Drama and Creativity in Pre-K

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Annette Lucre and I am the Gross Dramatic Movement cluster teacher for District 20 Pre-K center Z067. I’m assigned a different class every day and my sessions are 50 minutes long.

I hold a Professional license in General and Special Education Birth to 2nd Grade, however, my strong background is in Early Education. Prior to becoming a Cluster teacher, I worked at Family Head Start for 16 years. During this time I had the pleasure of honing my craft through hands on experience in a general and specialized classroom setting. I used tools such as The Creative Curriculum and State Standards to develop well rounded lesson plans that encouraged each individual child and helped to develop my students to become independent thinkers. While at Family Head Start, I encountered many different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Most importantly, what I learned and took away from my experience was that what we foster in the classroom must be bridged together with a child’s home life.

My goal as a Cluster teacher is to establish a welcoming atmosphere in which the children are given the opportunity to follow their hearts and minds to what interests them and to enable them to feel personally connected. My activities inspire movement, imagination, social emotional and early literacy skills. The children enjoy participating in various types of dramatic play: acting out part or all of a favorite story with their peers and creative movement. My drama activities are about the process of creating and exploring. The children are given the opportunity to make decisions and determine the course of action during drama and creative movement activities.

We bring children’s books to life. Children engage by working together to decide a plot, character choice, and acting out a situation or story. We use costumes, props, and scenery to inspire dramatic play and drama.I provide visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, and other types of support to assist all learners and to give a deeper meaning to story text and drama.

I believe that learning should be fun and requires deep understanding that can only come when children internalize and actively apply knowledge in a creative and meaningful way. Following these basic principles helps me grow in my love for teaching and learning. As a result, I strive to continue to provide an environment where students feel safe and comfortable in expressing their needs and opinions.

Moving forward, I am committed to continue to provide a learning environment that is exciting, creative, and engaging, one that empowers children to be lifelong learners. I am excited about being part of a faculty that supports and encourages innovative teaching. I will continue to attend workshops and educational training. This will enable me to grow in ways that will help me gain knowledge and develop teaching skills and strategies that will help me support and guide all children.

Annette Lucre- Teacher Z075 and Z067