The concept of theater pedagogy. Theater pedagogy as an innovative model for educating a child’s personality The meaning and place of art pedagogy in education

09.10.2021

The synthetic nature of theatrical art is an effective and unique means of artistic and aesthetic education of students, thanks to which children's theater occupies a significant place in the overall system of artistic and aesthetic education of children and youth. Preparation of school theatrical productions, as a rule, becomes an act of collective creativity not only of young actors, but also of vocalists, artists, musicians, lighting designers, organizers and teachers.

The use of theatrical art in the practice of educational work helps to expand the general and artistic horizons of students, general and special culture, enriching aesthetic feelings and developing artistic taste.

The founders of theater pedagogy in Russia were such prominent theater figures as Shchepkin, Davydov, Varlamov, and director Lensky. The Moscow Art Theater and, above all, its founders Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko brought with them a qualitatively new stage in theater pedagogy. Many actors and directors of this theater became prominent theater teachers. In fact, the theatrical pedagogical tradition that exists to this day in our universities begins with them. All theater teachers know the two most popular collections of exercises for working with students of acting schools. This is the famous book by Sergei Vasilyevich Gippius “Gymnastics of the Senses” and the book by Lydia Pavlovna Novitskaya “Training and Drilling”. Also wonderful works by Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Volkonsky, Mikhail Chekhov, Gorchakov, Demidov, Christie, Toporkov, Dikiy, Kedrov, Zakhava, Ershov, Knebel and many others.

Noting the crisis of modern theater education, the lack of new theatrical pedagogical leaders and new ideas, and, as a consequence, the lack of qualified teaching staff in children's amateur theater performances, it is worth taking a closer look at the heritage that has been accumulated by the Russian theater school and, in particular, the school theater. and children's theater pedagogy.

The traditions of school theater in Russia were established at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century. In the middle of the 18th century, in the St. Petersburg land gentry corps, for example, special hours were even allocated for “teaching tragedies.” Students of the corps - future officers of the Russian army - acted out plays by domestic and foreign authors. Such outstanding actors and theater teachers of their time as Ivan Dmitrevsky, Alexey Popov, brothers Grigory and Fyodor Volkov studied in the gentry corps.

Theatrical performances were an important part of the academic life of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens. Moscow University and Noble University Boarding House. Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and other elite educational institutions of Russia.

In the first half of the 19th century, student theater groups became widespread in gymnasiums, not only in the capital, but also in the provincial ones. From the biography of N.V. Gogol, for example, it is well known that while studying at the Nizhyn gymnasium, the future writer not only successfully performed on the amateur stage, but also directed theatrical productions and wrote scenery for performances.

In the last third of the 18th century, children's home theater was born in Russia, the creator of which was the famous Russian educator and talented teacher A.T. Bolotov. He wrote the first plays for children in Russia - “Praise”, “Rewarded Virtue”, “Unfortunate Orphans”.

The democratic upsurge of the late 1850s and early 1860s, which gave rise to a social and pedagogical movement for the democratization of education in the country, contributed to a significant intensification of public attention to the problems of education and training, and the establishment of more demanding criteria for the nature and content of educational work. Under these conditions, a heated debate is unfolding in the pedagogical press about the dangers and benefits of student theaters, which began with an article by N.I. Pirogov “To be and to appear.” The public performances of high school students were called “a school of vanity and pretense.” N.I. Pirogov posed the question to youth educators: “...Does sound moral pedagogy allow children and young people to be exposed to the public in a more or less distorted and, therefore, not in their true form? Do the ends justify the means in this case?”

The critical attitude of the authoritative scientist and teacher to school performances found some support in the teaching community, including K.D. Ushinsky. Some teachers, based on the statements of N.I. Pirogov and K.D. Ushinsky, even sought to provide some kind of “theoretical basis” for prohibiting students from participating in theatrical productions. It was argued that pronouncing someone else's words and depicting another person causes antics and a love of lying in the child.

The critical attitude of the outstanding figures of Russian pedagogy N.I. Pirogov and K.D. Ushinsky towards the participation of schoolchildren in theatrical productions was apparently due to the fact that in the practice of school life there was a purely ostentatious, formalized attitude of teachers towards the school theater.

At the same time, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, a conscious attitude towards theater as the most important element of moral, artistic and aesthetic education was established in domestic pedagogy. This was largely facilitated by the general philosophical works of leading Russian thinkers, who attached exceptional importance to the problems of the formation of a creative personality and the study of the psychological foundations of creativity. It was during these years that in Russian science (V.M. Solovyov, N.A. Berdyaev, etc.) the idea began to be established that creativity in its various expressions constitutes a moral duty, the purpose of man on earth, is his task and mission, that it is the creative act that pulls a person out of a slavish, forced state in the world, and raises him to a new understanding of being.

Research by psychologists who stated that children have the so-called "dramatic instinct" “The dramatic instinct, which is revealed, judging by numerous statistical studies, in children’s extraordinary love for theater and cinema and their passion for independently playing all kinds of roles,” wrote the famous American scientist Stanley Hall, “is for us teachers a direct discovery of a new force in human nature ; the benefits that can be expected from this power in pedagogy, if we learn to use it properly, can only be compared with those benefits that accompany the newly discovered power of nature in people’s lives.”

Sharing this opinion, N.N. Bakhtin recommended that teachers and parents purposefully develop the “dramatic instinct” in children. He believed that for preschool children raised in a family, the most suitable form of theater is the puppet theater, the comic theater of Parsley, the shadow theater, the puppet theater. On the stage of such a theater, it is possible to stage various plays of fairy-tale, historical, ethnographic and everyday content. Such a theater can usefully fill the free time of a child up to the age of 12. In this game, you can prove yourself at the same time as the author of a play, dramatizing your favorite fairy tales, stories and plots, and as a director and actor, playing for all the characters in your play and as a master. handicraftsman.

From puppet theater, children can gradually move on to a passion for dramatic theater. With skillful guidance from adults, children's love of dramatic play can be used to great advantage in their development.

Familiarity with the publications of the pedagogical press of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, statements by teachers and children's theater workers indicates that the importance of theatrical art as a means of educating children and youth was highly appreciated by the country's pedagogical community.

The First All-Russian Congress on Public Education, held in St. Petersburg in the winter of 1913-14, paid interested attention to the problem of “theater and children,” at which a number of reports on this issue were heard. The resolution of the congress noted that “the educational influence of children’s theater is felt in full force only with its deliberate, expedient production, adapted to children’s development, worldview and to the national characteristics of a given region.” “In connection with the educational impact of children’s theater,” the resolution also noted, “there is also its purely educational significance; dramatizing educational material is one of the most effective ways to apply the principle of visualization.”

The issue of children's and school theater was also widely discussed at the First All-Russian Congress of People's Theater Workers held in 1916. The school section of the congress adopted an extensive resolution that touched upon the problems of children's, school theater and theater for children. In particular, it was noted that the dramatic instinct, inherent in the very nature of children and manifested from a very early age, should be used for educational purposes. The section considered it necessary “that in kindergartens, schools, shelters, school premises at children’s departments of libraries, people’s houses, educational and cooperative organizations, etc., an appropriate place should be given to various forms of manifestation of this instinct, according to the age and development of the children, and namely: the organization of games of a dramatic nature, puppet and shadow shows, pantomimes, as well as round dances and other group movements of rhythmic gymnastics, dramatization of songs, charades, proverbs, fables, storytelling, the organization of historical and ethnographic processions and celebrations, staging children's plays and operas.” . Taking into account the serious educational, ethical and aesthetic significance of the school theater, the congress recommended the inclusion of children's parties and performances in the school's program of activities, and the initiation of petitions to the relevant departments for the allocation of special funds for the organization of school performances and holidays. When constructing school buildings, the resolution noted, it is necessary to pay attention to the suitability of the premises for staging performances. The congress spoke about the need to convene an all-Russian congress on the problems of children's theater.

