Low-Stakes Writing in the Theatre Classroom

Introduction

As instructors of theatre history, theory, and dramatic literature to complement practical theatre training, we have often pondered the following existential questions: How do the courses we teach and our teaching methods matter for theatre education and training overall? How do we inspire our students, who are particularly drawn to the actual making of theatre, to develop that creative interest and energy toward a philosophical understanding of theatre through reading and writing? How can we create a learning environment in our classrooms that will enrich our students' theatre training? In this essay, we provide some answers to the above questions through the example of low-stakes writing, highlighting the ways in which it leads to positive learning outcomes and rewarding teaching experiences.

In-class low-stakes writings are short, informal activities that we require our students to do regularly and consistently in the classroom. The writings are marked lightly, mainly for the merit of participation. Our implementation of low-stakes writing is informed by the "Writing across the Curriculum" (WAC) pedagogy, as well as scholarship exploring the key connections between theatre instruction and composition practice. In our classrooms, low-stakes writing functions like rehearsals and parallels our students' practical theatre-training methods for the development of critical thinking and writing. As work-in-progress, low-stakes writing serves as a tool to help students learn without the stress of producing complete, polished work that they often anticipate academic writing to be. Informal writing avoids "teaching to the test," as students are encouraged to pursue their own line of thinking, as opposed to merely regurgitating facts. It also reminds them that intellectual as well as artistic pursuits, like theatre, take time and focused practice in order to come to fruition. In the end, by incorporating low-stakes writing we have created a very different dynamic in the classroom that encourages us to rethink what the end results of learning should be.

The central questions governing our pedagogy research for this essay are: What is the value of low-stakes writing in academic theatre courses? How would this assignment work in such classrooms? We first provide findings about low-stakes writing in current scholarship, then explain the ways in which we implement the assignment in the classroom and some of our discoveries and observations. We finish by reflecting on challenges associated with integrating low-stakes writing into our courses, and conclude by establishing best practices.

In our own classrooms, we have found that there are four categories into which low-stakes writing falls that offer unique benefits for theatre students. The first category is engagement, which allows students to build a personal connection with the material, as they might when exploring a playtext in rehearsal. The next category, comprehension/application/experimentation, also mirrors the rehearsal experience, in that it allows students to apply their understanding of ideas across course content and explore what might work. Reflection, our third category, asks students to evaluate the complexities of a completed unit or area of study and assess that topic, from either a broader or personal point of view. Establishing their own interpretation of a subject will be critical when attempting to implement an idea in performance. As theatre instructors, we have discovered that peer response may constitute a separate fourth category of low-stakes writing that is particularly applicable to theatre students, in that it emphasizes collaboration and teamwork, thereby reflecting how theatre is made.

From the perspective of the instructor, low-stakes writing reorients our focus toward classroom engagement, which we have found to be critical for student success. Such guided rehearsal of asserting their unique perspectives on course material ultimately engenders more articulate student voices, both verbal and written, in our academic theatre courses. By semester's end, through this focused practice, we have seen students who acquired both a new set of vocabulary and knowledge, fostering or deepening their enthusiasm for theatre. This has been the most rewarding student outcome that we have witnessed.

Scholarship Key Findings

The courses we teach are by nature or designated as writing-intensive at both the...