The school day was a disaster for me. There was not one single educator over the first twelve years of my education who found a way to engage me, encourage me or tap into my considerable curiosity about others as a means of engagement. My schoolday classroom was simply a place I bided my time until my real learning could begin, after school.

It is a rare opportunity when educators get to experience firsthand the same challenges their students face during the learning process. Ironically, this opportunity was given me as a winner of the Center Theater Group Theater Education Fellowship. I chose to use the financial reward to research my theory that incorporating humor into the writing process would motivate reluctant Twice-exceptional (2e) writers to persevere through this area of weakness. I enrolled myself in a 3-week, intensive comedy writing workshop in New York City. I am funny; I can write; Success was imminent.

To be truly motivated, all learners, not just the Gifted/LD, must embrace the goals they are asked to meet, know explicitly what is at stake and actually buy into the promised rewards for achieving those goals. (Video games have this psychology down pat). Theater games, the basis of improvisational play, and their short-term goals provide authentic contexts that are urgent and clear because the dramatic problems and solutions originate out of the players own imaginations. Two dynamic elements essential to authentic social learning are: unplanned collaboration and incremental problem solving. Sharing reality during improvisational play compels players to collaborate while problem solving moment to moment. The potential to be successful based on the mastery of collaboration aspires learners to be social. The consistency of skill development in improvisational play provides opportunity for the eventual synthesis of learned social behaviors and the natural disposition of the learner.