Talent Unlimited High School - Curriculum

Curriculum

Visit Talent Unlimited High School and you might hear the chorus singing a finger-snapping version of the jazzy tune "Get Happy." Wander into a drama class and you'll find kids waving their arms or crawling on all fours in skits. Leotard-clad dancers leap across the auditorium stage. Everywhere you go in this small school, kids seem jazzed up, happy, and self-assured. Talent Unlimited admits students after an audition, but it balances a strong performing arts program with engaging academics.

Since Principal Deena Forman came to the school in 2002, teacher turnover has led to a move away from "chalk and talk" classrooms. "New teachers bring energy to meet the level of students' energy, " Forman said. "I have a school full of actors and people willing to audition. They can't sit passively with that old style of teaching. "

Talent Unlimited is noteworthy for its successful pairing of arts and academics, as well as its budding ability to get teachers to work together. In the past people would close their doors while teaching, the principal said, but now doors are open and teachers collaborate. For example, American history students studying injustice went to see "The Exonerated," a play about six innocent survivors of death row. Freshman students performed in a production of Sophocles' Antigone and also studied ancient Greece in global history class.

Between English and theater teachers included representatives from Epic Theatre Center, an off-Broadway theatre company, which helps the school develop its curriculum. The group discussed ways to better coordinate the arts and the academic curriculum. One teacher suggested having kids dramatize vocabulary from the "word walls" vocabulary lists in English class. Another mentioned a play students were reading, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," which takes place in a concentration camp. Teachers realized the drama has ties to the Nazi-era backdrop of Cabaret, which the music theater class was producing. "That's a perfect correlation," one exclaimed. "I could use some guidelines too - some of this stuff is very graphic," another said.

The marriage of academics and the arts has paid off, the principal said, citing improved math and science Regents scores. More than 90 percent of the students in Spring 2004 passed the Math A and Living Environment Regents tests on which students used to perform poorly. Group work was in evidence everywhere from kids pairing up to write sentences using the verbs "ser" and "estar" in Spanish class to students writing and acting out skits together in drama class. "It may seem like pandemonium, but they stay in their groups and they stay focused," said the drama teacher as we walked into his classroom to find happy noises, and some kids on all fours, crawling on the floor as part of a skit.

In this small school most teachers have their own classrooms, many personalized with displays of student work. "With 400 students we are very aware of the sense of community," says Forman. "We have monthly assemblies that integrate art and academics." Kids here get much more personal attention than at larger arts schools such as LaGuardia. The drawback is that the school offers fewer high level courses than larger schools and has a limited selection of after-school teams and clubs. Students may, however, take Advanced Placement courses at Hunter College through the College Now program, and they are encouraged to petition the administration for adding sports teams or clubs. That's how a debate team got started.

Students get two periods of instruction daily in their majors: drama, musical theater, instrumental music, vocal music, or dance, with the biggest number enrolled in drama and dance. The best dancers spend three hours a day at the Ballet Hispanico dance company during their junior and senior years, and some actually join that group.

Talent Unlimited, with its own entrance, shares space with other small schools in the Julia Richman Educational Complex, a beautifully renovated building with a swimming pool, a pleasant library, a health clinic, and a childcare center for the children of students.The school auditions students for instrumental talent, musical theater, drama, vocal, and dance. Being a small school of 406 students makes this performing arts high school exclusive. The school is not easy to get into. For example, for the 2009-2010 school year, 517 students auditioned for dance and only 15 were accepted. That shows a 3% acceptance rate in dance. The students are taught both their arts major as well as academics. Talent Unlimited continues to do so today as students follow a daily schedule of academic work and intensive performing arts instruction, both in the school and at professional studios. The school has received an "A" rating and been awarded a top 25 school in New York City (NY Post, 2009). The school has a 94% graduation rate.It has been noted that this school is extremely creative in the way that they combine their arts programs with the academic programs to make it more intriguing for students. Talent Unlimited has not been around for a very long time therefore there are not many Notable Alumni but this school has "extraordinary talent" -says Epic Theatre Ensemble. Epic Theatre Ensemble is an Off-Broadway Theatre company that is partnered with Talent Unlimited.