This article builds on existing definitions and classification systems of research-based theatre to offer a way to define subgenres within the field. In order to identify similarities and particularities of theatrical performances based on research, the authors first consider definitions from practitioners working within the academy and those creating theatre for the general public. After reviewing these existing traditions and definitions, the authors delineate a spectrum of research-based theatre. This spectrum is based on two defining continua: the research continuum, which distinguishes among many types of research used to inform research-based theatre, and the performance continuum, which distinguishes among different kinds of performances, audiences, and purposes of a given research-based theatre piece. The spectrum of research-based theatre formed by combining these continua may assist practitioners in determining and honoring the goals and outcomes of their own work, while not making unnecessary comparisons with those working toward different goals and outcomes.

The aim of this study was to examine a professional learning intervention designed to support new teachers with implementing professional practice competencies. Partners from a school authority joined researcher-practitioners from a university to engage in designing a professional learning series for new teachers. A design-based research approach using quantitative (pre- and post-surveys) and qualitative data (artifacts of learning, field notes, classroom observations) were analyzed over one year. There were over 450 participants involved in the professional learning series. The findings indicated the professional learning intervention positioned new teachers as designers of learning engaging in continuous cycles of design–enactment–reflection and strengthened their pedagogical capacity to interconnect professional practice competencies with support from a community of learners. The findings from this study have implications for supporting new teachers during a period of induction and demonstrate one way to provide new teachers with the foundation for continual growth throughout their career.

The teachers in this study identified the experiences related to increases in the intensity of teachers’ work to be a misunderstood and under-discussed aspect of the profession. During research conversations that took place in the context of a year-long narrative inquiry, the term heavy hours was coined to describe these experiences. The salient features of heavy hours described include: rapid professional decision-making, being pulled in an excess of directions, and the residue that lingers long after the hour is over. After exploring the ways in which the teachers in this study experienced and defined heavy hours, this paper asserts that foregrounding this understanding has implications for the way in which we prepare and support teachers throughout their careers.

This article explores the social, cultural, and emotional learning that occurred when drama was used with a group of native English speakers and English Language Learners (ELL) to build community. These learners consisted of university Drama in Education students who led a group of elementary students in an after-school drama program in Vancouver, Canada. University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers investigated the potential that drama has to build community with learners from multiple backgrounds and ages. The researchers also examined the potential that theatre methods have to analyze and represent findings discovered within the research data. In reflecting upon the learning that supported the community building, three themes were identified within the data: process and product, negotiation and conflict, and the building of community. ELL Program Leaders' journals were used as data to explore the Program Leaders’ perspectives of how the drama program influenced their language acquisition skills and cultural understanding. As the data were analyzed, the researchers transformed recurring themes and significant findings into a dramatic text. This text, created and performed by the researchers at multiple conferences, is integrated into the article. Reflections from the researchers are also shared, along with insights gained while developing and presenting their research-based theatre piece. This article explores the social, cultural, and emotional learning that occurred when drama was used with a group of native English speakers and English Language Learners (ELL) to build community. These learners consisted of university Drama in Education students who led a group of elementary students in an after-school drama program in Vancouver, Canada. University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers investigated the potential that drama has to build community with learners from multiple backgrounds and ages. The researchers also examined the potential that theatre methods have to analyze and represent findings discovered within the research data. In reflecting upon the learning that supported the community building, three themes were identified within the data: process and product, negotiation and conflict, and the building of community. ELL Program Leaders' journals were used as data to explore the Program Leaders’ perspectives of how the drama program influenced their language acquisition skills and cultural understanding. As the data were analyzed, the researchers transformed recurring themes and significant findings into a dramatic text. This text, created and performed by the researchers at multiple conferences, is integrated into the article. Reflections from the researchers are also shared, along with insights gained while developing and presenting their research-based theatre piece.

No abstract