High School Tech

[jrgunn]

Hello. After working professionally I finally surrendered to the siren call of a steady paycheck and am now working in a high school teaching technical theatre. Question: is there any curriculum out there I can beg/borrow/steal from among you good people?
I posted this question in the new members forum and received excellent feedback. Other ideas are always welcome, as the school year started last week!

[NickJones]

I will post my most basic training paperwork up here as soon as I get the chance to find it. I might try to do it tonight.
Nick

[jrgunn]

Many thanks!

[Sayen]

I would be curious to see actual curriculums.

As far as training - I start with safety, then basic equipment use and design, and then through the year build on and test skills. Tomorrow, for example, is the end of the third week of school and basic audio, and the test includes physically hooking up a basic PA and a short written test on the names of components. After I cover the basics, I usually teach what the students need to know for a given project, or fill in gaps I notice in their work ethic.

[gafftaper]

Former High School, now College teacher here...

I've never seen an actual text. I like using the book "Technical theater for non-technical people" as a guide combined with my own fabulous lectures.

For Light design I do a long detailed project. We use art and I as students, "If this was a picture of a set, what sort of lighting instruments would you have to use and where would you have to place them in order to get it to look like this?" I start with very simple pictures with a single light source and work my way up to massive scenic panorama shots where the light is inconsistent. I also love throwing in some religious paintings where light is coming out of the baby Jesus. Again... if this was a set where would the lights be. Students turn in their designs and we discuss a few at random as a class. It's the way I was taught and I think it really works.

I've talked about it before but I really believe in a mentorship program in high school tech. Once you have a core group of students who know their stuff you find a way to officially annoint them (more on that below). Then match them up with new students to be their lacky. Assign your best students and your new students to work together. Let the intermediate ones work on their own. Put people into teams. Give teams projects. Your future SM should be both a light and sound op for a couple of shows... to learn how to call a show and to learn how to treat crew. It's a powerful way to develop the program that really worked.

As for buy in and "anointing my chosen ones". I put my own padlocks on all the gear. When a student earned my trust and became a real leader, I gave them a set of keys. Now they still needed me to let them into the theater or the booth... I'm not crazy. But once they were in they could work like a professional with access to everything. It was a powerful motivator. I heard students saying, "I want to earn my own set of keys". Once came to me and asked, "I've been coming to class for two years why don't I have a set of keys?" My response, "They aren't a right they are an earned privelage... let me tell you what you need to do to earn them." It also was a powerful tool for creating a feeling of ownership and responsibility in my students. My had carpenter made sure every tool was used safely, correctly, and locked up back in the cabinet where it belonged when the day was done... because those were HIS tools. Worked for me.

[jrgunn]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

I put my own padlocks on all the gear. When a student earned my trust and became a real leader, I gave them a set of keys. Now they still needed me to let them into the theater or the booth... I'm not crazy. But once they were in they could work like a professional with access to everything. It was a powerful motivator...

Wow.. this is terrific! It'll take a year to build the program to that point, but I'll keep it in mind.

Thanks!

[gafftaper]

If you want to use a tool you need to go to one of the head kids and have them open the cabinet. Need a ladder, get one of the head kids to unlock the chain on the ladders. Need a microphone someone needs to unlock that cabinet. We had a hatch on the catwalk access with a lock. A cabinet in my office with the batteries and lamps... you name it. The school couldn't get mad because they still needed someone with a real key to let them in.

It was a powerful tool for building a team, unity, and ownership. I didn't implement it until my 2nd or 3rd year... until I was really sure about who I was giving keys to.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

...It was a powerful tool for building a team, unity, and ownership. ...

I couldn't agree more. See also this thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/g...gh-school.html.

[Sayen]

What a great idea - and it will cut down on my foot time if I'm not always running around to open those locks!

Scene Design and Stage Lighting seems to be a decent textbook. We don't work straight through it, but it's good for short reads or all the pretty pictures. I have a supply of misc. textbooks that I collect, and any basic theater tech book can be useful.

[renegadeblack]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

I couldn't agree more. See also this thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/g...gh-school.html.

I'm glad to see my thread is useful