Endings

The school play is over. This year was the most successful show yet. On Friday night we sold out! Well, we ran out of tickets and just tallied people as they came in. We did have more people in the audience than chairs, but luckily students decided to sit on the floor in the front.
The kids did an amazing job. I'm so proud of them and am actually going to miss the production...now that it's over!


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Rehearsal Reflection

Students were supposed to be off-book for the school musical on Monday. Unfortunately, by Act 2 they had no clue what was going on. The stage manager was not only giving lines, but she also had to tell people when they were supposed to enter. I decided to end rehearsal ten minutes early so they could use the time to make Tuesdays rehearsal be more successful. Yesterday, we started at the beginning of Act 2. By our break, I couldn't have been more frustrated. They weren't even close to memorized. The main male part knew most of his lines, one girl who has a big part, and one boy who only has a few lines are the only people who knew everything they needed to do. I thought we were having a discussion about what was going on. I mean, from my perspective it's time wasting. It's disrespectful to everyone else in the room when they come to rehearsal unprepared. I didn't raise my voice; I didn't even get angry! Honestly, I was just so disappointed. It felt like there were only a handful of us in the room who care about the show.
We ended with all of them promising to do better for tomorrow's rehearsal. I just don't know if I can trust them or if there will be a difference. Their lives are packed with stuff, but they have had weeks and weeks to memorize.
Now I'm worried I was too harsh. I have to see how they do tomorrow before I'll know if our two big discussions made an impact on any of the students.

Character Analysis

Today I gave my students Character Analysis Worksheets that were three pages long to analyze their characters in their scenes. It was an intimidating handout and I had some concern that my 8th grade students wouldn't be able to handle the high school level work.
This class is especially challenging for me because it is an advanced drama class, yet not all students have taken the class that leads into it. The students who did not take the beginning class are struggling. They don't have the background knowledge required to truly grasp what I'm asking of them. Because of that, I thought they wouldn't be able to even begin the analysis. I was wrong!
They are all doing the work to the level they are capable. It is great for me to see. The kids who have the background from the previous class are going more in-depth in their thoughts on the character. The kids who didn't have the class are just scratching the surface. Either way, all students are learning what it takes to truly take on a character. They are learning how to analyze scripts which will translate into analyzing literature. The performance they end up doing in a couple of weeks is going to be so much better due to this work.
I almost didn't give the worksheet to them. Thought it was just too hard. I'm so glad I remembered something I truly do believe - Students will rise to the expectations we give them.

Scenes

Today I passed out scenes in my advanced drama class. I took into consideration what students told me they wanted to work on this semester when choosing their scenes and partners. Of course, some still complained! Like the girl who told me she wanted to work on memorizing a lot of lines complained that her scene "was too long!" What?! Why would she say that's what she wanted to work on, if then she actually didn't? Do students think teachers have them fill out getting to know you sheets for fun? Of course, I adjust and modify my class to make it work for them.
Most students were thrilled with their scenes and already looking into strong character choices. I was impressed with how one girl was reading between the lines on day one and already discovering what was truth about her character and what was false. Tomorrow we are going to start working on character study with a graphic organizer I found online and then changed to fit my students better. They seem excited to dig in and get to work!

Getting Tenure

This is my third year teaching in a truly wonderful district at a school that is an absolute perfect fit. My supervisor tells me that next year should be my tenure year. It's frustrating because another teacher who started at the same time as me and has the same credential as me was moved to the tenure track this year. When I asked questions at the district office as to why she was moved and I wasn't, I was told someone made a mistake. That's fine, but the security of tenure sure would be nice. Not only that, but I am constantly taking on more roles at school. I am on the RTI team, I do literacy, I've added some lunch time activities, and am even a presenter at our staff meetings. These are all things I want to do, so don't want to sound like I'm complaining. The problem is that I'm the only teacher being asked to jump through these extra hoops to receive tenure. I'm noticing other teachers get permanent status and they only teach. My supervisor has decided that I need to be a leader at my school, that I need to do all sorts of extra-curricular activities, and even be a leader in terms of drama teachers in the district! This feels overwhelming and strange. I would think my focus right now should be on being the very best drama teacher I can be, so that when I do get tenure they know they've made the right decision. Am I looking at this all wrong?