Last week, I told my drama students that we would not be doing a performance when a few of the other classes displayed their work in a showcase. This week, no one remembered that I had said this.
“Oh, we're not doing a play?” Bunny asked, rather startled and on the verge of severe disappointment.
“Well, no,” I said, “we don't really have one ready.”
“But what about the play we've been practicing?” she asked.
“Well....” I said. The play she was speaking of was not really a play; it was a short disconnected story that the characters wove when they were interacting and improvising. But I try to never stifle enthusiasm. “If you guys want to rehearse it, maybe you can show it to your moms and siblings.”
Even Girl Nikki agreed, “We need to practice it a lot.”
Rachelle was late, for some reason. But once she got there, she became the director. They had invented a lot of the story on their own, so I didn't really know what I should be telling them to do. I was actually very pleased to stand by, allow them to direct each other, and insert my help as necessary.
Of course, just to complicate things, they wanted all of the boys to be involved. Metal Man was actually one of the easier ones to deal with. J. and Boy Nicky had a very difficult time focusing. Yet, I was extremely impressed with Rachelle. She managed them better than I was able to. Nonetheless, they were still quite distracted, but at least she obtained a few glimmers of seriousness out of them.
During their rehearsal, the girls talked too quietly and the boys talked when they weren't supposed to. I advised them about these slight shortcomings, but their subsequent improvement was not great by any means.
At the very end they had a “dress rehearsal” in front of one mom and a few kids. To watch it was... rather painful, and even a little inspiring (I want to bring an actual play for Rachelle to direct in the next session). The mom who watched told me afterwards, “That was funny, Zach. It was like herding cats.” I nodded and gave a wry smile.
Next week, they will supposedly perform in front of a whole audience. I am trying to decide on a presentation speech.
Thanks for reading.
Zachary W.
P.S. Happy Easter!
Showing posts with label Drama Class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drama Class. Show all posts
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #7
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice,
That's what Little Girls are made of,
Made of
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails,
That's what Little Boys are made of,
Made of
People truly seemed to believe this rhyme. And, when I was younger, it really irritated me.
It was simply unfair. I did not run around in circles. I did not attack people. And I was a very good listener. People always knew this about me after a while, but (even if they weren't talking about me) it still rubbed me the wrong way whenever adults and girls rolled their eyes and said, “Boys.”
Nonetheless, I now look at my drama class of 6-9 year olds and I wonder, What is it about the boys? Today, in order to actually accomplish something in the thirty minutes of time that we have allotted to us, I took the three boys over to play a drama game, while I let the girls pair up and work on a project that I had laid out for them. This worked out rather well. The boys didn't have to focus quite as hard and the girls didn't have the boys to distract them.
Of course, I didn't set out to separate the boys from the girls. I wanted to separate the crazy people from the the people who had the ability to concentrate. Obviously, not all boys are maniacs at the age of seven. And I know at least one fifteen year old girl who still runs inside of buildings like a wild horse. So, in the end, it all depends on the specific children that one is working with.
Therefore, I try to avoid expecting that all girls are refined sugar cookies. Just as I also try to avoid expecting that all boys will come in, dripping with mud and wagging their puppy dog tails. In fact, I try to avoid expecting anything. Because, who knows? People are amazing, and they break all expectations.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
P.S. Please, stop reading my column. Now.
P.P.S April Fools! (Seriously, don't stop reading!)
That's what Little Girls are made of,
Made of
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails,
That's what Little Boys are made of,
Made of
People truly seemed to believe this rhyme. And, when I was younger, it really irritated me.
It was simply unfair. I did not run around in circles. I did not attack people. And I was a very good listener. People always knew this about me after a while, but (even if they weren't talking about me) it still rubbed me the wrong way whenever adults and girls rolled their eyes and said, “Boys.”
Nonetheless, I now look at my drama class of 6-9 year olds and I wonder, What is it about the boys? Today, in order to actually accomplish something in the thirty minutes of time that we have allotted to us, I took the three boys over to play a drama game, while I let the girls pair up and work on a project that I had laid out for them. This worked out rather well. The boys didn't have to focus quite as hard and the girls didn't have the boys to distract them.
