A Theater Unit Plan
John Dewey believed that students' experiences in the classroom should reflect real-world situations.
He believed that "No training of sense-organs in school, introduced for the sake of training, can begin
to compete with the alertness and fullness of sense-life that comes through daily intimacy and interest
in familiar occupations" (Dewey 11). My theater unit plan coincides with Dewey's principles because the
students' working environment will be similar to that of real theater professionals. Students will go
from the beginning stages of production to the performance; and they will be responsible for every aspect.
My students will get hands-on experience working in a theater while they use skills in many different
subjects. By following Dewey's principles, my students will have an understanding of the theater and
interact with the community.
I will be the executive producer of a play based on a historical event produced by my tenth grade English
class. Before work begins, we will go to a community production to meet the employees and learn about
their jobs. This experience will prevent what Dewey calls the school's "isolation from life" by placing
students in a real working environment (Dewey 75). Next, half the class will begin writing the play; of
those students, there will be researchers, writers, and editors. These students will begin by
brainstorming ideas together, then voting on their favorite. Then the students will begin working as
real historians by researching their historical event. Next, their topic will be broken down in
chronological order and outlined, and each student will be assigned to write at least two scenes.
My students will be practicing as authentic language professionals by writing, editing, and performing.
Moreover, since the play is based on an event in history, they will have to research like real
historians while writing and designing costumes. This delegation of responsibilities as opposed to
a theater lecture will keep the students "alert and active, instead of passive and receptive" (Dewey 13).
It will also take the multi-disciplinary approach that Dewey suggests when describing a lesson on
fabric and its scientific, social, historical, and aesthetic aspects (Dewey 20). My students will be
learning history while researching, writing when composing the play, and reading when they are editing
their work. Dewey suggests that integrating all subjects into a lesson will make it more true to life,
since we use different skills simultaneously everyday.
Dewey recommends that schools address social concerns by getting students involved in the community
and preparing them to be part of a democratic society (Dewey 14).While one half of the class is writing,
the other half of the class will be fundraising. They will write letters to businesses and parents and
organize events like bake sales, car washes, auctions, and community litter clean up. After the
performance, students will donate all of the profits from ticket sales to a local charity of their
choice. Again, these students will be studying several different subjects simultaneously. They will
do math when organizing fundraisers and ticket sales. They will be in the environment when cleaning
up litter. Dewey believed that all areas of academics should work together; like his example of the
scientific and culinary aspects of cooking an egg (Dewey 39-40).
Dewey emphasizes schools' responsibility to function as a community. He goes on to say, "A society
is a number of people held together because they are working along common lines, in a common spirit,
and with reference to common aims" (Dewey 14). Students will work together on all areas of production;
their common goal will be the production's success. Our classroom will also be organized so that students
can communicate and work as a community. On one side of the room, the desks will be set up like a round
table for the writers to collaborate. This side will also be equipped with a computer where the students
can take turns making additions and changes during their discussions. The other side of the room will
be set up more like an office with a dry erase board and a computer where the fundraisers use Microsoft
Excel to keep track of funds. The classroom will be filled with constructive chatter as I ask and answer
questions and writers communicate their needs to the fundraisers. The students will not be in "…rows of
ugly desks placed in geometrical order, crowded together so that there shall be as little moving room as
possible" because that would prevent them from working together and sharing ideas (Dewey 32).
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