Blog: The Light of Aurora

Performing Arts: Behind the Scenes Learning

00:00 AM - October 13, 2021

Every year starting in First Grade, all Waldorf students participate in a class play and multiple smaller stage performances highlighting aspects of the curriculum. Performing arts is one aspect of a rich curriculum that values creative development to integrate and express the material one has learned.

While these performances offer an excellent opportunity for family and friends to glimpse into the subject matter the students have been studying, there is so much additional learning happening through the very act of performing.

Memory & Collaboration

Through the weeks of rehearsals, memory is developed and strengthened. In the early grades, lines are spoken by the entire class in chorus, offering support to less confident students so they can participate without feeling unnecessary pressure. As students advance through the grades, they have a few individual lines to learn for the class plays, while the entire class often does the narration in chorus. This practice offers a natural progression to the middle school years, where each student memorizes all the lines and cues for their specific role. In Eighth Grade, many classes perform one of Shakespeare’s comedies, complete with costumes and scenery. Cooperation and teamwork skills build as the students learn the give and take necessary to pull off a production.

Adaptability & Resilience

As so often happens in life, important learning opportunities emerge when things don’t go as planned. Live performances, no matter how carefully practiced, can present hiccups that need to be worked around in real-time. Since the show must go on, students find themselves in situations where they can exercise adaptability and build resilience. These are skills for life!

Elocution & Confidence

The capacity to comfortably speak in public or in front of a crowd does not come easily to all individuals. For some children, this is a big stretch outside their comfort zone. At AWS, we build our students’ confidence in their ability to speak with poise in front of others by offering them an audience comprised of a caring community of family and friends.

Throughout the school year, AWS students frequently demonstrate a sample of what they have been learning in class in the form of a poem or verse, song, choreographed movement, choral and instrumental concert, or science demonstration. These offer opportunities for shy students to grow increasingly comfortable in the spotlight and outgoing students to develop grace in their performances. Public speaking and performing skills help all students throughout life, from interviewing for colleges to giving important presentations. These skills, built up in grade school, are foundations for future success!

Jaime Thompson, M. Ed. and B.S. Early Childhood Education, SUNY Fredonia, parent to two AWS alumni and one current AWS middle schooler, current AWS Marketing and Communications Coordinator.