Of course, I didn't set out to separate the boys from the girls. I wanted to separate the crazy people from the the people who had the ability to concentrate. Obviously, not all boys are maniacs at the age of seven. And I know at least one fifteen year old girl who still runs inside of buildings like a wild horse. So, in the end, it all depends on the specific children that one is working with.
Therefore, I try to avoid expecting that all girls are refined sugar cookies. Just as I also try to avoid expecting that all boys will come in, dripping with mud and wagging their puppy dog tails. In fact, I try to avoid expecting anything. Because, who knows? People are amazing, and they break all expectations.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
P.S. Please, stop reading my column. Now.
P.P.S April Fools! (Seriously, don't stop reading!)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #6
Happy Birthday, Zach!”
As I walked between classes at the community center yesterday, I heard plenty of random friends tell me this. Eventually, the fact was unmistakable: it was my birthday, and I was having fun.
I was born at 1:32 PM, in the bright sunlight of a Wednesday afternoon. March 25th, 1992 to be precise. Well, once again my birthday was on a Wednesday, but at 1:32 PM – instead of squirming my five pound body in the open air for the first time – I was in the middle of teaching drama class to my six to nine year old students.
We had a good class. They improvised scenes with their ever-present characters. At the end of class, I told them that I was directing a play, Puss in Boots. Previously, some of them had been interested in auditioning. But I think they might be a bit too young, and their attention spans might be a bit too short. Still, I thought I would give them each the chance to act like a cat.
They all seemed to enjoy acting like cats so much more than they enjoy the heavy, intellectual concepts that I try to present to them. I don't blame them for having this preference. For the next session of classes, I will be sure to return to such fun, light-hearted activities.
After class, my family and I were getting ready to leave. I overheard Metal Man's mother telling him that it was my birthday. Pretty soon, Metal Man walked up to me. “Happy Birthday, Zach,” he said.
“Oh, thank you, Metal Man,” I replied.
“I didn't know it was your birthday. If I had known, I would have brought you a present.”
I think I thanked him again. It's really amazing. Metal Man has such an out-of-control, egotistical and hyper personality, but he can pause everything and actually be sincerely sweet. In fact, he's an adorable child! I don't know why he has so much craziness inside of him.
Thanks for reading. I must go and prepare my house for my birthday celebration this weekend.
Zachary W.
As I walked between classes at the community center yesterday, I heard plenty of random friends tell me this. Eventually, the fact was unmistakable: it was my birthday, and I was having fun.
I was born at 1:32 PM, in the bright sunlight of a Wednesday afternoon. March 25th, 1992 to be precise. Well, once again my birthday was on a Wednesday, but at 1:32 PM – instead of squirming my five pound body in the open air for the first time – I was in the middle of teaching drama class to my six to nine year old students.
We had a good class. They improvised scenes with their ever-present characters. At the end of class, I told them that I was directing a play, Puss in Boots. Previously, some of them had been interested in auditioning. But I think they might be a bit too young, and their attention spans might be a bit too short. Still, I thought I would give them each the chance to act like a cat.
They all seemed to enjoy acting like cats so much more than they enjoy the heavy, intellectual concepts that I try to present to them. I don't blame them for having this preference. For the next session of classes, I will be sure to return to such fun, light-hearted activities.
After class, my family and I were getting ready to leave. I overheard Metal Man's mother telling him that it was my birthday. Pretty soon, Metal Man walked up to me. “Happy Birthday, Zach,” he said.
“Oh, thank you, Metal Man,” I replied.
“I didn't know it was your birthday. If I had known, I would have brought you a present.”
I think I thanked him again. It's really amazing. Metal Man has such an out-of-control, egotistical and hyper personality, but he can pause everything and actually be sincerely sweet. In fact, he's an adorable child! I don't know why he has so much craziness inside of him.
Thanks for reading. I must go and prepare my house for my birthday celebration this weekend.
Zachary W.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #5
What is your objective?
Over and over, I ask the students this question. “What do you want?” “What is it that you're trying to get?” They have this pretty well nailed down. Yesterday, I (actually, the Instructor) tried to get them to obtain their objectives.
