Teacher Tips: Getting Costumes For The School Play

Remember back in the day when the moms got together and made their kids' costumes for the school play? Back when participation was what was important, as opposed to keeping up with/doing better than... or even having the perfect Instagrammable moments?

Not everything has to be fancy or flashy, and sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you have. Here's a brief article with some suggestions on how to get costumes for a school play when you have limited resources.

The following article was originally published December 26, 2010

How to get Costumes for a School Play

Putting on a school play can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work. Choosing a play (or writing one); casting the performers; directing the action; staging rehearsals; coming up with the sets, props and costumes; and perhaps hardest of all, drawing an audience, all require a lot of organized effort.

When it comes to getting the costumes for a school play, there are a few different options to consider. Costumes can be rented, purchased or they can be made by someone such as a staff person or a parent or even the students themselves. Deciding which option is best will depend on the size of the play.

For a simple production with little kids (i.e., K-1), it may be enough to have the kids wear masks. They could also wear leotards or long-sleeved T-shirts with sweat or dance pants in a solid color to coordinate with their mask. Or, to make things simpler, they could all wear black.

For older groups of students (grades 2-4) who can learn and recite enough for a full one- or two-act play with multiple scenes, clothing, jewelry and accessories could be purchased in appropriate sizes from a thrift store to create costumes. The advantage of purchasing thrift store clothing is that it is cheap in cost and, because it’s already “made”, the items are easier to adapt for costumes than creating wardrobe from scratch.

Thrift store clothing can easily be cut down, dyed or painted to suit the needs of the production. Students can wear ballet, character, jazz, or other suitable dance shoes to complete their costumes, and quite often parents will be willing to pay for these.

When mounting a school play with middle and high school students, art and home economics classes can be a good source of potential costumers and even set-builders. Coordinating with other teachers to have their students participate in play production will help to delegate some of the responsibility, and if the school has a music teacher, enlist his or her help as well to find music students willing to participate.

Making costumes for a school play is a great way to get students involved in other aspects of play production and allows students who do not have a speaking part to be involved. Having original costumes also adds to the play’s uniqueness, particularly if the script is not original. If students are too young to make costumes, try enlisting parents or volunteers from church groups or college service organizations.

If making costumes is not an option even with adapting clothing purchased at a thrift store, the next best option will be to rent costumes. Your local telephone directory or a quick Internet search will help you determine where the nearest costume rental company is that may have what you need. Whichever route you choose for obtaining costumes for your school play, enlisting at least one other person to help with the work load will help things go smoother.

Teacher Tips: Passive student discipline

The following article was previously published in July 2009.

Using Passive Discipline in the Classroom

Teaching is a challenging task that is simultaneously as frustrating as it is gratifying. Even on a good day it can leave you feeling drained after just a couple of hours, especially if you have to spend a large amount of precious instruction time managing behavior.

Passive Discipline may sound like an oxymoron but if properly used it can be an effective classroom tool. Whether they realize it or not, students are already attuned to body language and hand signals. Non-verbal communication is a lot less likely to end up in a battle or control struggle.

Often times when students are chattering away amongst themselves and not paying attention a teacher will simply stand (or sit) calmly and wait for the students to notice he or she is waiting. At least one kid will notice and alert another creating a ripple effect around the room. If there are any holdouts a combination of eye contact and a raised eyebrow will usually do the trick.

The reason passive discipline is effective is that visual reminders serve as instant memory activators. It also creates a means to developing awareness so that students will be more accountable. Often a mere look will cause a student to stop and say "what?" If you continue to look expectantly at them quite often something will trigger and they will say "Oh!" and correct or adjust the behavior without you having to utter a word. They may even smile at you in the process.

Using non-verbal communication in the classroom has the added advantage of not disturbing students who are quietly working and the offending student can not succeed in baiting you into a non-productive verbal exchange while drawing attention to themselves and disrupting the lesson.

A Few Gestures and Hand Signals

Holding a hand (or both hands) up with the palm facing outward generally means stop, especially if you look downward while doing so. Unfortunately this gesture is also seen by some to be negative, perhaps because of the popular "talk to the hand" expression that was prevalent in the nineties. For an alternative gesture hold the hand out to your side with the palm facing downward.

The palm facing downward is a great gesture because it is multifunctional. If used in motion by lowering the hand slightly it can mean "slow down and walk," when a student is running in the hall. The same motion can also tell a student to bring the volume down when they are talking too loud.

Moving the hand across the throat vertically is universal for cut it out. A finger to the lips combined with eye contact reminds a student it is time to be quiet. The same finger against the lips combined with shaking the head "no" tells a student they are not following procedure when talking out of turn.

