Steve and Helen are going to the UAE!!!!

This blog has been archived and now reads 1st post to last post.

Originally published Sept. 4, 2008

This October, two teaching artists from The City University of New York’s Creative Arts Team (CAT) will be traveling to the United Arab Emirates to work with students at the UAE University.  During their time in the UAE, Steve Elm and Helen Wheelock, senior members of CAT’s Early Learning Through the Arts/New York City Wolf Trap program (ELTA), will lead two weeks of trainings and demonstrations to introduce undergraduate students to the use of drama in the early childhood classroom.

“CAT’s residency at UAEU will allow our students to gain a unique academic and artistic experience and help our students learn to use the arts as a catalyst to learning,” said Dr. James Mirrione, an American UAEU faculty member and CAT co-founder who arranged the residency.

First graders collaborate to create words that protect the Book of Letters from the Wizard who wants to destroy it.

Since its founding in 1974, CAT has pioneered the use of drama as an educational tool in public schools, becoming internationally known for its innovative practices. CAT’s ELTA work involves Head Start and pre-kindergarten through second grade students and their teachers in interactive drama activities designed to explore human, social and curricular issues. Within the context of a story that unfolds over a series of days, CAT’s professional actor/teachers, together with the children, play characters that address and resolve dilemmas raised during the drama sessions.

Steve Elm is a senior actor/teacher and has been with CAT’s Early Learning program since its creation in 1994.

Steve Elm as Snip, the Fixing Elf, in the emergent literacy drama, "The Alphabet Keepers."

Helen Wheelock joined the Creative Arts Team in 1994 as an actor/teacher and was named director of the ELTA program in 2007.

Helen Wheelock and actor/teacher Max Ryan during a professional development session.

In addition to direct services to students, ELTA offers a powerful teacher-training model that supports the professional development of teachers in the use of drama in the classroom. Through modeling, mentoring and implementation, teachers are able to practice and reflect on their work with the ongoing support of the actor/teachers.

As part of the ELTA teacher training mentoring model, an early childhood teacher leads an interactive storytelling with support from a CAT actor/teacher.

The CUNY-CAT partnership, initiated on July 1, 2004, integrates CAT’s programs within the nation’s largest public university system. CAT and the Paul A. Kaplan Center for Educational Drama’s outreach programs are housed within the University Office of Academic Affairs and the School of Professional Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Building on the achievements of the partnership with the the School of Professional Studies and the Creative Arts Team, this fall saw the launch of the M.A. program in Applied Theatre, the first of its kind in the United States. A sequential, ensemble-based program for students interested in the use of theatre to address social and educational issues in a wide range of settings, the program stresses the unity of theory and practice and is linked to the professional applied theatre work of CAT.

MORE ABOUT THE CAT ACTOR/TEACHERS
Steve Elm is a senior actor/teacher and has been with CAT’s Early Learning Through the Arts program since its creation in 1994. Trained at London’s Rose Bruford College, Steve has appeared as an actor in film, television and on the stage. He has worked as a playwright and director with London’s Common Body Theatre, University of Manchester (England), the American Indian Community House Youth Theatre Project, and was a founding member of Chuka Lokoli Native Theatre Ensemble in New York City. Steve also works as an actor with the Only Make Believe company and does professional development nationwide as a Master Artist for the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Steve is the Artistic Director of Amerinda Theatre, which, in partnership with New York’s Public Theater, produces new work by Native American artists.

Steve serves as the editor of American Indian Artists Inc.’s Talking Stick Native Arts Quarterly, which publishes Indigenous arts, news, commentaries, features, fiction, poetry and essays written by Native American writers. Its mission is to promote, give exposure to, and explore ideas in the world of contemporary American Indian arts. Steve was recently published in Amerinda/Nation Book’s anthologies, Genocide of the Mind and Sovereign Bones.

Helen Wheelock joined the Creative Arts Team in 1994 as an actor/teacher with the Elementary Program and moved to the NYC Wolf Trap/Early Learning Through the Arts Program (ELTA) in 1996. Since then she has been intricately involved with the development of ELTA’s issue-based curriculum and their highly successfully teacher-training/mentoring model piloted in New York City Head Starts. As a Senior Actor/Teacher, she was a point-person for ELTA’s collaboration with Wolf Trap in the stART smART program, a three-year project that sought to integrate technology with teacher training.

