Successes and Challenges in the Drama Classroom: Firsts

Episode 137: Successes and Challenges: Firsts Every teacher in this podcast experienced a “first” this past year. Their first year in the classroom. The first time their school has had a drama program. The first time back in the classroom after a long break. Join us as we talk about the successes and challenges of dealing with “firsts.” Show Notes * Vignette Plays Episode Transcript Welcome to TFP – The Theatrefolk Podcast – the place to be for Drama teachers, Drama students, and theatre educators everywhere. I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening. Welcome to Episode 137! You can find any links for this episode in the show notes at theatrefolk.com/episode137. Today, I am talking to teachers and every teacher in this particular podcast has experienced a first – a first year in the classroom, the first time their school has had a drama program, the first time back in the classroom after a long break. This is part one of two in our “Successes and Challenges” series and I really had a lovely time talking to these teachers. I love hearing what challenges you guys face, how you deal with them, and, more often than not, how those challenges turn into successes. I think that’s really important to share. I think it’s really important to hear if you are, you know, if you’re on your own island in the middle of nowhere and it seems like you’re at a loss that there are other people who are in the same boat as you who have taken on challenges and turned them around. I recorded these interviews at the end of the year but I purposely wanted to release them now, at the beginning of the school year because, you know, it’s easy to forget where we’ve been after the summer break. Everyone’s been in the sun and, you know, everybody’s just getting back into the swing of things. So, listen and enjoy. Let’s do it. LINDSAY: Now, I’d like to say hello to Jena Dipinto. JENA: Hi Lindsay! How are ya? LINDSAY: I’m awesome! How are you? JENA: I’m great! Thanks! LINDSAY: So, how long have you been a teacher? JENA: I have been a music teacher, a piano teacher, since high school. Instead of babysitting, that’s what I did. I’ve been formally a teacher for about ten years. I was a middle school choral director for a while and then budget cuts and all that. Then I found myself back in my hometown last year as a sixth grade general music teacher/preschool early intervention special needs music teacher. LINDSAY: Oh, my gosh. JENA: Yeah, kind of a different position, but it’s really fun. LINDSAY: So, you’ve gone into this first year into this new position? JENA: That was last year. This year, instead of sixth grade, I have fifth grade. LINDSAY: Yes. JENA: I still have my pre-K and then we have two middle schools in our district and the drama director at one of them moved away to pursue other opportunities. And so, being that we wanted to have another music teacher in the drama department so that both schools be parallel, they asked me to take over. LINDSAY: What was that like? To not have any background and just sort of get called up or get called down to the office and go, “Okay, this is going to be yours.” What was your first reaction? JENA: You know, I actually was thrilled because, in college, my background was…. I’m a musician but my background was literature and theatre. And so, musical theatre and theatre just kind of have always been the backbone of my music, you know what I mean?