“Do you remember what you want?” the Instructor asked, shoving them up in front of the squirmy, makeshift audience (though they focus relatively well when they act, their attention wanders when they have to sit and watch their classmates act). The Instructor wanted them to improvise a scene in which their objective was right in front of them – along with an obstacle – and they, of course, would try to reach their objective.
There was one problem. They already had a storyline planned out. Instead of using intentions or tactics to reach their objective, they merely used the story. “And now we do this...” someone would say, and – ta-da! – everything worked out. To prevent this, the Instructor added more complications, but, though it improved, they still weren't grasping the concept of using tactics to overcome the obstacles.
Suddenly, Rachelle (who plays the character of Isabelle) blew the Instructor away. She wanted respect. This was her objective. She did not get any respect, especially from the king of the castle, who made her do a lot of cleaning and cooking. She didn't do what the Instructor expected her to try in this situation. But she did do something – something that seemed very logical after she did it. In the midst of a chaotic scene (some other characters were onstage, too) she tricked the king into giving up his throne to someone else. She tricked the king! She used a tactic, intention or whatever you want to call it. But she did it! The Instructor and I were very proud.
Thank you for reading. Have a pleasant spring week.
Zachary W.
P.S. I learned that Rachelle is actually eight years old! Therefore, I officially have a Tween in my class!
Over and over, I ask the students this question. “What do you want?” “What is it that you're trying to get?” They have this pretty well nailed down. Yesterday, I (actually, the Instructor) tried to get them to obtain their objectives.
“Do you remember what you want?” the Instructor asked, shoving them up in front of the squirmy, makeshift audience (though they focus relatively well when they act, their attention wanders when they have to sit and watch their classmates act). The Instructor wanted them to improvise a scene in which their objective was right in front of them – along with an obstacle – and they, of course, would try to reach their objective.
There was one problem. They already had a storyline planned out. Instead of using intentions or tactics to reach their objective, they merely used the story. “And now we do this...” someone would say, and – ta-da! – everything worked out. To prevent this, the Instructor added more complications, but, though it improved, they still weren't grasping the concept of using tactics to overcome the obstacles.
Suddenly, Rachelle (who plays the character of Isabelle) blew the Instructor away. She wanted respect. This was her objective. She did not get any respect, especially from the king of the castle, who made her do a lot of cleaning and cooking. She didn't do what the Instructor expected her to try in this situation. But she did do something – something that seemed very logical after she did it. In the midst of a chaotic scene (some other characters were onstage, too) she tricked the king into giving up his throne to someone else. She tricked the king! She used a tactic, intention or whatever you want to call it. But she did it! The Instructor and I were very proud.
Thank you for reading. Have a pleasant spring week.
Zachary W.
P.S. I learned that Rachelle is actually eight years old! Therefore, I officially have a Tween in my class!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #4
Drama Class began as usual. I gathered children from all corners of the building. Thus, we started four minutes late. I asked everyone to form a circle, and they mostly complied. Metal Man and J. caused general disruption. I could barely wait to implement my new plan. But in my distracted state, I was not very eloquent.
“So, last week,” I said, “we were creating characters. So, this week we're going to act out our characters. Okay? So, there's kind of a ritual that starts off drama things, where you go –– Could you sit down J., Metal Man?”
Metal Man chased J. around our newly formed circle. I could not imagine that they were able to listen very well.
“I'm trying to,” J. responded.
They eventually sat down, and I continued. “And we all –– to put on our characters –– we go to a spot in the room, and we let go of everything we're thinking about....”
“So, pretty much we blow up our brains,” inserted Metal Man.
“No,” I said, “it's more like you empty––”
Little, straggly haired Bunny said, “I'm not thinking of anything.”
“Well that's great!” I replied, “That way you can start thinking as the character. So, to do this, we're going to each find a place in the room. You're going to––”
“Do you smell a big gas?” asked Metal Man.
I ignored him and continued, “––empty out everything that you're thinking about. And then you become Link, or whatever character you are.”
In the very first class, Metal Man decided that his character would be Link (yes, the elf from the video game). Obviously, I wasn't thrilled by the originality of this choice, but I allowed it to slide. As far as I know, the other students have created new characters. Actually, never mind. Boy Nicky's character, Fire, has some relation to Pokemon.
