America has a rich and varied
tradition of musical theater. Lyricists, composers, choreographers, and
writers continue to collaborate to express the human condition, comment on
social issues, and allow the audience to explore new worlds. Songs and
dances invest actions and words with a deeper level of emotional power.
The dance, the songs, the sets, and the movements all convey a message beyond
the written word. Through a study of the rich history of this popular
form of theater, this seminar will explore areas for application of selected
musicals to traditional school subjects of Language Arts, Social Studies and
History, and even Mathematics and Science.
PITTSBURGH RIVERS
Seminar led by Janet Stocks, Carnegie Mellon University
Rivers play a very important role
in the life and culture of Pittsburgh. In this seminar we will explore
the rivers from a variety of perspectives: historical, geological,
geographical, economic and cultural among others. We will read novels,
take field trips and have multiple guest lecturers in an attempt to understand
fully how our "three rivers" influence the life of our region.
READING AND TEACHING POETRY
Seminar led by Alan Kennedy, Carnegie Mellon University
This seminar is designed to
develop your ability to read and respond to poetry, and will introduce you to
some of the central ideas about the nature of poetry in English. We'll
start with early examples from Classical times, and from the earliest pieces
of writing in English. We'll consider examples from each of the major
historical moments, and then focus our attention primarily on modern poets
(modern in the broad sense: from the Romantics until the present day).
While our initial concern will be with understanding poetry, our approach will
be an ongoing exploration of ways of teaching poetry. Even at the
college level it seems that students haven't really developed a good ear for
language. Learning how to pay attention to the different kinds of music
that make up poetic language is a good step on the way to developing a broad
range of reading and writing skills.
Click
here for
explanatory comments from the seminar talk and links to websites for the
poems.
U.S. LATINO LITERATURE AND
CULTURE
Seminar led by Karen S. Goldman, Chatham College
This
seminar aims to present a thorough examination of the many variations of
Latino cultures in the United States. We
will explore the shared histories of encounters between the Latin American
republics and the United States. Our
focus will be the three major Latino groups in the United States:
Mexican-American, Chicanos, Tejanos, etc.; Caribbean Islanders:
Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican; and Central American: Nicaraguan,
Guatemalan, Salvadorean. Some
consideration will be given to smaller ethnic and national groups such as
South Americans, for example, Colombian, Ecuadorean, Chilean, and others.
Some
of the main areas that the seminar will focus on in these Latino cultures are:
socio-linguistic issues, educational issues, family and gender issues,
race relations and social tolerance, economic issues, health issues,
spirituality and religion, Latinos in Pennsylvania, and Latinos and the arts.
UNDERSTANDING
NONFICTION GENRES
Seminar led by David Kaufer, Carnegie Mellon University
This
seminar will explore what makes nonfiction genres similar and different from
one another. Fellows shall have a
chance to read some professional literature on the concept of genre and on the
theory underlying different nonfiction genres.
We will engage in close reading and writing of different genres and
examine what makes them work as they do.
Fellows
will be introduced to and get hands-on experience with visualization
technology that can be used to teach different genres comparatively to
students, with an eye on what makes genres similar and different.
For a final project, Fellows will be encouraged to develop a teaching
module on a single genre or a comparison of genres as part of a language arts
or content-based reading-writing curriculum.
