auditioning and doing regional theater and tours anymore.  I actually hated it.  What the heck was I going to do?  I decided to get my graduate degree in an effort to become a theater teacher one particularly difficult and disheartening night.  It all began so quickly, one minute I was contemplating this step in my life and the next I was sitting in Sobha’s class terrified to write a paper!  

So on alumni night, I sat wide- eyed and anxiety ridden as the alumni panel answered my question.  I remember one of them saying she opened her own theater company and another loved his job as a high school theater teacher and yet another was freelancing as a teaching artist and loving life.  In that moment I actually remember thinking, “I could probably never do that”.  Jeez, if future me could have had a talk with that girl who obviously didn’t know how to believe in herself!  If I could have told myself even one of the many amazing things that has happened since becoming a part of this program and after graduation, I might have passed out right there in the NAC building.  Getting my graduate degree from City College of New York in Educational Theater is the absolute best thing I have ever done to date.

Since graduating from the program, I got hired as a theater teacher at Brooklyn High School of the Arts.  It was a tumultuous entry into the NYC DOE to say the least.  I was hired two months into my student teaching and if the paperwork alone and pressure to pass the EDTPA wasn’t enough to make me want to quit, the way I was treated at first should have completely killed me!  I didn’t realize at that point however that Sobha and Jenn had literally armed me with an arsenal of tools labeled pedagogy, artistry and advocacy because there were so many other obstacles to get around. 

A lot of my students hated me when I first started.  Like, hated me and told me to my face on numerous occasions.  This is fairly common (hindsight being 20/20) when a teacher starts mid-year.  The students did not have a teacher at all until I arrived in late October.  (a sub just sat in the classroom with them) So, they used their theater class period as a goof off zone and a chance to gossip with friends.  Then in walks Ms. Shaffer, little miss Educational Theater asking for a circle and writing the words “Ensemble Building” on the board.  I am sure you can only imagine what the teenage reaction to that was.  I really don’t know how I got through those first few weeks, but something inside me kept me strong.  I like to think there is some sort of secret voodoo magic that Jenn and Sobha do to us over time that allows us to hear their voices in our head telling us to keep at it and that everything will be all right.  Because as it turns out, I did keep at it and everything is all right.  Everything is more than all right! The students started to gel with me after a couple of excruciating months.  I stayed very steadfast to everything I learned in the program and by the time June came and it was time to say goodbye we had built a very tight ensemble.  I was proud but also tired and broken. 

I thought about quitting or transferring incessantly over the summer before my second year.  But, I didn’t and I am so glad I walked back into the school for my second year.  The kids were happy to see me, fellow teachers were happy to see me and I felt like I could do this!  It was very helpful to start on day one and establish norms and rituals and also comforting to see familiar student faces that didn’t hate me anymore and were starting to respect me as a teacher.  If you are a first year teacher reading this, it does get better believe it or not! I really started to love theater again this year (my second year) and love teaching it!  I got into a total groove in the start of the school year and realized that my pedagogy was really good. I can plan a boss lesson because I truly know my subject. (thank you CCNY program in Educational Theater)  However, the pillars of artistry and advocacy were slipping into the abyss a little.  

 So, I did something that no one thought could be done because my artistic heart wanted to do it.  I decided to direct “A Raisin in the Sun” in all of its 3-hour glory!  I am a teacher but just like we learned in Artistic Lab, I knew I needed to feed my artistry of acting and directing so I did despite the warnings from others that high school students can’t handle this play and that it may be too much of an undertaking for my first production. I have always loved this play and have always wanted to direct it! I armed myself with the artistry tools that CCNY taught me never to let go of and decided to give it a shot!  It was challenging at first but I got to be more of an artist than a teacher in those after school rehearsals.  We worked on objective, tactics and motivation and the kids really took to this amazing story and the artistry of putting on a play. We worked like a professional ensemble and my artistic heart loved being a part of the magic of putting together a theater piece again.  We pulled it together just in time to be adjudicated for the Shubert High School Theater Festival.  I was hesitant to enter with my first production as a high school theater teacher but I knew we had done good work. We got in!  It was the proudest moment of my life!  My students got to perform on Broadway in the festival alongside some of the top arts schools in NYC!  I cried, my students cried, my AP cried, it was beautiful! The festival was amazing and I knew then just how connected my

teaching and artistry had become.

 Advocacy started to come very naturally as I grew into my position this year.  I fight for every arts program I can get my hands on!  I have successfully been able to save the TDF open doors program at my school, implement a new Improv Troupe with the support of UCB, gain technical theater support from parents and organize a field trip to Broadway that includes 350 students! Though I find it incomprehensible that I still have to fight for arts programs and field trips I try to remember that the field of Educational Theater is still growing and maturing.  I feel lucky to be a part of the struggle and the education of my colleagues as they see the theater program in the school growing strong. 

