Welcome to The Value of Theatre Education: Applying the Revised TEKS. The revised theatre Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are to be implemented in the 2015–2016 school year. This lesson will introduce the new fine arts TEKS and focus on the theatre TEKS for grades K-12.
Students who participate in a strong theatre program build a broad base of theatre content knowledge and skills. When theatre curricula are implemented with a variety of appropriate instructional methods, all learners have an opportunity to develop to their highest potential.
Theatre students develop capabilities in the following areas:
- Critical and creative thinking
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Individual and collaborative planning and implementation
- Historical and cultural understanding
- Self- and social-awareness
- Research skills
A theatre curriculum that facilitates in‐depth learning for all students is comprehensive, well‐planned, scaffolded, and comprised of diverse and challenging educational experiences in theatre.
Children and adolescents develop concepts about themselves, human relationships, and the environment by participating in role‐playing. Students of dramatic literature sharpen critical thinking skills by exploring the motivations behind characters' actions, analyzing emotional responses to situations, and interpreting playwrights' intents.
Students who design and construct scenery, props, lighting, sound, and makeup learn to analyze the ideas of others and to apply their interpretations to new works. Students explore and communicate how a dramatic presentation relates to a particular time, place, and culture.
Students become critical consumers of media through careful evaluation of performances in a variety of media.