Living wide-awakeness: high school drama teachers creating opportunities for powerful encounters with the arts

This dissertation investigates the ways in which high school drama teachers create opportunities for students to have powerful encounters with the arts. Chapter 1 introduces my research question and important terms, such as arts education, aesthetic education, and the aesthetic experience, and relates terms to powerful encounters with the arts. Why powerful encounters with the arts matter at this educational moment is also addressed. Chapter 2 synthesizes relevant literature in the area of arts education, aesthetic education, and drama education while forwarding the specific conceptual framework for this study. The literature review seeks to highlight the significant attention paid to the instrumental outcomes of arts education, the lack of emphasis given to aesthetic concepts in recent arts education literature, and the breadth of literature addressing drama in education. Within this chapter, the concept of the aesthetic experience, and specifically wide-awakeness, will be explored as the framework for my investigation of powerful encounters with the arts. Chapter 3 details the methodology that guided this investigation. Data gathering within my study centered on participant observation in two high school drama classrooms over a period of 16 weeks (8 weeks per teacher), interviews, and a personal reflective journal. Data analysis focused on open coding of data in an effort to identify emergent themes with respect to the ways in which high school drama teachers create opportunities for powerful encounters with the arts. Chapters 4 and 5 are case studies of two high school drama teachers. Each case study articulates the specific ways in which each teacher creates opportunities for students to have powerful encounters with the arts. In discussing these methods and moments, I identify themes present in their teaching. In looking at their teaching philosophies and practices, I highlight the variety of ways in which these teachers create opportunities for students to have powerful encounters with the arts. Chapter 6 responds to the original research question. Included in my response is a cross-case analysis of the two teachers involved in the study and a presentation of overarching themes present in the ways in which they create opportunities for students to have powerful encounters with the arts. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of implication for various members of the education community, suggestions with respect to future research, and the specific implications of this study.