Advanced teachers not only highly valued the possibilities of theater as a means of visual learning and consolidation of knowledge acquired in school lessons, but also actively used a variety of means of theatrical art in the everyday practice of teaching and educational work.

Everyone knows the interesting theatrical and pedagogical experience of our great theorist and practice of pedagogy A.S. Makarenko, talentedly described by the author himself.

Interesting and instructive is the experience of educating pedagogically neglected children and adolescents using theatrical art, gained by the largest domestic teacher S.T. Shatsky. The teacher considered children's theatrical performances as an important means of uniting the children's team, moral re-education of “street children”, and introducing them to cultural values.

Theater pedagogy and its specifics

Theater is a stage action that arises in the process of an actor’s performance in front of an audience. Pedagogy is the science of human upbringing, revealing its essence, the laws of upbringing and personal development, the process of education and training.

Theater pedagogy is the path of personal development in the process of education and training through the process of play, or stage performance, where individual development comes from freedom of choice through responsibility to the joy of self-expression.

Goals and objectives:

Creating a condition? for the comprehensive and harmonious development of children?, the revelation of their talent? and abilities?;

Attracting children? to musical art and development of interest in vocal and theatrical skills;

Increasing the level of viewership? and performing? culture;

Cultivating artistic taste and familiarization with modern forms of musical art;

Unlocking creativity? children's individuality? through theatrical forms of self-expression.

Theater arts in secondary schools

Municipal autonomous educational institution

Secondary school No. 172

teacher of additional education Matveeva E.A.

The education system is designed to transmit to a person the knowledge of previous generations, while forming a high level of morality, and educating young people in understanding what is dangerous for their spiritual and moral life and what is useful.

And if the main task of schools is to give each student fundamental knowledge in all subjects of the humanities and natural sciences, then additional education is a means of identifying, supporting and developing the creative potential of students, it also contributes to the spiritual and moral education of the individual.The introduction of teaching theater arts into secondary schools can effectively influence the educational process.And here the tandem of educational school and additional education is very important. Such a tandem exists in our school.

School theater. For some it sounds too loud and pretentious, for others it sounds frivolous, for others it sounds simply funny. For me, this is an attempt to realize my inner creative potential, and perhaps even the work of my whole life. In life, each of us is given the opportunity to believe in a miracle, although there is still a saying: “Miracles happen only in childhood.” I beg to differ with this. Isn't life a miracle? Aren’t our children a miracle? And their theatrical (even unprofessional) productions – isn’t this a miracle? And the fact that in every role played by a child on stage, a piece of his soul is exposed - isn’t this a miracle? Yes, this is it, this is the most miracle!

As you know, the best way to raise good children is to help them become happy. Only such children can be trusted to create a new, more humane society in the future. A child comes to the school theater with a feeling of celebration - he so wants to join the exciting, slightly mysterious and magical theatrical performance.

The School Theater is a fun business, first of all, because it is here that there is a place for experimentation, “cabbage”, amateur creativity, in the best understanding of this expression. In the atmosphere of the School Theater, their own poets, playwrights, and artists are born.

Indeed, when we worked on the design of the performances: “The Magic Garden”, “The Birthday of Leopold the Cat”, “Geese-Swans” we got our own design artists. In preparation for the performance of the propaganda teams, their own playwrights and poets appeared. For the main feature of this type of art is free creativity at the behest of the soul.

It should be especially noted that the teaching method involves the creation of a special moral climate in groups. There are neither excellent achievers nor lagging behind. A distinctive feature of the method is that children themselves analyze their own work and the work of their comrades. They do not evaluate, but analyze. In such an atmosphere, the sprouts of collectivism, tolerance for each other, and respect most easily sprout. The development of logical thinking goes hand in hand with the formation of oratory and stage speech skills.

The performance plays an important place in the training program. The presence of several groups (by age) allows you to approach its creation slowly, having completed all the necessary classes, preparing for it internally and in a production sense. The point is that the junior and middle classes should not be aimed at a quick stage result in the form of a performance. For the elder, it also becomes not an end in itself, but the result of the pedagogical process, or rather a part of it. From the moment of the premiere, the work within the performance does not stop; it is included in the repertoire of the School Theater, which all students must go through. The younger ones not only have to watch these performances, but can also participate in small episodes or crowd scenes. Thus, the performance becomes not only the work of the senior class, but the common brainchild of all participants in the School Theater.

The optimal number of students in each group is 12-15 children. This makes it possible to form a “mini-troupe” with two members in case of absences and illnesses, on the one hand, and to pay maximum attention to each student, on the other. And if three years ago we had only 3 theater groups, today there are already 12! This indicates increased interest in our common cause.

It is fundamental for the School Theater to have a permanent stage with its own repertoire. Let us emphasize that children who have completed their studies are not “thrown out” onto the street, but continue their stage life on this stage, participating in the current repertoire and the creation of new performances. It is acceptable and highly desirable to involve teenagers who have not previously studied in the School Theater to participate in this work. They fall under the strong influence of “experienced” artists and into an atmosphere of spiritual work. And it doesn’t matter if there is a “turnover” of such “personnel”.

Aspiring actors become real heroes of school life. The atmosphere of joy and the element of play unite children. And now the sincere desire to establish contact with each child, despite what kind of “track record” he or she has, found a lively response in the children’s hearts! Many guys became interested in theater, and we began our ascent to the heights of theatrical Olympus, hobbies, first theatrical experiences, first applause.

Having carried out monitoring after the first year of study, we noted:

During the school year, students' interpersonal and intergroup relationships improved significantly. A team of like-minded people was formed and a steady interest in theatrical activities developed. Children began to think more creatively and fantasize.

I would like to note that with the advent of the theater, almost all events at the school take place with the participation of studio members. Be it the regional competition “Traffic Light”, “Agitation Brigade”, reading competitions or Teacher’s Day. We participate in district, city, regional theater competitions and festivals.

2nd place in the regional competition “My Love Theater!” in 2012

Awarded a diploma at the V 11th city theater festival “Chance” 2011.

Diploma of the Ministry of Education of the Nizhny Novgorod region for participation in the final of the 4th regional competition of children's and youth theater groups "Theater is the country of the present"

Prize for best actress in the play “Cat House” at the regional festival “My Love Theater” in 2014.

But the main thing is not diplomas and certificates, but work on the play, where the performance itself is not an end in itself, but a reason to develop. And, of course, what is a theater without an audience!

Having shown a play at school once, he does not die. We actively tour kindergartens. We already have 6 performances in our repertoire. Many people already know us in the nearest children's centers.

For myself, I have determined the following: in such a creative team, culture is brought up, the correct attitude towards the historical heritage, the world, people, a certain way of life is created in general, and at the same time self-affirmation occurs, since each child has the opportunity to show his individuality. In a school environment, through the art of theater, it is possible to affirm the ideals of goodness, love, fidelity, justice, respect for traditions and, most importantly, the joy of learning about life. The guys not only participate in the work on the play, but also reflect on it, as if comprehending something sacred. With the power of their talent, children recreate the magical world of the play, in which they love and suffer, perform noble and kind deeds, opening doors to miracles, and an eternally different, but always unforgettable hero walks along secret paths.

Our children's theater-studio "Horizon" is a metropolis in miniature. This is the unity of dissimilar, special, and in some ways even unique personalities.

This is an international community. A special multicultural space is being “built” on its territory, opening up wide scope for raising a child on the basis of universal human values. Carrying out its movement on the path of comprehending the art of the stage, the school theater strives for Peace, Goodness, Love! With genuine joy and almost sacred trepidation, a child appears on the stage of the school theater. And even if he is dressed in a homemade caftan or a funny hat and does not have professional suits, the main thing is that he is sincere and truthful!

