The Sunday Post on Ethical ELA is a year-long series featuring contributions from English language arts educator-scholars from across the country. In this series, we hope to expand notions of what secondary English language arts is, can do, and can be. Explore past posts on our “Teacher Ed” page.
Writing Real to Reel for Teens: Transforming the English Classroom with Dramatic Writing
By Aaron Levy, MFA, PhD
There has never been a better time to be a content creator for film and television. With over 200 streaming outlets in existence in 2021 and growing, well… our students may want in on that action. That said, despite Georgia’s prominent film/television production industry, to date, most of the writing is still happening in California and New York. Even a show like FX’s award-winning, ATLANTA, which is filmed in Atlanta, is thematically about Atlanta, written, directed, and starring a native Atlantan (Donald Glover), AND is titled ATLANTA, is written in Hollywood, CA.
But Georgia has every reason to believe it’s only a matter of time before more and more writers’ rooms form closer to where the “action” is actually being filmed. Along with several new screen/tv MFA graduate programs erupting at major University System of Georgia (USG) institutions, Dramatic Writing for Film, Television & Theatre 1 is part of a pipeline effort in Georgia to develop content-creators who will eventually write scripts produced and post-produced in our state. This course is at the center of formal and informal pathways in high schools where students can intensely experience the full eco-system of the film/tv industry.
Are ELA teachers in other states introducing students to the possible thriving marketplace let alone teaching them how to perform in these possible legitimate career paths?
We addressed this untapped opportunity in my state, but any and every state can and should jump on this train.
What happened in Georgia can happen ANYWHERE:
Inspired by the exploding film/television production industry in Georgia, in May of 2018, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) Board approved Dramatic Writing in Film, Television & Theatre 1, a brand-new ELA core course. Folks can watch this Dramatic Writing for Teacher Ed Students Presentation and get a much clearer idea of the history, curriculum, and teacher-training we’ve done so far with over 320 teachers, 72 school districts, and 101 high schools in Georgia as of June 30th, 2021.
In our state, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) sets and applies guidelines for the preparation, certification, and continued licensing of public-school educators in Georgia. The PSC evaluated the Dramatic Writing course and decided teachers need a micro-endorsement to teach Dramatic Writing. More specifically, the PSC announced ELA, Theatre and Audio, Video, Technology & Film (AVTF) teachers qualify to earn the micro-endorsement if they have the ELA pedagogy/methodology, screen, television, and playwriting courses in their college transcripts OR they can complete the five-day teacher training I/we created.
During my role as the Georgia Film Academy (GFA) Director of Academics, I led/(still lead) the curriculum creation and teacher-training approved by the PSC. With my sort of non-traditional or “weird” pedigree – an MFA in scriptwriting and PhD in curriculum & instruction – the opportunity to create this course/train teachers to teach it was a dream come true for my wheelhouse. Essentially, I started by taking material from a combination of over twenty years of teaching scriptwriting and English education. In addition, I had the tremendous good fortune to consult and collaborate with a collection of industry professionals and ELA curriculum experts to help make sure the curriculum squarely met ELA state standards and industry standards.
Again, a more detailed description of the curriculum in this teacher ed narrated ppt, but essentially, we grounded the course in the best practices of story-as-curriculum and teacher-as-writer. On that note, teachers are talking about everything from a writer’s point of view from Day 1, and they are a critical part of the tight writing community they are creating. Because this is an ELA core course, we don’t just start out by writing screenplays. The first quarter I call The Writing Life, which features a unique curriculum teaching students tap into their lives and eventually create stories that go from “personal to public,” utilizing the pedagogy and assignments featured in G. Lynn Nelson’s book, Writing and Being.
For example, included in the curriculum is the Feather Circles and Blood Don’t Lie document, which features the assignments and examples from my young adult novel, BLOOD DON’T LIE, which began years ago when I was writing the same sudden-fiction Nelson feather circle pieces alongside my students. In other words, students can see my stab at the same assignments they are doing and then see how pieces and parts of those drafts became significant contributions to chapters in the book. They see how my first drafts suck too, but more importantly we are continuously engaging discussion from a writing process point of view. And I’m just another writer in the room. Not a hot-shot writer, no. Just another dude chasing the same story goals they are chasing. A teacher who walks the walk.
We don’t feature the traditional research paper, rather, the multi-genre research project. Why? Because it better represents how real writers conduct research. Real scriptwriters will research time-periods, occupations, locations, etc., and synthesize to implement into a script vs. regurgitate like we see too often in standard research assignments.
When we get to theatre, we talk about whether theatre is an endangered species or not. In other words, this class asks, “…why would teens patronize the theatre after high school…?” We often begin by doing a staged reading of this short play called Dead White Dudes because of the notion if a student does not “elect” to take theatre in high school, the likelihood is the only plays he/she will be exposed to are written by dead white writers. Dramatic Writing gives teachers the opportunities to introduce more contemporary plays written by more diverse sets of writers who also may possibly write more about the teen experience. Here’s last year’s Recommended Book List for the course, and we are constantly adding plays to it as we discover ones that feature contemporary stories, and/or written about the teen experience, and/or written by all different kinds of folks; not just dead white guys. In addition, students see how many of their favorite tv and film writers got their chops in the theatre and how many successful writers go back to the theatre in the “off” season.
