Abstract
First-Year Seminars and Experiences that involve practical, creative work in the performing arts expose students to important academic and personal development habits early in their college careers. These case studies examine the use of performative pedagogies to reinforce the crucial skills that make First-Year Experiences a high-impact practice. Susan Kattwinkel writes about her use of performance creation to embody ethical debate in a course on theatre and ethical choice. Jim Davis outlines a devised theatre project that responds to a survey of political opinions among fellow students in the university. In both cases students learn to integrate personal experience and opinion with those of others to create complex and reasoned responses to difficult and important social issues.
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Notes
- 1.
Ryan D. Padgett, Jennifer R. Keup, and Ernest T. Pascarella, “The Impact of First-Year Seminars on College Students’ Life-Long Learning Orientations”; Robert Dean Reason, Patrick T. Terenzini, and Robert J. Domingo, “Developing Social and Personal Competence in the First Year of College”; Tracy L. Skipper, What Makes the First-Year Seminar High Impact? An Exploration of Effective Educational Practices.
- 2.
George D. Kuh, High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, 9.
- 3.
As identified in Jayne Elise Brownell and Lynn Ellen Swaner. Five High-Impact Practices: Research on Learning Outcomes, Completion and Quality, 5–6.
- 4.
For examples of FYEs in combination with other HIPs, see Martha J. LaBare, ed., “First-Year Civic Engagement: Solid Foundations for College, Citizenship, and Democracy”; Jean-Philippe Faletta, Jo A. Meier, and J. Ulyses Balderas, “High-Impact Practices: Integrating the First-Year Experience”; Adrienne Redding, Jeanne Lahaie, and Jonathon Bush, “One-on-One ‘Intensive’ Instruction: Faculty and Students Partnering for Success in First-Year Writing.”
- 5.
F. Robert Sabol, “Summary of Findings from NCLB: A Study of its Impact on Art Education Programs,” and Ron Whitehorne, “NCLB: Taking a Toll on Arts and Music Education.”
- 6.
The most recent (2016) BCSSE survey revealed that 46% of new college students reported that in high school they were involved at least “some” with performing or visual arts programs. See “BCSSE Summary Report 2016.”
- 7.
All of the quotes from students in this article are taken from student reflections written both immediately after the performances and as part of the final exam one month later. In some instances they have been edited for clarity and concision.
- 8.
“First-Year Requirement,” First-Year Requirement, Kennesaw State University.
- 9.
“Learning Outcomes,” First-Year Requirement, Kennesaw State University.
- 10.
“KSU 1101: First-Year Seminar,” 2016–17 Undergraduate Catalog, Kennesaw State University.
- 11.
“Learning Communities,” Department of First-Year and Transition Studies, Kennesaw State University.
- 12.
Alison Oddey, Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook, 4, 7.
- 13.
Tina Fey, Bossypants, 84.
- 14.
Dave Itzkioff, “Hello! Matt Stone and Trey Parker Crash a Class at N.Y.U.”
- 15.
While I obviously encouraged the students to be as honest and forthright as possible in their answers, I did ask them not to select abortion as one of the issues that concerned them. As a citizen, I’m acutely aware of the importance of issues of choice and women’s health; however, as an educator I’ve seen it create deep rifts within academic and creative communities. While this was an arbitrary limitation on my part, the students managed to identify a multitude of other more accessible issues.
- 16.
Jean Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art—a Biography, 61.
- 17.
Viola Spolin, Theatre Games for Rehearsal: A Director’s Handbook, 10.
- 18.
Oddey, Devising Theatre, 2–3.
- 19.
“Program Outcomes,” First-Year Experience.
- 20.
Marcia B. Baxter Magolda, Patricia M. King, Kari B. Taylor, and Kerri M. Wakefield, “Decreasing Authority Dependence During the First Year of College,” 419.
- 21.
Tammy J. Freiler, “Learning Through the Body,” 41.
- 22.
Anne E. Wagner and Riyad A. Shahjahan, “Centering Embodied Learning in Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy,” 251.
- 23.
“Mission & History,” Arts in Basic Curriculum.
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Hayford, M., Kattwinkel, S. (2018). First-Year Seminars and Experiences. In: Hayford, M., Kattwinkel, S. (eds) Performing Arts as High-Impact Practice. The Arts in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72944-2_2
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