Any psychologist will confirm that theatricalization and staging are used as art therapy techniques. And since art is useful for the development of communication, restoration and preservation of the mental health of children, it means that it contributes to the development of the spiritual health of the nation.

Theatrical art is aimed at educating, at guiding the young viewer, using the example of the heroes of performances, to make his own self-assessment: do I live and act correctly?

In conclusion, I would like to say the following. I once read a report at NIRO for elementary school teachers on the topic “The role of theatrical activities in elementary school.” And there, telling the teachers about how we tour kindergartens, they asked me the following question: “What, do you show performances for free?” “Yes,” I answered, catching a glimpse of the smile on the teacher’s face. It is probably understandable that in our time people who are not from this world are engaged in volunteering. But, my dears, you should have seen the grateful faces of our spectators, the enthusiastic faces of our actors! The guys felt needed and important. It's worth a lot.

Years will pass, many years. The little person will become an adult and learn a lot about life. And among the most precious memories of childhood there will remain moments filled with the irresistible charm of the first school play and the role that he happened to play in this play.

The traditions of school theater in Russia were established at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. In the middle of the 18th century, in the St. Petersburg land gentry corps, for example, special hours were even allocated for “teaching tragedies.” Students of the corps - future officers of the Russian army - acted out plays by domestic and foreign authors. Such outstanding actors and theater teachers of their time as Ivan Dmitrevsky, Alexey Popov, brothers Grigory and Fyodor Volkov studied in the gentry corps.

At the same time, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, a conscious attitude towards theater as the most important element of moral, artistic and aesthetic education was established in domestic pedagogy. This was largely facilitated by the general philosophical works of leading Russian thinkers, who attached exceptional importance to the problems of the formation of a creative personality and the study of the psychological foundations of creativity. It was during these years that in Russian science (V.M. Solovyov, N.A. Berdyaev, etc.) the idea began to be established that creativity in its various expressions constitutes a moral duty, the purpose of man on earth, is his task and mission, that it is the creative act that pulls a person out of a slavish, forced state in the world, and raises him to a new understanding of being.

Research by psychologists who stated that children have the so-called "dramatic instinct" “The dramatic instinct, which is revealed, judging by numerous statistical studies, in children’s extraordinary love for theater and cinema and their passion for independently playing all kinds of roles,” wrote the famous American scientist Stanley Hall, “is for us teachers a direct discovery of a new force in human nature ; the benefit that can be expected from this power in pedagogy, if we learn to use it properly, can only be compared with those benefits that accompany the newly discovered power of nature in people’s lives.”

Sharing this opinion, N.N. Bakhtin recommended that teachers and parents purposefully develop the “dramatic instinct” in children. He believed that for preschool children raised in a family, the most suitable form of theater is the puppet theater, the comic theater of Parsley, the shadow theater, the puppet theater. On the stage of such a theater it is possible to stage various plays of fairy-tale, historical, ethnographic and everyday content. Playing in such a theater can usefully fill the free time of a child up to the age of 12. In this game you can prove yourself to be both the author of a play, dramatizing your favorite fairy tales, stories and plots, and a director and an actor, playing for all the characters in your play and a master needleworker.

Familiarity with the publications of the pedagogical press of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the statements of teachers and children's theater workers indicates that the importance of theatrical art as a means of educating children and youth was highly appreciated by the country's pedagogical community.

The First All-Russian Congress on Public Education, held in St. Petersburg in the winter of 1913-14, paid interested attention to the problem of “theater and children,” at which a number of reports on this issue were heard. The resolution of the congress noted that “the educational influence of children’s theater is felt in full force only with its deliberate, expedient production, adapted to children’s development, worldview and to the national characteristics of a given region.” “In connection with the educational impact of children’s theater,” the resolution also noted, “there is also its purely educational significance; dramatization of educational material is one of the most effective ways to apply the principle of visualization.”

Everyone knows the interesting theatrical and pedagogical experience of our great theorist and practice of pedagogy A.S. Makarenko, talentedly described by the author himself.

In our time of major social changes, the problem of intellectual and spiritual unemployment of young people is extremely acute. The vacuum is filled by antisocial preferences and tendencies. The main barrier to the criminalization of the youth environment is active spiritual work that meets the interests of this age. And here, the school theater, armed with the techniques of theatrical pedagogy, becomes the club space where a unique educational situation develops. Through a powerful theatrical tool - empathy, educational theater unites children and adults at the level of common cohabitation, which becomes an effective means of influencing the educational and educational process. Such an educational theater club has a particularly important impact on “children from the street,” offering them informal, frank and serious communication on topical social and moral issues, thereby creating a protective, socially healthy cultural environment.

Currently, theatrical art in the educational process is represented by the following areas:

Professional art aimed at children with its inherent general cultural values. In this direction of aesthetic education, the problem of the formation and development of the spectator culture of schoolchildren is solved.
Children's amateur theater, existing inside or outside the school, which has unique stages in the artistic and pedagogical development of children.

Amateur school theater is one of the forms of additional education. School theater directors create original programs and set tasks to serve young audiences. Both the first and second represent a significant scientific and methodological problem. In this regard, there is an urgent need to objectify the accumulated theoretical and empirical knowledge on children's theater pedagogy into a special discipline in the subject “children's theater pedagogy” and introduce this subject into the programs of universities that train directors of amateur theaters.

Theater as a subject, which allows you to implement the ideas of a complex of arts and apply acting training in order to develop the social competence of students..

Artistic creativity, including acting, uniquely and vividly reveals the nature of the personality of a child creator.

The main problem in modern theater education for children is the harmonious dosage of technical skills in the educational and rehearsal process, along with the use of the free playful nature of children's creativity.

Back in the 70s, the theater laboratory of the Scientific Research Institute of Artistic Education developed and substantiated the idea of universal accessibility of primary theater education, which made it possible to talk about the academic subject “theater lesson”.

In subsequent years, programs were developed on action techniques, stage speech, stage movement, and world artistic culture. A collection of creative tasks for children's theater classes has been created.

Theater pedagogy, the purpose of which is to develop expressive behavior skills, is used in professional training and retraining of teachers. Such preparation makes it possible to significantly change a regular school lesson, transform its educational goals, and ensure the active cognitive position of each student.

Speaking about the system of additional education, it should be noted that in addition to being scientific, an equally important principle of pedagogy is the artistry of the educational process. And in this sense, the school theater can become a unifying club space for informal socio-cultural communication between children and adults through the perception of an original artistic phenomenon.

It is worth remembering that the flourishing of democracy in ancient Hellas owes much to the ritual of living together by the city’s residents and the great dramaturgy of their fellow tribesmen during performances, in the preparation and performance of which almost the entire city was involved. Mastering educational material through living transforms knowledge into beliefs. Empathy is the most important educational tool.

In the field of theater education for children, the problem of personnel remains acute. Universities do not train directors and teachers of children's theater education and children's amateur theater. While graduates are somewhat familiar with staging techniques, they are almost not familiar with the pedagogical theatrical process.

This necessitates the creation of specialized secondary specialized educational institutions that train directors and teachers of children's theaters, who must be well aware of the children's specific methods of teaching acting and rehearsing.

A big problem has recently arisen in connection with the commercialization of children's creativity, including acting. The desire for a quick result has a detrimental effect on the pedagogical process. The exploitation of external data, natural emotionality, and age-related charm destroys the process of becoming a future artist and leads to the devaluation of his values.

It must be remembered that the theatrical educational process, due to its unique synthetic playful nature, is a powerful means of education precisely through living the spiritual cultural models of humanity.