It has been 5 years since I asked that question in Drama in Education class.  Looking back, I was looking for an answer that the alumni could not give me.  I really wanted to know how my life would change.  We never know how things are going to pan out when we choose to take a small step or giant leap in a different direction.  I am so glad that I took a step in the right direction by getting my Masters in Educational Theater at CCNY.  So now it is my turn to be an inspirational alumnus of the program. For those of you who may be wondering the same thing I questioned 5 years ago I will say this…I do not know how your life is going to change by completing this program but I do know that it will change.  My life is completely different now.  I see Broadway shows all the time through DOE teacher nights and field trips with my students (something that fulfills me as an artist and is also educational for my students), I go to bed at 8:30pm every night, I come home happy and fulfilled most of the time, I have 200 theater kids who call me Mama Shaffer, I get a paycheck every two weeks, my directorial debut in high school theater went to Broadway for one magnificent and magical night and my heart is finally full.  Teaching is what was missing from my life and I am so glad I took the time to get the priceless training I needed at City College of New York.

Volunteering at TIOS 2016

 Volunteering at TIOS 2016  Anna Robinson

  I had a wonderful time attending this year's TIOS conference and am so glad I took the opportunity to go as an intern. 

 Having never attended a conference before I was a little nervous leading up to TIOS, I was unsure what would take place in the sessions and am always a little concerned about my networking skills. However attending as an intern I was allowed to engage in the sessions as a participant as well as having some jobs to perform throughout the day. Interacting with new people became easier as well because as a volunteer I could check in with session leaders to make sure they had what they needed as well as collaborate with fellow participants. Overall volunteering alleviated much of my pre-conference anxiety by giving me specific tasks while still allowing me the freedom to explore the conference and I got to attend for free! I would highly recommend interning to any first time conference goers. 

Having now experienced TIOS from the intern side of things I am now looking forward to attending again as a paid participant. Beginning with checking people in in the morning and throughout the whole day I was struck by the friendliness of everyone I met and everyone's excitement and willingness to share their work. There was no sense of competition nor was anyone keeping their methods to themselves. In one session “Songologues” led by a fellow CCNY student Naomi Avadani  we were even handed a full unit of lesson plans so we could easily facilitate the work she had shared with us in her session in our own classrooms. In the other two breakout sessions I was able to attend breakout facilitators worked hard to make sure everyone understood the strategies that were being discussed and we shared our ideas on how to use those strategies in our own work.

As an intern I never felt that my ideas or contributions were unwelcome or considered less than, instead I felt constant support and interest from everyone I met.

From talking to other participants during lunch, facilitators during clean ups, and other interns during coffee runs I learned the many different organizations, programs and career paths that exist within our field. 

Everyone I spoke to seemed enthusiastic about what they were doing and hopeful for the future of theatre in schools.  I left feeling even more excited to get out there and hopefully begin work with some of these people and proud to be part of a community that takes so seriously not only the work they do but they effect their work will have on future generations.

           

While listening to Elisa DeGregorio's key note speech  I was struck by the idea of using theater and other arts to introduce students to and encourage active engagement with current events and issues.

Using theater as a tool for social change is not a new idea but what Elisa DeGregorio really opened my eyes to is how using theater and activism together with young people can allow for choice in the curriculum and foster powerful sense of agency in their lives.

DeGregorio discussed her work at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School and how her students created theater inspired by the theme of climate change. Many of her students were inspired by the work they created and chose to also participate in the Peoples Climate March thus taking their activism out of the classroom and to another level.

           

In my own work this semester doing a devising residency with middle schoolers I am working hard to allow room for the students to have choice in what we create. Students chose their own topics to create short theater pieces about what was affecting them currently. We went smaller and instead of focusing on global issues students are creating pieces about peer pressure, bullying and academic pressures. Although the issues are closer to home allowing the students to create based on their interests and explore what is troubling them through art feels close to DeGregorio's work. I have been contemplating and searching for a good final activity or reflection piece to wrap up the residency after the students share their work.  When DeGregorio spoke about beginning her work with students using the image of a spiral and having students write and draw ideas on directly on the printed image beginning in the center with the issue they are concerned about and spiraling out to see who else is effected by that issue. After creating spirals of our own in break-out groups I was inspired to include the spiral as a closing reflection for my Devising Residency. I believe that by having students create spirals based on their own work they will gain a greater idea of how large their topics can be and how they can affect change in those issues through theater.

Two interns after a long fun day!

Anna Robinson & Amanda Mendez