Critical Literacy & Performance: Language in Action

Abstract

My Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts degree was originally undertaken as a performance emphasis degree, in which I hoped to acquire the training to become a professional theatre artist and actor. I have since realized that I hope to inspire students to feel the same way that I did about the stage: confident, empowered, engaged in my learning. This project and paper depict the beginnings of the process by which I will teach and empower students through storytelling, writing, and acting in order to help them develop critical literacy skills that will help them critically analyze and engage with their society. Through these non-traditional media of education, students will discover new and exciting ways to learn in the classroom, as well as to apply their classroom educations to their real-life experiences, connecting the theoretical with the practical. One will notice that this project, while containing a syllabus, a syllabus rationale, and three lesson plans, this course plan is far from finished; this is intentional. My advisor and I determined to set specific goals for the end of this semester, but that I would not submit a project that will be a ‘capstone’ project, ending my college career and simply providing a ‘time capsule’ of my efforts on campus. I intended to create a project that would both show the trajectory of my education at this school and propel me onward into the next phases of my life. This class outline will never be entirely completed because my education will be a lifelong endeavor, and I will constantly be revising my educational practice and adapting it to the needs of the students I am with. That is the goal of a truly liberatory education: to serve the needs of the students. My thesis project takes this form because it not only shows what I have done, it indicates what I will do, serving my need to help guide me onward from this University as I seek to become an educator and activist for social justice.