In this regard, it should be noted that in recent years, thanks to the efforts of the staff of the theater laboratory of the Scientific Research Institute of Art Education, the socio-game style has become widespread in theater pedagogy.

“Socio-game style in pedagogy"received this name in 1988. He was born at the intersection of humanistic trends in theater pedagogy and cooperation pedagogy, which is rooted in folk pedagogy.

The urgent need for social changes in society has prompted many teachers to search for a new level of democratization and humanization of the pedagogical process. Thus, through the efforts of the famous psychologist E.B. Shuleshko, innovative teacher L.K. Filyakina, and theater teachers A.P. Ershova and V.M. Bukatov, a new thing arose, or a “well-forgotten old”, which was called “socio-game pedagogy”.

Carefully adopting from folk pedagogy the spirit of democracy, age-related cooperation, syncretism of the learning process and, enriching this with a base of practical exercises from theater pedagogy based on the method of K. S. Stanislavsky and the “theory of action” of P. M. Ershov, the socio-game style allows to understand in a new way, first of all, the role of the teacher in the educational process. The leading role of the teacher has long been defined and entered into practice as one of the main didactic principles. But, each historical time presupposes its own level of democracy, the process of harmony between people and a new understanding of the role of the leader and, in particular, the teacher. Each sovereign individual, at the time necessary for the common cause, responsibly and consciously finds his place in the general process of doing - this is probably how one can define a new level of harmony to which cooperation pedagogy and, in particular, theater pedagogy strives. This does not cross out the principle of another level of harmony, “do as I do,” but it presupposes a wider scope of manifestations of the student’s independence and, above all, his right to make mistakes. It is important to establish equality between student and teacher. A teacher who has or allows himself the right to make a mistake, thereby removes the fear of the independent action of a student who is afraid of making a mistake or “hurting himself.” After all, the teacher is constantly tempted to demonstrate his skill, correctness and infallibility. In this sense, in every lesson he trains himself more, honing his skills and demonstrating them with greater “brilliance” in front of “illiterate and completely inept children.” For such a teacher, a mistake is equal to a loss of authority. Authoritarian pedagogy and any authoritarian system rest on the infallibility of the leader and the fear of losing it.

For theater pedagogy, first of all, it is important to change this position of the teacher, i.e. remove the fear of error from him and his students.

The first stage of mastering theater pedagogy in its dominant pursuit is precisely this chain - to give the opportunity to “be in the shoes” of the student and see from the inside what is happening to those whom we teach, to look at ourselves from the outside. Is it easy to hear the task, does the student-teacher even know how to hear the teacher and, above all, his colleagues? It turns out that most teachers have these skills much worse than “inept and illiterate children.” Student teachers are given the task of working on an equal footing with their colleagues, and not demonstrating their acquired ability to “shut everyone up,” or keeping silent in a corner.

Teachers often do not have the patience to let children “play out” and “do something.” Seeing an “error”, the teacher immediately strives to eliminate it with his lengthy and not yet in demand explanations or “brilliant” hints. So the fear “that they might do something” gets to their hands, as a result of which students stop creating and become executors of other people’s ideas and plans. The pedagogical desire to “do good more often and more” is often only a subconscious desire to declare one’s importance, while children themselves can figure out the mistakes that guide their search. But the teacher wants to constantly prove his importance, necessity and right to love and respect.

Theater pedagogy suggests seeing significance in the very organization of the search process, the organization of a problematic situation-activity in which children, communicating with each other, will discover new things through problem-based play, trial and error. Often, children themselves cannot organize such search and creative activities and are grateful to the person who organized the holiday of exploration and communication for them.

But the holiday will not take place if the “owner of the house” is not feeling well. Equality between the teacher and children not only in the right to make mistakes, but also in adequate interest. An adult should also be interested in the game; he is the most active fan of the success of the game. But his role in it is organizational; he has no time to “play around.” The organizer of the holiday is always in trouble about “products”, “fuel” for the interesting mental activity of children.

The teacher organizer, the instigator of gaming didactic activities, acts in this case as the director of creating a situation of friendly communication through control over his own behavior and the behavior of students.

The teacher needs to have a perfect command of the content material of the subject, which will give him confidence in behavior and speed in his game-based methodological transformation of the material into a game-based task form. He needs to master the techniques of directing and pedagogical scenarios. This means being able to translate educational material into game problem tasks. Distribute the lesson content into meaningful, logically interconnected episodes. Reveal the main problem of the educational material and translate it into a sequential series of game problems. This can be either in the form of a didactic game or in the form of a role-playing game. It is necessary to have a large arsenal of game moves and constantly accumulate them. Then we can hope for the possibility of improvisation during the lesson, without which the lesson will become routinely dead.

It is important to develop a range of control over your behavior in communication. Master acting and teaching skills, master a variety of techniques of influence. It is necessary to own your bodily mobilization and be an example of business determination. Exude a joyful feeling of well-being, despite mistakes and failures. We strive to neutralize any positional conflicts that arise in educational work with our businesslike approach, without entering into altercations. Be able to manage the initiative, regulating the tension of forces and the distribution of work functions of the participants in the process. To do this, make full use of the levers of perseverance in some way: different (starting from a whisper) voice volume, its height, different speeds of movement around the class and speaking, additions and additions, changes in various verbal influences. In any activity, strive to discover the friendly interests of the students and the teacher. And not to declare it, but to actually find it, without replacing it with pedagogical pharisaism about universal love and the need to acquire knowledge. Always strive to proceed from the real proposed circumstances, from how it really is, and not how it should be. Destroy the bacillus of double morality, when everyone knows and does as it is, and speaks as is customary.

The following game rules help the teacher to develop and strengthen the union of equal participants in the game-learning process:

1. The principle of improvisation. “Here, today, now!” Be ready to improvise in tasks and conditions of its implementation. Be prepared for mistakes and victories for both your own and your students. Overcoming all obstacles is met as an excellent opportunity for children to communicate lively with each other. Seeing the essence of their growth in moments of misunderstanding, difficulty, questioning.
Don’t “chew” every task. The principle of information deficiency or silence.“I didn’t understand” in children is often not associated with the process of understanding itself. This could be simply a defense - “I don’t want to work, I’ll take time”, a desire to attract the teacher’s attention and the school habit of “freeloading” - the teacher is obliged to “chew everything and put it in his mouth.” Here the comments are necessary, business-like, the most urgent, giving the initial guidance for the joint activities and communication of children with each other. It is necessary to give the opportunity to clarify with peers a really unclear question. This does not mean writing off what our children have long been accustomed to, it means legalizing mutual assistance. Such clarification is more useful for both than repeated explanations from the teacher. Peers will understand each other faster. Besides, if they start doing it, they’ll understand!
Even if, in your opinion, the children do not really understand the task, but they are doing something, do not rush to interrupt and explain the “correct” option. Often, performing a task “incorrectly” opens up new possibilities for its application, a new modification that you are not even aware of. Perhaps what is more important here is the children’s activity itself, and not the correct fulfillment of the task conditions. It is important that there is a constant opportunity for training in finding a solution to the problem and independence in overcoming obstacles. This the principle of priority for student initiative.
Often a teacher experiences acute negative emotions when faced with children’s refusal to complete a task. He “suffered, created, invented at night” and brought the children a “gift” for which he expects a natural reward - joyful acceptance and embodiment. But they don’t like it, and they don’t want Demyanova Ukha. And immediately there is resentment towards the “refuseniks”, and, in the end, the conclusion is “they don’t need anything at all!..”. This is how two warring camps of students and teachers appear, the excellent striebreichers and the “difficult” ones. Difficult ones are those who cannot or do not want to please the teacher. The principle of student priority: “The viewer is always right!”

