Reading Residency
Reading Residencies activate the English Language Arts curriculum through teaching key literacy skills using theater. The curriculum focuses on text evidence within the context of a Milwaukee Rep production. Students learn about theater, social-emotional skills, and how to analyze text with a theatrical lens.
If you are interested in any of our Reading Residency programs for the 2022/23 school year, please contact Xodia Choate, Education & Engagement Administrator at xchoate@milwaukeerep.com or 414-290-0709.
Each Reading Residency program is built around a production from Milwaukee Rep’s season. Students explore reading comprehension skills such as summarizing, predicting, text analysis, character development, plot structure, visualization, and making connections to historical and literary themes. The residency has consistently yielded positive increases in text evidence, social-emotional skills, and theater participation.
The in-person Reading Residency program includes 14 in-school sessions with one of our teaching artists. Residencies include 1) our Rep Immersion Day: a matinee including performance, lunch, and behind-the-scenes demonstrations about how we bring a piece of literature to life on stage. 2) a visit from an actor in the show comes to your classroom for a post-show workshop.
>> Reading Residency Final Report
Rep Education Program Standards
Rep Education programs are designed to engage students in meaningful experiences that explore interdisciplinary topics and concepts connected to the art seen on Milwaukee Rep stages. All programs work to develop student’s skills in three primary areas:
- Reading Comprehension (e.g. text evidence, reading enjoyment)
- Social-Emotional Learning (e.g. relationship skills, social awareness)
- Theater Participation (e.g. understanding of and involvement in the theater)
Because these three areas are based largely on English Language Arts and theater, Rep Education program objectives and measures are aligned to both Common Core, National Arts standards, and Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. This allows us to offer students holistic experiences at Milwaukee Rep and in the classroom by supporting the existing grade-level curriculum.
While specific standards-aligned objectives vary from program to program, Rep Education is happy to work with you to determine how our programming can best support your curriculum. Our arts integration can be applied across grade levels and subjects, including (but not limited to):
- Social Studies (history, geography, political science and civics, behavioral sciences)
- Math
- Early Learning
- Music
- Art and Design
Reading Residency School Partners
Our school partners for the 2021/22 Reading Residency Program are:
Andrew S. Douglas Middle School
Bay View High School
Benjamin Franklin School
Bruce Guadalupe Middle School
Carson Academy of Science
James E. Dottke High School
Manitoba K-8 School
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School
Rogers Street Academy
Story School
Thurston Woods Public School
Trowbridge School of Great Lakes Studies
Woodlands School (State Street & Bluemound Campuses)