I told them I had also created a character. My character was a Drama Class Teacher, and he was firmer than I.
We each found a space in the room. After we became our characters, we called each other by our character names. This is our cast list:
Zachary ........ The Instructor
Metal Man .... Link
J. ................... Sir Locaver
Bunny ........... Mariposa
Dani .............. Pinky
Girl Nicki ..... Snowdrop
Rachelle ....... Isabelle
Boy Nicky ... Fire
In some ways, I feel that I have made this class too complicated. Creating characters with objectives and obstacles is very difficult. Additionally, it's hard to remember everyone's names.
Fortunately, I discovered that my character was much better at teaching the class than I. At least, he was able to keep some semblance of order. Metal Man (who was supposed to be playing Link) was not allowed to touch or grab this instructor at all. This instructor stopped rowdiness. This instructor refused irrelevant student requests. This instructor achieved levels of assertiveness that I, Zachary, couldn't even dream of. This instructor will definitely teach next week's class.
I don't know if the students were as happy in their characters. Rachelle and Bunny did extremely well acting as their characters, though. At least, they seemed to discover a lot of new information about their characters. In particular, I want to see what Rachelle does with her character, Isabelle. Isabelle wants respect and The Instructor is giving her none. He doesn't give her a chance to talk to anyone, and he forces her to clean. Hopefully, Isabelle will find a way to get what she wants...... Next week.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
“So, last week,” I said, “we were creating characters. So, this week we're going to act out our characters. Okay? So, there's kind of a ritual that starts off drama things, where you go –– Could you sit down J., Metal Man?”
Metal Man chased J. around our newly formed circle. I could not imagine that they were able to listen very well.
“I'm trying to,” J. responded.
They eventually sat down, and I continued. “And we all –– to put on our characters –– we go to a spot in the room, and we let go of everything we're thinking about....”
“So, pretty much we blow up our brains,” inserted Metal Man.
“No,” I said, “it's more like you empty––”
Little, straggly haired Bunny said, “I'm not thinking of anything.”
“Well that's great!” I replied, “That way you can start thinking as the character. So, to do this, we're going to each find a place in the room. You're going to––”
“Do you smell a big gas?” asked Metal Man.
I ignored him and continued, “––empty out everything that you're thinking about. And then you become Link, or whatever character you are.”
In the very first class, Metal Man decided that his character would be Link (yes, the elf from the video game). Obviously, I wasn't thrilled by the originality of this choice, but I allowed it to slide. As far as I know, the other students have created new characters. Actually, never mind. Boy Nicky's character, Fire, has some relation to Pokemon.
I told them I had also created a character. My character was a Drama Class Teacher, and he was firmer than I.
We each found a space in the room. After we became our characters, we called each other by our character names. This is our cast list:
Zachary ........ The Instructor
Metal Man .... Link
J. ................... Sir Locaver
Bunny ........... Mariposa
Dani .............. Pinky
Girl Nicki ..... Snowdrop
Rachelle ....... Isabelle
Boy Nicky ... Fire
In some ways, I feel that I have made this class too complicated. Creating characters with objectives and obstacles is very difficult. Additionally, it's hard to remember everyone's names.
Fortunately, I discovered that my character was much better at teaching the class than I. At least, he was able to keep some semblance of order. Metal Man (who was supposed to be playing Link) was not allowed to touch or grab this instructor at all. This instructor stopped rowdiness. This instructor refused irrelevant student requests. This instructor achieved levels of assertiveness that I, Zachary, couldn't even dream of. This instructor will definitely teach next week's class.
I don't know if the students were as happy in their characters. Rachelle and Bunny did extremely well acting as their characters, though. At least, they seemed to discover a lot of new information about their characters. In particular, I want to see what Rachelle does with her character, Isabelle. Isabelle wants respect and The Instructor is giving her none. He doesn't give her a chance to talk to anyone, and he forces her to clean. Hopefully, Isabelle will find a way to get what she wants...... Next week.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #3
Seven students: Boy Nicky and Girl Nicki have joined the other students, Rachelle, Dani, Metal Man, J., and Bunny. We don't have a lot of time in thirty minutes, but I feel that the Drama Class is going along splendidly. I, however, have infinite patience.
