To me, teaching is about developing a whole person who possesses the intrinsic motivation, skills, and emotional intelligence to pursue their goals.

I love teaching both English and Drama because those are the perfect settings to simultaneously nurture those three competencies. I know that not every student aspires to be a Broadway actor or an English professor; however, over the course of their lives, every student will experience moments when they will need to compellingly communicate their message to an audience through verbal or written means.

I strive to make my classroom one where the shyest student grows confident enough to command their classmates’ attention, and where students are eager to explore the lives of characters who are different from themselves. I employ backward design when planning my units and assessments in order to center students’ learning. When I plan a unit or lesson, I begin by asking myself what competencies I want students to have gained by the end of the learning experience. I also map how I will assess their progress throughout, consider the societal implications of what I am teaching, and work to provide a supportive learning environment that enables all of my students to thrive.

Image of downward pointing arrow

Highlighted teaching projects

Applied Theatre Course for NYU Undergraduate & Graduate Students

01

In the spring 2023 semester, I taught a mixed graduate & undergraduate theatre course in which students designed and implemented their own original community-based applied theatre residencies. I guided students through identifying communities in which it would be appropriate for them to offer facilitated theatre experiences, gave extensive feedback on students’ facilitation and residency design, and modeled effective facilitation methods.

Here is an overview of the course from my syllabus:

Course Overview: This course focuses on applications of drama and theatre praxis in artistic, educational, and community settings, with a focus on how said praxis can affect change. Through readings, facilitations, demonstrations, and investigations, students will experience and/or experiment with a variety of forms and techniques that contribute to the “ecology of practices” frequently categorized as applied / community-engaged theatre. Students will gain insight into their own praxis by developing an applied / community-engaged theatre project, implementing the project, and subsequently reflecting on the project’s successes and challenges.


Course Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  • Identify an “ecology of practices” that could be categorized as applied / community-engaged theatre. 

  • Facilitate an activity for use in an applied / community-engaged theatre project and reflect on the successes and challenges of the experience.

  • Assess the needs of a particular community that might benefit from participation in an applied / community-engaged theatre project.

  • Develop and implement a residency plan for an applied / community-engaged theatre project within a specific community.

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the opportunities and challenges inherent in applied / community-engaged theatre projects.

  • Articulate strengths and limitations of their own applied / community-engaged theatre praxis.

Asian American Theatre History Unit for 9th-12th Grade Drama Class

02

I designed a unit plan for a general high school drama class focusing on the history of Asian American artists’ contributions to American theatre, Asian American theatre artists’ responses to pivotal moments in history, important plays by Asian American playwrights, and the current landscape of Asian American theatre. The 10-lesson unit culminates in students completing group oral presentations and creating informational blog posts about a play by an Asian American playwright, including discussion of significant themes and stylistic language choices.This unit is now being taught at several high schools across the country.

I am sharing the first lesson in the unit below. If you are interested in teaching this unit in your classroom, please reach out!

Entering the Room (5 min)

Purpose: To make JOY the students’ first association with Asian American theatre. 

Note: Much of successful/noteworthy Asian American theatre has been in response to racism and oppression. Students need to know that Asian American artists also express jubilance in aesthetically compelling ways.

Protocol:

  • As students enter, teacher should ideally be playing exciting music by an Asian American musical, e.g. Something from KPOP with music and lyrics by Helen Park and Max Vernon 

  • If the teacher is comfortable with dancing, the teacher should definitely lead a dance party.

  • ASK: Does anyone know that song or know what it’s from?

    • Show images from KPOP musical

    • SAY: KPOP was an award-winning Off-Broadway musical in 2017. And in this unit, we will learn how the field of Asian American theatre got to KPOP.

  • Note: If a more heart-pounding, foot-stomping Asian American musical has been produced since writing this unit plan, please use that!

Gathering Questions (15 min)

Purpose: Establish baseline of what preexisting knowledge/personal experience/preconceived notions/questions students have about unit topic. 

Protocol:

  • Students pass around Post-Its and each take a stack.

  • SAY: We are going to compile the collective knowledge we are bringing with us into this unit at the front of the room. We are also going to collect a list of questions we have about Asian American theatre as a class. What questions do we need to ask when approaching a new content area? What major themes should we be asking questions about?

    • DISCUSS questions above

    • VISUAL AID: Teacher can post images from major Asian American plays to provide visual prompts – e.g. “Who are the people in this photo? What play is this photo from?”

  • SAY: On this paper we will post what we know about Asian American theatre: this can be the name of a playwright or actor you’ve seen performing locally, a musical with Asian American characters, or nothing at all. On this other paper we will post our questions – they can be as broad or as specific as you’d like.

    • Give students 5 min to write down what they know and what questions they have before they post at the front of the room

  • SAY: When you’re done posting your responses, do a gallery walk to see what knowledge your classmates are bringing into the room and what questions we have as a class. Take two more Post-Its and respond to or build on at least two of your classmates’ questions.

