The Arts Don’t Need To Be Isolated: Building a School Community through Theatre

Episode 141: The Arts Don’t Need To Be Isolated At Northwest Middle School in Flowood, MS, Emily Wright and Genifer Freeman worked on a play to support the school’s summer reading book - A Long Walk To Water. But that was just the beginning. Every class from English, to art to music, to drama, to science and beyond incorporated the book into their lesson plans and they also used the project to raise money to build a well in South Sudan. This is arts integration and cross-curricular education at its finest! Listen in to learn how they accomplished this massive undertaking, and how got the principal on stage too. Show Notes * The Walking Boys by Robert McDonough * A Long Walk to Water * Episode 107: Cross-Curricular in the Drama Classroom * Writing Your Research Exercise * Speeches From History 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 141! You can find any links for this episode in the show notes at theatrefolk.com/episode141. Okay. So, I feel like I am working on a theme here. It’s totally by accident. No intense planning or strategy. Just the people who I managed to get to talk on the podcast and we seem to have another podcast that will make you think about the question: “What motivates you for your students?” I won’t lie; I really love this question and I have been… it’s been awesome. I’ve been head over heels with the answers. So, on this podcast, you are going to meet Emily and Genifer – two teachers are Northwest Middle School in Flowood, Mississippi. They participated in a massive cross-curricular project – plays, music, dance – and involved every teacher and every subject at their school. And, add to that, they used this project as a fundraising opportunity. Beyond amazing! I should stop talking, right? Yes, I think so. Yes, Lindsay. Okay. I’m going to leave you with this. The arts do not have to be isolated. Let’s get to it. LINDSAY: All right. I am here – as opposed to there. I am talking to Emily Wright. Hello, Emily! EMILY: Hi, Lindsay! LINDSAY: And Genifer Freeman. Hello, Genifer! GENIFER: Hey! How are you? LINDSAY: Awesome. First off, tell everybody where in the world you are. EMILY: We are in Flowood, Mississippi. Our school is Northwest Rankin Middle School. LINDSAY: You guys had quite the year last year with a really interesting and unique project which I can’t wait to sort of share with everybody and get everybody into it. I guess, where it started, it started last summer, didn’t it?