For film and television writing, in addition to learning all the different story structure components and act formulas specific to the genre, and what I call “ruining television” for them by breaking down scenes and scripts from a writer’s point of view weekly, they are also learning the business. So, while we don’t write essays in the course, students are using essay “muscles” all the time. When they pitch their series to a mock-network, for example, the pitchers need to hook their audience, be succinct and extremely persuasive. These skill sets carry over to so many more careers than just scriptwriting!
During the creation of this course, I had to continue to keep my eye on the main ball. Because this course is a 4th ELA core requirement option, it needs to have the rigor and meet the same state standards as an ELA core and not just a fine arts elective. All to say, even the screen and television and playwriting specific curriculum in the course needs to be presented in a way that’s anchored to the ELA core pedagogy and methodology. And we took great pains to make sure the rigor of an ELA core was at the core of the creation.
Once the course was created and approved by the GaDOE Board, the GaDOE soon after created this Guidance for Dramatic Writing Course Credit document explaining students completing this course earn two credits – one English Language Arts (ELA) core credit and one fine arts elective credit. The document also announces Dramatic Writing for Film, TV & Theatre 1 has the same line number as the Advanced Composition (also an ELA core). Essentially, this indicates to school counselors and college admissions that whatever Advanced Comp satisfies, so too does this Dramatic Writing course. All to say, this course in the state of Georgia is a game-changer because most districts and schools are offering as the fourth ELA core requirement option. Students can choose Dramatic Writing instead of Brit Lit or AP Lit or Modern Lit or Advanced Comp to earn their final ELA core credit. Thus, a game-changer.
Two things of note: One, you don’t need an exploding film industry in your back yard to offer Dramatic Writing in your state. We now have a “template” that I’m really enthusiastic to share/consult with motivated education stakeholders in individual states who want to create this game-changer new course as an ELA core option in their state and/or district. That said, because the curriculum meets the state standards (and rigor) of a core ELA course, the whole curriculum – or pieces and parts – can be taught in existing ELA and theatre courses in any state. I’d love to consult with curriculum and teacher folks on how best to do this too.
The second thing of note is since launching the course in 2018/19, we’ve been able to gather tons of anecdotal evidence that screams this course is revolutionizing writing instruction. We are seeing, across the board that students are writing better because, simply, they are more engaged in what they are writing. And on that note, they are writing more than they would in a composition class, but not minding it because they see the life-application to what they are writing. Teachers tell me they never hear something like, “…why do we have to do this…?” because all the assignments inherently are bigger and better than a grade.
Again, that’s all anecdotal because this course is so young it literally hasn’t been studied or researched in any formal way. It won’t be long before some whippersnapper doc student or the like does a qualitative and/or quantitative deeper dive into the impact of this course on writing instruction. In other words, we can think in a STEM way and focus on a legit career paths directly connected to the ELA content area. ELA teachers haven’t really had that direct occupational path to stroll down. It’s always been, “…a great prep for law school…” or “…every job will need you to be able to write and communicate effectively…” but we rarely had the job or jobs in our career sights.
More importantly, at least from this end, is the opportunity to introduce some nuanced curriculum and teaching into the ELA classroom that will get students excited about learning writing. There’s a world, down the road, where we test out the simple hyposthesis of students that are interested in what they are writing and why they are writing what they are writing, improve their writing and even perform better on their standardized writing tests. Currently we see most schools require American Lit or some form of a standardized class during their testing year (in GA it’s junior year). But what if we discover Dramatic Writing is the best course or curriculum to improve test scores? Hmmm? Where’s the whippersnapper doc student who will prove this?!! We need you to put down your Netflix for a few moments and spread the good Dramatic Writing word. J
About Aaron Levy
A former high school English teacher, Aaron Levy is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing, and English Education at Kennesaw State University. Go OWLS! In the Spring of 2016, he began serving as the Director of Academics for the Georgia Film Academy where among several film/tv workforce initiatives, he was able to lead the creation of the Dramatic Writing for Film, Television and Theatre 1, a new ELA requirement option course for high schools. Levy earned his MFA in creative writing and a PHD in curriculum & instruction from Arizona State University. Go Sun Devils! His first work for young adults, Pizza With Shrimp On Top (Dramatic Publishing), has enjoyed over 60 national and international productions, and was nominated for the 2007 Distinguished National Play Award for the Middle and Secondary School Audiences. This ten-minute play BOLT CUTTER MAN was last selected for production by Thespian Production Inc’s for its 2014 Halloween Play Festival at NYC’s Joria Mainstage Theatre. Levy’s debut young adult novel, Blood Don’t Lie, directly evolved from writing assignments he wrote alongside his methods students at KSU, was published by Good Reads Press. BLOOD DON’T LIE received the GA Author of the Year Award for young adult fiction in 2018 and continues to be taught at dozens of Georgia middle and high schools. His newest play, THE STUDENT BODY is set to do a staged reading “tour” in 2021/22 as it gets developed for full production. More soon on this exciting YA project. Go YOUNG ADULTS!