Helen took over the Program Director position in January of 2007. She has represented CAT across the country both as a conference presenter and key note speaker. Additionally, Helen has collaborated extensively with CAT’s senior Youth Theatre, both as a director and production manager, and taught courses for CAT’s Paul A. Kaplan Center for Educational Theater.

Helen also has developed a robust career as a freelance journalist specializing in women’s basketball. With over one hundred articles to her credit, she currently is a columnist for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Coaching Women’s Basketball. A regular contributor to the Women’s Hoops Blog and the Women’s Sports Foundation, she has become a resource for reporters and students across the nation.

Helen earned her B.A. in theater from Middlebury College, and her Masters in Educational Theatre from NYU.

Helen and Steve will be blogging their UAE experience.

What are we bringing? Books.

Originally published Oct. 1, 2008

When Steve and I go to the UAE, we’re charged with bringing ELTA’s unique interactive drama strategies to the University’s students. We will be looking at the use of puppeteering and pantomime not just as art forms, but as educational tools. We will also take the University student’s through our interactive storytelling training-mentoring model.

Our storytelling work starts with children’s storybooks. From the text of those books, the classroom teacher develops a storytelling and then adds specific “points of participation” designed to engage their young students in being co-creators of the story.

We’ve found the following books to be good starting points:

Aaaarrgghh, Spider! by Lydia Monks.

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, retold by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Janet Stevens.

Bear Wants More, by Karma Wilson. illustrated by Jane Champman.

Kitten’s First Full Moon, by Kevin Henkes.

No Dinner!, by Jessica Souhami.

Ruby, In Her Own Time, by Jonathan Emmett and Rebecca Harry.

We are reading the following books before we go to the UAE:

Kalila Wa Dimna or The Mirror for Princesby Sulayman Al-Bassam.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle Eastby Naomi Shihab Nye.

Tales of Juha: Classic Arab Folk Humor,edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi

Finally, from Tami C. Al-Hazza’sarticle (Booklinks, January 2006), “Arab Children’s Literature: An Update,” came the following books:

The Day of Ahmed’s Secretby Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland, illustrated by Ted Lewin.

Sitti’s Secrets, by Naomi Shihab Nye, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter.

What else are we bringing? Puppets!!!

 Originally posted Oct. 1, 2008

It is always challenging to describe CAT’s work. Though we have a strong theatrical aesthetic, our goal is student engagement and the exploration of issues in a student-centered manner across the age groups. We use the medium of theater as a catalyst for learning. We don’t do a “performance,” per se, though there’s no doubt we are performers.

I often say that an ELTA story is like a good soap opera that unfolds over five days. The difference is that, instead of watching the show, students are characters within the story. They are rabbits or cranes or bears, and the story is happening to and with them. In this way it’s not a play, but more like a structured improvisation that moves one way or another, guided by the input and interest of the students and focused by the leadership of the actor/teachers.

Perhaps now you can understand why, after 14 years, I still tell my mom, “You really just need to see it.”

A little history: Early in ELTA’s existence, a team of our actor/teachers was greeted by a school official with, “Oh, you’re the Puppet People!” They simply smiled and said, “Yes, we work with early childhood years, but no, we don’t do puppet shows.”

Somehow the phrase entered ELTA “lore” and became an in-house joke. So it is with no small irony that, years later, we can now say that yes, we ARE the “Puppet People.”

Puppets entered first entered ELTA’s work on the hands of a character who happened to be a puppeteer. In a story exploring anger management, violence and conflict resolution, the students intervened on the two puppets who fought during their show. The students were asked to find solutions for the puppet’s problems that allowed them to still be friends.

Zebra and Flamingo ponder what they'll say the first time they meet a camel.

Over the years we’ve use a variety of hand puppets in various ways. Some puppets have been simple company-created sock puppets. Others have been delightful flights of fancy and art created by local artist and puppeteer, Spica Wobbe.

Coyote and Bear from the drama about new sibling jealousy, "Coyote's Surprise"

Luna and Fishy try to contain their excitement about their trip to the UAE.

