My favourite classroom experiences are the ones driven by effective in-class group work: when the task is both clear and interesting, the students are into it, and the room works WITHOUT ME.
Today in my 20th Century Theatre class we talked about immersive theatre, with particular reference to Griselda Gambaro‘s politically charged Information For Foreigners, a dispatch from Argentina’s murderous Dirty War. (Hats off to my fab TA, Meghan O’Hara, for an engaging lecture that detailed Punchdrunk’s infamous Sleep No More to set the scene).
In order to get a handle on the often confusing and jam-packed scenes in Gambaro’s play, we created visual maps of the work using those fun-and-games tools – chart paper and coloured pens! – that are (ahem) typical of grade-school classrooms… but are JUST AS EFFECTIVE for adult learners. And we had good, clean, productive fun indeed.
Herewith, some of the snaps I got to take when it turned out I was not needed!
The Activist Classroom 