The advice here is to restructure your overall attitude towards refusal. If you try to see in it a hint for yourself, the real “feedback” that teachers dream of, then it will be perceived as a reciprocal gift from the child. Firstly, he showed his independence, the independence that you were going to cultivate in him. And secondly, he drew your attention to the need for a more thorough assessment of the level of training and interests of students. This will help you find the adequacy of your assignment to the level of need for it. It is at this time that you improve as a teacher, if of course you need it.

One of the central techniques is working on a task in small groups. It is here, in a situation of mutual complementarity and constant change of role functions, that all the techniques and skills to create a common harmony in teamwork work effectively and are constantly honed. A change in role functions is being developed (teacher-student, leader-follower, complementary), since the composition of the groups is constantly changing. There is an objective need to include each group member in the work, since holding responsibility for the group may fall to any of the participants by lot. This the principle of action, not ambition.“Today you play Hamlet, and tomorrow you are an extra.”
6. The principle “Do not judge...” Tact is developed in the ability to “judge” the work of another group on the basis of the case, and not on personal sympathies and claims, which result in mutual grievances and pain. To avoid such “showdowns,” the teacher needs to establish business-like, specific criteria for assessing the completion of tasks.

For example: did you or didn’t manage to meet the deadline? Were all or not all group members involved in demonstrating the answer? Do you agree or disagree with the answer? Such unambiguous criteria, not related to assessments “like - dislike, bad - good,” initially control, first of all, the organizational framework of the task. In the future, studying the evaluation criteria, students learn to track and note the objective, rather than taste, aspects of a phenomenon. This makes it possible to alleviate the problem of conflicting ambitions in teamwork and to more constructively keep track of the material mastered.

By periodically giving the role of “judge” to students, the teacher expands the scope of their independence and receives an objective assessment of their activities: what their students have learned in reality, and not according to his ideas. In this case, the phrases “I told them a hundred times!..” will not save you. The sooner we see the real results of our activities, the more time and chances we have to change something.

Principle correspondence of the content of the work to a certain external form, i.e. mise-en-scène. Mise-en-scene solution to the educational process. This should be expressed in the free movement of students and teachers in the classroom space, depending on the need for the content of the work. This includes inhabiting the space, for appropriating it and feeling comfortable in it. This search for a teacher’s place is different in each specific situation. It is not the case that should serve some external order, but the order should change depending on the needs of the case.
Principle of problematization.

The teacher formulates the task as a kind of contradiction, which leads students to experience a state of intellectual impasse and plunges them into a problematic situation.

A problematic situation (problem-task, situation-position) is a contradiction between the range of proposed circumstances and the needs of an individual or group of individuals located within this vicious circle.

Therefore, a problematic situation is a psychological model of the conditions for the generation of thinking on the basis of the situational dominant cognitive need.

A problem situation characterizes the interaction between a subject and his environment. Interaction of personality and objective contradictory environment. For example, the inability to complete a theoretical or practical task using previously acquired knowledge and skills. This leads to the need to equip yourself with new knowledge. It is necessary to find some unknown that would resolve the contradiction that has arisen. Objectification or objectification of this unknown occurs in the form of a question asked to oneself. This is the initial link of mental activity connecting the object and the subject. In educational activities, such a question is often asked by the teacher and addressed to the student. But it is important that the student himself acquires the ability to generate such questions. In search of an answer to the question of new knowledge, the subject develops or lives the path to the generation of knowledge.

In this sense, the problem situation is the primary and one of the central concepts of theater pedagogy and, in particular, the socio-game style of teaching.

Problem-based learning is a teacher-organized way of student interaction with the problematically presented content of the subject of study. Knowledge obtained in this way is experienced as a subjective discovery, understanding as a personal value. This allows you to develop the student’s cognitive motivation and interest in the subject.

In teaching, by creating a problem situation, the conditions for research activity and the development of creative thinking are modeled. A means of controlling the thinking process in problem-based learning are problematic questions that indicate the essence of the educational problem and the area of search for unknown knowledge. Problem-based learning is implemented both in the content of the subject of study and in the process of its development. The content is realized by developing a system of problems that reflect the main content of the subject.

The learning process is organized by the condition of an equal dialogue between teacher and student, and students with each other, where they are interested in each other’s judgments, since everyone is interested in resolving the problematic situation in which everyone finds themselves. It is important to collect all the solution options and highlight the fundamentally effective ones. Here, with the help of a system of educational problems caused by problem situations, subject research activities and norms of social organization of dialogical communication between research participants are modeled, which in fact is the basis of theatrical pedagogy of the rehearsal process and training, which allows the development of students’ thinking abilities and their socialization.

The main means of testing any assumption is an experimental test that confirms the evidence of the facts; in theater pedagogy, this can be a staging or a sketch, a thought experiment or an analogy. Then there is necessarily a discussion process of proof or justification.

Under stage understands the educational and pedagogical process of creating a plan for an acting experiment-sketch and its implementation. This means assembling the range of proposed circumstances of the situation, setting the goals and objectives of its participants and realizing these goals in stage interaction, using certain means available to the characters in the story. Unlike a professional acting sketch, in a general educational situation, what is important is not the acting skill itself, but its methods of appropriating the situation. This is a process of creative imagination and mental justification of the proposed circumstances and an effective experiment-study to test the hypothesis put forward for solving the problem. It can also be a search for a solution through improvisation in the proposed circumstances.

The students, having played out the study-experiment, practically visited the situation under study and tested, using their life-game experience, assumptions and options for behavior and solutions to problems in a similar situation. Moreover, educational and cognitive sketches can be constructed either completely recreating the necessary situation, or similar situations, similar in essence, but different in form, which can be more close and familiar to students. The sketch method, as a method for studying a situation or a certain content, involves setting a problem and a task to solve it, creating a list of game conflict rules of behavior (what is possible and what is not), which create a game problem situation, a study-experiment and its analysis. In this case, the main stage is analysis. In the analysis, the given framework of the rules of the game is compared with those that actually existed, i.e. The purity of the experiment is assessed. If the rules are followed, then the results obtained are reliable. Both student-performers and student-observers, who are initially assigned the role of controllers, participate in the discussion analysis of compliance with the rules. It is this threefold competitive process of interchange of information lived in the study, observed and control that allows students to get into a reflective position, which effectively moves the process of generating new knowledge. It doesn’t matter at all how the student performers played from the point of view of the acting technique of verisimilitude (they, of course, depict or illustrate everything), what is important is what the student observers saw in it. And they are able to see in a simple sketch of their comrades a lot of new ideas and solutions to problems that the performers have no idea about or have not planned. After all, “from the outside it is more visible,” especially when you have the necessary information!.. Even before we perceive an object, we are full of meanings about it because we have life experience. These “views from different sides,” let us again remember our favorite parable about the blind men and the elephant, allow the participants in such work to be enriched from each other with new parts of the truth through objective-reflexive relationships, striving for its integrity. Reflection in this case is understood as a mutual reflection of subjects and their activities in at least six positions:

The rules of the game themselves, as they are in this material, are control rules;

The performer is how he sees himself and what he has done;

The performer and what he accomplished, as seen by observers;

And the same three positions, but from a different subject.

This is how a double mirror image of each other’s activities occurs.

The same can be done while sitting at the table without going to the playground. This method can be conditionally called a mental or imaginary experiment, which in theatrical practice is called “table work.”

Thus, modern theater pedagogy takes a comprehensive approach to training the entire range of children’s sensory abilities; at the same time, competence in creating the mode of interpersonal communication is being developed, the sphere of independent creative and mental activity is expanding, which creates comfortable and, importantly, natural conditions for the process of learning and communication. The techniques of theater pedagogy solve not only the special educational problems of theater education, but also allow them to be successfully applied in solving general educational problems.

