The fourth period Theatre I class continues to bring me a plethora of opportunities to learn. Today I split up the students that were behind on their scripts with those that were caught up. No sitting next to friends, no talking, no iPods. The rest who were caught up were welcome to do all three. I had one student that insisted on talking and distracting other people, so I moved her to the back of the room. She continued to call out another students name. I told her if she talked again, she would be going outside. Of course she started talking back. I walked to the door, opened it, put a chair outside, and said "Alright, come on down." This brought about a long string of whining, including, "You're not my teacher." Hate to break it to you kid. Come report card time, I will still be your teacher. She wasn't happy about it, but she came close to catching up today. I overheard her outside badmouthing me to another student, so I opened up the door, smiled, and asked her what page she was on. I found out later that she was really late for her next class, and she told her teacher I kept her late writing essays. Why do teenagers lie? It boggles my mind.
I separated J from her friends. She's a student that rarely does her work, failed four classes last semester, and has no support at home from her mom. She usually sits with her friend, A, and today when A finished, she came up to me and said, "Can I please go help J?" It was a definite change from before. There was someone concerned about J struggling in school, so I let her go sit with J, on the condition that she was actually helping her. And she did. J is not going to change overnight. She has fallen far behind. It's going to take a real investment in her to build up her confidence.
My sixth period class is still so quiet. Ever since I moved their seats around last week. A few students tried to sneak and sit in different seats. I invited them to move back to their assigned seats and reminded them that this was a trial period. If they want to sit next to their friends, they need to earn it. That simple stunt meant it was going to take longer. It may not work with every group of students, but it seems to be working with them. Here's to hoping it lasts...at least while they are on this unit. Talking will be encouraged once we start making puppets.
I am concerned about one student in the class though. While everyone else was working hard on their script, he was sitting and staring at the wall. I went and sat down next to him for a moment. He said he didn't want to write, and we talked about it for a little while. I told him he could try thinking about something he could stand writing about for four days. He told me he doesn't like being here, that he's bored with the valley, and wants to move somewhere else. He mentioned that he might be moving. We talked about writing a script about how he would like things to turn out. I'm going to try to talk to him about it more tomorrow. Maybe knowing that someone else is interested in how he's feeling will help him open up a little more.
And then there is my advanced class...that got a little dose of their own medicine today. It's week one of student directed scenes. A few people did not come to class today, which means that some of the groups have already lost a day of rehearsal. The most experienced students are directing this week, which means all of them have less experienced and less motivated students in their group. They are all concerned about helping them perform well. A few of them expressed their concerns, and I had to resist the temptation to hold a mirror up to them. You can't really understand what it's like to be a director Welcome to the world of directing...and teaching.
