Professional Development Workshops for Teachers

Student in an Emerald City Theatre School class

Emerald City Theatre School loves teaching children, but did you know we teach educators, too? Our professional teaching artists are trained to bring the skills and knowledge of arts-integration into classrooms in order to help school teachers develop more creative methods of instruction and behavior management and to connect literature, social studies, or even science to drama!

Our teacher workshops and one-on-one partnerships are uniquely tailored to the needs of each school and teacher so that every lesson plan comes alive with new creative techniques and applications. In collaborative partnerships, our teaching artists provide teachers with tools and feedback so that teachers can introduce theatre into their own classrooms with confidence!

While we can develop any type of professional development to meet your needs, two programs you can choose from include:

  • Read, Write, & Act Professional Development:
    Based on our popular Read, Write, and Act Residency program, our teaching artists train classroom teachers in developing an emerging literacy and creative drama unit based on a book of their choice! Read about a Read, Write, & Act workshop for teachers organized by Chicago Public Schools on our blog.

  • Taking it to the Stage: Guiding Students in Adapting Works of Theatre from Other Sources:
    Participants in this workshop will learn strategies for teaching adaptation to students and how to adjust those strategies according to developmental levels and for other subjects. This workshop was most recently presented at the Theatre in Our Schools Mini-Conference sponsored by the Illinois Theatre Association and AATE.