With the UAEU students we hope to introduce them to some basic puppeteering skills and help them develop some puppet scenarios. We’ll also model our ground-breaking work, “Puppet Intervention,” which is our adaptation of Augusto Boal’s Forum Theater work for use in the early childhood classroom.

A "Puppet Intervention" with Luna and Sol during the drama "Feria de Sevilla."

 

Where we’re starting from: New York City

Originally published Oct. 2, 2008

The words “New York” can bring to mind some iconic images:

Statue of Liberty

Times Square

Wall Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like most New Yorkers, we use the New York Subway system to get around

In fact, take a little trip with me from my home in the borough of Queens to the Creative Arts Team’s offices in the borough of Manhattan.

 

Leaving the apartment early in the morning.

 

 Walking though the neighborhood to the subway.

The subway – though in this case it would be more accurate to call it the “El” as in the elevated. (And yes, that would be my shadow)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Midtown Manhattan

 

Exiting at Herald Square. Check out the view down 6th Avenue. The Empire State Building. Up 6th Avenue.

And then in to our building. Check out the nice lobby ceiling in our building!

and our offices

The first bird you see in NYC is….

Originally published Oct. 3, 2008

It’s now t-minus 24hrs until the plane takes off and Steve and I are talking packing lists. Mine includes a pair of binoculars.

One of my hobbies is birdwatching — that is, going out with binoculars and looking at (and, when possible, identifying) birds. Many are surprised that NYC is one of the best birding areas in the United States. Central Park is what’s called a “fly-through zone,” and in the spring it’s a wonder to behold. You never know when you might spot one of these beauties:

Yellow Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

 You might even see one of Central Park’s most famous inhabitants: the Red Tailed Hawk Pale Male.

Pale Male on the prowl.

Of course, I can all but guarantee that the first bird you’ll see in New York City is the ubiquitous Rock Pigeon.

 

If I’m lucky, one of the birds I’ll see in the UAE will be the Eastern Pied Wheatear.

Or maybe this spectacular beast: the Greater Flamingo.

The animal we’re hoping to see first…

Originally published Oct. 4, 2008

And we’re OFF!!!

13 or so hours from now, we ought to be landing in Abu Dhabi and driving to Al Ain. I’ll be keeping an eye out for this handsome creature…

 

Charming -- yes, that

 

 

 

Are you lookin’ at me? Are you lookin’ at ME?!?

We have arrived!!!

Originally published Oct. 5, 2008

The Plane: Best. Airplane Food. Ever.

The Road: Just to say, New Jersey jughandles have NOTHIN’ on Al Ain roundabouts….

The Place

The Puppets. A tad jetlagged, me thinks.

Day One…

Originally published Oct. 6, 2008

is all but done… thank goodness. Jet lag is knocking the stuffing out of me and Steve.

Early this morning, Associate Dean Dennis Leavens (he is also an English Literature professor with roots in Missouri) met us at the hotel and drove us (followed by Dr. Jim Mirrione  — or Dr. Jim, as we’ve learned to call him —  in his lovely rented Lancer) to the University. We encountered some “every one is going to school at the same time” traffic and LOTS of roundabouts. I’ve got to say, they’re going to take some getting used to, these roundabouts. Not for the nerve-wracking mad dash in and out of them – hey, I’ve driven in Boston. I don’t scare easy — but for the roller coaster ride of round-and-round in-and-dash-out-ness of the whole experience. Physically, it feels like we’re pulling some serious “Gs.” Imagine, if you will, being in those big teacups they have in amusement parks and you’ll get a sense of what is going on…

About 22 students joined us in the multi purpose room — a huge space. The challenge is that the sessions clash with other classes,  so many of the women have negotiated with their other teachers to be released. That so many were able to attend speaks to the generosity of Dr. Jim’s colleagues. He also noted that 2 or 3 students who were NOT his students showed up. I can only imagine that they came because of the encouragement of their fellow students and/or were intrigued by the flyers that have been posted about our workshops. Or they’re just plain brave and inquisitive.

