I cannot believe that tomorrow is Friday! This has certainly been a hectic week. My Seniors have been busy taking their exams...and it seems that I will be busy correcting them! I feel so caught up in wrapping up all of the "Senior business" and I have to remind myself to be present with my Juniors and to enjoy the time that I have left with them (Friday and Monday are the last class days before exams).
My students have really been enjoying Miller's Death of a Salesman. My teaching partner and I were reflecting on how they have really seemed to love all of the plays that we have read this year. For some reason they seem to be particularly responsive to anything related to acting. Using drama in the classroom has been a great way to help the students connect (in more ways than one!) to the literature. Nancy (my teaching partner) remarked that the energy in the room was palpable when we were acting out the Lomans' story. The kids are on the edges of their seats as we flip through each page. It has also been rewarding to see Andre progress as an actor. He began the year as Ezekial Cheever in The Crucible and is now reading Biff's part in Death of a Salesman. We were also surprised to observe Amber, a usually quiet student, blow us away when she acted out the part of Rachel in Inherit the Wind. When we suggested that she participate in the theater club, her face lit up. And now, she strides to the front of the room with confidence, ready to transform herself into Linda Loman.
While the kids have been transforming themselves into new characters in our classroom, they have actually been transforming themselves.
My students have taught me that reading together--as a community--is a very powerful thing. They have reminded me that reading is indeed an active process, a process that includes movement, interaction, dialogue, and reflection. When we read--or act--together I hear and see things that I couldn't observe on my own. What I appreciate most is that the characters that I love come alive.
Gatsby, Hester, Willy, John Proctor, Huck.
They might not actually exist, but my students make them real.
Maureen,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of a musical I recently attended at our high school. I heard that a number of my middle school alumni were performing Footloose as freshmen and sophmores in high school. A few of us went to check it out and I was blown away! I was amazed to see that some of these kids who were not the best math students, truly are gifted singers, dancers and actors!
The body-kinesthetic piece that you incorporate when you have your students act out the reading really creates a much deeper level of understanding, and a much more memorable learning experience.
Thanks for your post!
Mike
Thanks for the comment, Mike!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a great feeling to see our students develop, isn't it?
I'm in the middle of grading Senior final exams. This is truly a chore, but I was amazed at how well they were able to recollect details from the plays that we read in class (e.g. A Doll House and Trifles). It was clear that the plays truly sunk in. Maybe it was the content of the drama, but the more that I use plays in my classroom, the more I believe that it has something to do with the body-kinesthetic piece that you mentioned. It provides such a powerful reading experience.
My luck with drama in the classroom has me really excited to teach a Shakespeare class next year! It should be a blast!
I wish you a happy weekend!
Take care,
Maureen