Apparently, if one is a parent sitting by and listening to the proceedings, it is unbearably brutal. Metal Man knows how to disrupt about anything. He wants everyone to do what he suggests, for he feels that he has a million great ideas. Of course, he does have great ideas, but it is difficult to conduct a class when he continuously suggests things and occasionally gets his way. Also, though he seems capable of sitting still, he will randomly pop up and run about; then, the other two boys, J. and Nicky, will join in, and I must ask them to return to the group, which takes time. I, however, can tolerate any amount of this rudeness –– until someone else cannot.
Truthfully, I should not allow such behavior. Parents pay me to teach their kids, most of the kids pay close attention to learn from my teaching, but I allow chaos to rule the class, simply because I have infinite patience, because I don't feel bothered. I must put an end to this. If I am to be an effective teacher, I must put aside all of my excessive gentility. In the words of Maria (not yet) Von Trapp, 'I will be firm, but kind.'
And next week's chapter will sound very different.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
Apparently, if one is a parent sitting by and listening to the proceedings, it is unbearably brutal. Metal Man knows how to disrupt about anything. He wants everyone to do what he suggests, for he feels that he has a million great ideas. Of course, he does have great ideas, but it is difficult to conduct a class when he continuously suggests things and occasionally gets his way. Also, though he seems capable of sitting still, he will randomly pop up and run about; then, the other two boys, J. and Nicky, will join in, and I must ask them to return to the group, which takes time. I, however, can tolerate any amount of this rudeness –– until someone else cannot.
Truthfully, I should not allow such behavior. Parents pay me to teach their kids, most of the kids pay close attention to learn from my teaching, but I allow chaos to rule the class, simply because I have infinite patience, because I don't feel bothered. I must put an end to this. If I am to be an effective teacher, I must put aside all of my excessive gentility. In the words of Maria (not yet) Von Trapp, 'I will be firm, but kind.'
And next week's chapter will sound very different.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class #2
The people in charge moved my Drama Class for 6-9 year olds to another room. I now hold class in the multi-purpose room. It is huge, at least twice the size of the last room we used. Only one possible problem exists with a large room: the students have more room to run around. Fortunately, if it existed, they all did very well at controlling this urge.
Sadly, I lost a student this week. Utah joined the book club. I told you he was a reader. His mother assured me that he really liked my class, but it was thirty minutes instead of an hour this time and he had more friends in the book club. Nevertheless, my class continues to grow. Bunny enrolled in my class before any one else, but she got sick last week, so yesterday was her first official class. She has long limp hair hanging all around her tiny body, and her blue eyes always look confused until she grins. As you can probably guess, Bunny is very softspoken. Also, I have a new boy student; J. is his name. J. has small, pointed features, and a very sharp, imaginative mind.
Because of popular demand, we played the Murderer game. (Normal people might know this game as Detective Handshake.) But in all the circles I know, it is appropriately titled Murderer. This is a game of dying, secret scratching and great complaining if someone dies too quickly after being scratched, giving the murderer's identity away immediately. I try not to use this game in Drama Class too much, because I don't feel it accomplishes as much as other activities.
Therefore, we moved on, and spent most of the class developing characters. Everyone was surprisingly calm and attentive during this. Each student had a turn. On his/her turn, the student would sit in a chair. The rest of us sat on the floor. I had Dani go first. Her character, which she made last week, is a princess with pink hair; additionally, she loves the color pink, wears pink, has a pink room and a pink pet dragon.
“Does this girl have any siblings?” I asked.
“Yes, she has one brother,” said Dani.
“Was her brother born with strange colored hair, too?”
“No.”
“Oh, so her brother's kind of normal, but she's really different.”
“Yes.”
“Does anyone tease her or... How do people treat her, since she's different?”
“They just treat her nice,” said Dani, a perpetual happiest.
“Do they treat her like she's better than other people? Like she's special?”
“No. They just treat her like everyone else.”
As nice as Dani's character is, there's not much of a story yet.
I tried to ask the students, “What does your character want?” And I got a few promising answers.
J.'s character is a knight – an immortal Head Knight, to be precise. I asked J. what this knight wanted.
