Teaching the Power of the Word

This enthnodrama communicates the lived experience of outstanding teacher of English who worked in the Chicago Public Schools for more than twenty years. Excerpts from three semi-structured interviews have been are constructed into a one woman show that uses music, dance, and the art of theatre to convey the spiritual beauty of ambitious, urban teaching and to challenge and enlighten researchers, teachers, and the public-at-large “in a manner that cannot be dismissed.” Lessons, relationships, and the joy and suffering of schoolwork come to life on stage. The script is linked to a poem by Ruth Nichole Brown that discusses the ethnodrama in relation to culturally responsive pedagogy.