Actually I haven't gotten lost in there yet...
Apparently they have a summer camp on my campus and they used my room for the counselors, which is fine except that it means that they weren't able to wax the floors until this week. I wish I had brought my camera to the school with me. All of the furniture from my classroom is on the stage, everything! Good news though, they are buying me new drapes for the stage! I picked out the colors and the fabric types, the purchase order is in, I just need to tell the vendor what I want. The drapes that are there now are 25 years old and haven't been cleaned in about ten. Some of the border drapes are beginning to fall apart, so this will be nice.
This is supposed to be my "Beginning of the School year" entry. Going into my third year of teaching I am faced with a very similar situation to the past two... What the heck am I going to teach? I have to teach these state standards, but to tell you the truth they are pretty vague as far as activities go. I joke often with my elective group that I cover almost all of those standards in any given lesson. "Demonstrate safe use of voice and body." No one got hurt today, CHECK!
So as I near the edge of the cliff that drops into free fall on day one, I decided to write some thoughts out to jump start the planning of my semester. I will have four preps again this year: 6th Grade Theatre, Theatre I, Advanced Theatre, and WRTV (Video Technology). For this exercise I will stick with my theatre preps.
What do you want my students to learn?
In all of my classes I want my students to continue to grow in those skills that they are already using in all of their other classes, effective reading and writing, critical thinking, creativity, etc. Part of the reason I love teaching theatre is because the class is like a laboratory for experimenting with these skills and providing context. In my 6th grade class, I want the students to begin the transition from creative drama and play into more formal theatre techniques and practices. I want to place a little more structure on the improv and play, maybe introduce scripts gradually with some readers theater and maybe end with a ten minute play script. For my theatre I students, I want them to dive into the formal theatre. Working with scenes and play analysis, they will be acting and on their feet. This class is really a preparation for the advanced class. I want to get them thinking about the technical aspects as well asking questions like, "What costumes do you see," "What does the set look like," etc. In a perfect world scenario I would be able to have them make model sets either out of paper building materials or legos or something. I also envision them making sets out of large cardboard pieces. If only I had the budget for lumber (let alone a storage space). And lastly there is my advanced class. I want to immerse this group into the production of a play. We will read four, maybe five scripts, choose one and go through the process of putting show up, designing and building sets, putting together costume pieces, rehearsing with actors, lighting, a crew.
So I guess those are my learning goals. Now I just need to drop that into a 17-18 week schedule. I am excited and ready to go back, just as soon as my floors are done and my room is in order.