“Victory,” said J. “But he can never get victory,” he added.
“Why not?” I asked, very excited.
J. said that the enemy had tigers on its side (their claws are as long as the arm of a chair). He described a lot of fancy weapons that the enemy had, too. He practically gave me a play-by-play account of a battle, acting out the important maneuvers. I was kind of impressed, though this was not exactly what I was searching for.
Bunny, a fairy princess trapped in a snowglobe that she's lived in her whole life, gave a very good answer.
“She wants to know if there are more people out there.”
It sounded like a good story to me.
At first, Rachelle said her character was a maid, but then she decided that her character was a princess whom everyone treated like a maid.
“She wants to get respect,” Rachelle said.
This was another fantastic answer, possibly my favorite. Class was so short that I didn't have the chance to explore these characters as much as I wanted to. But I can't wait to interrogate them next week.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
P.S. I don't think I have any eight year olds in my class, and I definitely don't have any nine year olds. In other words, I'm not actually talking about Tweens here. I mean, I would share these stories with people of any age, but I thought Tweenage readers might prefer to hear about kids their own age. So, what do you readers think? Would you like me to focus more on Tweens? Post a comment if you have something to say.
Sadly, I lost a student this week. Utah joined the book club. I told you he was a reader. His mother assured me that he really liked my class, but it was thirty minutes instead of an hour this time and he had more friends in the book club. Nevertheless, my class continues to grow. Bunny enrolled in my class before any one else, but she got sick last week, so yesterday was her first official class. She has long limp hair hanging all around her tiny body, and her blue eyes always look confused until she grins. As you can probably guess, Bunny is very softspoken. Also, I have a new boy student; J. is his name. J. has small, pointed features, and a very sharp, imaginative mind.
Because of popular demand, we played the Murderer game. (Normal people might know this game as Detective Handshake.) But in all the circles I know, it is appropriately titled Murderer. This is a game of dying, secret scratching and great complaining if someone dies too quickly after being scratched, giving the murderer's identity away immediately. I try not to use this game in Drama Class too much, because I don't feel it accomplishes as much as other activities.
Therefore, we moved on, and spent most of the class developing characters. Everyone was surprisingly calm and attentive during this. Each student had a turn. On his/her turn, the student would sit in a chair. The rest of us sat on the floor. I had Dani go first. Her character, which she made last week, is a princess with pink hair; additionally, she loves the color pink, wears pink, has a pink room and a pink pet dragon.
“Does this girl have any siblings?” I asked.
“Yes, she has one brother,” said Dani.
“Was her brother born with strange colored hair, too?”
“No.”
“Oh, so her brother's kind of normal, but she's really different.”
“Yes.”
“Does anyone tease her or... How do people treat her, since she's different?”
“They just treat her nice,” said Dani, a perpetual happiest.
“Do they treat her like she's better than other people? Like she's special?”
“No. They just treat her like everyone else.”
As nice as Dani's character is, there's not much of a story yet.
I tried to ask the students, “What does your character want?” And I got a few promising answers.
J.'s character is a knight – an immortal Head Knight, to be precise. I asked J. what this knight wanted.
“Victory,” said J. “But he can never get victory,” he added.
“Why not?” I asked, very excited.
J. said that the enemy had tigers on its side (their claws are as long as the arm of a chair). He described a lot of fancy weapons that the enemy had, too. He practically gave me a play-by-play account of a battle, acting out the important maneuvers. I was kind of impressed, though this was not exactly what I was searching for.
Bunny, a fairy princess trapped in a snowglobe that she's lived in her whole life, gave a very good answer.
“She wants to know if there are more people out there.”
It sounded like a good story to me.
At first, Rachelle said her character was a maid, but then she decided that her character was a princess whom everyone treated like a maid.
“She wants to get respect,” Rachelle said.
This was another fantastic answer, possibly my favorite. Class was so short that I didn't have the chance to explore these characters as much as I wanted to. But I can't wait to interrogate them next week.
Thank you for reading.
Zachary W.
