Curriculum
What students actually do
Skills stack across nine years. Students at Ravenswood begin their artistic journey with imagination, story and play. We add theatrical skills and vocabulary along the way. Through projects and choice, the students grow to find the ways in which their particular genius shines.
PreK through 2nd gradeChoice-based studio
The youngest students work in a choice-based studio. Several stations run at once. Students pick where they work, get their own materials, and clean their own space. The teaching is in the habits.
Focus and concentrationDramatic playPantomimeTableauRetelling storiesVoice and gesture
What it looks like
A student decides to build a puppet, finds the fabric bin without asking, and works next to two classmates staging a story with blocks. The room hums. Nobody is waiting for a turn.
3rd gradeProduction roles
Third graders find out that a show takes more than actors. Every student rotates through real jobs: stage manager, lighting operator, costume designer, set crew, performer. They run the light board themselves, on real cues, in front of an audience of their classmates.
Stage managerLighting operatorCostume designerSet crewPerformerPlot structure
4th gradeTwo units
Jabberwocky. Students meet a poem where half the words are made up and decide for themselves what it means. Then they stage their reading and defend it.
Radio Drama. Students write an original script, build a foley kit out of whatever is on the shelving wall, and perform it live. The audience closes their eyes.
Meaning-makingOriginal scriptsSound designVocal characterization
5th and 6th gradeTen-week electives
Students pick their quarter. Each elective runs ten weeks, five days a week, and ends with something made.
Set Design
Models, scale, ground plans, and a pitch to the director.
Shakespeare
Text on its feet. Cuts, scansion, and one scene performed twice, once in modern language and once as written.
Poetry Performance
Voice, breath, and interpretation. Students choose the poem or write it.
Puppetry
Build it, work it, perform with it. Rod, hand, and shadow.
7th and 8th gradeTen-week electives
Older students take on the whole thing. They devise it, design it, and produce it.
Original Murder Mystery
Built from nothing. Students write it, cast it, design it, and run it for an audience.
Storytelling
Personal narrative and oral tradition. Structure, timing, and holding a room by yourself.
Costume Design
Character through silhouette, color, and texture. Renderings and built pieces.
Electives change from year to year.
How students are gradedProcess over product
Effort, risk, collaboration, and revision count far more than polish. Students score themselves first on a single-point rubric and I calibrate from there. Participation credit can be earned several ways, not only by talking in front of the group, so a quiet student is not penalized for being quiet.