Full Description
This book examines representations of the teacher on stage - in both theatrical performances and dramatic text - in order to demonstrate how these representations have shaped society's perceptions of educators in and out of the classroom.
At the heart of this book is the interaction between theatre and teacher education. By considering how dramatic portrayals reimagine, reinforce and/or undermine our understanding of the teacher's personal and professional roles, this volume bridges the gap between truth in dramatic literature and truth in the classroom. Chapters critically explore the personas embodied by fictional teachers in well-known works such as Educating Rita, School of Rock and The History Boys and illustrate how educators might use dramatic literature and performance to interrogate entrenched ideas about the student-teacher dynamic. By bringing together a diverse set of contributors from the fields of teacher education and theatre, this book takes a critical look at performance, text, society and culture to promote a new understanding of teaching and learning.
This unique book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, academics and researchers in the fields of teacher education, drama and theatre education.
Contents
List of contributors
Foreword
Clay McLeod Chapman
Introduction
Melanie Shoffner & Richard St. Peter
Chapter 1: Unfit to teach: Morality, panic and hazardous teachers
James F. Wilson
Response to Chapter 1: Sexual perversity in our dreams of teaching
James Stillwaggon
Chapter 2: Educating Frank: Mentorship in Willy Russell's Educating Rita
Richard Corley
Response to Chapter 2: Educating Rita today
Andy Goodwyn
Chapter 3: Fun Home: Representations of a fractured father
Heather Welch
Response to Chapter 3: The complex multiplicities of teaching: Finding the right metaphor
Marshall George
Chapter 4: The teacher's ethos in William Mastrosimone's Tamer of Horses
Benny Sato Ambush
Response to Chapter 4: The teacher as savior fallacy
Shelley Nowacek
Chapter 5: Teaching the coach, coaching the teacher
Richard St. Peter
Response to Chapter 5: Reading coaches critically
Luke Rodesiler
Chapter 6: A rocker in teacher's clothing: Outlandish lessons in School of Rock: The Musical
Pauline Schmidt
Response to Chapter 6: The danger of Deweys: What real teachers face
Lisa Scherff
Chapter 7: A holey trinity: Crises of communion in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt
Jeff Spanke
Response to Chapter 7: Faith and futurity: Embracing the struggle
Julie Gorlewski
