The Second City Guide to Improv in the Classroom: Using Improvisation to Teach Skills and Boost Learning - Paperback

by Katherine S. McKnight (Author), Mary Scruggs (Author)

Most people know The Second City as an innovative school for improvisation that has turned out leading talents such as Alan Arkin, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. This groundbreaking company has also trained thousands of educators and students through its Improvisation for Creative Pedagogy program, which uses improv exercises to teach a wide variety of content areas, and boost skills that are crucial for student learning: listening, teamwork, communication, idea-generation, vocabulary, and more.

Back Jacket

THE SECOND CITY GUIDE TO IMPROV IN THE CLASSROOM

Most people know The Second City as an innovative school for improvisation that has turned out leading talents such as Alan Arkin, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. This groundbreak- ing company has also trained thousands of educators and students through its Improvisation for Creative Pedagogy program, which uses improv exercises to teach a wide variety of content areas and boost skills that are crucial for student learning: listening, teamwork, communication, idea-generation, vocabulary, and more.

The scores of ready-to-use exercises offered here can be used to teach a wide variety of subjects--including language arts, math, science, and social studies--as well as to build classroom community and develop cooperative learning skills. All of the lessons are linked to current national standards for the United States and Canada, and have been proven particularly effective with kinesthetic learners and students with attention difficulties.

PRAISE FOR THE SECOND CITY GUIDE TO IMPROV IN THE CLASSROOM

"This lively book reminds us that both real teaching and real learning are essentially exploratory, empowering, and downright fun."
--JEFFREY D. WILHELM, author, Imagining to Learn and You Gotta BE the Book, winner of the David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in English Education

"The book offers wonderful resources for teachers interested in differentiating instruction and expanding the range of possibilities for students to think by visualizing, creating new possibilities, connecting and deepening meaning, sensing and feeling."
--DONNA OGLE, Ed.D., professor, National-Louis University and past president, International Reading Association

"The methods provided by McKnight and Scruggs are tried-and-true and have proven to be extremely successful with students of all ages."
--JESSICA ROGERS, National Board Certified Teacher, Daniel Boone Elementary School, Chicago

Author Biography

THE AUTHORS

KATHERINE S. McKNIGHT, Ph.D., associate professor at National-Louis University and an onsite consultant for the National Council of Teachers of English, is coauthor of Teaching Writingin the Inclusive Classroom

MARY SCRUGGS, is an actress, director, playwright, and educator. She is currently the head of writing and education programs for The Second City Training Center in Chicago.