    • ASK students what “building on a question” might look like, MODEL how you might do so with one of the questions someone has posed

  • Spend some time sorting students’ questions/bits of knowledge into groups – ideally, students should lead this sorting to engage tactile learners. 

    • DISCUSS: 

      • What do we already know a lot about? 

        • Highlight Post-Its that are of interest and ask if student who wrote it would be willing to elaborate

      • What kinds of things are we curious about as a class? 

      • What questions might we be overlooking?

  • DIGITAL ALTERNATIVE: (In case teacher wants to track students’ submissions, needs to teach online, or if class is hesitant to publicly post their ideas at the front of the room)

    • Teacher sends Google Form to class that automatically gathers their school email addresses and has fields for:

      • Student’s name 

      • Three things I know about Asian American theatre (this can be the name of a playwright, a musical with Asian American characters, or nothing at all)

      • Three questions I have about Asian American theatre

Unit Overview (10 min)

Purpose: Give students an understanding of their learning goals for the unit/where the unit is going. 

Protocol:

  • Introduce Focus Questions for unit:

    • Who are key players in Asian American theatre history? What have they contributed to American theatre?

    • What does the contemporary landscape of Asian American theatre look like?

  • Introduce Final Project: Educational Blog Post & Interview

    • For the final project, students will reading a play by an Asian American playwright as a group. They will develop a blog post for our class theatre blog that includes the following information:

      •  plot overview

      • major themes

      • why this play is important

      • an interview with an Asian American theatre worker who was involved in a production of that play. The interview can take the form of a YouTube video, podcast, or written interview.

    • Teacher will provide contact info for theatre worker

    • Student groups will choose the medium

  • Provide content notice: in this unit, we will be talking about issues such as racism and violence against the Asian-American community.

    • Remind students of their options re: what they can do if discussions of these issues get to be too emotionally upsetting, and importance of engaging with/studying how these issues show up in the performing arts.

Show Video: “Modeling Solidarity with CAATA ConFest” (10 min)

Purpose: Give students an understanding of their learning goals for the unit/where the unit is going. 

Protocol:

  • Introduce what CAATA is: Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists

    • Collective of Asian American theater leaders & artists who host events like conferences and collect data on Asian American theatre workers’ experiences  

  • Introduce clip: a Japanese-Hawaiian-American theatre artist, Maki’ilei Ishihara who created theatre for youth during COVID.

  • Start at 10:00 mark; play as much as time allows

  • Debrief: Why would I show you this clip at the beginning of our unit?

    • Asian American theatre is not just what’s on Broadway; it is also community-based youth theatre in Hawai’i, which is equally worthy of study.

Homework: 

Spend 30 minutes reading/highlighting/annotating the following articles. Be ready to discuss takeaways, questions, or things that surprised you as you read in class tomorrow.


OPTIONAL EXTENSION: Listen to some of the music or watching clips from the musicals The King and I, South Pacific, and Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein. (Various versions can be found on streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube.) How would you describe the characterization of people of Asian descent based on what you hear?

Shakespeare Adaptation with 12th Graders

03

As a high school English teacher, I led a Shakespeare unit for second-semester seniors in which each class was assigned to adapt a different Shakespeare play and then perform their adaptation in front of the student body. Because there were stakes (performing in front of their peers), and because the students could be as creative as they wanted, the notoriously hard-to-motivate seniors remained engaged. One of my sections was assigned to adapt Hamlet. This section was primarily made up of students who had signed up for a robotics elective and were stage-shy. They were concerned that their adaptation would be the worst because they were not “theatre kids.” I led them through an activity where we went around the circle and called out the strengths that each student possessed, whether or not those skills seemed related to theatre. We wrote an inventory of those talents on the whiteboard. Our list uncovered that we had martial artists, classical musicians, many robotics programmers, graphic designers, and more in the room. This activity caused each student to feel appreciated by having their peers call out the talents they had noticed among their peers. I explained how the range of talents might translate to a theatrical role. We kept that list up throughout the adaptation process so that students would be visually reminded of their strengths during each class.

During the first few weeks of the Hamlet project, we began to list the competing forces at work on Hamlet’s psyche. My students noted passages where Hamlet was being pulled in different directions by different voices in his head. During one spirited discussion, they posed the idea of dividing the role of Hamlet into three characters, whom they called Hamlet, To Be, and Not To Be. In the adaptation the students created, To Be and Not To Be acted like an angel vs. devil on Hamlet’s shoulders, demonstrating their understanding of Hamlet’s inner turmoil. They were so excited about the concept that students who had initially said they wanted only tiny onstage roles stepped up to play To Be and Not To Be. In addition to guiding students through literary analysis, this interdisciplinary project also allowed me to share broadly applicable life skills with the students: for example, I shared emotional regulation strategies for combating stage fright and facilitated physical theatre exercises that strengthened their stage presence.

Let’s get in touch!

Feel free to contact me via email or fill out our contact form.