Most of the students have had Dr. Jim as a teacher for three years, so they’re somewhat “broken in” to goofy, active and irreverent teachers – which, I’m guessing Dr. Jim would say, suits Helen and Steve to a “T.” Jim introduced us and, taking our “you learn by doing” credo to heart, we launched into the day’s work. We started out with a name game as an icebreaker (introduce yourself to as many people in the room as you can in one minute and share something you feel about education).

Steve then ran “name three times,” another name game where one person stands in the middle of the circle and tries to say the name of someone IN the circle three times before that person says THEIR name once. (It’s a lot less confusing and a lot more fun than the description reads). The students were great at the game and enjoyed tricking each other, quickly identifying winning strategies.

After a quick explanation of CAT in general, we moved into the “full-out” drama work. We knew that Dr. Jim’s students had a strong background in “traditional” theater, so we asked them to wear two hats as they engaged in our work – one as (good) 5 year olds. That is, when we led our drama, we wanted them to respond as a five-year-old might. The second hat was that of a theater student – look at our work and identify the elements of theater we were using. When we led Pt 2 of the drama, we asked the students to look at what the “children” learning and how are we were making it an interactive, student-centered, experience.

Steve and I led a truncated version of “Coyote’s Surprise,” a drama that deals with sibling (or in this case, best friend) jealousy. Bear and Coyote are best friends, until a new baby bear comes in to the family. Bear won’t play with Coyote ’cause he and the children (students as little bears) are too busy taking care of the baby bear. Coyote resists having anything to do with the baby bear.

The story reaches its climax when Coyote shares her puppet show, “Bear Says NO!” The show shows the good times Bear and Coyote had until the baby arrives – “and then things changed.” Bear finally realizes the problem — asks the little bears if there’s some way they can take care of the baby AND have a good time. The little bears problem solve and Coyote “practices” their suggestions with the puppets.

The students really enjoyed being in the drama. They especially appreciated it when Dr. Jim came out as Grandpa bear (our early childhood dramas always have a role for the classroom teacher). I don’t know if there’s an Arabic equivalent for the word “ham,” but it’s the only word that can truly capture his “performance.”

It was delightful to watch the student’s participate. As the drama unfolded, they did exactly what 5-year-olds do — side with Coyote about how annoying babies are and then swing right over to side with Bear when he talks about how much fun babies are…. When Coyote tried to “buzz” the baby as a “welcome to the family” trick, they scolded her, but could also explain to Bear that she was jealous. They also didn’t think Bear had done anything “wrong” when he yelled at Coyote that he was disappointed in her behavior.

Students were enthralled by the puppets themselves (thank you Spica) and Coyote’s puppet show. They got a little stumped when Bear asked “how can we take care of the baby and have fun at the same time” First answer – leave the bear with grandpa – which didn’t please Dr. Jim Grandpa at all.  We eventually came up with a solution and all ended well.

They are not a boisterous group, though there’s plenty of laughter and an impressive command of English. As in many of the schools we’ve worked in in NYC, there were students who “side translated” for those whose English was not as strong. Overall, the students were very present, enthusiastic and had fun doing the work. They easily saw the connection between theater and education — not just that we were teaching “how to take care of a baby,” but language development, empathy and imagination, working together, and critical thinking.

Completely off the drama topic – after the session a couple of the students and I were talking and they said they would henna my hand. Can’t wait! Expect photos!

Afterwards, we zoomed off to the UAEU Library (whoopee! roundabouts!) to meet with Mary Kay Rathke, Assistant Manager of Public Services for UAEU Library. She, too, had seen the flyer, googled CAT, found the blog (Hi, Mary Kay!) and was very intrigued by both our literacy focus and our issue-based work.  She was interested in using us, some how, to support the UAE Literacy (English) initiative. Not sure what’s going to come of it, what with the schedule Dr. Jim is creating for us, but we hope to demonstrate of our interactive storytelling, perhaps with some volunteers who work in the Children’s Corner – a beautiful area in the library that’s opening up within the month. (That was an overly long sentence. I apologize to English Lit teachers world-wide.)

While at the library, Dr. Husam Mohamed Sultan Al Ulama, Dean of the UAEU library, was kind enough to meet with us and discuss our work. Charming, interested and rightly proud of his beautiful space, he served us what I thought was cardamom tea. Turns out, it was Arabic coffee…. totally not what I thought it was going to taste like…. but it was delicious.