Of course, it is impossible to reflect all the new trends and ideas in theater pedagogy today in a short article. It was important for me to pay attention to the most, in my opinion, effective modern trends that actualize the problem of preserving the traditions of the Russian theater school and children's theater creativity.

Danilov S.S. Essays on the history of Russian dramatic theater. - M.-L., 1948. P.278.

Tebiev B.K. and others. Tula Theater. Historical and art essay. - Tula, 1977. P.16-17.

Pirogov N.I. Selected pedagogical works - M., 1953. P. 96-103

Quote according to the book To help family and school. Pedagogical Academy in essays and monographs. - M., 1911 C 185.

Resolutions of the 1st All-Russian Congress on Issues of Public Education (By sections and commissions) // Bulletin of Education 1914 No. 5 Appendix C 12.

All-Russian Congress of People's Theater Workers in Moscow. Resolutions of the school section of the congress. // School and life. 1916. No. 2. Stb. 59.

Right there. P. 60.

See: Shatsky S.T. Cheerful life. // Pedagogical. essays. In 4 volumes T. 1 - M, 1962. P. 386-390.

1 Of course, this is unacceptable in theater education, where, first of all, the organic process of living a conditional situation is important.

The additional educational program is designed for children 8-14 years old and includes the following sections: “Speech technique”, “Speech expressiveness”, “Culture of communication”, “Literary creativity”, “Fundamentals of stagecraft”, “Psychophysical training”. Most of the training hours fall on such sections as “Literary creativity” and “Fundamentals of stagecraft.”

The project that I want to present to your attention is called this:

Why did I address this problem?

All these problems are solvable and can be implemented through theatrical pedagogy techniques that have proven their viability as a means to obtain the desired results.

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Theatrical creativity as a way to socialize a child’s personality

I, Kareva Irina Valentinovna, a teacher of additional education, am the head of the Lira association.The additional educational program, on the basis of which I build my activities, is designed for children 8-14 years old and includes the following sections: “Speech technique”, “Speech expressiveness”, “Culture of communication”, “Literary creativity”, “Fundamentals of stagecraft”, "Psychophysical training." Most of the training hours fall on such sections as “Literary creativity” and “Fundamentals of stagecraft.”

The project that I want to present to your attention is called this:

“Theatrical creativity as a way of socializing a child’s personality.”

Why did I address this problem?

The child is 7 years old and goes to school. It is at the start that the child must learn the basic methods of communication, not be afraid of problematic situations, gain experience in solving them, develop curiosity and the need for knowledge.

Do primary schoolchildren need mutual communication skills, teamwork skills, when everyone depends on everyone else, and everything depends on everyone? Do children need creative courage and their faith in themselves? Do you need exercises that train memory, imagination, clarity of speech, and voice control? All these problems are solvable and can be implemented through theatrical pedagogy techniques that have proven their viability as a means to obtain the desired results. They are applicable in any class, school, or any children's group. Dramatize, represent someone, artistically read poetry and prose, conduct lessons outside the box with imagination that go beyond the usual, extracurricular activities, holidays - in all these d The actions contain features of theatrical language.

Theater games are the most effective pedagogical technology for developing the creative personality of children of primary and secondary school age

The task of developing a creative personality in the process of education and training, set out in the lawRF “On Education”,is one of the socially significant in modern society. The practical tasks of additional education for children are defined as follows: “providing the necessary conditions for personal development, health promotion, professional self-determination and creative work of children, adapting them to life in society; formation of a common culture; organization of meaningful leisure."

The educational space of institutions of additional education for children creates the most favorable conditions for their implementation.

Relevance of the problemis caused by qualitative changes in the social order of society, the need for creatively thinking people.

Children's theater is an attempt to make children feel the joy of creativity. At the same time, the very structure of the theater, synthesizing various arts, gives children the opportunity to discover very different creative abilities. They can be artists, painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers. Therefore, these activities are very useful for children and enjoyable for adults.

Classes in a theater association help a child learn to adequately assess himself and his capabilities, integrate into the team, determining the place, the role that is unique to him.

In modern Russian society, there is an acute problem of the younger generation losing their spiritual and moral culture. Therefore, in the process of educational activities we are faced with the following contradictions:

This project aims to find ways to solve the following problems:

loss of spiritual and moral culture by the younger generation;

lack of a holistic and purposeful system for the formation of cultural values among students;

the problem of developing children's communication skills in various life situations with peers, teachers, parents and other people around them; development of adequate evaluative activities aimed at analyzing one’s own behavior and actions.

The subject of the study isTheater creativityas the most natural, organic type of activity for children, which allows you to expand the child’s creative capabilities and helps psychological adaptation in the team.

Through the performance of pantomimes, the gradual inclusion of spontaneous statements, schoolchildren gain awareness of oral communication, learn to control their voice, gestures, and facial expressions. Participation in theatrical activities provides a very important social experience of communication with acquaintances and strangers, with friends, with the elderly and disabled, the experience of correct telephone conversations, and behavior in public places. Theater allows someone to remember, and someone to learn the most common fairy tales, their plots, and reveal through dramatization the characteristics of the heroes and their characters. The “repertoire” expands as needed.

Project goal

creating conditions for revealing the creative individuality of the child through his inclusion in theatrical activities

The most important objectives of the research project are

1) educational:

formation of special knowledge and skills related to theatrical activities;
developing performing culture skills;
learning to work independently on oneself and on the role.

2) developing:

realization of the child’s creative abilities through the art of puppet theater and theatrical activities in general based on the development of personal qualities;
development of communication and organizational skills;
promoting the development of individual personal culture.

3) educational:

fostering a sense of responsibility for oneself as part of a single team;
education of the actor’s internal psychotechnics;
nurturing the need to constantly work on one’s personality, on one’s image.
developing a culture of dignity among students; personal expression.

The implementation of this research project assumes that If the child is involved in a theater association, That he gets the opportunity to demonstrate his versatile abilities by creating his own works in the process of pedagogically organized artistic and creative activity.

Stage 1 of work on the project is preparatory.

Selection of literature on the research problem
Selection of didactic exercises to develop communication abilities.
Compilation and selection of diagnostic methods on the topic for tracking the development of children's creative abilities in theatrical and play activities.

At this stage, children comprehend the basics of spectator culture and the art of puppet theater. During this period the following is carried out:

preparation of the child’s psychophysical and creative (acting) apparatus;
theoretical mastery of concepts and terminology, basic stagecraft skills.

Stage 2 – the main one.

The activity is aimed at further development of acquired skills, improvement of performing skills, implementation of creative initiative:

development of skills and abilities in organizational activities;
establishing close relationships between children and parents through joint leisure;
realization of children’s abilities through educational activities in various types of creativity;
analysis, diagnostic section, study of the student’s personality

Correction of methods and techniques for the content of work with children and parents on the problem of implementing a pedagogical project.
Drawing up individual routes for the creative development and growth of children of theater studio students.

Final stage

involves the application of acquired knowledge and the implementation of creative abilities in transformative activities:

participation of students in the creation of the performance, individual work on the role;
providing every child with the opportunity for self-determination through participation in theatrical and leisure-creative activities;
organization of project activities, creation of original scripts, screenings and screenings;
organizing classes in creative groups of different ages, where older students act as instructors.

In theater lessons, it is important, first of all, to develop in children the ability to work in small groups, give them the basics of acting skills, teach them how to maintain mobilization, master voluntary attention, and work in a team. This is the first stage of learning acting. The law of collective work is being mastered: “Being in the right place at the right time for a common cause.” Then everything will work out. That is, the work of the team is being organized and communication skills are being developed. This can be successfully transferred to other lessons, where students are also ready to communicate, work in small groups, easily move from group to group, easily change the roles of “leader - follower”, “student - teacher”.

