Creating Empathy: Dramatic Conventions in Early Childhood as a Foundation for 21st Century Learning |
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Participants will actively engage in the creative process which answers the question: “How can I guide my students to dramatically and emotionally enter a piece of children's literature?” The focus story will be on Giraffes Can't Dance! by Giles Andreas and Guy Parker-Rees. The methodology employed throughout is part of the Wolf Trap Early Learning Through Arts Early Childhood Program. Basic emotions in the story are identified and explored, then integrated to created empathy with a specific characters’ emotions through imagination and dramatic play. Specific strategies will include: mirror work with music, reading-aloud (using the ‘actor’s voice’), story enactment as a character, and interaction with the teacher ‘in role.’ |
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Michele Mummert is the Assistant Director for the Alliance Theatre Institute for Educators and Teaching Artists as well as the Regional Director for Wolf Trap. She recently completed training at the Aspiring Leadership Institute at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Last spring, Michele trained at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC in the CETA (Changing Education Through the Arts) model for arts partnerships with local school systems. An arts educator for over 15 fifteen years, Michele is a Georgia Council for the Arts consultant, and formerly a middle school drama teacher at Tapp Middle School, Cobb County, GA. She holds a post baccalaureate degree in education from Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA and a BA in communications from Loyola University, New Orleans, LA. |
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Kim Bowers-Rheay is a professional singer, actress, and teaching artist as well as a certified Montessori teacher. She is a Resident Teaching Artist and Wolf Trap artist for the Alliance Theatre and a Georgia Council for the Arts theatre roster artist and consultant. Previously, Kim was the assistant educational director for the Center for Puppetry Arts and creative arts director and lower elementary teacher for a private Montessori school in Fayetteville, GA. She has presented at many arts integration and teacher training workshops throughout the Southeast and has taught at more summer arts camps than can be counted. She is a private vocal and monologue coach for high school students and a director of plays featuring student actors. As a professional actress, Kim has performed throughout the Southeast and on national tours. Kim received her bachelor of music degree in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma and her Montessori certification from the National Center for Montessori Education in Atlanta. |
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