As part of a character education
activity, Tamarac eighth grade students spent time in January developing skits around the month’s theme of trustworthiness and then performed them for the entire middle school.
To develop the skits, students worked with Kat Koppett and Joey Hunziker from the Mop & Bucket Co. improv theatre group on January 26. The group, which offers special workshops for students, visited Tamarac through an Arts and Education grant.
Students spent the day engaging in activities and performing skits that taught them important lessons of not being afraid to make a mistake, creating an environment where those around an individual feel comfortable to take a risk, and working cooperatively to give and receive “gifts” from each other instead of taking an opportunity to put someone down.
“Students spent the day excited, engaged and involved, eager to display what they had learned to the entire middle school,” said English teacher Allison Maloy.
A few days later, eighth grade students performed the skits they developed in the district auditorium in front of the entire middle school. The skits portrayed character education situations that both entertained and taught valuable lessons to classmates.
“It was amazing to see how willing the students were to embrace the risk of failure and embarrassment in order to try something new and interact with their peers in a way that made each individual feel included, comfortable and celebrated,” said Ms. Maloy. “Both the workshops and the performance were a success!”
