Willowwind teacher selected to present at national education conference

Willowwind fifth- and sixth-grade teacher Shanti Elangovan has been selected to present at the Progressive Education Network (PEN) national conference in Chicago on November 11. Elangovan will present on “Revolutionizing the Class Play,” a workshop that grew out of a class play written and performed last year by Willowwind fifth- and sixth-graders who were asked to analyze the role of humans as a resource for change.

Workshop attendees will hear the voices and experiences of student activists who turned the conventional “class play” into a call for revolution. Willowwind students wrote, directed and acted in vignettes illustrating examples of uprisings throughout history.

“My hope is that this workshop will help other teachers discover a curriculum in which students can use the power of theatre to advocate and demonstrate for peaceful change through their own powerful voices,” Elangovan says.

The Progressive Education Network exists to promote progressive education and provide opportunities for educators from all areas to interact with, learn from and support one another.  One of PEN's primarily goals is to foster a motivation for learning along with an agency for social activism.

Willowwind School offers creative, individualized, hands-on education for children from preschool through sixth grade in its new LEED-certified building in Iowa City. For more information, visit

www.willowwind.org.