Using the downloadable executive summary, teacher toolkit, and additional reading resources from the website and book.
One of my goals for this book is that it goes from the specific, narrow, and individualized to the broad, widely applicable, and widely used. An ambitious goal to be sure, but given that this book comes after 15 years of research and studies, I am cautiously optimistic.
A central way I am attempting to find this balance between the deeply specific and widely generalizable is through the free materials I am offering on this very website.
The book itself is built from a study that was conducted from 2017 until Covid cut us off in 2020. In that study we went to five different school districts around the United States and worked in different kinds of classrooms for teenagers. These included private conservatory schools where students had to audition to get in and sign up for two years’ worth of classes; public magnet schools were students also had to audition to get in, but their intensive theatre education was part of their academic school day; and both public and private general education theater classrooms were students could just sign up for class, and for many this may be the only acting experience they have, educationally.
Each of these classrooms had different acting exercises that were chosen and framed by the teacher as appropriate for the students at their particular level, with their particular acting skill set, but still based off the same psychological principles and using and integrating the Acting Habits of Mind.
To this end, I present the teacher tool kit. Here you will find 16 exercises, two for each of the Acting Habits of Mind, to give very specific instructions and structure to the way in which teachers may want to focus on and center the integration of an acting habit of mine in their classroom.
I am also very aware that my book and its research build off of a wealth of scientific findings from across cognitive, social, emotional and neurological development, as well as our understanding of a large variety of psychological constructs that have nothing to do with acting. To this end I present resources for further reading for any of the individualized psychological concepts that a reader might be interested in. I also present additional books on this list that talk about acting, not from a psychological perspective, but provide more curriculum ideas.
Finally, I know that many if not most school administrators, members of school boards, superintendents and educators outside of the arts and theater education world may be interested in the promises and benefits of theater education but may not have time to delve into all of the details and the specificities and focus of the book. For them, and for everyone, I provide the two page executive summary. This is meant to show the main highlights and takeaways of the book, the Acting Habits of Mind, the way in which time and space are organized in theatre classrooms, and serve as an invitation to use the book as a resource.
In fact, to conclude, for anyone who has the book itself, on page 7 and page 42 I briefly discuss how readers can use my book in a variety of ways.
If you’re just interested in how different acting experiences lead to different scientific findings and outcomes, there’s a section in each chapter specifically focused on the science of… each Acting Habit of Mind.
If readers are interested in exercises that center each Acting Habit of Mind, you can flip from chapter to chapter to see the 6 to 8 exercises for each Acting Habit of Mind, organized both by activity type and with longer focal exercises.
And if executive summary style is necessary for your reading, I provide bullet points at the end of each chapter that summarize the main takeaways from the science, the classroom, and the behavioral foundation of each Acting Habit of Mind.
My hope is that by giving away these additional free resources and organizing the book to have touch points across chapters, people will find the material at the level and style that they want. The book can of course be read from front to back (and I hope many people do just that!) but it can also be used as reference and resource for many years to come.
I can’t believe it’s only two weeks until the book is published, and I can’t wait to hear what people think!
Why Theatre Education Matters is available at all major online retailers including bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.com, but if you order directly from the publisher, Teachers College Press before July 31 you can enter S24THEATRE at check out for a 15% off discount and free shipping. If you're interested in a group or bulk order please contact me through ThaliaGoldstein.com and I can help arrange!