Briana Rae Bower, m.f.a.
Theatre Educator & Artist
TEACHING
As a teacher and fellow student, it is my job to listen, to support, to encourage, to fail, to succeed, and to learn with students.
I cannot imagine a better, more fulfilling profession.
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching springs from the belief that a strong theatre education is essential to the individual, intellectual, emotional, and social development of all students.
As a teacher, I strive to...
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Implement learner centered practices that invite students to draw upon and incorporate their prior knowledge and lived experiences into their understanding of a topic
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Combine active and dramatic strategies, along with practices pulled from a variety of key theatre practitioners, as a means to engage and teach students about the many aspects of theatre
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Create a classroom environment in which everyone is respectful and feels respected – to establish a community of peers and learners who can engage in rigorous discussion and debate in a way that includes everyone in the learning process
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Develop projects and select plays that directly relate to the interests, cultural backgrounds, and lived experiences of my students
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Employ a range of teaching materials and strategies, including structured note taking devices, visual aids, and notes/screen casts that summarize key ideas, to support student learning and success
I believe that holistic student achievement grows from the successes and the failures, the process and the product, the hard days and the easy ones, and what we as a community learn from that collective experience.
For a copy of my full teaching philosophy, please click on the link to the right.
Work Samples
Curriculum
I designed this curriculum for a Middle School Theatre 3 class. In this class, students will create theatrical work that responds directly to their community. So much of theatre is about creating work that responds to the people and world around us. With their community in mind students will explore the question: How can we create/perform theatre that makes spaces for communication, connection, and change? During the year, students will consider what skills they bring to theatre, and use those skills to develop and perform personal stories, select and prepare scenes, generate dynamic production designs, and create an original piece of theatre that incorporates different forms of digital media.
Unit Plan
I designed this unit for a Middle School Theatre 2 or 3 class, or a Tech 1 class. The unit focuses on the elements of design and storytelling, specifically in relation to lighting design. I believe that this unit sequence follows the “show me, help me, let me” teaching model, as it gives students an opportunity to apply their knowledge to a practical lighting design project. I believe that by giving the students a hands-on opportunity to engage in both the artistic and technical elements of design we are giving students an opportunity to hone their skills as designers. In addition to these skills, students develop skills in collaboration, creativity, and helping them understand how they can start with a concept or idea, and then make that idea a reality.
University Acting Syllabus
I created this syllabus for the Fundamentals of Acting course I facilitated at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 2015. This course provides an introductory exploration of the basic principles of acting. In this course, students develop the actor’s basic tools – voice, body, imagination, play, and critical text and performance analysis. Students explore how we can use these tools to truthfully embody imagined characters, stories, and circumstances. Through active engagement in a wide range of theater games, improvisation, collaborative performance-making, writing exercises, and in-depth storytelling and scene work, students will examine what it means to be a member of an ensemble, to create a character, and to build a performance.
Assessment
I designed the following assignment sheet and adjoining rubric for a project facilitated in a combined Theatre 1 and Directing course. I believe that in order for students to succeed to the best of their ability, they must understand the full range or expectations inherent within a project. I grade students on a 1-5 scale for all of the assignment requirements - 5 equating to Mastery of a subject/area.