Scott Collegiate Dinner Theater

On Thursday, April 10, 2008, Scott Collegiate High School presented their first Dinner Theater.  It was a huge success on so many levels.  The program was well attended by the North Central community, the food was GREAT!, the performances were fantastic, and the whole affair was an authentic Service Learning project connected directly to student curriculum across a variety of disciplines.  WOW!, what a night.  The performances, set effectively in counterpoint to the music of "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood", were centered around the oftentimes harsh realities of life in North Central.  Topping off the entertainment was a remarkable hip-hop original song, "So Far, So Good", from Scott Collegiate students (click on the song to watch the video!).
We here at Guerilla Educators appreciated the collaborative effort on the part of teachers at Scott who worked together, not just to create a wonderful evening the entire community was proud of but especially because of the efforts to connect the Dinner Theater directly to grade appropriate teaching and learning.  Here is a partial list of the teachers and the various courses that cooperated in the production:

English A10 or B10	Mrs. Taylor
Commerical Cooking 10	Ms. Vollman
Information Processing 10	Ms. Davies
Tourism, Hospitality and Entrepreneurship 10	Mrs. Christopherson
Drama 10	Mr. Beingessner

One of the more interesting aspects of the dinner part of the evening were the chocolate favors at each table.  On each piece were poignant statements about North Central.  The idea was that the students would make people with negative ideas about their community "eat their words".  Take a look:

Students from Scott have also spoken about the process of creating the Dinner Theater and its positive effects on such things as student cooperation, classroom climate, and attendance.  Click here to see the video.

Even the programs were works of art created by the students and reflected aboriginal culture:

 

As a final touch, in the programs, students wrote their individualized appreciations of the support they received from the Scott Collegiate community. It is clear that the North Central community is well on the way to being perceived as "The Best Neighbourhood in Canada".