I recently was fortunate enough to attend a presentation by Daniel Pink. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office of Catholic Education hosted the presentation for administrators from our elementary and secondary schools. It was a great event and an indication of the vision shown by the office.

Having read A Whole New Mind, I was really looking forward to the day, and I was not disappointed. Pink’s talk was outstanding and got me thinking about many things, one of which is the subject of this post. I am sure that I have been driving family, friends,  and teachers crazy with my energetic response to this book. So I thought it was time to share an idea that came to me through it.

One of the ideas that is deemed important in the book is that of story.  Pink asks the reader to recall two facts from earlier in the book. I will not spoil this for those who have not yet read the book, but I can elaborate a little.  There were 2 questions.  I could not remember the answer to the first one, but could the other.  This was what the author expected.  How did I recall the answer to the second?  Because the answer sought was part of a story told. That cemented the “story” idea for me.

So here I am a Catholic High School administrator. Increasing enrollment is always a goal.  It is always a challenge, and the current state of our economy does not make it any easier.

But our mission is clear. We have a long tradition of outstanding education embedded with Gospel values. We have a storied history. We are starting to embrace the great shifts in teaching and learning. So what’s our story?

Recruitment has become a major part of our efforts.  Would story help? Facts, stats, and statements are no longer enough. Think of all of the grads we have who have tremendous stories that began in our schools. How can we gather them and use them to tell our story?  If Daniel Pink is right, and I truly believe he is, this could really help to get the word out on  our schools and help us to continue to grow so that these great stories will continue.

I welcome comments, suggestions and ideas,

The benefit of arts education has been widely documented,

But what I want to discuss is my first hand experience with high school theatre. (I don’t know why, but we have always used the British spelling.) I just finished directing our school’s production of The Wedding Singer. We had a student company of about 135 including cast, crew, and musicians. The show was a huge success.  Every student contributed to the effort.

So what we had was a large group of students, engaged in an activity that started when we returned from Christmas break.  And when I say engaged I mean it. The evenings during the week were filled with staging, singing, dancing, and dialogue rehearsals.  The band rehearsed once or twice a week in the early going.  The stage crew worked every Saturday and many Fridays after school. And as we got closer to opening, the rehearsal schedule intensified. ,During the last two weeks, all of the parts are put together, and a show is born. Tons of work, and tons of learning.

I call the stage crew our imagineers. Not only do they build the set, paint,, it light it, and mic the actors and band, they identify challenges, suggest ideas, come up with solutions and in short make the perceived impossible truly possible.

One simple example.  As in the movie, the character of Glen arrives in his Delorean. So, we needed one.  A friend fabricated a sheet metal door for the car.  Then the imagineering began.  The door needed a frame.  It needed to be mounted on something, and it needed to open the correct way. So a few members of the crew got together,, went to an auto parts store, bought a hydraulic strut, built a frame, edited the sound effect and the” Delorean” was ready. This process was repeated with the entire set, parts of which left the audience scratching their heads wondering how it was done!

So last night, we closed the show.  And my wife, our choreographer and my assistant director referred to our theatre program as one of the best classrooms in our school. And she was right. What these kids accomplished was much more than five outstanding performances.  Sure we  had a script and a score, but the rest had to be imagined.  The actors had to use left brain thinking to remember lines and blocking, but had to bring life to that with creativity and imagination. They learned to collaborate, to lead to follow, to inquire, and to create.

And assessment?  Each night the audience provided authentic assessment for all of us.  The laughs, the applause, the standing ovations were real.  As were the notes we gave to the students after each performance.

Sure we challenge them.  And they challenge themselves.  There are tough rehearsals, unexpected challenges, great audiences and tougher crowds,  BUt thrugh it all, learning occurs. And the students are at the center of it all.

Kudos to every school that supports its theatre program.

Now we plan the next one.

You can see some images of the show here.  By the way, the lighting you see in the photos was ultimately designed by a student..  Pretty cool.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.