Zoomed back to the hotel to have lunch with Dr. Jim and his friend Gabby (whoopee! roundabouts!). A classically trained musician and wife of a professor at the UAEU, she’s started an Arts Center. Initially they focused on music – they teach music, host and give concerts — now  they are developing into a site that houses all the arts. It looks like this Thursday, Steve and I will do a demonstration of our work with “real” kids – that is, the pre-schoolers that attend her center. If we do, we’ll have some observers – her staff and some other invitees. The plan would be to meet with them afterwards and discuss/breakdown what it is they saw us doing.

That’s basically it for now. I should say the hotel is beyond lovely. Kind staff and lots and lots and LOTS of good food. (Note too self — be very, very careful or… well, or else.)

Finally, I know you’re all looking for a bird update: I’ve seen something blackbird-ish, swallow-ish, pigeon with a striped white-winged-ish, a reddish headed mourning-dove-ish bird, and some iridescent blue magnificent beast that might be related to the Jay family. Have got to work on getting a more specific identification. Ish.

Also, if you notice, I got a comment about birding on the Birds post from someone in the UAE… how cool is that! :-)

Day Two…

Originally published Oct. 7, 2008

A quick update.

Our 22 students turned in to 35 students. Guess there’s nothing like a Coyote and Bear puppet to draw people to your classroom

Today we worked with the students on developing a pantomime activity, paying specific attention to how questioning can make the work child-centered. Steve demonstrated an activity we call “Pizza Pete,” where, in role, he engages the “children” (again the students as good 5-year-olds) in creating a pantomime pizza.

Since it’s a pretend pizza, there are no “wrong” answers (though, occasionally, challenging!). We ended up with a pizza covered in turquoise and pink sauce and various toppings – mushrooms, onions, olives (not my slice, thank you very much) and chocolate. It got a little singed on the edges, but luckily we remembered to blow on it so we wouldn’t burn our tongues while eating it.

After the demo, we split into two groups, and each group practiced round-robin facilitating/questioning around an activity (making a cake, making some soup). Steve’s group added a twist to their cake-making and turned it in to a “nasty” cake, full of worms and rotten strawberries and such. Lot’s of fun and no, I won’t tell you who they were making it for.

A couple of things my group of “children” discovered because questions were asked vs. simply being directed through the pantomime: you know olive oil is at sauteing temperature when it changes color (or you can toss a drop of water on the pan). Onions are done when THEY change color. Chopped carrots float (or, perhaps we should double check next time we cook REAL soup with them.) Also, if you add too much salt to your soup, add lots more water. Nothing like a little math and science to enliven a drama activity!

When we debriefed, we talked about how challenging asking questions — and incorporating the answers you get — can be. Like so many of us, they felt more comfortable “telling” or “directing” than asking. But, as participants and educators, the also completely understood — and felt — the power of a question asked honestly and an answer accepted unconditionally.

Speaking of questions, a great question from one of the students. To start off today’s session, we’d asked the class to reflect on yesterday’s work: what had they expected? How was the experience different/similar to what they expected? What questions did the work raise that they wanted us to explore during our time together? Said one student, “I’m going to be a counselor. How can I use this in my work? I’m told that, in my work, it helps to be like, or think like, the children.” (somewhat paraphrasing here)

We’ve asked her to hold on to that question and share back what she discovers throughout our sessions. We also asked all the students to consider how they might adapt our techniques to suit their particular major. I know several are English Lit. students, one is majoring in English translation, and another in Poli-Sci. I’m intrigued to hear what they come up with.

Speaking of answers, thanks so some local internet dialogue, I got one about the Jay-ish bird I’ve seen: it’s an Indian Roller. Beautiful, no?

Steve, who is very tolerant of my bird obsession, also saw the Roller today, and asked what other kinds of Jays there are (and, to be accurate, the Roller (as wikipedia tells me) was misidentified as part of the Jay family).

In the US we’ve got several, but I think the most spectacular one lives down in the south Texas area — the Green Jay.

Clearly, both birds visit the same feather-haberdashery.

Whoopee a Hoopoe!

Originally published Oct. 9, 2008

Look what Steve spotted in the parking lot this morning!