Expected results of the project:

Theoretical mastery of concepts and terminology, basic stage skills, practical application of knowledge and skills.
Mastery of professionally significant qualities: emotional perception of speech, imaginative thinking, imagination, motor coordination, ability to improvise.
Realization of children's abilities through educational activities in various types of creativity.
Teaching students the ability to make independent choices and developing communication skills.
Willingness and ability to be creative not only in art, but also in science and other areas of life and activity.

When talking about the social education of a child, we primarily mean the formation of a mature, socially active personality. The parameters for determining the creative activity and communication abilities of children are as follows:

active speech, sociability, desire to participate in theatrical games, emotional responsiveness, ability to convey basic emotions through facial expressions and gestures, ability to conduct a dialogue, ability to hear and listen to a partner, integrate into a team

Conclusion

The practical significance of this project for other teachers.

Innovative activities in the use of art-pedagogical technologies have confirmed their productivity. In the process of working on the project, I was able to make sure that art as a didactic tool, integrated into various school subjects and educational activities, creates the most favorable conditions for the formation of aesthetic and ethical immunity as an indicator of the spiritual and moral culture of the individual. This project is considered in the context of the educational technology “Pedagogical Theater”, which can be in demand by subject teachers, school psychologists, teacher-organizers, and additional education teachers;

the use of theatrical pedagogy techniques successfully fits into the system of education and upbringing of junior schoolchildren, contributing to the development and formation of their personality;
participation in the theater provides a very important social experience;
in play, the child actively comes into contact with the phenomena of reality, experiences them, and this fills his life with rich content and leaves a mark on his memory for a long time;
theatrical pedagogy provides an opportunity to develop imagination, memory, teaches you to freely express your thoughts and feelings through words, gestures, intonation, and facial expressions;
Children's participation in performances gives them joy and satisfaction.

School theater pedagogy is an interdisciplinary direction, the emergence of which is due to a number of sociocultural and educational factors.

The dynamics of socio-economic changes, the development of processes of democratization of public consciousness and practice give rise to the need for an individual capable of adequate cultural self-identification, free choice of one’s own position, active self-realization and culture-creative activity. It is at school that the formation of personal self-awareness occurs, a culture of feelings is formed, the ability to communicate, mastery of one’s own body, voice, plastic expressiveness of movements, a sense of proportion and taste is cultivated, which is necessary for a person to succeed in any field of activity. Theatrical and aesthetic activity, organically included in the educational process, is a universal means of developing a person’s personal abilities.

The processes of modernization of the domestic education system take into account the relevance of the transition from the extensive method of simply increasing the amount of information included in educational programs to the search for intensive approaches to its organization.

Apparently, we are talking about the formation of a new pedagogical paradigm, new thinking and creativity in the educational sphere. A “culture-creative” type school is born, building a unified and holistic educational process as a child’s path to culture.

The basic principles of cultural pedagogy coincide with the principles of theatrical pedagogy, as one of the most creative in nature. After all, the goal of theater pedagogy is to liberate the psychophysical apparatus of the student-actor. Theater teachers build a system of relationships in such a way as to organize maximum conditions for creating extremely free emotional contact, relaxedness, mutual trust and a creative atmosphere.

In theater pedagogy, there are general patterns of the process of teaching a creative personality, which can be purposefully and productively used for the purpose of nurturing the creative personality of both students and future school teachers.

What does the term “school theater pedagogy” include? Being part of theatrical pedagogy and existing according to its laws, it pursues other goals. If the goal of theater pedagogy is the professional training of actors and directors, then school theater pedagogy speaks of nurturing the personality of the pupil and student through the means of theatrical art.

We propose to denote by the term “school theater pedagogy” those phenomena in the educational process of schools and universities that are in one way or another connected with theatrical art; They are engaged in the development of imagination and imaginative thinking, but not in the pre-professional training of actors and directors.

School theater pedagogy involves:

inclusion of theater lessons in the school educational process;
training specialists to conduct theater lessons at school;
acting and directing training for students of pedagogical universities;
training existing school teachers in the basics of directing.

Each of these blocks, in our opinion, represents extremely fertile ground for researchers, theorists and practitioners: teachers, psychologists, directors, theater experts, etc. School theater pedagogy today is the subject of close interest, while pedagogical search is carried out in various directions and with different measures of success.

In this sense, of particular interest is the model of a cultural school developed at the Department of Aesthetics and Ethics of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A.I. Herzen. Here we propose a concept focused on the formation of a child’s personality in accordance with the idea of the correlation between onto- and phylogenesis. And then the school theater unfolds as a method of introducing the child to world culture, which occurs according to age stages and involves the problem-thematic and targeted integration of the disciplines of the natural sciences, socio-humanities and artistic-aesthetic cycles. The work of the school theater here can be considered as a universal way of integration.

School theater appears as a form of artistic and aesthetic activity that recreates the life world inhabited by a child. And if in a role-playing game, whose name is theater, the goal and result is an artistic image, then the goal of a school theater is significantly different. It consists in modeling the educational space to be mastered. Based on the idea of differences in the educational world at the age stages of personality development, it is important to determine the specifics of school theater at these levels, accordingly building a methodology for theatrical and pedagogical work.

When starting this work, the school staff should clearly understand the possibilities and place of the school theater in a particular school, with its own traditions and ways of organizing the educational process. Then you have to choose and build existing and possible forms: lesson, studio, elective. It seems to us that a combination of these three forms is necessary.

The inclusion of the art of theater in the educational process of school is not only a good desire of enthusiasts, but a real need for the development of a modern education system, which moves from the episodic presence of theater in school to systematic modeling of its educational function.

However, it must be taken into account that we do not propose to “saturate” the system of theater education in school with all possible forms and methods, but to give the school a choice depending on the experience and passion of the teacher and students. In order for a teacher to make this choice, he needs to see a perspective in theatrical work.

Problems of professional and methodological training of school theater teachers-directors. Modern reform processes in education, the obvious tendency of Russian schools towards independent pedagogical creativity and, in connection with this, the actualization of the problems of school theater give rise to the need for professional training of a teacher-director. Such personnel, however, were not trained anywhere until recently.

There is interesting foreign experience in this area. For example, in Hungary, children's theater groups are usually organized on the basis of a school and have a professional leader (every third group) or a teacher trained in special theater courses.

Theater specialization for persons from 17 to 68 years of age who want to work with children is offered at a number of community colleges in the United States. Similar initiatives are taking place in Lithuania and Estonia.

The urgent need to put theatrical work with children on a serious professional basis does not question the priority of pedagogical goals. And it is even more important to preserve that valuable thing that noble non-professional enthusiasts and subject teachers look for and find in children’s theatrical creativity.

The teacher-director is a special problem of the modern school. Theater turned out to be the only art form in the school that lacked professional leadership. With the advent of theater classes, electives, and the introduction of theater pedagogy into general educational processes, it became obvious that the school could not do without a professional who knew how to work with children, as has long been realized in relation to other types of art.

The activity of a teacher-director is determined by his position, which develops from the position of a teacher-organizer at the beginning and to a colleague-consultant at a high level of development of the team, representing at each moment a certain synthesis of different positions. In the constantly ongoing debate about who he should be, a teacher or a director, in my opinion, there is no antithesis. Any one-sidedness, be it an excessive passion for staged discoveries to the detriment of conducting normal educational work, or, conversely, ignoring the actual creative tasks of the team, when the spark of creativity goes out in general conversations and similar rehearsals, will inevitably lead to aesthetic and moral contradictions.

A teacher-director is a person capable of active self-correction: in the process of co-creation with children, he not only hears, understands, accepts the child’s ideas, but actually changes, grows morally, intellectually, creatively together with the team.

