amplifying impact of school programs writers theatre august, 2015 © writers theatre

Amplifying Impact of School Programs

Writers Theatre

August, 2015

© Writers Theatre www.writerstheatre.org

Today’s Objectives

• Learn about what other organizations are doing to increase impact both before and after a program.

• Brainstorm and workshop creative ways to engage teachers and students outside of your school visit.

• Design a plan that will help to increase the reach of your short-term programming.

Connection to CIS of Chicago Core Competencies

• Category 1: Instruction -Amplified Learning: Partners communicate with

teachers… provide supplemental materials and project ideas to classroom teachers to prep students and extend learning.

• Category 2: Program Model -Program Foundation: Content is founded on needs of the school community, student culture, needs of students. Assessment/evaluation integrated.

- Program Delivery: Considers size, length of program, school-wide community involvement to increase program efficacy.

Today’s Agenda

• Welcome/warm-up• Individual Reflection • Group Reflection • Presentation • Learning Objectives! Practice and Mapping • Evaluation (strategies)• Connecting the Dots (synthesizing workshop

for application to your work!)

AMPLIFYING PROGRAMS

What does it mean? Why is it important?

Successful programs need multiple touch points© Writers Theatre www.writerstheatre.org

SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN

• Effective Planning/Realistic Goals

• Building partnerships that create sustainability and continued engagement

• Determining Impact of the program

THE MLK PROJECT: THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Photo: Tom McGrathNicole Ripley and actress Caren Blackmore with Writers Theatre’s program The MLK Project

PARTNERSHIPS

• Pre-Prep with teachers:– Contracts/Agreements– Shared expectations and goals for students verbalized and

written– Study Guide materials sent in advance– Ask for a commitment: post-show discussion participation,

student writing responses sent to us, surveys completed and returned

• Day Of: Reiterate

• Immediate follow-up

SUSTAINABILITY/CONTINUED ENGAGEMENT

• Pre materials (Study Guide) easy for teachers to use– Concrete, but flexible. Can be tailored.

• Are aligned to Common Core: allows teachers to meet their requirements

DETERMINING IMPACT

• Post-show discussion reports• Surveys• Student writing responses– Can come directly from the Study Guide or not: flexible

There are different kinds of data: what do you want to assess and how are you using the data?

EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND GOALS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES!

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

A learning objective outlines what students will know or be able to do by participating in your

program.

An “outcome statement”

CREATING REALISTIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR ONE-TIME

PROGRAMS

• Practical and achievable: think about time!! • Your mission feeds the learning objective but is not a

learning objective

Keep learning objectives attainable:

• Learning objectives should be student-centered.• Learning objectives should use action verbs.• Learning objectives should be measurable.

Conflict mediation program: Students will summarize the five major approaches to conflict resolution: withdrawal, smoothing, forcing, compromising and problem-solving.1

Kitchen Science program: Identify the key chemical features and characteristics of basic food ingredients and explain how these properties affect and determine their handling, use, and taste.

Architecture program: Identify and explain different types of urban plans and relationship to buildings.

1. Source: http://tep.uoregon.edu/resources/assessment/learningobjectives.html2. Source: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives-samples/learningobjectives-mcs.html3. Source: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives-samples/learningobjectives-cfa.html

Thank You!

Nicole Ripley Director of Education, Writers Theatre

www.writerstheatre.org/education

nripley@writerstheatre.org847-242-6007