Often when you are assisting one student another will impatiently call your name over and over demanding your attention. Instead of responding with equal impatience holding up one hand with your index finger pointing up tells the student you will be with them in one moment.

If the impatient student persists you can combine the gesture with shaking the head no and holding the palm outward to say "stop" and then holding up the index finger again to let the student know you will be with them momentarily. If they continue to persist, stop what you are doing and look at them impassively while making eye contact and repeat the gesture.

Another non-verbal way to tell a student you want them to stop what they are doing is to place both hands in front of your body with one slightly above the other and move the hands outward to either side. Even if you have to repeat the gesture or combine it with another, the student will usually get the message without you having to speak a word.

Other Non-Verbal Options

When a student is off task and out of their seat, merely pointing from the child to their empty chair sends the message "please return to your seat." It is better to repeat the gesture than to plead with the student for several minutes in an attempt to get them to do what you ask. Not every student will comply easily, however and additional steps will be necessary.

Some schools use a mark system to manage behavior. Writing a student's name on the board can be a warning signal that some stronger form of disciplinary action such as the giving of a mark is about to be taken. If the student doesn't take the warning to return to their seat, for example, the letters OS can be placed next to their name. This is also a warning to the rest of the class not to join in to the behavior.

If the mark is ignored the next step will be to send the student out for disciplinary action. Most students do not want to serve detention or have their parents telephoned and once they see the situation is serious they will not want to be the next to be sent out. Having a step by step procedure beginning with a warning gives the student a chance to make the decision to comply before serious action is taken against them.

From the very first day, the class rules and expectations should be clearly outlined and if possible, reminders should be posted visibly around the room so that your non-verbal gestures serve to reinforce the behavior the students have already been told they should be exhibiting.

Passive discipline is an important tool that can often save valuable time in classroom management. Engaging with a student verbally can often lead to confrontation. Using gestures and body language appropriately to correct students can save you a lot of grief in the long run.

Why and How to Encourage Children to Read

Almost nothing in life is more important than literacy. Not being able to read or having a low literacy level affects everything from driving to taking medicine, not to mention applying for and functioning on a job. A favorite quote I often share on Twitter is "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." If you read to children when they are very young, and if they see you reading, they will develop an interest in reading and learning in general.

Originally published October 2011 via that site that no longer exists...

How to Encourage your Child to Read

Reading is an important component to success, and the best way to encourage children to read is for the adults in their lives to set an example as a readers. If children are read to from a very young age, they learn to appreciate it as entertainment long before they ever discover reading as a “work.” With the right foundation children can learn to look upon reading as the ticket to unending adventure as well as a gateway to unlimited knowledge.

All children love stories and imaginative play; if children are introduced to reading early enough, they will consider it a part of fun time – AKA play – and regularly ask (or even demand) to be read to. As they grow older, they will want to do the reading to their parents and others, and appreciate books as much as they do their most prized toys and games.

Aside from being read to on a regular (if not daily) basis, the next important factor that will encourage children to want to read is having an assortment of books at home. It is important that these books always be age appropriate with regard to both subject matter and reading level. Books with pictures but no text will encourage very early readers to use their imaginations while they interpret the pictures to make up their own stories, and chapter books will help proficient readers stay interested as they grow out of “baby books”.

Thrift stores are a great source of books to help build a young reader library as several books can usually be purchased for less than one dollar (U.S.), and often books are put on sale for half price, making them even more affordable. As soon as a child is old enough (or has facility enough) to read beginner books on their own, they should be taken to the public library. One of the best things that can happen in a child’s life is getting their own library card.

As children get older and become more independent, they also discover other interests. Having both fiction and non-fiction books at their disposal that help them learn more about those interests and other people’s experiences with them is another way to encourage them to continue to read.

Not all reading material has to be in the form of books, however. One of the best ways to encourage a child to read is to write letters to them. Even early readers can comprehend short notes and begin to write back. Jokes, funny sayings, instructions on where to find special treats, can help to start a tradition with children that will continue well into adulthood.

The most important factor in encouraging a child to read is “not dropping the ball.” It is not enough to get a child started with reading and provide them with books; the ongoing interest must be encouraged and kept alive by activities and discussion. It is extremely important for the adults in a child’s life to set aside both quiet time reading as well as time for reflection where the child can talk about what was read and share any thoughts or feelings he or she might have.

First at home, and later at school, children develop an appreciation for reading when it is practiced regularly in their environment. It is an easy thing to encourage a child to read when they have learned to value it early on.