Secondary Stages: Revitalizing High School Theatre

Rating:
Summary: "Bennett"
Review: As soon as I learned that my old friend, former theater teacher, and high school demigod Jeff Bennett wrote a book, I immediately ordered a copy online. As a writer myself, I was curious to see how "Bennett" could possibly define in writing a teaching style that appeared so natural and agreeable to his students that many of us continue to apply his teachings in our daily lives - even ten years later and having rarely stepped foot on stage since.

I was amazed at the result. Not because I ever doubted Jeff's knowledge or technique (quite the contrary), but because he pulled it off so effortlessly in the classroom. I just couldn't believe the level of insight, conscientious detail, and methodical creativity that Jeff used to create the most dynamic and impressionable teaching style I have ever known - one which, above all, balances the interests of both his students and the curriculum.

Jeff's book is a remarkable insider perspective from one of the nation's finest teachers. Having experienced literally hundreds of instructional techniques over an academic career that includes 3 graduate degrees, I can say without hesitation that "Bennett", and his dialectical teaching style, had the most profound affect on any intellectual or professional pursuit I have since endeavored. Secondary Stages should be assigned summer reading for any teacher who aspires to leave a lasting and monumental impression on the lives of each of their students.

Rating:
Summary: Memorable Teachers
Review: How many teachers can you remember who have had a signficant influence on your life. You can probably count them on the fingers of one hand, which in itself says something about the math teachers we've all had. The one vital thing that most teachers never discover is that the greatest thing we can "teach"
is the excitement of learning, the thrill of discovery.

A great acting teacher is not one who can most effectively direct actors where on teh stage to stand and with what expression to recite their lines. A great teacher helps, directs, creates the environment wherein the students can make discoveries. And any discovery is part of self-discovery.

Jeff Bennet's book, SECONDARY STAGES is a roadmap to the process through which disovery becomes possible. It makes the journey dangerously safe, instructively fun. It methodically conducts us through the maze of adolescent psychology to the lovely place where spontaneity is possible.

It is able to be inspirational and simultaneously grounded in practical reality. It is pedagogical (in the best sense) and simultaneously personal. The book is logically organized. Its structure is a function not only of ideas but of the experiential progression of the teacher-student relationship.
It sets inspirational and practical goals, it offers pathways to get there, it identifies problem areas and offers incisive and practical ways of understanding them and solving them.

It is a great guidebook for any student or teacher of the craft of acting...and of teaching.

Rating:
Summary: An essential read for theater lovers: new and old.
Review: I have had the pleasure of being a former student of Jeff Bennett's classes in high school. Mr Bennett has shared a wealth of knowledge about the theater industry with me, but I believe he has taught me much more than just the theater.

Jeff Bennett is a sage of wisdom, and through our countless conversations he has guided me on the right paths, in life as well as my career goals. By being my mentor through the troubling years of high school woe, Mr. Bennett has been the most influential teacher I have ever had.

People who are involved in theater, or teaching theater at the secondary school level need to read this book.
Yet, life-long learners would benefit from reading Jeff's perceptiveness.

Jeff Bennett has the uncanny ability to connect with students of any age. Through this book, others can now share the privilege I have had for years.