P.S. I don't think I have any eight year olds in my class, and I definitely don't have any nine year olds. In other words, I'm not actually talking about Tweens here. I mean, I would share these stories with people of any age, but I thought Tweenage readers might prefer to hear about kids their own age. So, what do you readers think? Would you like me to focus more on Tweens? Post a comment if you have something to say.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Twisted Tweens: Drama Class
Every Wednesday, from 1:15 to 1:45, I will teach a drama class to a group of 6-9 year old kids. This started yesterday.
My class is one of many different classes. The homeschool group I'm in has organized these classes for several years. But this is only the second time I've taught. I call these classes Wednesday Classes, because they've often been held on Wednesday. In reality, they're called S.C.E.N.E classes -- not that I remember what the acronym stands for.
We've held Wednesday Classes at several different community centers. We are using a brand new community center this time around. I walked into it for the first time yesterday. It looked magnificently nice and new. It smelled as if it had just popped out of a doll house factory; all the chemicals of creation-according-to-humans still lingered, invisible to us. Oh well, the smell will wear away.
They did not build a stage. I believe that if someone builds a building for the public to use they need to build a stage along with it. Therefore, it bothers me that no stage exists at this new community center. On the other hand, I do have a nice room for my class. It has carpet, which feels slightly softer than our usual floors. And people don't need to walk through it every few minutes to get to a different room. And the pool table stands in a different room, so my drama students won't feel so tempted distract themselves with the pool balls. Yes, I'm very, fairly pleased.
I had four students yesterday. More will join in next week. The most interesting student I have is Metal Man. He's seven and rambunctious. He seeks a lot of attention and he tries to control everything that we do in the class. The other boy (I have two) is Utah, who is a little rambunctious, especially if Metal Man attacks him. Overall, he's much easier to control. He's also highly intelligent; he has read all seven Harry Potter books, and he's only six. Rachelle, a shy but headstrong girl, is much quieter than the two boys, who like to chatter about their own achievements. She also tries to control the wild Metal Man –– at least, she tries to protect me from him. I appreciate this, but it can lead to chaos when they resort to wrestling. Dani remains the quietest of all. Her imagination might be too sweet to make a balanced character (each one is supposed to develop his or her own character) but I'll try to explain this to her as we move along, and I expect that she will catch on.
I expect that I will keep writing about these classes, as they are weekly and they tend to provide a lot of interesting stories.
So, until I have more to say....
Zachary W.
My class is one of many different classes. The homeschool group I'm in has organized these classes for several years. But this is only the second time I've taught. I call these classes Wednesday Classes, because they've often been held on Wednesday. In reality, they're called S.C.E.N.E classes -- not that I remember what the acronym stands for.
We've held Wednesday Classes at several different community centers. We are using a brand new community center this time around. I walked into it for the first time yesterday. It looked magnificently nice and new. It smelled as if it had just popped out of a doll house factory; all the chemicals of creation-according-to-humans still lingered, invisible to us. Oh well, the smell will wear away.
They did not build a stage. I believe that if someone builds a building for the public to use they need to build a stage along with it. Therefore, it bothers me that no stage exists at this new community center. On the other hand, I do have a nice room for my class. It has carpet, which feels slightly softer than our usual floors. And people don't need to walk through it every few minutes to get to a different room. And the pool table stands in a different room, so my drama students won't feel so tempted distract themselves with the pool balls. Yes, I'm very, fairly pleased.
I had four students yesterday. More will join in next week. The most interesting student I have is Metal Man. He's seven and rambunctious. He seeks a lot of attention and he tries to control everything that we do in the class. The other boy (I have two) is Utah, who is a little rambunctious, especially if Metal Man attacks him. Overall, he's much easier to control. He's also highly intelligent; he has read all seven Harry Potter books, and he's only six. Rachelle, a shy but headstrong girl, is much quieter than the two boys, who like to chatter about their own achievements. She also tries to control the wild Metal Man –– at least, she tries to protect me from him. I appreciate this, but it can lead to chaos when they resort to wrestling. Dani remains the quietest of all. Her imagination might be too sweet to make a balanced character (each one is supposed to develop his or her own character) but I'll try to explain this to her as we move along, and I expect that she will catch on.
I expect that I will keep writing about these classes, as they are weekly and they tend to provide a lot of interesting stories.
So, until I have more to say....
Zachary W.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)