Based on the Department of Aesthetics and Ethics of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. Herzen has developed a new professional and educational profile “School Theater Pedagogy”, which will train a teacher capable of organizing educational theater and play performances in school and optimizing the development of the values of domestic and world culture.

Actor and philosopher: what do they have in common? (answers from 4th year students of the Faculty of Human Philosophy of the Herzen State Pedagogical University)

"Sense of the situation." Hence calmness, because living the situation and, at the same time, rising above it, equanimity comes to the individual who has succeeded in this. In other words, there is a knowledge of proportion here.
Tact, restraint, confidence, which should not be confused with self-confidence, where subjectivity overshadows reason, giving rise to egoism.
Communication skills, ability to control emotions, ability to fully express thoughts using emotional means. Body control. Equilibrium. The ability to feel another personality and always maintain your own.
An actor, I heard, should not allow his experiences to “stick together” too much with what he is doing on stage - otherwise you can get lost and look pitiful, despite all the inner heat and power. In this regard, I would like to learn to pour myself into the most adequate form, so that I can not only speak, but also see myself, my movements, posture, gestures through the eyes of students.
For me, joy, that is, Truth, is associated with organic unity with the surrounding reality, with my physical body, with the creative manifestation of universal content in my individual form.

“The theater is a gentle monster that takes its man if he is called, rudely throws him out if he is not called” (A. Blok). Why does the school need the “gentle monster” that it conceals within itself? What is its attractive power? Why does his magic affect us so much? The theater is forever young and kind, mysterious and unique.

Theater is able to identify and emphasize the individuality, originality, uniqueness of the human personality, regardless of where this personality is located - on the stage or in the hall. To comprehend the world, linking the past, present and future into the holistic experience of humanity and every person, to establish the laws of existence and foresee the future, to answer the eternal questions: “Who are we?”, “Why and for what purpose do we live on Earth?” - the theater always tried. The playwright, director, and actor tell the viewer from the stage: “This is how we perceive it, how we feel, how we think. Unite with us, perceive, think, empathize - and you will understand what the life that surrounds you really is, what you really are and what you can and should become.”

In modern pedagogy, the possibilities of school theater can hardly be overestimated. This type of educational activity was widely and fruitfully used in school practice of past eras, known as a genre from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. The school theater contributed to the solution of a number of educational tasks: teaching live conversational speech; acquisition of a certain freedom of circulation; “learning to speak before society as speakers or preachers.” “The school theater was a theater of usefulness and business, and only incidentally with this - a theater of pleasure and entertainment.”

In the 20s of the 18th century, a school theater arose in St. Petersburg, at the school of Feofan Prokopovich, who writes about the importance of theater in school with its strict rules of behavior and the harsh regime of the boarding school: “Comedies delight young people with a life of oppression and similar to captive imprisonment.”

Thus, school theater as a special problem has its own history in domestic and foreign pedagogical thought and practice.

Theater can be both a lesson and an exciting game, a means of immersion in another era and the discovery of unknown facets of modernity. It helps to assimilate moral and scientific truths through the practice of dialogue, teaches one to be oneself and the “other,” to transform into a hero and live many lives, spiritual collisions, and dramatic tests of character. In other words, theatrical activity is a child’s path to universal human culture, to the moral values of his people.

How to get into this magical land called Theater? How to connect theater systems and Childhood with each other? What should theater classes be for their young participants - the beginning of a career, a journey through various artistic eras, broadening their horizons, or maybe just a reasonable and exciting vacation?

A creative group, including university teachers (Russian State Pedagogical University named after Herzen, Faculty of Human Philosophy; St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts; Russian Institute of Art History), heads of school theaters, professional actors and directors, developed the project of the St. Petersburg Center “Theater and School” ", the purpose of which is:

interaction between theater and school, realized through the organic inclusion of theatrical activities in the educational process of city schools;
inclusion of children and teachers in the creative process, formation of school theater groups and their repertoire, taking into account the age characteristics of the participants, as well as the content of the educational process;
interaction between professional theaters and schools, development of theater subscriptions focused on the educational process.

The uniqueness of our project lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt is being made to unite the efforts of all creative organizations and individuals involved in school theater work.

The activities of our Center are developing in several directions:

School theater creativity. The methodology of school theater today is the subject of close interest, while pedagogical searches in St. Petersburg schools are carried out with varying degrees of success and in different directions:

Schools with theater classes. Theater lessons are included in the schedule of individual classes, because in every school there is always a class that seems predisposed to theatrical activities. It is these classes that often form the basis of a school theater group. Usually this work is carried out by humanities teachers.

Schools with a theatrical atmosphere, where the theater is a subject of general interest. This includes an interest in the history and modernity of the theater, and a passion for amateur amateur theater, where many schoolchildren take part.

The most common form of theater in a modern school is a drama club, which models theater as an independent artistic organism: selected, talented children who are interested in theater participate in it. His repertoire is arbitrary and dictated by the taste of the leader. Being an interesting and useful form of extracurricular work, the drama club is limited in its capabilities and does not have a significant impact on the organization of educational work as a whole.

Children's theaters outside of school represent an independent problem, however, their methodological findings can be successfully used in the school process.

Some schools managed to attract a large group of professionals and the Theater lesson is included in the curriculum of all classes. These are leaders who combine directorial talent, love for children and organizational talent. It was they who came up with the idea - to give theater to every child, including a theater lesson as a discipline in the school educational process.

Along with studying the experience of existing school theaters, new original theater lesson programs are being developed for grades 1 to 11. One of them is the experimental program “Theater Pedagogy at School,” the author of which is a professional director, head of the theater class at school No. 485 in the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg, Evgeniy Georgievich Serdakov.

Interaction with professional theaters. Our Center held the “Actors' Campaign” campaign, theater subscriptions, music and art programs of which are directly related to the content of the educational process. For example, the literary subscription “Petersburg Stanzas”, one-man performances based on the works of A.S. Pushkina, N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhova, V.V. Nabokov; musical and poetry programs dedicated to the work of poets of the Silver Age, the cycle “Literary Roads of Old Europe” for high school students studying the course of world artistic culture.

International projects. In 1999, our Center became a full member of Unitart - Art and Children - a network of European institutions working for and with children, its main office is located in Amsterdam (Netherlands).

Our Center has developed an educational and educational long-term project “European School Theater Creativity”, the main ideas of which are:

interaction of European cultures on the verge of the millennium through school theater creativity;
studying the language, literature, and culture of other peoples through theater as part of the school curriculum.

The project was supported by the Unitart General Assembly in Amsterdam (October 27-31, 1999).

We have received partnership offers from colleagues from Belgium, France, Italy, Finland, Spain and England. European colleagues were especially interested in educational programs and performances of school theaters in our city in English, German, French, and Spanish.

Childhood and youth need not only and not so much a theater model, but a model of the world and life. It is within the “parameters” of such a model that a young person is able to most fully realize and test himself as an individual. When connecting such subtle and complex phenomena as theater and childhood, it is necessary to strive for their harmony. This can be done by building with children not a “theater” or a “team”, but a way of life, a model of the world. In this sense, the task of the school theater coincides with the idea of organizing an integral educational space of the school as a cultural world in which it, the school theater, becoming an artistic and aesthetic educational action, manifests its uniqueness and depth, beauty and paradox.

Pedagogy is also becoming “theatrical”: its techniques gravitate towards play, fantasy, romanticization and poeticization - everything that is characteristic of theater on the one hand, and childhood on the other. In this context, theatrical work with children solves its own pedagogical problems, including both the student and the teacher in the process of mastering the model of the world that the school is building.

School theater is developed as a method of introducing a child to world culture, which occurs according to age stages and involves problem-thematic and targeted integration of the disciplines of the natural sciences, socio-humanities and artistic-aesthetic cycles.