Last week I began to explain how I spend my time at school. I got through the first 100 minutes of my day, and promised that I would actually talk about teaching this week. Remember that I teach on a block schedule, and this is a Monday morning of an "A" day.
9:45 - The bell signaling the end of first block rings. The students in my room leave. I move tables and connect my computer to the projector to display the first assignment.
9:48 - I stand in my classroom doorway, greeting students as they walk to class. I wish the soccer players luck on their game tonight, compliment a student's Harry Potter sweatshirt, and remind students entering my room to look at the front board.
9:52 - The starting bell rings. I wiggle my way in between some students' chairs to get to my desk. I tell students that they have three minutes to get organized before we get into the notes they'll need for the lesson. While they get out notebooks and paper, I take attendance.
9:55 - I being the mini-lesson of the day. Today I'm asking students to take notes about the rehearsal process in theater. I reiterate that all actors have to rehearse. My kids dutifully write this down. I give them a list of seven types of rehearsals and we use the clues with the names to define each one. I solicit their ideas about what a read-through is and how it's different from text work. We talk about line work and blocking, run-throughs, tech week, and dress rehearsals. We spend three to four minutes discussing and defining each term.
10:16 - I go over what type of rehearsal students are expected to do today - read through, line work, and blocking; I hand back copies of scripts they wrote last week.
10:19 - I go over the final slide to reiterate expectations. They explain to me how rehearsal time is and is not to be used. I write down what they say.
10:22 - Students are free to rehearse. They stay at their tables, reading through their scripts and deciding if they want to make any changes. I walk, listening to the conversations. One group is worried that their story is unclear, so I ask how they can use their movement voices to make the characters obvious enough that it makes sense. Another group adds lines to the end of their scene.
10:30 - The first group is ready to "put it on its feet". There are 33 students in this Drama I class, too many for simultaneous rehearsals in the classroom, so with the reminder to be respectful of the other classes, I let them go into the hallway to practice...
Mo next week.
