[SML] College to High School

[Nielsen, Tim]

Scott wrote:
<<<<10 years teaching HS.
10 years teaching College.
If I had a choice between the two, and if they had the same equipment &
funding, I'd likely take the HS job. I've had some great college students
and some great HS students.

A big difference is teaching hours. Steady days/weeks of teaching in HS
regardless of production schedule. No "class is cancelled to build the
show.">>>>>

Finishing my seventh year as a high school TD.  At my position, I'm
constantly called for event after event after event.  No such thing as a
regular schedule for me, and it's on top of our production schedule.  Not
trying to disagree with what Scott wrote, but at least here where I work, I
have a very hard time trying to guard my class hours.  The whole school
also only had two weeks with an unmodified schedule this year....

To open it back up to a broader topic, my experience with teaching high
school is that you are in a constant battle with the kids for their time,
which is overcommitted with other rehearsals, clubs, homework, etc.  You'll
find the same issue in college, but depending on the program, the majors
may be a more focused pool of students.  I personally miss the
collaborative nature of putting on a show-  here it's just me and the
director, so we wear all the design hats as well.  At the college level,
you are more likely to be working in concert with more adults with training
and experience-  something that I miss.

Parents helping out and theatre boosters is both a blessing and a curse.
Great to have an extra pair of hands driving people around, but bad when
the parents believe they outrank you.  Funding will be determined by the
school itself and not whether it's high school or college, so you have to
research each program individually for that.

Biggest difference may not be between high school and college itself, but
how the school structures its program.  In terms of long term career, I'd
be inclined to think that the college experience would get you further.  I
find that I have to explain that while I work at a high school, what that
means is I'm running an arts center, a scene shop, 2 theatre spaces and our
chapel.  So if I'm scanning through resumes and doing a quick sort, I'm
more likely to have an idea of what experience a college TD has and would
have to dig to see what experience the high school TD has- there's a lot
more range at the high school level.

-Tim
-- 
Timothy Nielsen
Episcopal High School
Technical Director
Office:  (703) 933-4172
Email:  TDN at episcopalhighschool.org

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